The original Violet Evergarden has always been a cheesy anime drama about realistic-anime-looking girl who seeks out the meaning of love from other's lives and experiences. Most of the conflicts there get played out quick as though Violet's episodes of PTSD aren't that significant, though for a good reason. The series made us through Violet's healing process by seeing her ghostwriting letters for those who can't express their thoughts clearly into words, and with that we can see just how careful the entire direction to bring Violet better and how empathetic Violet can be when she's slowly releasing herself from life at war, life as a tool, a child soldier groomed by Diethard and soon after got taken by Gilbert.
While this movie still has that moment of cheesiness with the Hollywood-ish orchestra and strange anime characters mannerism, it also brings out other things we probably missed throughout the previous series: that Violet is an ex-child soldier with genuine trauma, and she might still has it even after the series is over. She occasionally has her series of flashbacks, still waiting for her never returning ex-Major who gave her the love she needs despite using her as a tool of war, which not surprisingly also gives Gilbert a personal trauma. They are both wounded by each other's actions without ever having an intention to do so. This movie explores that series of trauma with a high noted drama that still feels respectful to real life, and how both party tries to reconcile with their condition by doing something that they really want to do but so afraid because they don't want to rub more salt to each other's wounds: expressing the deeply desired, broken yet pure, yet honest, love.
This movie turned all the cheesiness from the original series from what you originally called as "flaws" into "depth", and made you think just how cruel you were to say Violet's healing process as a mere shallow drama. It also used the cheesiness to give much needed gravitas to the main conflict, similar to what Kyoto Animation did to Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya 10 years prior, but with less radical cinematography and more human drama. The sakuga that plays out as the character's moving act was so breathtaking and more subtle than many other live action movies I've ever seen. It's easy to nitpick the movie at first until you realized the intention of those flaws for the overall experience you get.
Kyoto Animation truly has rose again after the unfortunate incident two years before, and I'm so glad to see how they haven't missed their marks with this movie.
Thank you, Kyoto Animation. If the production of anime ever ends, I hope it ends beautifully with your remarkable legacy.
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