Jul 19, 2019
In light of recent events, being the tragedy at Kyoto animation studios, I believed it to be fair to write a review for my favorite anime made by the company.
Violet Evergarden is a very distinct show which manages to explore emotional narratives that were never thought possible through anime. This is masterfully done through visual story telling and the flawless animation done by the people at Kyoto animation. Through their composition of every scene and character they manage to portray inadvertently key details which all supplement the plot. Take for example the parasol scene in episode 7, where Violet appears to almost have the aptitude
...
to walk on water, this symbolizes so much in terms of the narrative, firstly it acts as a reoccurring motif towards the father and daughters relationship due to it being almost supernatural, surpassing any and all laws of space and time, as although she has passed away the father still appears latched towards her deceased daughter. Furthermore the scene also appears as a clear transition in Evergarden's character as she has finally come to a point where she is able to sympathize for one another rather than her residual perspective of being an emotionless 'robot'. A famous saying by philosopher Nietzsche stated "if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" and this almost seemingly comes into fruition in this episode, as due to Violet's ongoing effort to understand what human emotion is, she has now ostensibly appeared to have formed such emotions that she had once thought she was ineligible of having.
Now this is something that largely resonates with me. As prior to the news about Kytoanimation, I genuienly thought myself as some minor form of a sociopath as never had I felt any emotion after reading anything in the news, as I always shrugged off the tragedies of the world with the mindset of "sh*t happens" and unknowingly so I'll admit I did the same thing after the news of the fire the first time I read about it. However it wasn't until my third reading of the same news article that I began to tear up, at first I had no idea what had provoked me to do so. But then it arduously dawned on me that this company had really brought me joy, and by no means am I an unhappy person I've always been quite happy with life being a high school student in a some what privileged lifestyle, so I'm not gonna claim the company helped me in the worst of times, cause that just isn't true for me, however what it did do was bring additional joy in my already somewhat joyful life. With shows like Hyouka, Violet Evergarden and Kobayashi Dragon maid (the latter for some reason hit me especially hard when I realized that this probably will never see the light of day again). However the sentimental affinity I somewhat shared with Evergarden's story of beginning inept with comprehending human emotion largely provoked me to write this review
Therefore I decided to write a review in such a manner which not only whole heartedly manifested my love for Violet Evergarden, but also brought my personal experience with the recent tragedy. So in conclusion if you have not seen Violet Evergarden, please just do, the narrative by no means is able to appease everyone especially those who like more action and comedy type shows. However the animation of the show is second to none, and the hard work the company did to make this into a reality deserves recognition, especially after the recent event.
If you can, try to contribute to the company:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal
I can completely understand if you can't or don't want to, but there are other ways of supporting the company e.g liking this video and all their other videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0KF4M0MPEs
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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