Common Name: Violet Evergarden
Score: 9/10, 5/5
Length: 13 Episodes
Genre: Drama, Military, Political, Slice of Life
Summary: Following the aftermath of a four-year-long, bloody war, a young girl known only as Violet has been left crippled and purposeless. During this war, Violet was little more than a child that was warped into a mindless killing machine wholly dedicated to nothing but the orders of her commanding officer and surrogate father, Gilbert Bourgainvillea. A life of war was the last thing Gilbert wanted for his young ward, however. So, before his death, Gilbert arranged for Violet to be cared for by distant relatives and an old friend from the war, Claudia Hodgins, who has since opened a post office. Unable to settle down or do anything without orders, Violet is hired by Hodgins as an Auto Memories Doll, a scribe able to translate a person's true feelings into a letter at their request. Still unable to properly express herself, let alone understand the feelings of other, secret or otherwise, Violet has a great deal of work and personal growth ahead of her. But first, Violet must learn what Major Gilbert meant when he said he loved her just before his assumed death.
Review: At once emotional and muddled, Violet Evergarden is a work I have half the mind to call it a masterpiece while the other half recognizes that it is nothing short of a miracle that this story works in the first place. To call the various issues that riddle the series problematic does not begin to do justice to how innately flawed this work is at the very core. Yet, at the same time, it is, hands-down, one of the most emotional and captivating works I have ever seen, reaching a level of tear-jerking I have only suffered from works like AnoHana, Your Lie in April, and Clannad After Story. So, like with so many shows that just nearly get it perfect, I'm once again of two minds with this show and its story. Were I to judge this work purely on its emotional power and resonance, I'd call it a 10 without any hesitation or regret. But to do so wouldn't really do this work justice. As important as emotional resonance is, it cannot and should not be the key factor when judging a work. No, above all else, you need to have a compelling or meaningful story with an equally well-thought-out and varied cast of characters. All of which this show does possess, so long as you ignore the fact that the main character and namesake of this whole endeavor did not receive the same level of quality and thought the rest of the show's cast enjoyed, including its many one-off, side story characters.
As much as I love and understand Violet, she is the biggest problem with this show.
Were I to try and dodge around this point, I'd be inclined to make the same point that I've seen a few others make in defense of this show--claiming that, in spite of the name, this story isn't actually about the character known as Violet Evergarden. While there is a grain of truth to that sentiment, it cannot really stand up to scrutiny when the main push of the show is the emotionally fraught and distressing character arc that Violet undergoes as she slowly learns how to become a human being, having been seen as nothing but a weapon until now. On the whole, however, it is worth noting that Violet's story is not this show's only story. Rather, much like the episodic Kino's Journey, this show is a collection of stories that are all tied together by Violet's role in them and how they influence her growth. Along with that through line, though, there is one other consistent theme that ties all these stories together. It is, incidentally, this second theme that births that defensive argument that this show isn't so much about Violet as it is about how Violet's story and all the others play into this other through line. I am, of course, referring to the overall theme of what happens to a nation and the people left behind at the end of a war. Again, tempting as is might be to let myself slip into this defense and call this show a masterpiece because of how well the show handles this particular theme, I cannot and will not give this show an easy out. After all, biased as this thought may be, I think it deserves far better than that kind of half-assed critique.
Seeing how large a role the war plays in Violet's story, though, you can be sure
I'll go into my feelings on that secondary theme at length later on.
So, as I said, the main push of this show's plot is the slow and gradual development of Violet's character, acclimatizing her to civilian life after the way. To make this process relatively simple, Violet begins the show, for all intents and purposes, very nearly from square one. In terms of emotional abilities and language skills, Violet is little more than a robot that is only able to matter-of-factly express the simplest of thoughts. Frustrating as this initial characterization might be, it is made abundantly clear that her stunted emotional skills are, in large part, the direct result of to her role in the war as a child soldier. Needing as many willing and capable soldiers as possible, the kingdom of Leidenschaftlich worked to train feelings and free will out of their soldiers to make them more effective killing machines. For a child still developing a personality and the ability to empathize with others, it figures that it might be easier and more practical to turn children into combat-capable, emotionless monsters. So, it makes an unfortunate kind of sense that Violet would begin this series as that same emotionless robot she was trained to be as she is, once again, forced to adapt to a whole new lifestyle as a civilian.
In other words, she has a long road ahead of her.
