Violet Evergarden Review – A Sad Story Told Beautifully

Violet Evergarden Complete Review

Don’t know what to watch on Netflix this weekend? Do you love anime and Japanese light novels adapted to the small screen? Do you feel like getting excited and falling in love with the good storyline of an anime series, its characters, animation, and even its soundtrack?

Then you should sit down on your couch and give a chance to the acclaimed light novel and already known worldwide “Violet Evergarden”. A sad story told in an elegant way and with a masterful production that will make you cry, laugh, reflect and get emotional in each of its chapters.

Violet Evergarden is one of those masterpieces that leave no one indifferent, liking even people who are not used to this genre because they think they always have similar plots and without a mature emotional background. This series is a jewel wrapped in gold that, as we discover it chapter by chapter, manages to surprise everyone who decides to watch it.

Although it is true that not everyone is able to understand a light novel of this type, so dramatic and told in such a formal way that it can even remind us of a Jane Austen novel, making it even more unique and valuable to watch.

Its success is so great that there are even those who compare the quality and beauty of its scenery, its colors, and characters with the prestigious and incomparable Ghibli studio, making it clear that its fame is more than justified and that if the great critics of the sector dare to make such a comparison it is for a reason: Violet Evergarden is a timeless jewel that will make you daydream and feel that you have really traveled to a past era in which everything was felt and lived differently than today.

The production company Kyoto Animation bet on adapting this saga of light novels written by Jana Akatsuki and illustrated by Akiko Takase, becoming the first novel to win the first prize in three different categories: manga, novel, and scenography.

This success in the most prestigious awards of the genre caught the attention of the current streaming giants, being published in 2018 by Netflix and later being available on the most famous anime platform Crunchyroll. In both, it obtained the expected success and the desired effect was achieved: turning a successful novel into an audiovisual dream come true.

Through its 13 episodes plus an OVA, Violet Evergarden will transport us to a society that tries to rebuild itself from the devastation and tragedy left by wars, showing us the kindest face of a society that, despite having hardly any resources to survive, does not give up and is always concerned about the welfare of others, with special emphasis on the complexity of human relationships within a tragic historical context full of melancholy.

Hand in hand with the young humanoid Violet we will live one of the most beautiful adventures that have been written and produced so far in the world of anime.

Are you going to miss it?

General Sinopsis

The story begins with the introduction of our protagonist Violet Evergarden, a young ex-soldier who, after suffering a tragic accident in the line of duty, finds herself totally alone and lost and in the care of Claudia, an old friend of the one who until then had been her only emotional link in life: her commander and guardian, Gilbert Bougainvillea.

From the beginning, the plot makes it clear what will be the main argument through which our protagonist will move: to accept her new situation, to understand her most human feelings (something she had never done before the accident), and to accept the loss of the one who unknowingly had been her only and first love, Commander Gilbert.

As the first episode progresses, we are told the tragic story of Violet, a young orphan who had no choice but to enlist in the army and become a real killing machine at the age of 14. Throughout the war and her accelerated training as a soldier, Major Gilbert takes pity on her and decides to educate her like any other child her age, teaching her little by little to read and write, while giving her something that no one else had given her: affection and a paternal reference to lean on.

Violet wakes up in the infirmary where Claudia is taking care of her and informs her of her current state of health: she has survived, but due to the severity of her injuries, both arms were amputated and replaced by two sophisticated metal prostheses.

After the initial shock and with the help of another good friend of her commander, Mr. Hodgins, Violet will have to face a challenge that for her is even more complicated than living constantly at war: to relate to people, understand their feelings and find out what theirs mean.

To do so, and with the help of all the people she meets in her new life, Violet applies to volunteer at the CH postal agency, a place full of “Automatic Memory Dolls” who are in charge of writing and answering letters from people who are unable to express their feelings in writing.

And it is right there where the main plot that will develop all the chapters really begins, since through this work Violet will have to help in each chapter a different person to solve a personal problem; something really complicated for a young woman who has never known what it meant to have feelings and who lives traumatized by memories that she cannot understand.

The only hope that Violet has, and that the viewer understands from the first minute of the series, is to see Commander Gilbert again, either for affection or for a love she can’t put a name to, seeing him again and talking to him for a few minutes is the main trigger for all the improvised actions that the young ex-soldier (half-human, half-android) is doing throughout the 13 main episodes of the series.

Although from the beginning it seems that Gilbert died irremediably in combat, his memory will fuel some of the most emotional scenes of the plot in which Violet will face her feelings face to face and try to decipher (albeit unsuccessfully) the meaning of the last words her guardian and friend said to her: “I love you”.

This is how Violet starts her adventure in the post office and learns to transcribe letters for strangers who need other people to put in writing what they cannot, helping them each time to solve their deepest emotional problems while looking for a solution to her own questions: what are feelings? Is she as human as the people she helps? Can you really feel love for someone who is not there? Will she be able to forgive herself for a past full of violence and hatred? Will she be able to create real emotional family bonds?

