×
  • 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
EP. REVIEW: Violet Evergarden


Goto page Previous    Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
leeoflittlefaith



Joined: 08 Apr 2012
Posts: 104
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:10 pm Reply with quote
I can only speculate but I'd imagine this is why:

It's a Kyoto Animation show, it's on Netflix, it's probably quite popular, highly anticipated and covered with a lot of mainstream appeal.
Despite that it hasn't been a complete success, struggled a bit to live up to the hype and provide a consistent tone, being edged out critically by relatively less hyped shows like Sora Tooi, After The Rain, etc.
This made it "fair game" for criticism, and even fairer game for a mass downvoting now that, by popular consensus, the show is living up to the hype it was promised.

Also some people might consider the reveal about who the letters were addressed to as being a "far too obvious plot twist" and therefore this is bad.

That for me did not undercut the production in any way because much of the episode was from Ann's perspective. Even if the viewer does realise who the letters are for early on (as I did), that dramatic irony had its own effect. The emotional execution was outstanding regardless.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:00 pm Reply with quote
MarkyMarc413 wrote:
It just seems weird that anyone who watches this show would post such low scores, especially on these last two episodes, objectively the series' best so far.

You do know people having different opinions is a thing. I haven't watched 11, but I'd never say 10 was "objectively best", I thought the one with the playwright was much stronger. Even then I don't think I've ever rated any episode above 3.0, becausd I feel all the stories so far I've seen similar before, done better, and a lot of Violet's production is so tryhard on the dramatic moments, the emotions it tries to invoke end feeling artificial
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Cam0



Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 4884
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:05 pm Reply with quote
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see anyone scold Violet. I thought that part of Violet's development was to also realize the value of her own life. Didn't the Major want Violet to leave the hellish battlefields behind and do something better with her life? It's very noble that she risked her life to write a letter for one dude and she purposely held back against those bad guys when the old Violet might've just killed them outright. I still feel like she should've been scolded by someone for gambling with her life like that.

Also I thought it was quite ridiculous how she could spot her client from a moving airplane, but I guess for a pseudo-super soldier that makes sense.


Last edited by Cam0 on Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:20 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
MarkyMarc413



Joined: 18 Feb 2016
Posts: 104
PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:14 pm Reply with quote
CrowLia wrote:
MarkyMarc413 wrote:
It just seems weird that anyone who watches this show would post such low scores, especially on these last two episodes, objectively the series' best so far.

You do know people having different opinions is a thing. I haven't watched 11, but I'd never say 10 was "objectively best", I thought the one with the playwright was much stronger. Even then I don't think I've ever rated any episode above 3.0, becausd I feel all the stories so far I've seen similar before, done better, and a lot of Violet's production is so tryhard on the dramatic moments, the emotions it tries to invoke end feeling artificial


I'm well aware of varying opinions, but it seems like nearly all of the prior episodes have all scored above 4.0 (at least currently), so it seemed strange to me that the last two episodes would be so much lower. Maybe it'll average higher through the weelkend, but episode 10 is still at 3.5, even a week later. If it was just a few tenths lower, I'd believe the difference was just merely some varying opinions, but to score nearly a whole point lower than some previous episodes seems suspect to me. Maybe I'm being overly paranoid, but that's just how I see it. But that's all I'll say on the subject now.

As for today's episode itself, I quite enjoyed it, the interactions Violet had with Aidan were touching and the ending had me teary-eyed, though not as much as last week's bawl-fest.

-Marc.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Edmond Lo



Joined: 17 Jan 2017
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:19 am Reply with quote
Very interesting that episode 11 got an A- from the review. Personally, this is the worst episode out of all. spoiler[ The crazy jump from the plane, the Naruto dash and unique presentation of those opposition soldiers are so out of place compare to the style of the show so far.
Then, the fact that Violet over heard the job and decided to take it without consulting anyone, ]
kind of make the story so unnatural.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Joshua Zarate



Joined: 12 Jan 2017
Posts: 2061
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:43 am Reply with quote
Edmond Lo wrote:
Very interesting that episode 11 got an A- from the review. Personally, this is the worst episode out of all. spoiler[ The crazy jump from the plane, the Naruto dash and unique presentation of those opposition soldiers are so out of place compare to the style of the show so far.
Then, the fact that Violet over heard the job and decided to take it without consulting anyone, ]
kind of make the story so unnatural.


She knew that if she had consulted anyone, she would be denied on the spot, so it makes sense that she didn’t do that. She’s also a very experienced and basically super soldier, so it’s not that a crazy thing to see as there’s so many other things in other series that are more crazy than that. I don’t think that it’s fair to expect every opposition soldier in the show to present themselves the same way as that’s more of a nitpick than anything. It’s far from the worst episode of the series as the review explains.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1816
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:49 am Reply with quote
Joshua Zarate wrote:
She’s also a very experienced and basically super soldier, so it’s not that a crazy thing to see as there’s so many other things in other series that are more crazy than that. It’s far from the worst episode of the series as the review explains.


