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Apr 16, 2021
I watched this in theater recently and decided to write a review, will keep it simple for those who's curious about this movie.
In summary, this romance drama is pretty standard as it goes, so if you expect something new or something compelling then you won't find it here. Animated movie formats in general are fast paced due to its short run time; relying on common tropes, character archetypes and melodrama to convey the story quickly and efficiently; it simply can't be fleshed out like a TV-series, and this movie is no different. Of course, this isn't a bad thing - what I want to address
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here is to know your expectations before watching this (and pretty much anything else). I personally watched this because I want a light-hearted casual show with nice interactions between the main duo. And yes it is a cute show which satisfied my needs, so if you watch the trailer and like what it has to offer then you should definitely give it a chance. Next up are my personal thoughts of this movie with no spoilers.
The main duo Josee and Tsuneo got to know each other during an accidental encounter. Tsuneo, as a poor college student, was offered a job right after by Josee's grandmother - it is to look after Josee and keep her safe from the outside world due to her condition. It wasn't easy for Tsuneo to earn the trust of a wary and awkward Josee who's confined from the outside world most of the time, but eventually he got through. And from there Tsuneo slowly helped Josee to see the world that she always wished to see; became more independent and overcome her physical condition that greatly hindered her life. You should be able to guess how the rest goes.
The movie doesn't waste time elaborating, it set up the story and the arcs quickly and efficiently. You will feel the quick pacing of the film (due to the format's limitation like I mentioned at the start), but it isn't feel rushed. The first half introduced our characters and established the duo's dynamic, and then it shifted gears right away into the second half where the drama starts surfacing. The general flow of the movie was decent from start to finish - exciting and cute at first, then it gets heavier during the drama act, goosebump during the climax and lighthearted in the end with a happy ending. I was pleased with the movie's general execution, although the first act where it established the duo's dynamic was kinda short in my opinion.
Tsuneo and Josee are classic characters you usually see in a romance drama, but what matters is the execution, and it was well done. Tsuneo is a hardworking college student who loves ocean life and want it to be his career goal. While Josee dreams of exploring the outside world, especially the sea. She loves drawing and her topic has always been about the world under the water. It is the love of the sea that draws these two together, and from here we see their relationship started to develop. Tsuneo is level-headed, matured and responsible; while Josee is a bit hot-tempered, and awkward due to lack of interaction with the outside world (which her overprotective grandmother played a big part in). But as she grew more comfortable around Tsuneo, she became expressive, happy, easily excited (and sometimes embarrassed) over the most mundane things of the outside world and it especially peaked when she saw the sea. It melted me a bit seeing these sides of Josee. During the second half we will see how the duo helped each other to overcome their struggles and life misfortunes. I won't dwell too much into this, but it was well paced and ended on a good note like I mentioned last paragraph.
The relationship dynamic between Tsuneo and Josee for the most part can be described as cute and light-hearted. Their interactions and dialogues remind me of Korean romance for some reason - short remarks; bashfulness between the two, especially from Josee as she became fond of Tsuneo, but for the most part, light-hearted and pleasant. Their voice acting are on point as well. There's only one gripe I had - I wished there was more development and connection between the two as they talk about their love for the sea because I love sea themes in general and unfortunately the movie doesn't cover this too much, which was a bummer.
The supporting cast are nothing special. They serve only as plot device, nothing more, nothing less. There's a love triangle but it existed only to move the story forward and the melodrama was rather awkward but ultimately it served its purpose and wasn't dragged out, which was a relief. Moving on.
Art, music & general direction was nice. You can check out Eve's MV Aono waltz to have a feel of everything. Unfortunately, 90% of the eye candy visuals and the most beautiful shots are all in that 4-minute MV so you won't find much more in the movie. Don't expect it to be stunning every frame like Makoto Shinkai's productions.
All in all, this is an enjoyable show and I had a good time watching it. Hopefully this review will help you make up your mind and have a casual, realistic view of what this movie is like.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 14, 2020
As someone who enjoyed the whole series and it's original source, I came for the movie with only one expectation - that Violet will have a proper closure for her story and the series as a whole; portrayed in a very human and natural manner. After the credits rolled, to say that I'm very happy is an understatement. This review will focus mainly on Violet as a whole throughout the series in the briefest way possible and have no-spoiler.
Violet has come a long way. She has grown beautifully from her journey as an Auto Memory Doll - helping numerous people to convey their thoughts and
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feelings into the form of letters and deliver them to their recipients. So many colors were added into Violet's life as she works with her clients, experiencing their stories while also seeing and experiencing the emotions from each and every one of them - something that she really struggled to understand early on in her new life because of her upbringing. But Violet's earnest and ardent will to fulfill her clients' requests always got through in the end and she became a special memory for many people who met her. All of them accumulated together, helping Violet building her own 'emotion vocabulary' so that she can comprehends the meaning of the words left behind by her dearest person. And now that person has re-emerged after so many years, will Violet finally be able to reciprocate her own feelings?
