(L) Violet Evergarden

[SeijiSensei]

I liked this episode as well, but I'm missing the rest of the cast. After the time invested in them at the outset, they've been tossed aside the last couple of weeks. I hope we get some ensemble episodes again ant not just Violet's task-of-the-week.

[Kismet-chan]

Absolutely stunning episode. One could argue that the pacing was a bit fast, but I personally don't really care because they conveyed the full depth of emotions they needed to over the course of the time slot. The majority of the episode, especially the scene with the lake and the final shot cutting off right before Violet presumably cried out, was legitimately feature film quality. I'm also actually both surprised and happy that Violet learned the truth about Gilbert this early on. Now we have decent amount of time to see all the development and fallout.

(And I get the trope of no body = no death, but I kind of hope he actually is dead. I just personally like it when characters don't come back. XD)

[Endscape]

This was probably the most beautiful episode of an anime that I have ever seen. KyoAni outdid themselves here, especially with that scene with Violet in the water.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how Violet will cope with what she learned this episode.

[SeaDoor]

I know this is bad to mention but...

Every time Violet shows her hands, I expect her to have to occasionally stop by Rockbell's for a cleaning and minor repairs.

OK, I'll be quiet now...

[Applehell]

Wow... You can say what you want about it's other aspects, but Kyoani really nails the big dramatic moments of these episodes like nobody else. I haven't read the original, but as good as it might have been I really doubt it could have been presented better then was displayed at climax. This really has to with fact visual narratives at their heights can easily surpass the same scene in text if on point.

Originally Posted by Tranhieu

Looks like people's enthusiasm has waned down quite a bit after 6 episodes?

I don't know if there was that much enthusiasm in the first place. 7 episodes in this has very much been the same show as was in the first episode even if the focus has shifted a bit. So if you liked that then you're most likely still here, instead the activity in this thread is more of a testament that was always more of a low-key a fair. Despite the amazing production values it's not hard to see why if you take a step back consider what commonly drives engagement of more popular shows, that usually a strong mystery, drama or romantic element. Violet Evergarden has these in spots, but never delves deeply into them enough since a lot of this is focused around one-shot whom resolve their conflicts in one episode instead building upon one of those 3 elements around a single or multiple reoccurring characters.

But the whole Violent-Gilbert affair coming back into the spotlight might change that though.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Applehell

I don't know if there was that much enthusiasm in the first place. 7 episodes in this has very much been the same show as was in the first episode even if the focus has shifted a bit. So if you liked that then you're most likely still here, instead the activity in this thread is more of a testament that was always more of a low-key a fair.

While it's no Darling in the FRANXX, Violet has been holding her own compared to shows like Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, a consistently well-written, amusing, and adult story that few people appear to be following. There are only eighty or so posts in that thread so far, a quarter of the traffic for this show.

[Kazu-kun]

Who cares about the amount of posts in a Western forum anyway. DarliFran actually isn't that popular in Japan. It's selling worse than Violet according to stalker estimations.

The hits of the season are Yuru Camp, Idolish Seven, Takagi-san and SoraYori. In that order.

Yuru Camp, against all expectation, ended up being gold.

[Blueknight78]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Who cares about number of posts in a gaijin forum. DarliFran actually isn't that popular in Japan. It's selling worse than Violet according to stalker estimations.

The hits of the season are Yuru Camp, Idolish Seven, Takagi-san and SoraYori. In that order.

Yuru Camp, against all expectation, ended up being gold.

actually since this serie is being "payed" by netflix, they also don't need to care "about sales" the studio already get his money from netflix.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Applehell

Wow... You can say what you want about it's other aspects, but Kyoani really nails the big dramatic moments of these episodes like nobody else. I haven't read the original, but as good as it might have been I really doubt it could have been presented better then was displayed at climax. This really has to with fact visual narratives at their heights can easily surpass the same scene in text if on point.

The visual direction was on point, but the overall narrative and tone of who Violet Evergarden is far from being on point.

I don't know if there was that much enthusiasm in the first place. 7 episodes in this has very much been the same show as was in the first episode even if the focus has shifted a bit. So if you liked that then you're most likely still here, instead the activity in this thread is more of a testament that was always more of a low-key a fair. Despite the amazing production values it's not hard to see why if you take a step back consider what commonly drives engagement of more popular shows, that usually a strong mystery, drama or romantic element. Violet Evergarden has these in spots, but never delves deeply into them enough since a lot of this is focused around one-shot whom resolve their conflicts in one episode instead building upon one of those 3 elements around a single or multiple reoccurring characters.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

I would argue that the original Violet Evergarden had these points. In a different medium, Violet Evergarden was the mystery, the drama, and the romantic element because the narrative was driven through the lens of her clients. Through their perspective, we would begin to wonder who this woman is who speaks very little, yet is endearing enough to allow these clients unfortunate stories to open up to a stranger like her.