Yeah, like, how does a world that seems to have the technological level of the 1920s, 1930s have prosthetic hands that are dexterous enough to operate typewriters? It's not like FMA where alchemy works so the existence of automail isn't a big deal.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:22 am Reply with quote
After resigning myself to accept that Violet is some super-human being who can take out a battalion by herself or effortlessly survive having both of her arms cut off, the most unrealistic thing in this episode was that she immediately knew that the sole survivor was her customer...i agree that it was a bit disappointing to see that the only motivation of the anti-peace faction seems to be that they enjoy killing since i doubt that there's time to develop them any further.

And while the ending did make me a bit teary-eyed, i couldn't hepl but wonder if the rest of the episodes will just be Violet travelling around. I admit that am a bit sad that the other (semi)-regular characters have completely faded into the background after they've done their duty of helping to develop Violet's character...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23668
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:34 am Reply with quote
I can certainly imagine the amount of eye-rolling over the bevy of plot conveniences that were dolloped out this week. As someone who has loved this show from the very beginning I rolled with the punches. Personally, I wish the show would break up its tragic narratives a bit better. After the emotional devastation of episode 10, I would have appreciated a "breather" into something less sad this week. But nope.

And the "soldier looking at a photograph of a sweetheart" trope is alive and well.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:06 am Reply with quote
Quote:
it would have added a layer of depth to the narrative's post-war theme if the “anti-peace” faction was opposed to the terms of peace rather than the concept of peace itself...

The anime's handling of the anti-peace faction is certainly a misstep

From their dialog, that was exactly the impression I got. They were unhappy with the terms of the peace because they, the superior force (in their own eyes), were not the ones in charge of the country. The civil war was about putting them in charge, so they could go restart the war and win it on their own terms. So no, I didn't see it as a misstep, because I didn't think they were painted as simply not wanting peace because they were evil.

It's also naive to think there aren't plenty of people in the world who don't want peace, either because they've become hooked on war (like mercenaries) or have never known anything else. Not to mention arms dealers and other war profiteers.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
青白



Joined: 30 May 2012
Posts: 184
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:17 pm Reply with quote
JacobC wrote:
We'll be sure to check for foul play. This happened sometimes in the past, but we implemented measures to stop common ways of mass downvoting and haven't had the issue for a long time. We'll see if there's some new issue cropping up.


Now, I don’t know how much you would invest in solving this issue, but one extra layer of security against potential “purposeful voters” is to subject the community vote to statistical analysis. When you have a large number of people voting it is not hard to identify interesting outliers, and then at that point it is only a matter of filtering those out. This kind of analysis has been used to catch exam cheaters in the past. I would be at least be interested in knowing what episode 10 scored if this kind of analysis was applied to the vote data.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gurren Rodan



Joined: 04 Jan 2018
Posts: 263
PostPosted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:59 pm Reply with quote
This show is getting merciless. I'm not sure how much longer I can take these feels!

All in all, I thought this was another great episode. Apart from the convenience of Violet guessing/recognizing her client, everything I saw in the episode fit in well with what was established before. Once again, it's remarkable to see how Violet has developed as a character. This was clearly as personal an endeavor as it was professional for her, and she carried out her duties with excellence. I wouldn't be surprised if the civil war remains relevant for the next few stories, as Violet finishes coming to terms with her past.
I don't doubt that Claudia and/or Cattleya will scold Violet when she returns. She must have given them quite a scare!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
leeoflittlefaith



Joined: 08 Apr 2012
Posts: 104
PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:50 pm Reply with quote
Edmond Lo wrote:
spoiler[
Then, the fact that Violet over heard the job and decided to take it without consulting anyone, ]
kind of make the story so unnatural.


I mean, I get that how she happened to overhear the job is very convenient, but her decision to take it without telling anyone is a clear sign of how much she's developed as a character. It was practically expected that she'd run away with the job as soon as it was introduced.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Northlander



Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 900
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:50 am Reply with quote
From the episode 9 review.... wrote:
Violet cheers up because her coworkers wrote her a letter. Nobody gave her a hug or an ear to listen to her woes; they just mailed her a single measly letter.


From the episode 10 review.... wrote:
There's a kind of romantic appeal to letter-writing that doesn't exist with emails or text. The feelings conveyed within letters are written in a tangible form, and it requires care and good handling to ensure that a letter reaches its recipient intact.

Uh.... OK?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23668
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 10:34 am Reply with quote
Ha ha, good catch.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous    Next
Page 12 of 14

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group