Violet Evergarden

Introduction:
Animated poetry is perfectly illustrated with a post war story of a young girl in search of a way to
clearly express her emotions through writing letters. Get ready with your tissue; better yet, a box would
suffice. The grand prize in the fifth Kyoto Animation Award's novel category in 2014, Violet
Evergarden, will grasp your heart to feel pain in ways you have never before. This series has caught the
hearts of many anime lovers and anime rookies that have yet to find that spark to love anime. Sharing
my review on this series, or more intensely on the last episode, will not only give a great self
satisfaction but also self-realization as I depict a clearer picture of how my emotions were kindled
while watching the series. Though I would strongly advise those who are still weak at heart, be wary.
This may just crush your heart into countless pieces. Watch at your own risk!

As we journey alongside Violet, we start to absorb her sentiments. Sentiments that may have seemed
so vague but as we progress into the series, we clearly realize it was just all misunderstood. With her
uncanny doll-like appearance, she begins her post-war life as an auto-memory doll. Women, we now
call secretaries. With people lacking the education to write or the ability to convey their feelings to
words, these "dolls" are what puts the client's words on paper. Unexpectedly, life takes her on a path
where she will meet people who also struggled to find words to share their thoughts and emotions. Her
hopes become our hopes, and her dreams are now making us doubt how honest our perception of love
has always been. As we go along with her on an amazing tear-jerking life's journey, we unexpectedly
fall in love with our nonchalant main character, Violet Evergarden.

To give a back story of the final episode, we finally see the end of a long stretched out war. Though
there was still some resistance in pursue to disrupt the peace, the treaty was sealed, and the last attempt
to ruin the peace is now futile.

Episode 13 opens with a fierce, on top of the train action, where violet finally shows that she is now the
woman her late beloved Major wished she could be. A strong Independent woman. But now his
brother (Major Gilbert's brother) fights alongside Violet and sees for himself, the "new" Violet. It took
the Major tears and frustration to really express his thought to violet who lacked empathy, and now, she
has found herself and what she really feels. Episode after episode, we see violet struggling to find that
foothold for her emotions. Growing up on the battlefield has almost made her a fighting robot.
Emotions were out of the picture. Fight to stay alive, or die. Under the command of Major Gilbert,
Violet has fought countless battles, survived, and saved many people. She is a fearless, emotionless,
and lost little girl; or so many would say. Major Gilbert was an exemption. He willingly took her under
his wings, which has now lead him to feel distraught when seeing her in so much danger and just
risking her life to protect him and the soldiers of the Country.

In this episode, we were set up to feel that she might just never get her happy ending we all wanted for
her. It's an ending that makes you want to read even the manga to see a glimpse of the possibility of her
happiness being put true. Words have so much meaning, and so much can be expressed by words. Fate
has taken a very unusual turn for the young teenager and now she has blossomed into this beautiful
strong, and dependable woman that now saves lives by choice, not like the military dog she was during
the war. This anime's action scenes are at par with any major action anime you can think of at the top of
your head. What makes it just a little bit more appealing to a broader group of audience, is the beautiful
love story. Each episode unfolds details that take the already climatic episode to another stratosphere.

Closing the series, we witness a beautiful epiphany of words. Words that were always there, but were
always vaguely expressed. With the upcoming air-show, where they will release the letters that don't
have a recipient (anymore), Violet feels inclined to finally write her first letter. Being an auto memory
doll (a secretary), she has always had the knack to type other people's feelings for them with words that
pierce your heart pleasantly. But she always struggled to write about how she felt for the now missing
or most possibly dead, Major. Though she struggled, she came to finishing the letter. This letter taps
into every emotion we have been waiting for from violet. The episode closes with Violet's voiceover
reading the letter and showing the most recent activities of the people Violet met throughout the season.
The impact of violet's words has gone deeper than she knows. The people she has helped are now in
places better than before they met her.

Episode after episode has brought me to tears, and I would highly advise watching this series alone
because it does make you ugly cry at almost every schmaltzy scene. The storyline not only revolves
around an almost impossible love but also a love that I have never seen so well depicted in anime. I'm a
loser for love stories, but this has to be on top of my list of must-watch romantic animes. What makes it
really vacillating is that it doesn't even have a main male lead that can complete the love story that we
can gush about.

Flashbacks are the only glimpses we get about how violet's love began and grew. Some scenes were
repeated and at first, you would think to yourself, that this scene seemed familiar. But as you continue
watching, each familiar scene is amplified with specific details the artists or the director added. It may
be a twinkle in the eye, or a sentence that is now audible, or a simple smile that is now seen, that just
makes you fall in love with the character even more; it makes you see how true their love was. The
perfect accompaniment of the instruments at a very notable scene amplifies the moment. Evan Call
(the music director) has called this his labor of love. And it shows nothing else BUT love. He seems to
know how to just draw you into the emotions that you can't simply put into words. I am incredibly in
awe with how minimal the script was but so much more was into the artistry of the anime. Don't get
me wrong, Reiko Yoshida did amazing. When I say a minimal script, I mean the script only had what
needed to be said. And each word came out like poetry. In this last episode, the icing was neatly
decorated on the cake. The most beautiful letter made yet, by Violet herself, closes the series.

If this anime was created to make people's eyes swell or more towards the business side of selling
tissue, they sure were successful. I would rate this anime 9.7 only because of the slow start. BUT with
patience, the story builds on more quickly on later episodes, then hit's you like a ton of golden love
dust. I have recommended this anime to many people, not only because I love the storyline, but mainly
because of the perfect combination of artistry, musicality, poetry, and well, LOVE. Though the title
doesn't sound too appealing for those just looking around for something to watch, the story-line is
otherwise. Don't let another day pass without watching this anime! :)