Violet Evergarden Review "Minor Spoilers" Synopsis: Violet Evergarden, a living tool used by the military force whose purpose is to bring destruction upon her enemies. After the war, she lost both of her arms, and was asked to join Claudia Hodgins in his postal company. She becomes an auto memories doll that assists their clients by writing letters for them. During her journey as an auto memories doll, she starts to understand emotions and feelings from the people she meets.

Story:
The story of Violet Evergarden is not something we really see in the anime industry. It is about a 14-year-old girl who has been obeying every command from her father figure, Gilbert Bougainville, who adopted her and became her guardian. The story sets up in an era of crisis, where two countries fought over each other until a successful assault from Violet's team that ended the war once and for all. As a result, it also cost the life of Gilbert which she did not find out during her early times in the postal company. Yet, despite Violet having a mysterious background, we never really discover who she really is. The only detail we know from this anime is that she is an emotionless killing machine who can not comprehend emotions. I personally think her character traits is unoriginal, but the things she has encounter has made her surprisingly more unique. The issue I have with this anime is that it focuses everything on Violet, and plenty of the side characters felt unnecessary to the storyline. Throughout the series, we've seen her grow bits of emotions that makes her more likable each episode, which is a shame because she will be the only character you actually care for. Since the anime follows more of an episodic style, most characters never return after one episode. The ones that actually returns, are never really relevant to her storyline anymore. In spite of that, those characters help Violet improve as a human being. As for the pacing of this anime, it is a real mix bag. Because this anime being episodic, we don't really have time to develop feelings for the side characters because of their lack of screen time. Some episodes can feel incredibly well paced and some just feels awfully rushed. Despite all that, you'd still understand the motivation behind all these characters really well. As for the final arc of the story, it really was a bummer because that is where the pacing just went overboard. It also kind of setup a sequel and doesn't at the same time which really bothers me because I do want to know more about Violet's journey.

Characters:
Every single client Violet has encountered is really well written and relatable. I personally like the anime more when she interacts with her clients and help them out with their letters. It really deepens Violet's character even if she acts like a machine, she is not perfect herself. However, like I said in my previous paragraph, these characters never return and the show ends up being Violet meeting new people over and over again. Until the final few episodes where she uncovers the death of Gilbert is incredibly heart wrecking after all the emotions she learns from her client. Even so, the side characters she works with inside her company really does not stand out. I literally do not remember any of their names because of how irrelevant they are excluding Hodgins. I only remember them by the generic reckless boy, women with cleavage, tomboy, and geeky. Yes, this is how outstanding they are. Despite how dull the characters in the company is, it is the client who Violet confront that lifts this show.

Art/ Animation/:
I'll be lying to myself if I said this anime isn't as pretty as Shinkai Makoto's work, because it is. Kyoto Animation has always been the top of the food chain when it comes to animation and art style, not once have they fail to impress me. As a matter of fact, Violet Evergarden is arguably the most beautiful anime I've seen in the past decade. Almost every single frame in this anime are wallpaper worthy. It almost felt like they had an unlimited budget work, it is ridiculous considering this is a 13 episode anime series. Being one of the most beautiful anime I've ever watch, it still has some little flaws in it. For example, whenever a character is seen from far away, they tend to go lazy with their faces where almost all studios do it. Above all, there is one thing I feel like KyoAni never really gets it right. The choreography of the fighting sequences in Violet Evergarden is extremely odd and disorientated. Sometimes when a person gets shot, their body was motionless and it felt incredibly weird for me to watch his awkward action. These cases are only near the end of the series, thus it really kills the immersion of the anime for me. Other then that small nitpicking, there is really nothing wrong with KyoAni's cinematography and color palette. As for the character designs, I personally have to say Violet is the prettiest anime character I have ever seen. Totally waifu material. All other characters have unique design traits but because of how pretty Violet is, there isn't really much to say about them.

Sound/ Voice Acting/ Music
I think its finally time to give Ishikawa Yui the award for being the best robotic voice actress. From Mikasa (Attack on Titan) to 2B (Nier: Automata) and now Violet, she was able to grasp the tone of an emotionless person and slowly developing them into characters we care and sympathize with. As for the other characters, they do not have enough screen time for me to actually evaluate since they barely develop like how Violet does. Nevertheless, Japanese voice actors are always top-notched, especially from a studio like KyoAni. The opening music is what I expected and I liked it. And for the ending song, I personally dislike it because I don't like phony voices, on the other hand, I really like the slow rhythm of the piano. Last but not least, the soundtrack. I honestly cannot recall any soundtracks that are placed during the anime. Even though the soundtrack may fit its theme and tone, it doesn't really imprint them into my memories. Usually, from such big budget animes like Violet Evergarden, I tend to remember them more of their soundtracks, but this time I do not really know why I can't really call to mind of it. Perhaps the volume was too low when I was watching it? This answer will probably never be answered until I decide to rewatch it. Still, I decide to search for the soundtracks, they are actually really memorable now. Weird that I didn't really notice them in the first place.

Enjoyment:
I'd be honest, I wasn't that into the anime when it was airing. Regardless of how beautiful the animation is, it does not mean the writing is as good. I actually forgot about the anime after episode 3. Eventually, I still finish this anime after the season. But this does not mean I didn't enjoy it, there are moments in the series where I felt like my heart being torn into pieces and moments where I feel tremendously proud of what Violet has become. However, there are still moments that make me take out my phone and scroll 9gag. To end in a high note, this is an anime that deserves the praise for its well polished art and complex character development of their main protagonist. It is definitely one of the good anime out there.