After the Great War ended, a young girl who was raised as a 'weapon' for the sole purpose of decimating enemy lines is hospitalized and can be seen trying her best to write a letter. The struggle can be seen by the terrible handwriting shown. Violet Evergarden was maimed in a bloody skirmish of the war's final leg, resulting in her both hands replaced by mechanical steel hands. Violet was left with only words from her superior, Major Gilbert, who she hold dearest, but the words cannot be understood by her.
Afterwards, while still recovering from her injuries, Violet starts a new life by working at postal services. There, she witnessed the work of an 'Auto Memory Doll' or 'ghostwriter', people that transcribe another people thoughts and feelings into words on paper. Moved by the notion, Violet became intrigued of the work of an Auto Memory Doll and wanted to become one, a trade that will take her on adventure, hoping to finally understands the final words of Major Gilbert.
Beautiful and colourful art that is enough to warm your heart when you look at it, Kyoto Animation once again delivered a really beautiful anime for our eyes to feast on to. Violet Evergarden is a manga series written by Kana Akatsuki, illustrated by Akiko Takase, and published by Kyoto Animation. To me, Violet Evergarden has a kind of a cliche love story for the plot ; a girl that is looking for her lover after a war kind of plot. Then again, it is a bit different as Violet is portrayed as an emotionless doll, emphasizing more that she is the perfect weapon for the war, and emotions slowly came to her as she journey throughout the whole series. Violet Evergarden has made use of every episodes in a formulaic way, and I would like to cut off the episodes of the show into three small parts : Nine episodes for the main story, one full episode of a short story, and three more episodes for the final resolution of the plot.
This anime is the anime that has been hyped for about a year. It arrived with controversy and concern among the viewers. But still, it does not mean the anime could not deliver. Does the anime is a masterpiece that deemed from most people? Definitely not. If you are looking for anime with beautiful art, with decent backround music and heartwarming storyline, Violet Evergarden is a perfect choice of anime to watch.
Breaking Down Episodes (Minor Spoiler)
I'll try to discuss a bit of what happened during the show and also try my best to steer away from spoiling too much of the anime. Read at your own discretion.
Violet Evergarden is an interesting character, she was displayed as an emotionless being in the beginning of the show. Even her voice seems to be very monotone compared to other characters. She is also shown as a highly competent human regarding any physical activities (including typing with a typewriter) and does not required to eat as much as other people as a result of her training and discipline as a soldier before. Violet also seems to have problems understanding other people's emotion. Witnessing the work of Auto Memory Doll makes Violet believe she would learn how to emphatize other people emotions while channeling that feeling into a piece of paper, all in a goal to understand the last words she hears from Major Gilbert. The journey of becoming an Auto Memory Doll itself has proven beneficial to her as she slowly become able to interpret other's words and feelings onto a piece of paper.
As I said earlier, I've divided the anime into 3 parts, episodes 1-9 is the part where Violet characters grows the most and where she finally learns the truth that she looking for. She also learns the struggles of being an ex-soldier, especially after a war where she had killed many men. Living in remorse, Violet "burns" from all the memories and the emotions she had just realized from the guilt she felt from the war. In the end, she finds a way to shrug it off, accept the fate, and move on with life.
Episode 10 is a special short story, and this episode is by far the saddest episode from this show for me. Lord knows how I am not ready for the feels to hit me, the feels came unexpected and I definitely didn't see it coming. I cried so hard on this episode that i'm worried people in my house would here the weird noises i made. Putting that aside, this episode has shown how much Violet has grown to become a really good "Ghostwriter" and generally a good person. It was good to see that violet can finally show emotions.
Episodes 11-13 is pretty much how the anime wants to resolve the final conflict of the plot, and it feels more like and after story for me. All and all, tears are shed in this part of the show, Violet has becoming more and more resolve about how things are and beginning to have her own way of looking at life.
TL;DR
Art : 8/10
Plot : 6/10
Feels : 8/10
Voice Acting : 7/10
Characters : 5/10
Overall : 7/10
Ratings are purely made by how i feel about things and should not be taken that seriously