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I love Violet Evergarden, so it really pains me to give this film this low of a rating (even though it's not that low). This is not a bad film. Compared to other anime films, it's average. But when you compare it to the rest of Violet Evergarden, this movie is no where close.

This film felt a lot like the OVA episode that was originally removed from the show. That episode wasn't bad, but it was removed from the show because it didn't add enough to the story. The only reason to watch the OVA is if you just want some more Violet Evergarden. ... The same goes for this film. Violet gets no character development at all in this film, so all of the hard hitting emotional moments happen with these two new characters who we will probably never see again after this.

I also just really hate time skips and this one especially bothered me because we have no idea what happened to Violet in that time and she doesn't seem to have changed at all.

All of that being said, the art, as always, is absolutely gorgeous and, even if I didn't cry as much as I would during a normal episode of Violet Evergarden, it did get a few tears out of me. It's currently my least favourite and lowest ranked part of Violet Evergarden, but it's still Violet Evergarden, so give it a go.

If I had stopped watching this show after the first ten episodes I would have called it a fun, easy to watch show. In no means great, but just some simple popcorn entertainment on the same level as Wise Man's Grandson. However, the last two episodes go 'F*ck it', do a total 180 and just ruin the whole show. Nothing about it fits. The tone is completely off, the character choices make no fucking sense based off of everything we've seen so far, they bring someone back from the dead and completely change his character, and one of the peace-loving characters that you're supposed to ... love basically comits genocide ande everything we've watched up until now basically becomes null and void.. What a crock of sh*t.

As a creative going to film school this show is increadibly relatable. It's about how hard work and passion are essential to being a creative, but it's also about how sometimes those things aren't enough, and the reactions people have when they come face to face with that harsh realization.

But it's also a coming of age story. It's about growing up, it's about friendship and how as we age those friendships wil be tested by distnace and the simple fact that we can't stay highschoolers forever (you know, typical slice of life stuff).

The ending, like most slice of life anime, was a real emotinal ... rolercoaster, but it felt a lot more solid and happier than most. That being said, I would be reminisce if I did not admit that the first half of the show was a bit difficult to get through. It's not bad, by any means, but the first half of the show was very different from the rest. It's almost as though there was a shift right around episode 12, where the show went from being fun popcorn entertainment to a far deeper more emotional show, one that's actually got points it wants to make. This is also the point where the show abandoned a lot of it's fan service and moved away from more farsicle humor. This is honestly one of the things holding this show back from being a full 10. It's not that the first half is bad, in fact I don't really think this show had a single "bad" episode, it's just that compared to the emotionaly hard hitting second half of the show, the gap is quite evident.

I really liked this show, but it also kind of hurt, first, because of the normal situation of real life never being able to live up to the fun and excitement we see in anime, and secondly because seeing all of the characters work so hard for something they felt so passionatly about made me feel guilty for not doing more to reach my goals. I should probably get back to working on my projects now...

Was this show bad? No, but when compared to season one it's a huge dissapointment. Kekkai Sensen season one is a great example of seriealized story telling: each episode had a contained story while building on its characters on maving the season story forward as a whole. This season left that behind, instead giving us a purely episodic almost-anthology show where the characters barely developed and an overall arc was almost non existant.

It's really sad to me to see a show where the first season was so good - stylish, interesting, with a compelling set of characters that develop and drive the plot forward - ... only for the second season to fail completely to deliver on all of these elements.

If you liked Kekkai Sensen season one, leave it there. The ending of the first season is a far better and the second season adds nothing.