There's one key difference in this movie comparing to previous series. Usually the stories are central to someone else (mainly Violet's clients), along with her involvement. She will help her clients recording their sentiments into letters and through these tasks, Violet can reflect and experience these emotions for herself, in hope that she could apply those towards finding her own, leading to self-discovery.
Now the story centrals around Violet herself. She still serve a client in this movie, but this client and their story also serves as a vessel for Violet to express herself. Through her interactions, one thing is clear - she has grown beyond the stiff and wooden personality that is often seen in previous series. It is portrayed in a subtle manner by Kyoani but for those who've stuck through with Violet's development, I'm sure you will notice them right away. I couldn't help but getting teary and happy for Violet herself as she speaks during her time with the client. In fact, during the first half, most scenes are set up in a way so that Violet can express her now more experienced self, a stark contrast comparing to the past Violet that's hollow with a small ray of warmth. She is as human as it gets, presented in a poignant sense.
The same momentum heightens as the story enters the final arc when she got a chance to reconcile with the person she held dearest. Violet's emotions became more intense, sometimes gone beyond her control, but she remained resolute and made her own decisions, not just from her job's obligation, but her own will and dedication. And she got through. It was touching, emotional but at the same time, light-hearted as it is the most natural thing in the world that ought to happen sooner or later.
Kyoani has peaked with the production and execution for this movie. They have learned a lot from their past mistakes, mostly around repetition, pacing and music timing (silence is powerful, which they tend to forget from time to time). Other than that, the movie is straightforward, recaps a few scenes mostly for newcomers to understand the context, which I don't have a problem with. Every scene is just enough; they found a good balance as it is important for a movie which theme revolves around emotions, love, loss that can be very emotional and tear inducing.
I believe this movie has something for everyone, especially in this day of age. For me personally, it has encapsulated Violet's growth beautifully, giving her the proper closure that she deserves, something I've always wished for. There's also the power of letters - the effort and emotions through writing each one, evoking the human warmth and tenderness that radiates to others; which resonates with me deeply. Violet Evergarden couldn't be more fulfilling in this regard.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 14, 2019
Violet Evergarden Gaiden is a side story to the main series and this is another tale of Violet's journey during her time as an Auto Memory Doll. Overall this 90-minute movie is a pleasant watch that goes along well with the spirit of the series - telling touching stories about human bonds and emotions, how they are expressed and how it empowers one to change for the better.
This review contains spoiler.
There are two main arcs in this movie. During the first half, Violet travels to a private school and becomes a tutor for Isabelle York, who comes from a prestigious royal family. In that period
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of 3 months, a friendship is born between Violet and Isabelle as they spend time with each other. Isabelle tells Violet about her past during the war, and how she took in a young, orphaned girl by the name of Taylor as her adoptive sister. She recounts the happiness she shared with Taylor, before unfortunate circumstances resulted in the separation of the two. After the end of Violet's contract, Isabelle requests Violet to write a letter to Taylor, and then the second arc of the story commences. Taylor, who is now a grown child, finds her way to CH Postal Service years later after having received Isabelle's letter, hoping that she can becomes a mail deliverer in order to 'bring happiness to people', and of course, being able to deliver one personally to her dear big sister one day.
The story structure is simple and effective. We get to see both characters and their stories of separation and reunite, each told separately. But the pacing is a bit too quick during the first arc. Most of the movie time is spent on telling the story of Isabelle and Taylor, so the development between Violet and Isabelle during their time together felt rushed and it left a bit of unsatisfaction. Fortunately, there's a dance scene that compensates for it (I'll talk about it later) and Isabelle and Taylor's stories are solidly built. Their relationship is strong and it was told thoroughly and thoughtfully. It's a nice portrayal of human bond, and the tone of the story is lighter comparing to the other heavier and more emotional stories during Violet's journeys. Their ending is quite poignant; bittersweet, but hopeful which will surely leave a smile to your face.
