Violet Evergarden (2018)

[ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン]

Director: Taichi Ishidate
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Starring: Yui Ishikawa, Takehito Koyasu, Daisuke Namikawa
Starring: 13

Synopsis:
A disabled war veteran is taken in by the friend of her commanding officer and given a job in a letter writing service.

Impressions:
I didn't really know what to expect going into this, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, I understand there's some divide with fans of the original light novels, but this is always something that happens with adaptations. Taking the anime series by itself, there's a rewarding character arc as Violet comes to understand emotions and how to interact with people. Honestly, as far as the core of Violet's journey as a character, they could've ended on Episode 9 and been fine, but the final arc of the series does help bring things full circle. If you're easily moved, the story will be tugging on your heartstrings in spades, but a more cynical viewer may not like the style of pretty much every episode setting up a sad scenario with a teary payoff.

As far as the visuals go, everything looks absolutely gorgeous, which was one of the initial things to draw my interest. Akiko Takase's character designs are very appealing and the production values of the series are overall quite high.

For me at least, this is definitely worth having, one of the best series to come along in a long while. If you're not the flinty-hearted sort, you may want to have a box of tissues handy, though.

Rating:
Own It