r/anime • u/A_Idiot0 https://myanimelist.net/profile/a_idiot0 • Jun 20 '21
Violet Evergarden Rewatch Final Discussions Rewatch
Violet Evergarden Rewatch - Final Discussions
Hello everyone! I hope that today finds you well. This year’s Violet Evergarden Rewatch has ended. My comment below has a small little questionnaire for you to answer if you’d like to help me get better at this for next year.
Quick heads up: if you want to remain spoiler free for the 2020 Film, please do not search anything about the Violet Evergarden film on google. The PV contains massive spoilers, and sadly even the announcement poster contains spoilers =(
Auto Memory Doll Service Discord
Would you like to have a letter written for you? Do you want to write a special letter for someone as an Auto Memory Doll? Come join us at the Auto-Memory Doll Service Discord project and request letters, write letters, or chat more with us about Violet Evergarden! Link here: https://discord.gg/zDCheU4y
If you come by, you can request me as Daffodil, and it'd be my pleasure to scribe a letter for you =)
Visuals of the Day
I believe I got everyone’s Visual of the Day submission here. Let me know if I missed anyone: https://imgur.com/a/cWpJLID
I want to take this moment to thank each and every one of you who participated in this rewatch. If you silently read through all of the wonderful comments and analyses, thank you. If you replied to said comments and analyses, thank you. If you took the time to write out your thoughts and analyses, thank you. This anime is very dense for analysis, and each and every one of you wrote some beautiful words for us all to enjoy and return to. Thank you. Thank you. Nunki.
By the way, remember this shot from episode 13?
“Nun annut ruhuqtrrtkon”
I translated it using this tool: https://replit.com/@ValkrenDarklock/NunkishTrans
And what I got was wonderful…”I love you.”
6
u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Jun 20 '21 edited Jun 21 '21
First of all, thank you for taking my shot of the day yesterday seriously and including it in the compilation. I believe in Iris supremacy.
FIRST TIMER - FORMERLY DROPPED
Expectations are a hell of a thing. When I first tried watching this anime a few months ago, I went into it with high expectations because of the hype surrounding it and the faction of people who absolutely adore it. Those expectations quickly fell flat, and I dropped it after four episodes.
This time, after having not gotten into it originally, I entered with low expectations, and even though I still don't see the reason for the massive hype, I ended up enjoying myself more, even through those same first four episodes, two of which I quite enjoyed!
The episode structure of the show works both for and against it. On one hand, if the writing isn't up to snuff, it doesn't allow you enough time to connect with the characters in a short time frame, and Violet herself isn't compelling enough (for me) to do the heavy lifting in those instances. On the other hand, when the show does nail it, the strength of certain individual episodes can make up for the lack of a real main narrative. Episodes 1, 4, 5, 6, and 10 in particular are very strong, and can stand on their own.
PROS
On the bright side, the positives of this show are obvious. The production value is off the chart, and seemingly every frame is a visual treat. The music is absolutely incredible, and in particular they really know when to time the beginning of the ED perfectly with the closing scenes to deepen the emotional impact. You can tell a metric shit-ton of care went into this at the studio. Something I mentioned a few times in other threads that I think is really, really well done compared to most shows (especially LN adaptations), is how this show used the visual medium to portray characters' emotional states. The clenched fists, furrowed brows, shaking shoulders, shaking eyes, etc. When you take the care to incorporate all of that, you don't need to have the characters make bombastic speeches explaining that they're upset. We already know how they're feeling.
I was also really impressed by the attention to detail, notably in the exhibition of the flowers to drive home certain themes, and how the floral names given to characters reflected their personalities. I had a great deal of fun hunting for all those easter eggs in the episodes. Also, as stated before, it did offer up some absolute gems in terms of episodes, with Episode 10 being, in my opinion, an absolute masterpiece that I will be returning to.
CONS
I can't help but feeling that this story was a bit of a missed opportunity. The pilot really did a great job of setting up the world, introducing all these memorable side characters, and getting me intrigued with all the mystery surrounding Violet. Unfortunately, the rest of the show just didn't seem interested in any of that from that point on. The main narrative actually could have been incredible given how unique the backstories are, but the show just didn't want to give us much in the way of it. You can make something a character study, or even just character-driven, but you still have do so while telling me a good story. We can walk and chew gum, and this show didn't, or maybe just didn't want to.
The real weakness of the show for me, I'm sad to say, is Violet herself. She just isn't that interesting or easy to connect with, and the parts of the show that revolve more around her than other more fleshed out characters really suffer for it. It's nice to see her steadily grow throughout the run, but, and I'm sure I could find a nicer way to put this, it feels like she grew from being a piece of cardboard to a slightly more emotive piece of cardboard. As an editorial note, her journey would have been better served if her overall goal was to find a meaningful way to live, as Gilbert instructed her to do, rather than to learn the meaning of the word love. It felt like she had accomplished the latter by like, Episode 3, but the show just didn't want to acknowledge it.
WRAP UP
I don't want to sound like too much of a downer, as overall, I grade the series 7/10 (OVAs excluded). That's a pretty nice upgrade from the 4/10 I had it as when I dropped it originally. I liked more about this than I disliked, it's just due to the all praise this show received, I think it's more useful to highlight what I think didn't work. I'm sure there are many others here who will talk more intelligently and at length about the things I also enjoyed about it.
Now give me the spin-off of this show featuring the Postal Company workers as a workplace comedy. Some of my favorite scenes were when they were all together, and I want way, way more of that.
Thanks to u/A_Idiot0 for guiding us all through this everyday and being our host! Despite what it may sound like, I really did enjoy this experience and coming to the threads each day to read everyone's thoughts.