Hype -- in my opinion a great way for the masses to be exposed to an anime series. On the other hand, with all the hype, it may not live up to the everyone's expectations. Fortunately for me, I strongly believe that Violet Evergarden lives up to its lofty expectations, and, despite being so early in the year, the best anime series of 2018.
For this brief review, I'll be focusing on the story, art and music. This review is focusing on the anime, for I have yet to read the light novel. As of any of my reviews, EXPECT SPOILERS
In terms of the story, the titular character, a child soldier trained to be a emotionless killer is seen as she is forced to adapt to a world after the war. Not much is said in the anime about her early life, save being an orphan and trained to be a "War tool". The anime starts with her post-recovery after the decisive final battle as she write a report to her superior, Major Gilbert Bougainvillea. As a soldier, she's precise and gets straight to the point with her report, but little did she know at that time, that Major Bougainvillea is MIA. Soon after, the Major's acquaintance, Colonel Claudia Hodgins takes her in as a promise to Major Bougainvillea, if anything were to happen to the latter. The former colonel opened up a business after the war in which his workers are known as Auto Memory Dolls -- people that write letters to others since in this world, not many people know how to write, or write at least expressively. Violet starts off initially as a mail delivery/sorter, but quickly desires to be an Auto Memory Doll to learn emotions and to understand the last words that the Major said to her: I Love You.
Therefore, the plot focuses on how Violet transitions from having no emotions, to being a human being. The story is rather simple and cliche, yet the execution was well done. I was skeptical with the choice of making each episode episodic; how would they connect the main character development? The writer/director came through with Violet's transformation. As each episode past episode 3 (if I remember correctly) focused on a side character and how Violet had to write a letter for said people, you see a subtle transformation in Violet's personality. I can vividly recall when you see her smile for the first time, thinking about how she was able to get her client's feelings across to the man she loved. In comparison to Violet's first ever assignment, in which she humorously (I thought) wrote a love letter for a woman to her would-be suitor that she was a gold digger and needed the man to "procure more fortune first".
For me, her emotional development peaked in episode 10, in which her client wanted to write fifty letters to give to her young daughter during her birthday since the client did not have much time to live. Melodramtic for sure, but it was tastefully done with the time skip at the end of the episode showing the daughter reading the letters, written by Violet, expressing the mothers' feelings.
Speaking of melodrama, Violet Evergarden would fit under this category. Many episodes aim to give you "the feels" and most of them were able to do so. There were certain episodes in the middle which were a bit dull, but when they were able to hit home for me, they hit home. Besides episode 10, to see the final progression where Violet writes/imagines a letter, instead of a report to the Major, really pulled at my heartstrings. Oh, and when she tells the Captain at the end that she did not need any more orders to live her life anymore.
If there were any gripes I had with this anime show, would be the lack of explanation at times for certain events/situations/relationships. I fully understand that a 13 episode series is definitely not enough time to flesh out everything, but it would be beneficial in my opinion to explain things like the initial animosity that Major Bougainvillea's older brother, Captain Dietfried Bougainvillea has for Violet. Also, more history behind Violet's upbringing and service in the army besides the short flashbacks halfway through the series would have helped as well. Despite all the "flaws" that I see, it is still a remarkable story.
Now for art... I cannot recall seeing such detail in an anime series. I know people rave about Makoto Shinkai's work (ie: Your Name) or Studio Ghibili for having amazing art, but Kyoto Animation is no slouch. Violet Evergarden is beautifully illustrated.
Here is a link to a video that an individual created on YouTube:
Credits to the channel Light Raider
As you can see, the detail and color is amazing. Oh, and the opening sequence, where you hear music first and see the letters, in the language written in the anime slowly pop up was absolute genius.
And finally the soundtrack. Once again, having a classical music background, a great OST has a profound impact on whether or not I like a series. The opening and ending theme songs were beautiful. The music in the show seemed to come in at all the right times, to hit all the right notes. The last OST that I really enjoyed was Your Lie in April, but perhaps it was due to all the classical music that were found in that show.
To sum it up, Violet Evergarden lives up to the hype and to me, the best anime series of 2018 by far. The story line is simple, yet gets the point across with the emotional development of Violet Evergarden. For a person to live a life killing people to helping people express their emotions seem oxymoranic -- if that is a word. And to see that same person go from being fully dependent on someone to give them instructions to being self-autonomous... it definitely has it moments. The art and music helps the development of the story quite efficiently. Even if melodrama is not your cup of tea, I'm sure the art and music will be more than enough to please most viewers.
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