It is worth noting, however, that her stunted emotional and social skills are not the only crutch Violet has been burdened with now that the war is over. On top of these mental deficiencies, Violet also suffered the loss of her arms in her last battle, which have been replaced with what basically amounts to Fullmetal Alchemist's automail limbs at the show's start. Though these new limbs are difficult to control and temperamental at first, Violet does eventually gain enough skill to use them just as well as, if not better than, those she lost. More importantly, however, the main thing that Violet lost at the end of the war was her driving force. No longer a member of the military and separated from Major Gilbert, her CO and surrogate father, she has no orders to follow and thus is left adrift with no idea where to go from here or how to even start moving without someone demanding it of her. To make the loss of her guiding force in this world all the more tragic, though, Violet is wholly unaware that Major Gilbert is most likely dead. Though the official records state that he is MIA, the rest of the cast reasonably assumes that he died from the injuries he sustained in the same battle that claimed Violet's arms. Realizing that informing her of his passing would only harm her and might even destroy what little will to live she possesses at this point, her new guardian, Lt. Colonel Claudia Hodgins, decides to hide this fact from her, both for her sake and his.
And so we finally come to this show's first supporting character and the slow realization that
Violet's depth of character pales in comparison despite being the main character.
Seeing how Violet is still incapable of functioning in society and is generally unwilling to do so without the same kind of military authority she was trained to obey, Lt. Hodgins offers her a place to live and work at his post office. Considering her natural skill to function as if she were a machine, her initial role as a mail carrier and sorter is a perfect fit for her, but it is abundantly clear that she will never truly grow or get better in this line of work. So, upon seeing one of the mail service's Auto Memory Dolls effortlessly understand the words and feelings of a client, turning those feelings into a letter to be sent to the intended recipient, Violet immediately becomes obsessed with this new role. This obsession and newfound direction are primarily born, however, from a desperate need to understand something Major Gilbert told her before they were separated that she did not understand at the time and still cannot process: "Live...and be free. From the bottom of my heart, I love you." Seeing how she lacks the emotional capacity to understand such a seemingly simple declaration, it is fairly clear that Violet utterly lacks the skills to be an Auto Memory Doll. Even though her new arms give her the skills to type at a speed no one can rival, she lacks the ability to see into the heart of a person and turn their false words and hidden feelings into a letter, the primary skill and purpose of a Doll. Still, seeing the good this hard path will do for her in the long run, Gilbert assigns her the role of his post office's fourth Auto Memory Doll, sending her off to be properly trained for the special assignments that she might be uniquely qualified to assist with.
And so begins Violet's new and difficult life as an Auto Memory Doll and
the best means to help those who have similarly suffered from the war.
With the basic premise of the show finally established, the true nature of this show begins to unfold as Violet gains more an more experiences out in the world, slowly learning to relate to and eventually empathize with those she meets. Though her jobs are rarely consistent, they all work to inform us of the nature of this world, the effects of the war, and the truth of what happened to Violet during that war. In the interest of not giving away the entirety of the show's plot and main point of intrigue, I will simply say that, from this point on, Violet Evergarden does a fantastic job looking at all the minute details of this world and its situation from a number of different angles that make it surprisingly easy to get invested in its future. More than that, though, it creates a cast of characters that are immediately understood to be complex and uniquely dysfunctional individuals. Through interacting with these people and observing the suffering they've endured, Violet develops an understanding of her own suffering, harm she's done to this world, and even the potential harm she is still doing just because she lived when so many did not.
It's a strange thing to realize that by trying to good for one person, you may be doing harm to others.
That's how deep this show's unique brand of philosophy gets at times and it is flawlessly expressed.
Once these truths are revealed to Violet, the series understandably takes a very dark turn. At this moment, we and Violet alike can finally look back on her past, see the truth of her current situation, and realize just how much the war and the losses she has suffered have damaged her. As she faces this darkness within and around her, though, Violet comes to realize that, in spite of all her growth, she still has not changed. She is still far from fulfilling Major Gilbert's dying wish--his final command for her to live and be free. She still requires another person's orders to function in this world. So, Violet is reborn once more as an Auto Memory Doll. This time, however, she takes up the role not because it is something other people want and expect of her, but because it is what she actively wants to do. Because of this subtle shift in her drive and understanding of who she is and what she wants to be, Violet's character arc is all but complete as she fully gains the understanding and ability to become a true Auto Memory Doll. More than that, though, I don't think it'd be far off to call her a proper hero character. After all, she becomes a person able to bring about good to the world by seeing the heart of it and its people and transcribing those true feelings for those who need them most, making the world a better and more honest place.