All these and other issues are what give meaning to the story arc of this beautiful series that will make you get excited every minute that passes. Through an animation cared to the last detail, beautiful to say the least, and with an exquisite soundtrack that will fill with emotion and meaning every scene and word that is pronounced, with Violet Evergarden you can enjoy a true masterpiece of the animation of the XXI century.

Something worth paying to watch online content and worth investing a few hours of your life in entertainment: a series that will make you feel everything, without you having to do anything but pay attention.

Overall Rating

If it is a matter of evaluating Violet Evergarden, the first assessment that any good critic would make about this adapted light novel is the following: no one has managed to deal so elegantly with a subject as extremely sad and unfair as war and its consequences.

And it is one of the great achievements of this series, apart from how well done it is and the extremely catchy storyline it has, is its way of dealing with such dramatic themes as death, poverty, and loneliness with great elegance and sometimes even with optimism.

No one has managed to deal so elegantly with a subject as extremely sad and unfair as war and its consequences.

For me, as a critic and surely for many others the same thing happened, Violet’s story (about which it is not clear if she is just a young human orphan or if part of her is a programmed robot) always ends up reminding me a little bit of the plot of “Life is Beautiful”.

Of course, both titles are not comparable in terms of genre, nor quality, but they are comparable in terms of their message: both try to make us believe in hope and teach us to notice the beautiful things in life, even when everything around us is at war.

And that is where the magic of this series truly lies and the main reason why everyone who watches it falls in love with it and recommends it, Violet Evergarden is a masterpiece that appeals to human faith and wants to make us believe that there will always be something good to live for, even if we ourselves do not yet know the main reason why we live.

Historical context

The main attraction of the series is the context in which it takes place, in the early twentieth century and after the already known to all as “The Great War” leaving behind a society in ruins, with hardly any resources to live or evolve, and emotionally shocked by the natural and irreparable consequences left by the horror of living for so long with the fear of being killed at any time.

This context is made visible throughout the series, both by the introduction of Germanic language typical of the Nazis, by the very unequal social structure it presents, and by the poverty, especially the poverty and precarious situation of thousands of families in Europe that experienced the war most closely.

Of course, the series already lets us see through the multiple “flashbacks” of Violet how the war was and how bloody it could be to fight in one of its many battles, which is why our protagonist must fight tirelessly to leave behind her past as a soldier and try to make a place for herself among the new society that has been left after the conflict.

On the other hand, thanks to the mechanism of episodes with individual stories that the producers devised, in which Violet must help a different person each time through her work as a ghostwriter, the series gives us the opportunity to see very closely the different consequences that a war has on an already limited society: separated marriages, missing persons, poverty, pain, loneliness, labor and cultural precariousness, etc.

With each small story, the series shows us a new feeling that Violet must face, analyzing it and trying to give it a sense, while seeking a quick and effective solution for the client who has requested her services. Something that makes us be very attentive during each chapter and that its rhythm does not falter at any time.

Multiple arguments

And what does multiple arguments mean? You may be asking yourself. Well, Violet Evergarden is not a conventional anime and this is also reflected in its plot.

The main plot of the story we have already explained what it is, however throughout its thirteen episodes special emphasis is placed on other plots that sometimes even have more relevance than the story of the protagonist herself, which is why I believe that its plot should be divided into three parts: Violet’s desperate search for Commander Gilbert, Violet’s process of growth and self-improvement after becoming a soldier, and the individual stories that are presented to us in each of the chapters and in which Violet will act as an intermediary for her feelings.

Steady pace

While it is true that at the beginning the series has a rather fast pace, introducing us somewhat hastily to the characters and not giving us too much precise information about the protagonist, her origins, and what has led her to her current situation, as the episodes progress that pace becomes lighter and takes us more slowly into the story of Violet and her friends.

On the other hand, this anime does not fall into one of the main mistakes made by most series of this genre that seek to impress a lot in the first two episodes and then lose strength and quality.

In Violet Evergarden quality, rhythm and drama are assured from the first episode to the last, since thanks to its format of individual episodes in which something new and different always happens, the viewer never gets bored or feels that the thread of the story is too repetitive to disconnect.

This constant rhythm that it offers us is something to be grateful for nowadays since there are thousands of anime on the market that invest a large part of their budget in an explosive presentation for their first chapter to quickly attract the audience, but soon after they let us see that the quality of the animation and the development of the story is not up to that first contact and ends up disappointing and going totally unnoticed.

In other words, we could say that Violet Evergarden is a precious jewel wrapped in a big golden box, where the initial expectations and the final result are in complete harmony and do not disappoint anyone at any time.

Empathy and emotional context

The main plot of the series and around which all the main and secondary characters constantly revolve is always the same: the letters and the exposure of feelings. Such is the importance of the self-memory dolls and their letters that sometimes the evolutionary process of the protagonist is overshadowed, making everything that happens to her and her story seems superficial next to the dramatic stories that are explained to us in each chapter.

