English Dub Series Review: Violet Evergarden

People’s feelings are complicated, and so rarely are they expressed so beautifully.

Overview

The continent of Telesis has been broken in two by a bloody civil war. The final battle was at Ecstreme, and the survivors were few. Among them is a young girl by the name of Violet Evergarden, and she didn’t come through unscathed. The bombing sheared off both of her arms. Fortunately, in this world, there exist such advanced clockwork mechanisms that she can have replacement arms! She is picked up from the hospital by a friend of her commanding officer, and he offers her a job at his newly-formed postal company. She becomes an Auto-Memories Doll, a form of transcriptionist who use their mastery of language to do more than write down their clients words. They try to convey the true heart of the matter.

Here’s the problem, Violet is what you would call a kuudere. She has lived her entire life for nothing but the orders of the Major she served under. At first, her writing is more like military reports than heart-filled letters. However, with the help of one of her fellow dolls, she unlocks the ability to empathize with her clients and becomes one of the most requested dolls in the area. She even manages to turn an unsteadily arranged marriage between two nobles into a romance of the ages!

However, even behind all this success, the pain of the war still lingers with her. Her precious Major’s last words were “I love you.” Love was not a word she had learned. Such a complicated emotion is hard for her to wrap her PTSD-addled brain around. To make it even worse, nobody had the heart to tell her that the Major died. When she finds out, it breaks her. In the middle of it all, her friends encourage her, and help her find the strength to forge ahead.

Our Take

Are you a fan of delicious feelings? Well, open wide because this show has two heaping scoops of them, and you’re gonna get ’em. It’s rather rare that a show gets me in the feels. This one got me several times. Violet Evergarden is a masterful anime and one that was as much a delight in its writing as it was in its visuals. The setting is rich, with a variety of different locales within the continent. Each has its own feel and aesthetics, but elements tie it back to the main city of Leidenschaftlich. Combined with Violet’s prosthesis, it all gives off vibes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Even though the show could have just as easily had the world use existing letters, but a whole new language was built for this universe. It’s pretty consistent with its use, too. If I had the time, I could probably translate every letter we see.

The plot flows from one story arc to another by having Violet go out to meet with various clients. The main story arcs are about Violet herself, and her growth as a person. These other episodes not only build up the world but use her as a viewport into the lives and feelings of other characters, similar to Kino’s Journey. Only less murder-happy and actually interesting. As we progress Violet’s story, we find the tales of her clients reflect more and more the effects of war on civilians and survivors. The feelings within these stories are potent. They all pay off in the end, and those payoffs are earned. Even when the endings aren’t happy, there is a release of that pent-up torment that makes the journey worthwhile. That being said, this anime is not what I would call happy. It is dramatic and heavy. If you can’t handle that, I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

As one of the show’s underlying themes is conveying a person’s true feelings and thoughts in writing, the script and its translation into English had better be on point. For the most part, you bet it is. In this case, Bob and Megan Buchholz chose to move the dialogue in the dub away from the literal translation in order to best convey the meaning in an aesthetically pleasing way. Even when you couldn’t see the speaker, the words were different from the subtitles, helping them to flow more naturally. I was sucked in on how real these characters felt, even when they were one-off stories. Note, however, that I say “For the most part”. There is one element of the show, it’s Dattebayo, that just won’t go away. Worse yet, it isn’t a single word. It’s an entire STORY. The story of how her Major told her he loved her, so she became a Doll to learn what he meant. You hear that at least once per episode, and it gets old real fast. The English crew have nothing to do with this, however. It is purely from the original script.

The voice acting is an area where I’m stuck. I would say 75% of the voice actors were at the top of their game. The more we saw of a character, the better they got. I can’t tell you how many times Erika Harlacher made me want to just walk through the screen and give Violet a hug. Unfortunately, some of the incidental characters, ones that had little to do with the drama, came off rather forced. It wasn’t enough to ruin anything. If any character is important to the episode, the actor behind them did their work, and I loved it.

The visuals in this show are absolutely stunning. The animation? I can’t contain my love for it. I agonized over many of the shots, trying to figure out what was CG and what was traditional. Other than a single gondola in one episode, I couldn’t tell. Ever. It all looked like it was traditional, and if that is true, it… is… insane. Watching Violet type away with those mechanical hands is amazing. It feels like it is done with CG, from how fast and smoothes the pieces move.Shading and smudges all over the surface are maintained as it moves with incredible precision and style. On close examination, this is all traditional animation, and it blows me away. I never once saw a character go off model, I never saw mindlessly repeated cycles. I just loved it. Period.

How To Watch

It’s rather rare that I’d suggest spreading out your viewing of a show, but this is one deserves it. It is an excellent example of its genre and is filled with powerful emotion. Don’t binge this show. Save it for those hard days where you just want to relax and feel something unconnected to your day. Get a good wine or tea and curl up for one or two episodes. This might be tough. I hadn’t planned on watching the entire series in one sitting, but the time vanished into the melancholy beauty of this masterpiece.

Score

Summary

I would love to give this show a perfect score. I really would. Unfortunately, there are a couple of nitpicky issues I had with the writing and voice acting that keep it from that elusive, perfect ten. Instead, enjoy nine and a half points out of that ten.

9.5/10