The only thing she's missing is the ability to properly emote.
As I said before, though, the road to that eventual development is not an easy one. Rather, it's honestly pretty bumpy and full of so many holes that it's fairly easy to derail this emotional roller coaster. Though I will sing this show's praises until the end of days, I can definitely see where some of its critics are coming from when they call Violet Evergarden unbearably slow and boring, particularly if people are determined to follow Violet's story. Sensible as her situation might be, it's just a point of fact that Violet isn't truly a character until the plot's final arc, at which point Violet has taken total control over her own life. Up until then, she is little more than a wet blanket of a protagonist whose only purpose is to mop of the tears we shed as we watch every other character go through their heartbreakingly difficult lives, soaking them up until the time comes for her to finally face her own heartbreaking traumas. In fact, the only reason Violet's dramatic arc works as well as it does is purely because the show built her to be a dam of emotions. In every early interaction and struggle, Violet simply goes through things with her nearly robotic personality, effectively collecting and holding those same feelings we felt within herself. Story after story those emotions build up until, eventually, the dam breaks as she breaks under the weight of her own suffering, letting those emotions flow in one, great torrent.
Again, without going into great detail, let's just say the show's done a great job building up
a lot of emotions for the moment when Violet's emotional dam breaks.
Genius as that idea might sound and is when it works, the simple fact of that matter is that it won't always work 100% of the time. For this show and its emotional drama with Violet to work at all, all the stories up to that point need to strike some amount of emotional resonance. If it can't do that, then there are no emotions built up behind that dam and the whole impact of Violet's arc flooding you with all the emotions all over again will only feel hollow and empty. Then, to make the matter worse, if you miss out on those feelings, the entirety of Violet's dramatic arc turns into little more than a nonsensical, cobbled together mess that's filled with nothing but incomplete thoughts and plot holes. If you're caught up in the emotions, it's easy to miss these problems, but if you aren't then they aren't hard to miss. The most notable among these is the simple fact that Violet does not have a backstory before joining the Major's side. Sure, she's found, captured, and enlisted into the army under threat of death by Gilbert's brother, but there is no reason or explanation given as to why how they crossed paths in the first place. Once issues like that emerge, it becomes easy to pick apart this show for its numerous offenses of taking control out of Violet's hands in a way that could be easily seen as sexist in nature, given that all the authority figures in Violet's life are men. One of the most egregious of these is a moment when she basically asks for permission to keep living even though she's already come to realize that she's the only one who can decide that. So, unfortunately, it's very easy to criticize this show once you realize the numerous flaws of Violet's character, even if those flaws were intentional from the start.
I'd be remiss to not mention the myriad issues that come with the fact that most of Violet's motivations are born from
her connection to a man who was all at once her owner, father, superior officer, and romantic interest.
Beyond the flaws with Violet's character, however, I have very little to complain about with this show. On top of fairly and believably expressing the horrors and aftermath of war on every social level, I think it can just be said that Violet Evergarden is a fantastic military story in its own right. While there have been many shows that feature a character that suffers from PTSD following their time in a war, I cannot think of any that express the traumas and hardships that afflict an entire nation after such a bloody conflict. There are so many unsung laments and untold stories that come with such horrible eventualities that this show is entirely dedicated to expressing. While I can't say whether or not this show is accurate in its depictions, I've seen and read multiple accounts that claim that it at least has the right idea. So, crazy as it might sound, this show manages to capture the essence of the damage war inflicts on civilians and soldiers alike. In no way does it fetishize the light and dark of that world or make it seem even remotely desirable. Rather, it takes the proper approach that it is an unfortunate inevitability filled with so many shades of the human condition that it's nearly impossible to truly tell right from wrong in all that chaos.
In Violet's case, though, the greater, burning question is which result is worse:
dying a victim or living with the guilt of what you did.
Flawed as it might be, I will always look at Violet Evergarden as if it were a perfect masterpiece. It managed to move me in ways that few things have before. While I know that feeling might not be true for everyone who watches it, I think it's well worth the time and effort. Even if you cannot relate to the drama of this title, I'd say it's worth the experience alone. After all, if the story doesn't grab you, I'm sure a particular character will at some point. If nothing else works though, I can absolutely recommend this title just for its artistic value. Gorgeous visuals. Fantastic soundtrack. An OP and ED that wrenches tears from my soul the same way the Dango family song from Clannad still does. To be blunt, I'll look for any opportunity to recommend this show that I can get and that alone should say enough about how I feel.