Man, I don't even know what to praise first about Violet Evergarden. I suppose I'll start with the most noticeable one; the animation. I've seen a fair share of anime made by Kyoto Animation, but I consider this their most visually stunning one. The character designs, settings, and background are extremely detailed, and are the perfect complement to the beautiful soundtrack that highlights a varied range of emotions throughout the show. One thing that bugs me about a lot of anime is the fact that the backgrounds are always stale and unanimated, with only certain characters or objects moving in scenes. I get that this is mostly due to budget constraints or lack of experienced animes, but it can be a burden on the feeling immersed in an anime. Violet Evergarden has beautifully drawn and consistently animated backgrounds thanks to its experienced animators and an increased budget courtesy of Netflix. All of these factors allow the anime to do what it is known for: taking you on an emotional rollercoaster.

Violet Evergarden is in my opinion one of the best developed protagonists in anime. The concept of the anime is that she has no memories of her past, and is practically a blank slate. A country in the middle of a war takes advantage of this lack of emotion, and turn her into a killing machine. She simply is assigned tasks, and completes them without anything getting in the way. While most of her peers see her as nothing more than a machine, one compassionate man, Gilbert Bougainvillea, sees her for the human she is, and takes it upon himself to try to humanize this doll-like character. His efforts seem to have no effect at first because she simply cannot comprehend emotions, her mind gradually begins to understand feelings without her even realizing. After a few significant events regarding her emotional development, Violet and Gilbert become separated following the final battle of the long war they have endured (she also loses her arms in this battle, but it's not very important besides looking badass and making certain people respect her). The last words she heard from him were "I love you". Love is a word she had never heard before, and this devastates her. Now that Gilbert is gone, she only has one primary motive; to discover the definition of love.

After a little help from a close adversary of Gilbert, she becomes an auto memory doll. In essence, she is a ghostwriter whose job is to send emotional letters to whoever her client desires. The client must also approve of the letter. At first, her robotic nature causes her letters to lack emotion, making her task seem hopeless at first. However, some determined side-characters are able to help her overcome this, allowing her to take her first step to understanding human emotion. Each episode entails Violet learning to write, or writing letters for her clients. By being exposed to a wide variety of human experience and emotion, she slowly but surely begins to learn the meaning of love, as well as her own emotions and trauma. While some are better than others, none of the side characters are disappointing, and each plays a noticeable role that helps lead her to her final destination. We even get to see some of these characters later on, and are able to see how Violet has impacted others as well. It's one of the few stories that is able to show how large of an impact one person can have on the world, without shoving the message down your throat.

I only have a couple of tiny complaints with the show. First, certain side characters are much more thought out and well-written than others. This leads to certain mini-arcs being less emotionally fulfilling than others. Secondly, I love Gilbert as a character, and wish he got a bit more screen time and development, given how crucial he is to Violet Evergarden's character and story. However, I'm hoping this is resolved in the 2nd movie that is planning to be released soon.

The special and Movie follow more or less the same premise of what I have described above, and are also amazing and worth the watch.

I could honestly pump out three more paragraphs describing the story and why it's amazing, but this is about as far as I can go without giving any spoilers. This is my second favorite anime as of now, and is one of 4 that have actually made me cry. I honestly cannot recommend this anime enough, and think that it is a must watch for anyone who likes slice of life and/or drama.