That’s actually a good idea.
So let’s talk about something complicated.
Violet Evergarden is blunt and delicate.
It’s beautiful and... overwrought.
I considered words other than “overwrought”, thinking it was perhaps a bit much.
But the series
itself is a bit much.
It is in essence about the difficulty of putting emotions into words, how hard it can be to express how you feel. It fits in then with other Kyoto Animation contemporaries like Hibike! Euphonium and Koe No Katachi.
But whereas those works’ presentation and settings are grounded and nuanced, Violet instead is
Extravagant.
Yet what it has to say is plain and simple.
Violet Evergarden is a young woman who's known nothing but war. She was raised as a "weapon", until she eventually came under the care of Major Gilbert Bougainvillea.
He gave her a name and taught her how to read and write.
Then, as they're attacking an enemy stronghold she loses both him and her arms.
After the war she rehabilitates, both physically and emotionally, and learns how to type letters with her new prosthetic arms.
Where once she used her arms to take lives, now she uses them to bring people together as an "Auto Memory Doll".
Throughout the series she has to cope with her loss and learn how to express not just her own, but other people's emotions as well.
--
Halfway through my first watch of the series Kyoto Animation was hit by a horrific attack which hurt and killed many of its employees.
To have that happen to people who brought me so much joy, who have continued to shape how I approach storytelling.
It is hard to put to words how that made me feel.
To that, Violet Evergarden, with all its baroque, post-processed splendour, answers with a to-the-point:
“Say it.”
Use as many words as you need, or as few. Be as theatrical as you like, painting your message with vibrant colours and ornate designs.
Or don’t be.
You’re okay either way.
With all its painstaking attention to audiovisual detail it is blunt when handling themes like survivor’s guilt and trauma.
Yet underneath the flowing dresses, the simulated camera effects and high emotion dialogue its messages still ring true.
You’re okay Violet Evergarden.
Very math.
