User Reviews

After hearing many excellent things about Violet Evergarden, I finally started watching the series. I can't say much about the entire anime after watching only one episode, but so far I like it quite a lot.

The animation style is lovely. The soundtracks fits perfectly. The direction is truly excellent. The English voice actors seem to be doing a good job, though I cannot tell how they compare to the Japanese ones.

I'm not sure yet how the story unfolds, but so far I like it. There is none of the anime-typical oversexualisation (yet), which I'm very much in favour of. It is not as weird as other excellent anime (Puella Magi Madoka Magica comes to mind, for example). There is little action, exclusive to the flashbacks which are set during wartime. All in all, it seems to be very heartfelt, combining themes like non-human sapient beings (?), post-war reintegration of soldiers, the meaning of love, etc.. It's a very calm and thoughtful show so far.

The first episode of Violet Evergarden - and, with it, the entirety of the series - opens with a flashback. A young girl clad in a soldier's uniform, her blonde hair unkempt, has stopped in the middle of a street market. Her eyes are pools of starlight. She is Violet, the protagonist. She has spotted an emerald brooch, and its green colour matches the eyes of her companion, Major Gilbert Bougainvillea - or so she tells him.

If this introduction seems flowery and ornate, or the choice of names has you raise an eyebrow, you are not wrong. Violet Evergarden very quickly establishes itself as picturesque and sentimental, with its characters making declarations, falling into despair, and generally acting in the Romanticist tradition. As with any respectable Japanese anime, the larger plot is pre-occupied with war: the events are taking place in its direct aftermath, while the flashbacks date to the battle days.

Stylistically and thematically, Violet Evergarden very much reminds one of Hagane no renkinjutsushi (2009), both in the setting and the challenges faced by the protagonist. At the same time, it is a very pretty anime: the landscapes, the views of the city, food, plants - all brings to mind the most famous Studio Ghibli productions, with the caveat that saturation levels have been cranked up to eleven.

The introductory episode poses many questions, some of them internal to the narrative (is the Major alive?), some, external (how developed is technology in this quasi-European world of not quite 1918?). Violet, the heroine, shares some of the confusion the viewer might feel. Let's see what happens next.

I dithered for a long time before taking the plunge and watching this series. After having been burned many times in the past with seemingly good anime's only to discover something which was barely watchable, I have to say this series is not one of them. The animation is excellent as is the dialog, which considering it's a translation very impressive. I will go back to the Japanese version one day to check how accurate the translation is, but so far nothing in the first episode make no sense, so I suspect we have an example of excellent storytelling and good translation. While common with many Japanese anime, the first episode starts the story arc presenting the viewers with a lot of mysteries and questions. Violet is not a normal human, but we have no idea what she actually is. She is organic, but lacks a wide range of emotions. We know she is an effective killing machine, but the story does not dwell on that aspect too much. The viewer will need to watch the series to discover all the answers, which makes for a compelling story line. The secondly trope is Violet has been badly injured in the last war, losing both arms and having them replaced with mechanical Adamantite steel arms and hands. She covers these with gloves, so for the most part looks normal. Her commanding officer, who she had some feelings for, was killed in the war. This is a powerful cocktail of emotions and self-discovery. After watching episode 1 I cannot but recommend this series and I hope I can say that when I complete the series.