_“♫♫♫ When you try your best but you don’t succeed…
When you get what you want, but not what you need… ♫♫♫”_

Emotions play a powerful part in storytelling; holding the capacity to tell more through expressions than words could ever hope to achieve. Furthermore, the degree of sentimentality and pathos one feels when watching is able to override any logical fallacies or flaws a story may have. Because of their poignant effect, these “feels” are often used and abused by anime to hide a plethora of writing problems underneath obvious emotional manipulation on the viewers. But whilst there are shows that come off mawkish and melodramatic, there are certainly those where sentiment is deserved. Violet Evergarden is the most recent anime that struck a chord with the community, practically built as a masterpiece before the first episode was even released and I could see why: an award-winning light novel getting an adaptation by Kyoto Animation – a studio adored for their gorgeous art style and animation – sounds like a perfect match to many. But does Violet Evergarden live up to its expectations? And, perhaps more importantly, is the emotional ride warranted?

Violet Evergarden follows a titular young girl whose purpose was to be nothing more than a weapon bred for war; a dog of the military, actions akin to a beast fighting for survival. She was never taught how to speak, write or communicate at all, only to kill. Treated as property by the military she was gifted to Gilbert, a major in the army who feels sorry for her, taking it upon himself to teach her valuable skills so that someday she may live the life of a normal girl. As time goes on their relationship grows stronger with her initial animalistic nature subdued and instead displays a more robotic-like behaviour in public. A romance between the two also brews, but their responsibility as soldiers of war takes priority and their affection for each other forced into stagnation. Unfortunately, war holds no mercy on the battlefield and results in Gilbert’s death. His last words: “I love you” – words that she doesn’t understand from the man who gave her the name of a wildflower in bloom, Violet.

The aforementioned acts as backstory to the main plotline that is not revealed until later, whereas the series begins with the aftermath: Violet is found in hospital, bed-ridden with prosthetic arms. The war is over and her purpose fulfilled, now she must adopt a civilian lifestyle. She meets Claudia, a former army commander who had befriended Gilbert during the war and is now president of a postal company that provides mail and ghost-writer services. Initially hired as a postal worker, she witnesses how the ghost-writer department works and wishes to become an Auto Memory Doll – a ghost-writer for those unable to write in order to learn the meaning of words and the feelings of others. The beginning is honestly a poor first impression, coming off sappy, predictable and acts as a shoddy introduction to each of the characters. Violet especially comes off almost insufferable here; her backstory is barely referred to with most of the details left in the dark, effectively throwing viewers into her moment of crisis without any proper context. It’s a perplexing choice on behalf of the staff, considering that Violet’s personality here leaves her a bland, dreary main character to follow from the start, lacking enough reason to care about her struggles to begin with. This is made worse with how the story begins at such a slow pace, making it hard to judge whether the show is worth continuing. However, Violet Evergarden is not a show that should be judged from first impressions, as there certainly is merit to be found.

Over the next few episodes Violet finds herself working and learning from other Auto Memory Dolls from their interactions with clients. The contrast between Violet and her fellow workers easily shows how far Violet truly is from her goal: currently emotionless and blank in her interactions, yet her desire and drive to understand the clients shines across the screen. This is further touched upon as Violet attends a training school and is unable to convey one’s feelings onto a letter. On her own, she is still unable to properly recognise emotions, but through those around her she slowly begins to grasp what they feel and how they express such. Here Violet’s bland personality acts like a blank canvas where those around her can leave their mark on her, allowing for parallels between side characters and herself to cause short instances of growth in Violet and a resolution on the side-character’s behalf. However, the show is never able to capitalize on these instances well. Rather than take adequate time and focus to let these small but important moments have appropriate build-up and climax to truly have a resonant effect, the show just treats them as merely parts of the plot that could very well be considered isolated from each other, devaluing each achievement Violet makes in her development as the show goes on. I personally found it appalling with how Violet finally learns to effectively convey feelings in an extremely short and concise letter, then not even a few episodes later she is extremely proficient in her writing. If only writing IRL was that easy ☹