This is arguably one of the most negative aspects of the series (if it can be described as negative) since the constant search that the plot makes to connect with the audience and get them to get excited sometimes makes it look somewhat forced and ends up exhausting the viewer sentimentally.

However, it is precisely this drama and the beauty of each of the letters and stories that are explained in this series that makes it sublime and different from the rest. Weren’t movies like “Titanic” or “Life is Beautiful” emotionally draining at some point? And yet they were brilliant and everyone still considers them to be true gems in the history of cinema.

So it is with Violet Evergarden, it is very dramatic, very intense, but that is precisely why it is so special.

The characters

The quality of the secondary characters

Before we start talking in detail about the main character, it seems appropriate to make a special mention to the set of secondary characters that are presented to us in each chapter, which are not simple extras that appear in the plot to add drama or reinforce the main story, but each one of them has an importance and a very noticeable meaning in the plot of the series.

This is something that is not seen very often and that we have to appreciate since most anime are dedicated to create endless secondary characters with little plot or realism that only fill gaps in the story and that no one ends up remembering.

In this series, each chapter and each job that Violet has to carry out through her function as an automatic memory doll introduces us to a character that we will get to know deeply and with whom we will manage to connect throughout the 20 minutes that the episode lasts.

Whether it is a young princess who does not want to marry a prince she does not love and who is twice her age, or a sad young man who can not overcome the abandonment of a mother; each of these characters are full of realism, with a sublime characterization and what is more important, they are human.

This means that with each episode, however short it may be, the viewer feels that they have really gotten to know the character they are introduced to, connecting with them and feeling that their plot has a function within the whole story.

As for the more permanent supporting cast, such as Violet’s co-workers Erica and Iris, I found the characters to be just as realistic and convincing as the rest, with the added bonus of adding a more sympathetic and sweet touch to the plot, which is never a bad thing in such a dramatic context.

For their part, characters like Claudia or Benedict, who are Violet’s direct superiors in the office, show us the most tender and paternal side of the series, replacing the absent figure of Gilbert and helping the protagonist to reconcile with herself and learning to trust people again.

Violet: the jewel in the crown

One of the great strengths of this series and at the same time one of its worst defects is the story arc of its protagonist, which evolves favorably throughout the 80 minutes that the series lasts but in an irregular way, and in many occasions too slow.

The series introduces us to a young girl of barely 14 years old with a devastating past who has just discovered that her two arms are now metal prostheses, that her only emotional link had died, and that her future would be linked to a job she did not know if she would be able to carry out.

A beginning like this can only mean that the plot will not stop evolving and taking unexpected turns that lead the protagonist to improve, however during the first three episodes that evolution is barely noticeable and Violet’s cold and distant personality makes the viewer not fully connect with her.

Fortunately, as the series progresses Violet’s personality does too, giving us an amazing transformation of this young former soldier who learns to listen to her heart, while learning to listen and understand the feelings of others; something unthinkable at first for a person who has been dedicated to killing for as long as she can remember.

In conclusion, Violet’s character is possibly the greatest achievement of this production, managing to show a subtle but effective evolution of a cold and distant young woman who manages to connect with her heart and become someone adorable that everyone wants to care for and know.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Violet Evergarden could be defined in two words: elegance and sensitivity. This is one of the few anime that has a soundtrack composed by a non-Japanese composer, being Evan Call the responsible for the beautiful music that only enhances a series that already without sound is impeccable.

The series has a wide variety of themes that you can listen to non-stop and not get tired, predominating in all of them a piece of relaxing and soft music that will gain intensity as the story progresses. The opening is called “Sincerely” is a beautiful song that will fill you with tenderness, as well as the final theme called “Michishirube” composed by Minori Chihara.

However, if we are talking about unforgettable themes, the theme “Never Coming Back” is for me the best of the whole series along with Violet’s main theme, both with a sound that emulates an old music box full of delicacy and tenderness.

The melancholy sound of the violin and piano together is a real beauty that makes this story even more unforgettable.

Art and Animation

As far as the art and animation of this series are concerned, all praise would fall short, and Kyoto Animation spared no expense or effort when it decided to adapt this light novel and created a true marvel of modern animation and anime.

The characterization of the characters has been taken care of to the millimeter, giving them realism and humanism that we can only see in very few mangas.

For its part, all the art that we can see in each chapter is a work of art: clean images full of color and balanced shadows, vibrant backgrounds, and realistic architecture that will immerse you fully in that time and will make you forget that it is a simple postwar animation.

Every character and every setting is unique and designed to be different from the rest, certainly, the production of this series deserves a ten in every way.

Final verdict

The final verdict on this series I think it has already been more than clear throughout the article: a true wonder that I will never tire of recommending and that whenever I have the chance I will watch again.

Violet Evergarden is one of those series that no matter how many times you watch it, because it will always make you connect with its characters and its story, letting you get involved by the beauty of its landscapes, its exquisite soundtrack, and its great plot.

No matter how you look at it, Violet Evergarden will always be a great success.

Give it a chance!