×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Violet Evergarden (TV).


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:19 am Reply with quote


Violet Evergarden (TV)

Genres: drama, fantasy, science fiction
Themes: living dolls, military, steampunk, tragic past, war

Plot Summary: A certain point in time, in the continent of Telesis. The great war which divided the continent into North and South has ended after four years, and the people are welcoming a new generation. Violet Evergarden, a young girl formerly known as “the weapon”, has left the battlefield to start a new life at CH Postal Service. There, she is deeply moved by the work of “Auto Memories Dolls”, who carry people's thoughts and convert them into words. Violet begins her journey as an Auto Memories Doll, and comes face to face with various people's emotions and differing shapes of love. There are words Violet heard on the battlefield, which she cannot forget. These words were given to her by someone she holds dear, more than anyone else. She does not yet know their meaning but she searches to find it.
----------------------------------

Light novel adaptation by Kyoto Animation.

This animation quality looks so good for this and I heard nice things about the story too. Definitely hyped to see this for Winter.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:30 am Reply with quote
Episode 1:

The animation visual quality is absolutely gorgeous so far for this show.

I like the way Violet Evergarden is protrayed from the first episode as well and bits of character chemistry between her and Gilbert is fairly well done.

The amount of human emotions and body language expressed from this episode was interesting to notice. Really liked how the setting is done so far and the character designs has a serene feel to them. The balance of the lighthearted style with the flashbacks of the war is also pretty interesting (I hope they do more storytelling on the war throughout this show)

Very good first episode. I'm really looking forward to the rest especially for Violet's journey.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:24 am Reply with quote
I had being hearing the name of this title for a while now. So it is about girl who was pretty much a human weapon in a war, who is now being made to live civilian life to recover. I wonder if we will be getting PTSD like stuff, she has seen some things. Only it is like Violet does not understand a lot of what she has gone through, that her role of human weapon is not exactly fair on her human rights, and the people above her were wrong in letting that situation happen where she got attached to someone after they showed her rare kindness. And following them led to her being irreversibly damaged, that the man seems to actually regret that in the end, and tells her to just live happy, and that through it that he loves her, enough that she should find happiness away from the military she was dragged into.

The snippets of her character were interesting, she positively associated with the dog toy from remembering being called the dog of the one she followed, supposed to be an insult by it is something she seems to have tied her personality to do. She pushes herself way too hard, that she would work herself into a ditch. It made it a nice ending that she seems to have made a request for something after just following orders.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Galap
Moderator


Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 2:20 pm Reply with quote
It's interesting that much of what this seems to be about is Violet learning to contextualize events that have happened prior to the start of the show. I don't think I've ever seen that before, where all the 'big' stuff has already happened, but the journey is in coming to understand what it all means.

I hope it's not that Violet comes to feel personally guilty or morally responsible for her actions; that would be especially unfair since even normal soldiers who fully understand what is happening are generally not considered guilty of any moral transgressions. The best state of mind for her to come into would probably be something like 'that was all kind of insane, wasn't it?'

The music is pretty unusual and draws a lot of attention to itself; for example in a pretty calm scene where they're outside the house there's some heavy trombone. It's a bit of a clash but that's what I like about it.

Setting building is really cool; it's kind of a fantastical version of Edwardian era europe, which I think is cool. Animation is in that great style kyoani likes to have. I like the fact that this has some battle scenes, since I think their stuff is kind of ironically more well-suited to action than the low-key character acting they usually use it for.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:48 pm Reply with quote
The character designs are beautiful! Particularly Violet herself.

I became very interested in this after seeing someone use a gif from the PV on MAL. And it is indeed interesting. Love the old-timey, European feel. I could probably count the number of anime characters I've seen use a quill and ink on my fingers. I find settings like this more attractive than modern ones.

I like Benedict a lot; hope he gets a fair amount of screentime. xD The plush puppy scene was cute too. Violet taking everything literally but in a subtle way really adds a naive charm to her character.

The final scene is so sad. Anime cry

Quote:
I don't think I've ever seen that before, where all the 'big' stuff has already happened, but the journey is in coming to understand what it all means.


I really like this idea too; it could make for some very rich story-telling. It feels more sophisticated, like something an adult could reflect on.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23769
PostPosted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 8:37 pm Reply with quote
Okay, so I kind of totally love this show. To be watching this and TAMB at the same time is a real treat. Man, Winter season is turning out kickass... this, A Place Further Than the Universe, Kokkoku, Mitsuboshi Colors, March Comes in Like a Lion 2, the aforementioned TAMB... my cup runneth over.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
A Mystery



Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1886
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:57 pm Reply with quote
I usually don't watch all new series that come out every season. But... it seems Winter is loaded with promising shows! I do wonder if this series is able to keep it interesting and a bit true to realistic war traumas, because that could be a recipe for a tiny masterpiece. I was a bit surprised when they said Leiden, but they meant a fictional place instead of the Dutch city.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime
Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:19 am Reply with quote
This show has a slow pace but I like how they are getting the viewers to understand Violet better. Personally, I have some problems with her character right now (mostly her straightforward personality) but we'll see how much she'll develop over the course of the show. I do like her character chemistry with Cattelya so far though.

