Violet Evergarden Anime Review

So yea, usually I don't like it when people recommend me anime to watch because it just raise the expectation of the anime which can make it less enjoyable for me to watch. Violet Evergarden is one of those anime a lot of my friends actually recommend me to watch, EVEN before the it began to air. I also noticed that there are a lot of hype around this anime in the online community and so, when I decided that I would watch it, my expectations of this anime is off the roof. Let me tell you this, this is the first anime I have watched, that not only meet such a high expectations, it might very well exceed it.

Violet Evergarden follows a story of the titular main character as a person who writes letter for others. It is a heavily character driven story, just as the title suggests, with minimal narrative and more feels. The anime would fall in a Slice of Life genre, if you would ask me, as it tells us Violet's journey over many short stories.

What do I like about the anime?

This anime is without a doubt the most emotional anime I have ever watched. In fact, I believe that every episode is designed in a way to make you cry. The anime successfully manipulates different instances of life where viewers can truly connect in a way or another. I use the word manipulate for a very special reason, particularly due to the fact that some of these events are trivial in our life. However, the anime manage to twists things around, capable of making viewers see events in a different light. Many times it successfully make the viewers get extremely emotional.

Another thing I like about this anime is the character Violet Evergarden herself. The entire anime is a character driven and therefore it heavily relies on how well it can develop its characters, particularly its main character. The anime manage to fulfill this role extremely well in many aspect. Each individual story, or focus, of each episodes are meant to contribute to Violet's development as character. Furthermore, it also become really apparent as each episode progresses, the distinct development and changes the character undergo.

What do I not like about the anime?

Slice of life genre risks of having some boring episodes. It happens in Violet Evergarden but very rarely so. All episodes in Violet Evergarden are emotional, that is without a doubt. However at the same time, it also covers different variety of topics eg. friendship, depression, love, etc. This variety would mean that it may not always appeal to viewers every time, which leads to several boring episodes. For me personally, I feel that the side-stories presented in Violet Evergarden is much more appealing than the main story itself. However it does not mean that the main story itself is bad, rather the fact that there is some presence of this contrast in enjoyment level.

Judgment

Violet Evergarden would be the first ever anime I reviewed in my blog to get an A+. It covers a wide variety of topics and thus appeal to many viewers. The main strength of this anime is without a doubt the ability to invoke emotion to its viewers. Violet Evergarden is capable to build a strong story about the titular character while at the same time maintaining a strong level of emotional interaction with the viewer throughout.

From this point onwards... SPOILERS ALERT!!!

I think this time round I should focus more on why I would want to give this anime an A+, in other words what made this anime so good that it bought my heart. 

Plot

Plot wise, to be fair Violet Evergarden don't exactly have any specific plot. However if I would consider one thing to be a plot, it would be Violet's journey to find the meaning of "love". Violet was a war machine who was forced to fight wars even as a child. As such she became deprived of emotion and particularly she did not understand what love is. This anime covers her journey after the war, and how she wrote letters and connect with people during her journey. While doing so, she unlocked the frozen feeling she had in her heart that is love. She interact with many people of different background whom each have a different story to tell. Slowly, Violet learned variety of emotions through the experiences of these people she met, and through that she gets to learn what love really is. Plot wise I could not exactly see a clear line, particularly due to the fact that it is a character driven story and so the focus shifted heavily on Violet herself. 

Coherence

Some of you might be wondering what is the importance of a coherent story without a plot? It is actually really important in many case. Without a proper plot, coherence is really needed because otherwise it would not be possible to understand the entire story. Violet Evergarden successfully achieve a coherent story, despite having a character as their plot, by utilising the character itself. Throughout Violet's journey, she learned a lot and every time the anime would want to go from one topic to another, they took it really slowly. After a while, you will, in fact realise that there is a pattern on which Kyoto Animation arranged the anime. Usually, an episode would be dedicated to a particular story, then afterwards they can decide to go on to the next story or dedicate the entire episode to cover Violet's story. When I mean Violet's story, I am referring to her story during the war and what made her who she is today. That way, there is always a link between the story of the people she wrote letters for and her background, thus what made their story relevant to Violet. Therefore sometimes, it can even be apparent that the anime is telling two kinds of story, the first being Violet's and the second being the story of the people (the Slice of Life aspect of the anime). This interaction leads to a great character development and therefore, as a character-driven story, a great coherent plot.

Characters

Violet Evergarden

The titular character and the backbone of the entire anime. Violet started off as a war machine devoid of emotion and this story tells her recovery back into the girl she was supposed to be. Throughout the anime, the character Violet is greatly developed. In fact the anime relies heavily on her character, otherwise it will fail. As I have previously mentioned, she played a huge role in bringing the plot and coherence together. The anime without a doubt has one of the best character development ever. It took its time to introduce Violet as a character, the struggle she have throughout her life as well as the struggle she was having. Many times we were shown the merciless, devoid individual Violet is at the beginning of the anime, and slowly how she bloomed into a kind-hearted girl who served others. I couldn't be telling Violet's entire character background because that would basically mean me retelling the entire anime. So, you should really watch it yourself.

Effects

Kyoto Animations is definitely one of the studio that could rival ufotable in terms of animation in general. I am a huge fan of ufotable and to be honest I may be a bit biased towards them at some instances, but there are reasons for that, mainly because I feel that the artwork made by other studios aren't as smooth and appealing as ufotable's (and of course there's their lighting effect, water and their 3D works). Kyoto Animations proved me wrong. Kyoto Animations gave me a new light with the fact that there are indeed some studio out there that can provide a clear, smooth art of the characters. Furthermore, the way they animate their water in episode 7, is clear that they do possess a technique that rivals or even beat ufotable's. Once again I apologised for being slightly biased here on ufotable, but the fact that Kyoto Animations are presenting their work on par with ufotable's just proves that Violet Evergarden indeed has one of the best animation out there.

Music wise it will make you cry, definitely. Music plays a huge part on emotions (look at Angel Beats! Ichiban no takaramono) and Violet Evergarden utilises it effectively. Many times you will feel unable to stop crying even if the anime is over, mainly because of that ending song which works magic. Soundtrack wise it also successfully brings the feeling of hope, love, and of course, family which is the heavy topics in this anime. Overall a great work!

Emotions

The strength of this anime, definitely without a doubt, hands down. The amount of emotions invoked by this anime is, as of now, unrivaled by any other I had watched. I want to emphasise on the fact that the emotions occurs not because of the events of the story. It could occur if you are sensitive in nature, but most importantly, it is emotional because the anime connects greatly into our lives. The anime brought up issues about relationship really well, be it a couple's relationship or a family relationship. For me personally, anything that has something to do with family will affect me the most. Watching Violet Evergarden, a particular scene might just spare you some tears, but the real downpour occurs when at the same time it invoked the thoughts of people dear to you. For example in episode 5 or 10, your mom or your caretaker. When it happens, it is almost impossible to contain the emotion. 

If I would choose three best moments in this anime, I would give the third place to a scene in Episode 5, depicting a farewell between a princess and her caretaker. Followed by the Parasol Scene in episode 7, and the best scene in Violet Evergarden would be, without a doubt in episode 10. I don't even know what to say about episode 10 other than, perfection.