Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll (2019)

[ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン 外伝 永遠と自動手記人形]

Director: Haruka Fujita
Starring: Yui Ishikawa, Minako Kotobuki, Aoi Yuki

Synopsis:
Violet is given a special assignment to act as a tutor for a sickly and socially withdrawn debutante.

Impressions:
I was a bit confused at first when I started watching this. I knew an OAV was made for Violet Evergarden, but I looked at the runtime for this and thought, "This is feature length. It's basically a movie." Well, it was a movie, originally plotted as a two-episode OAV but then expanded into full movie. (This in turn meant I needed to double-check the playlist for the actual OAV.) You can see the the original structure a bit in how the story plays out, with the first act focusing on Violet's time with Isabella and then the second act featuring Taylor after a brief time skip. The stakes are significantly lower than the 2020 film and the impact is less as a result, but I don't believe this is nearly as controversial with the fans. I really like the dynamic between Violet and Isabella and then Taylor is crafted with some parallels to Violet herself, which does a good job of highlighting our main character's growth. And then we tie it all together for a nice little bittersweet ending. Naturally, KyoAni's work is amazing as always. It's a bit of a lightweight story, but it should hit the right notes with most people and that's worth a watch at the very least if not a spot in your collection.

Rating:
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