It’s at this point where the pacing takes a sudden shift and the shows changes to an episodic format, focusing on Violet’s travels away from her workplace for different clients, each with their own set of issues to overcome, but all revolve around the idea of awakening their true feelings. As an Auto Memory Doll her job is to help her clients express what they feel, but here Violet sees the inner conflict present and aims for them to address and come to terms with it, with her acting as a catalyst when necessary. Whilst doing so, Violet continues to gain more appreciation for different forms of communication and gradually shows more signs of human behaviour. Her facial expressions able to tell more and more with each passing episode. It also gives a greater sense of the importance of society learning to feel again, accepting the tender aspects of individuals and its value. Relearning traits such as kindness, compassion and knowing how to best care about each other, so that when her time comes, Violet will be able to do the same for the own problems. Knowing this, these episodes should be lovely short stories to sit through, but that’s not the case. The way emotions are expressed here sound all well on paper, but in practice come off sterile – a “clinical” sense with how an entire spectrum of emotions are presented. There’s certainly logical reasoning behind why each feeling is portrayed, but as a viewer, these sensations are only being observed, never experienced. A sense of detachment always lingering beyond the screen, breaking any chance to bond with what is happening in the narrative. The series never tries to be melodramatic in its attempts of sentiment and I can respect that; through sheer visual flare it seeks to emulate like none before it, only to end up feeling artificial for the rest of the show.

It’s hard to get passionate about a series like this with such a lack of connection, but following Violet’s journey to self-discovery holds enough value that’s worth mentioning. Understanding her background and circumstances is crucial in understanding what Violet Evergarden is trying to achieve. She is initially a tool for battle, completely devoid of human emotion and understanding, simply bred to kill. It is only when she is away from the battlefield where she is aware of her apathetic nature and slowly starts to change. Her development can come off sappy, but it’s justified here in my eyes; slowly grasping how to sympathize and feel for others regardless of her actions in the past. It’s a war with herself, can her bloodstained hands really be used to help others? Is she worthy to? Constantly told she is on fire, it’s when she finally learns about her former lover’s death does the burning sensation set in and eat away at her soul. She gives in to despair and unsuccessfully tries to end her own life. Just when hope looks bleak, she finds a letter sent specifically to her. It’s her colleagues; they miss her. Violet decides to help deliver letters at night, and witnesses the people that anxiously wait for these letters. Cheerful, elated to receive words from those they care about, their emotions key to her understanding her newfound purpose as a ghost-writer. Her hands that destroyed so much – can now bring people together. While the supporting characters will come and go at the drop of a dime, it is Violet who blossoms through the show.

The production of Violet Evergarden is constantly praised for the exquisite animation and beautiful art design, both of which are well deserved. Kyoto Animation once again prove why they are one of the best in the industry and raise the standard for TV animation to new heights. Everything looks beautiful… almost too beautiful. The fluid animation, impressive character designs and attention to detail are all obviously here, but I would not consider it all to be a positive. Violet Evergarden draws a fine line between breathtaking beauty and over-stylization; scenes are “too overloaded” with their artwork and digital effects, with the first few episodes smothered in excessive brightness, chromatic aberration and filters than hinder the great animation on display. When a pen is dropped, it doesn’t just fall, it descends in dramatic fashion! It’s overwhelming. Part of the problem falls to the directing which is just blatantly amateurish at times, as if the man in charge is unable to grasp feelings himself. There’s a natural beauty to be found in subtlety when it comes to emotionally-driven shows that Violet Evergarden lacks. The need to present itself in such grandiose fashion manages to expose itself to how amateur the artistic choices taken are; techniques such as depth of field and time-lapse photography are used with the sole purpose being imitation to previous works that did them better. Don't get me wrong, Violet Evergarden still looks visually pleasing, but rather than a home-grown garden gleaming with a myriad of colourful flora, the flowers are plastic, and knowing such loses its lustre.

So, with having finished Violet Evergarden, my thoughts are as followed: I rarely laughed, I never cried and this certainly will not change my life, but there is value here worthy of one’s admiration. While it lacks on an emotional level to most, the intent is pure and still holds a sense of beauty that deserves to be seen. It’s a nice show one can easily sit through to pass time, but unfortunately I can’t say much more. It’s just a shame that for a story aimed at learning empathy, this message never reaches past the screen. For it desperately wishes to be as perfect an emotional experience can be, it’s the stories holding imperfections that have the most powerful impact.