Name: The emotional finale to a girl's long journey to find what "I love you" means for others, and for herself.
Item: Violet Evergarden: the Movie
Rating: 90
Author: CabbagePanda

Waifra

The emotional finale to a girl's long journey to find what "I love you" means for others, and for herself. · Waifora

!DISCLAIMER!
For me, this was a 10/10 movie, for me.
Objectively, I would rate this no less than an 8/10, and I will explain both.

Summary

Violet Evergarden is a series that is known to lovingly wring the hearts of all who watches, and the same can be said of its extras. The main storyline follows a young girl who lived her early years as a fighter, but now that she has no reason to fight, she writes letters for others. Violet Evergarden: the Movie can be seen as either a spin-off or a sequel as it follows Violet's time after the series ended but told through the descendant of a past customer. The movie takes us through quite the whirlwind of emotions on its way to a good, solid ending. I'm not going to lie, I cried so much more than I thought I would.Plot

Personal score: 9/10
Objective score: 7/10
There's an awful lot going on in this movie, a little bit more than could fit comfortably in just 2 hours and 20 minutes straight. There are three scenarios being played out, the sub-plot of Daisy Magnolia's quest, Yuris's inevitable death, and the reuniting of Violet with, surprise, Gilbert. Obviously, with this much happening, it's going to be difficult to fit everything together smoothly. This was one of the few things I think the movie struggled with and there could have been some improvements to the flow of the story. There was a clash between Yuris's story and Gilbert's that probably would have been better separated even if it meant undermining the importance of the reunion by some. All of this isn't to say that the plot was bad, it certainly wasn't, but it could've been better.

What stood out and made the plot tie up together neatly was the emphasis on being able to convey your feelings to a person/people while you still can. Yuris wanted to leave his love for his family, Violet wanted more than anything to tell Gilbert her feelings, and even Daisy in the end wrote to her parents. It really delved deep into human emotions and a sense of connection that anyone could relate to. All of these resolutions were connected one after the other and made it all make sense in the end.

Character Development

Personal score: 10/10
Objective score: 9/10
Let me just say right now that Dietfried was the best character to change and grow throughout the entire movie and he has a significantly higher place in my heart than Gilbert. This can be both my personal opinion or the truth, you can choose. Not only did he grow as a person, but his role as a brother was also expanded more than ever. Gilbert, on the other hand, really went through the guilt grinder for quite a large portion of the movie.

Yes, Gilbert was the most angering character. To me, this made him become more human and less like the idolized figure Violet often thought of him as. His guilt was expressed a bit in the main series, but the movie is really where we got to see Gilbert as himself and through his eyes. It doesn't really excuse him for making Violet stand in the rain for who knows how long and making her cry, but there's his explanation. For those who didn't understand his motives behind not visiting or leaving the island, please read the light novels or watch it again.

We also got to see a lot of Claudia's (Hodgin's) emotions and protectiveness over Violet, as well as seeing him start to let go. I cried a little more when he turned to Violet and she wasn't there. Violet also grew into herself more, but since she's the main character and all, her development speaks for itself.

Animation and Music

Personal score: 10/10
Objective score: 10/10
KyoAni left my expectations in the dust. I spent a lot of time crying just because of how beautiful the art was, as well as the music. The art style changed just a bit, but it's barely noticeable, especially when everything else looks better than it ever could in real life. The sea waves under the moonlight? Done to absolute perfection. The music was also so amazingly composed to suit every emotion in the movie. If I hadn't cried before the end credits, I definitely would have upon hearing that song.

Overall ScoresPersonal: 10/10
I thought that this was the perfect way to close the book on such a wonderful story. While I could have gone without watching the movie and still have been satisfied, this just made my heart a little more whole. I didn't find the plot confusing at all and I really appreciated that Daisy was Ann's granddaughter. The connections between people that lived past their time were really well portrayed. I loved this movie.

Objective: 8/10
It's always going to be incredibly difficult to piece together three different stories, almost no one is going to get it 100% perfect. I think the producers struggled a lot with the plot and it showed enough to get a slew of interesting reviews. While there were a few more minor flaws, the plot stood out the most and made the most impact on scores. To understand the movie better, I suggest those who disliked it read the light novels or watch it again. A lot of things are explained that I see a lot of people look over and then complain about.

Spoiler, click to view

This is my second anime review ever. I wrote this at 1 in the morning. I feel like it's too much and at the same time not enough, but I still want to share my thoughts on what I thought was a great movie. I also think that some people really let the movie down by not taking the time to try to understand it. Just a reminder that fiction is just an accumulation of human emotions put into words, it can't be perfect.