!!extreme spoilers in here!!

Story

Violet Evergarden tells the story of Violet, who heard words on the battlefield that she cannot forget. Those words, the meaning of which she does not yet know, came from someone she loved very much. Some time passed on the continent of Telesis, and the great war that divided it into north and south halves ended, while people welcome a new era. Now that the wounds of young Violet, formerly known as "Weapon", have healed, young Violet is starting a new life in the CH Postal Service. There she came across the profession of "Autonomous Correspondence Assistant" (or Auto Memoir Doll, as it is originally called) and felt the desire to become one herself. Through this work, she hopes to one day be able to understand the words she once heard.

When you think of anime by KyoAni, one thing comes to mind – Slice of Life. This genre is found in all of her series and is also listed here on Violet. I don't even feel it as such - for me this series is a drama in which a girl without emotions gets to know and understand them through her work. I don't see that as everyday life, especially not with a girl without emotions. Although that's not entirely true either, she just doesn't understand them. The first episodes seem a bit long-winded, I'll gladly admit that. A lot of questions arose for me - why was this girl in the war and who is this Major Gilbert who apparently died there (the one who loved her) and which she doesn't really know about. One notices that she is just a soldier. Your way of writing in letters is more like reports from the war, which are very short as these were. But step by step she learns to understand many things, the other dolls in the postal service who also help her a bit and I found the episode in which she had to go to typing school really funny. With her lack of emotion, Violet really looks like a doll and that underlines her job title again very well.

But how are you supposed to hold out here when the first three episodes seem a bit dull? It's part of it, I'd like to think. Without them, many simply wouldn't have worked afterwards. After Violet became a real doll after school, she gradually learns to understand feelings from the many clients and what they can mean. But it also feels bitter, as she sometimes has to write letters for those who lost relatives in the war (some of whose lives she also took). She is also gradually realizing this, even if I never quite understood what kind of world this anime is set in. The writing looks like moon runes and some of the places have German names. Maybe because it's also easier to localize. But that's another topic. Halfway through the anime, we also learn what Violet and Gilbert are all about. The Major once found Violet as an orphan in the war and then took him in with him. She couldn't talk until then and is also an important person for Violet for many reasons. That's why it was always very important to her to receive orders from him, but he didn't see her as a weapon but as a person. The dialogues in this series are pretty good and very well written. After the flashback to Violet Gilbert, there are two more episodes that were at least as sad. They were called "Someone you love will always watch over you" and "I don't want to die like everyone else". Of course the aftermath was good too, but these two were some of the best. The only thing I didn't like was episode 12, in which Violet and other characters from the postal service are traveling with Gilbert's brother Dietfried and a few unpleasant things happen there. Not because they had action. It just didn't really fit me, that's all.

Characters

But to the two episodes mentioned - in the first Violet comes to a sick woman and her child, with whom she should write some letters. The child doesn't like Violet at first because she looks so doll-like and isn't there to play with. She also doesn't understand why her mother wants to write letters to so many people when this girl wants her mother to herself. You had to swallow something when she said that her mother doesn't have to write to anyone anyway because nobody is interested in her and her mother is going to die anyway. And well... the resolution of the whole thing is very sad. (extreme spoiler follows) The mother wrote letters for her child over all the time that she was to receive on her birthdays. Her child was to receive a letter from her for every birthday, even though she was no longer there. Only the aftermath was worse - Violet saved a shot soldier, who is still dying and is brought to safety by her. He therefore asked her to write a letter to his parents and his childhood friend. Violet Evergarden isn't just about Violet learning emotions (and evolving as a result) - she's also learning the purpose of her life and what she wants to live for.

I was interested in Violet's lack of emotion from the start. I was also interested in these arms because I was also interested in how she lost her real ones. When was the last time I saw so much character development in an anime? For 13 episodes this is truly remarkable, otherwise it takes more to engage me. The other characters include the Major and the Post Service people. I don't want to say too much about the former - I'd much rather talk about Hodgins, the red-haired owner of the Post Service. He was a former army commander and I think he is a very kind and warm man. I found the way he took care of Violet very touching, but I also found the leading doll Cattleya quite nice - albeit a bit pale and very poorly lit. The same applies to the other two dolls – there is one who thinks highly of herself and one with glasses who is very shy. Not totally cliche characters, really. But just too sparsely lit.

Drawings & Animations

Even if the story of a KyoAni anime isn't that good, the animations are really always at least better than average. I didn't find one thing here that I found weirdly drawn or found ugly. Somehow all the previously used drawing styles of Kyoto animations were mixed here, I have the feeling.

Even the typewriters had every little detail and the tears weren't as huge as in some other Kyoto Animation series. Did you notice that too? No one sheds such huge tears, no matter how sad the scene is. The animations and drawings in Violet Evergarden were more realistic, despite fantasy elements.

Music & Dubbing

Needless to say much about the OST, this one was great. The opening by True (who also sang all the openings on Hibike Euphonium) is a really powerful and beautiful song. No wonder from her, but for an actually quieter song, the song really has a lot of power. The ending is a bit quieter, Minori Chihara (she sang the opening Kyokai no Kanata, among other things) often has songs that aren't that fast. It was a quiet end to each episode, a very beautiful song in any case.

The german as well as the english dubbing was excellent!
I especially liked Violet's monotonous voice, which was still very cute. But it's more my own point of view, I'd like to think. After all, she's actually only 13-16.

I'm glad Violet Evergarden isn't a super cute story about something everyday. This is a dramatic story that I think is well written and I was very pleased with it. Just this one episode and the few pale characters mean I can't give a full rating here. I would have liked to have been so generous, but it wasn't supposed to be. I didn't find the first episodes as boring as some others and it just helps to persevere here. It's definitely worth it, and I'm clearly not a newbie to anime who's going to be won over by anything. You can be sure of that.