Postal Company also seems like an interesting place although nothing too special about it from what's shown so far.

I wonder how much they plan to develop Violet and Gilbert's relationship throughout this show as she acts differently around him.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Cam0



Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 4888
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:19 pm Reply with quote
Episode 2

That letter was flawless Violet. Flawless.

I have to admit that I wasn't all that impressed with the first episode. However I really liked the 2nd one. Violet's bluntness and lack of understanding emotions makes for some funny scenes occasionally. "Please stop crying immediately." LOL.

I felt a bit bad for the blonde dude. He was trying to share his yakisoba with the ladies, but got rejected pretty badly. The old guy took pity on him (or maybe he just wanted to eat some fried noodles). lol. Well, atleast the blonde dude seemed happy about it. Laughing

Violet not knowing that Major is dead is pretty sad, particularly considering how attached she was to him.

Also Hodgins is a lucky guy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:00 pm Reply with quote
The adaption came right to the point with what Violet is searching for,along with the Major's fate. A nice difference from the novel,should add a bit more depth to the later episodes.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23769
PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:08 pm Reply with quote
"...please send gifts and funds." Laughing Yep, Violet has a little ways to go before she'll be a good Auto Memory Doll. I wish Hodgins would just level with her and tell her that Gilbert is dead. The longer he stretches this out, the more painful it's going to be for her. And Cattleya is very "rowr." She can take... dictation... from me any time.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:12 am Reply with quote
The way this show is expressing things like emotional sensitivity and empathic expression is pretty interesting. Sure a bit of Violet's not understanding was a laugh, but there is also this real sense weakness that comes not being able to understand or express things. Not just with Violet either, but also the glasses girl seems to have some difficulty and I think hinted that she was losing hope towards it, that Violet who is trying has given her a bit of hope to not give up. Specifically makes me think about real people who can have that trouble expressing and or understanding things easily that others can, a sort of invisible disability that may not get attention, or just get called as heartless robots, while that really is not the case.

At the risk of taking the topic to something I have probably done multiple times, to my understanding it is the sort of thing that those with autism can have to deal with. They don't just instinctively understand what others find easy, and it can have them be accused of being heartless and emotionless, of being rude and maybe even trying to hurt someone. Sure the character in this show does not understand because she has been made to be a weapon, but there are parts here that I can find oddly relatable, that it almost feels painful. Maybe others can feel the same trouble of trying to understand people?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:04 pm Reply with quote
ARGH!!! Just tell her he's DEAD!!

It's CRUEL to let her think otherwise!! Anime cry

But really, this anime is SO good!! So well-written.
I sympathize with Erica; it's harsh when strangers yell at you like that. I would also probably cry. :/

Violet looks like Saber now. I love it. xD

But my favorite scene was definitely this



10/10.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:37 am Reply with quote
Episode 9

The series has not really been bad, but there is not a huge amount to have talked about by just the measure that it feels like it goes through the usual steps. Even stories somewhat interesting, just never really felt like enough to really talk about here, at least for me. But things changed with this episode, and it is kind of because everything that happened finally had the proper impact.

Honestly, it kind of felt like there was not a big impact, because Violet herself did not seem to get that impact. There were some revelations, but Violet was sort of numb to things, like she accidentally tripped on something, she kind of stayed in a dream land. But here, Violet's dream land was crushed that she learned the truth that her major is no more, that he has been gone the entire journey she has had away from him, it invalidated what she thought she was doing during that time, and the weight of bad things she did in the past sink into her shoulders. Violet closes off, she becomes depressed to the point she is pretty much suicidal, and attempts to choke her own life out by the prosthetics that were giving her this second life.

And then, Santa shows up. Well he looked like Santa, he is apparently just a mail man, and he gives her what she wanted, something to do in the immediate (delivering letters), and something she did not realise she wanted, a letter to her. The first helps her soak in that the new path she took, really did have some value in doing something good, which she was not fully considering. The second, helped her see that people really did care about her, that she was not as alone as she thought. And then, Violet seemed to actually open her eyes to the things that I think she saw before as just doing her job, really did have some positive influence on others. She might not be able to wipe away what she did, but that is also true for the good things, and that moving forward is the real good thing to do.

Violet was entirely torn down, but she also sees that had been being built up with a new foundation that she should actually be proud of. And this was well done. Even teared me up a little. Not Mitty level stuff though, did not quite break the dam.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4828
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 11:04 pm Reply with quote
Since episode 07, this series has gone from "a little slow but good" to "impressed me a whole lot" actually. Hoping the rest of it stays solid. The fact that all the best parts were anime-original is even more shocking. Good work, KyoAni.

Quote:
Even teared me up a little


Yes. This show will definitely be the newest addition in my future presentation "It's Okay To Cry" for anime club. Anime hyper
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group