Characters are perhaps the most important aspect of this series, and while this one is on par with the baseline quality of the series. I personally felt a bit mixed. The main reason is that I love to see more of Violet's growth, and it was a very reasonable expectation because this is a 90-minute movie. But, like I said above, there wasn't much screentime for Violet in this movie because of the rushed pacing during the first arc. Most of what you want to see from Violet happens here during her cultivating friendship with Isabelle. But because of the pacing problem, the time it took for them to become closer, enough to tell each other about their past is like a quick breeze, considering Isabelle is portrayed as cold and unfriendly towards Violet initially, it felt a bit unnatural, at least to me. Their relationship aside, there are still moments which you'll see Violet's physical and emotion display as a result of growth from her previous journeys, and it is a nice thing to see. As for Isabelle, her present day portrayal is somewhat affected as well, but her past was told well and it correlated with the state that she's in now, so her character is decent overall. And as for Taylor, well, she is still a child, so what you see from her is what you get, not much to say here.
Art and animation is spot on as always. It is just what you expected to see if you are familiar with the series: vivid, beautiful, charming, almost like a fantasy land. One of my favorite scenes is Violet and Isabelle dancing together in the ballroom. It was just amazingly animated. I can't help but fawned all over Violet's beauty and gracefulness.
The tracks are good. They reuse most of the tracks from the previous series, but there's an improvement in when they use them and when not to, using only the scene's atmosphere, which is a good plus.
Despite some problems with the pacing which affects character developement, this is still a solid movie. As a fan of the series, watching it is such a nice experience and it always leaves a delightful aftertaste.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 2, 2019
This review contains no spoiler.
Violet Evergarden is Kana Akatsuki's first novel, and she toiled incessantly creating this beautiful and melancholic novel. By reading her afterwords, one can tells that she really channels her everything into the book, and I can sometimes see the author's own reflections in her writing, which further concretes the proof that she put her soul along with a huge amount of effort into the novel.
The story follows the eponymously named Violet Evergarden; a travelling Auto-Memories doll (an amanuensis. In short, clients call upon her services to transcribe their thoughts and words into letters, books, documents, etc), and her journey
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throughout the country of Leidenschaftlich. As the story progresses, Violet learns more about her clients - their stories and emotions, which also enrich Violet's personality and experience as well, and it doesn't end there.
The structure of the novel is quite unusual, and in a good way. The first chapters are told from different places and settings, and the main story of these chapters revolves around Violet's clients and while Violet is involved, she is not the center focus. But during these opening chapters, through the clients' stories and interactions with Violet as she helps them carrying their tasks and wishes, it reveals little by little about Violet's character and personality in an indirect way. As the story progresses, Violet's involvement gradually grows more significant; the focus is now shifting towards her; aside of Violet's current traits and personality, her backstory and her past are partially unveiled, and when the readers have an overall picture of Violet's past and present, the story shifts a gear, focusing fully on Violet's backstory, unfolding her whole past and it's aftermath. During these chapters, we will finally get a grasp of what kind of person Violet was which explains her unusual 'doll-like' behaviours and her circumstances, her struggles and sufferings. We will also understand her drive to become an Auto-Memories Doll, and most importantly her ardent, almost hopeless yearning towards that one entity along with the key value that she does not yet possess and understand. And in the end, when we piece all of it together, the result is an arduous but beautiful transformation of Violet Evergarden - sorrowful, bittersweet, melancholic, sometimes straight up tragic; but ultimately, a poignant ending.
The writing is well executed for a fantasy setting - the world is described vividly, which helps readers visualize and imagine with ease. The characters' thoughts and emotions are described with precision, and also very emotion-based, told through both first and third person, while effectively goes along with the dialogues that are refined, minimal with no excessive lines, devoid of drama, yet very intense at times, to the point of gouging the reader's heart as much as it gouged the character's. All formed together, creating a reading experience that exudes a very melancholic atmosphere but strangely not heavy. This, along with the carefully laid-out story structure makes reading this novel very engaging until the end. All the main characters are well fleshed out, their development is satisfying to see from beginning to end. The supporting characters all fulfilled their roles as well, each directly or indirectly influence Violet's actions and her emotions; and some of them even though appear in only one chapter but their story and developement is quite enjoyable and memorable.
While there are a lot of things to praise about this novel, there is also a thing or two that fall short. Since this novel is heavily character-based, it should be point out that while Violet's backstory is fully explained, her origins remained a mystery. There were attempts to cover it up but personally I think it is clumsily executed. But given the context and circumstance of Violet, it is not a big problem and can be turned a blind eye. There is also one side character whose purpose is to help uncovering Violet's past but comparing to the rest of the cast, this character falls short in terms of depth and their ending came in all of the sudden but poorly explained.
Overall Violet Evergarden is a magical fantasy novel; a very emotional story of self discovery through insurmountable pain and sorrow. While the depiction isn't something everybody can relate to because of the immense melancholy along with bizzare characters and circumstances, I'm sure everybody can feel, sympathize, endear and embrace the characters throughout their journey.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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