But with this show and even this episode, the spotlight is definitely on Violet and her developing emotions, not her client. Even if we still know little about Violet's past, the mystery is no longer there because they spell it out to us from the beginning. Instead of appearing as a mysterious, mature fairy lady who has her own story to tell that the readers have to piece together from her client's stories, the narrative is now telling her story for us.

And in my opinion, that is why there is not enough enthusiasm for this show. Because it is no longer about the audience and the people around her trying to piece together their own stories of Violet Evergarden, but Kyoto Animation trying to show off their own pretty sculpture.

[AB079]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

I would argue that the original Violet Evergarden had these points. In a different medium, Violet Evergarden was the mystery, the drama, and the romantic element because the narrative was driven through the lens of her clients. Through their perspective, we would begin to wonder who this woman is who speaks very little, yet is endearing enough to allow these clients unfortunate stories to open up to a stranger like her.

But with this show and even this episode, the spotlight is definitely on Violet and her developing emotions, not her client. Even if we still know little about Violet's past, the mystery is no longer there because they spell it out to us from the beginning. Instead of appearing as a mysterious, mature fairy lady who has her own story to tell that the readers have to piece together from her client's stories, the narrative is now telling her story for us.

And in my opinion, that is why there is not enough enthusiasm for this show. Because it is no longer about the audience and the people around her trying to piece together their own stories of Violet Evergarden, but Kyoto Animation trying to show off their own pretty sculpture.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

I agree with you on this. One of the most relevant and important elements on the LN was precisely how the characters on these episodic stories offered different points of view and experiences with Violet where you can actually see how she changes little by little, but at the same time there is a connection between these chapters, something the show doesn't really have, at least the LN based episodes bring back some of that but as you pointed out, the primary focus is still Violet.

One comment that it's been going around on both japan and the western (and also a very interesting one) is that the show presents to the viewers a Violet that is established as some type of person but after episode 6 she was presented as a completely different character. Some people blames the mix of Original episodes with the LN based ones due to their different nature, others blame Ishidate for trying to slap his own vision instead of following the LN. IMO, is not a problem of the anime-original episodes, is a problem of the writing on those episodes that feels cheap and never connected on a proper way with the ones based on the LN.

For now, despite being harsh on the show I like the way how Kyoani managed these last 2 episodes. I was so happy when they deleted the unnecessary fanservice on episode 6 and how they made the lake scene on episode 7 so perfect. My only wish is that they stay on track with this and never go back to anime original content.

[Marcus H.]

Let's be frank on one thing: nobody cares about the one-off clients the way Violet does.
KyoAni is aware of this, that's why they shifted the focus from "who Violet is to the clients" to "who Violet is".

[Blueknight78]

Originally Posted by AB079

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

I agree with you on this. One of the most relevant and important elements on the LN was precisely how the characters on these episodic stories offered different points of view and experiences with Violet where you can actually see how she changes little by little, but at the same time there is a connection between these chapters, something the show doesn't really have, at least the LN based episodes bring back some of that but as you pointed out, the primary focus is still Violet.

One comment that it's been going around on both japan and the western (and also a very interesting one) is that the show presents to the viewers a Violet that is established as some type of person but after episode 6 she was presented as a completely different character. Some people blames the mix of Original episodes with the LN based ones due to their different nature, others blame Ishidate for trying to slap his own vision instead of following the LN. IMO, is not a problem of the anime-original episodes, is a problem of the writing on those episodes that feels cheap and never connected on a proper way with the ones based on the LN.

For now, despite being harsh on the show I like the way how Kyoani managed these last 2 episodes. I was so happy when they deleted the unnecessary fanservice on episode 6 and how they made the lake scene on episode 7 so perfect. My only wish is that they stay on track with this and never go back to anime original content.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

well i see diferent comments about it, about which the original source don't have a proper chronology and you can easy get lost on that, because they don't proper connect in the chronologic way and peoples which read the novel liked more the appoach here where the anime try to make the pace here much more stable and we see she going from a "emotionlesss robot" to someone learn about emotions.

It gonna be obvious which "read and watch" are 2 different things, one thing is when you have to "imagine" what the character do or thing another is when you are seeying he doing that, that is what make many times anime and manga novel different, because they work with different parts of brains, since we are seeying violet actions we don't need "imagine from a vision from a different person because she is there in front of us doing that thing, then the brains answer is different and it can cause frustration because for some peoples they don't like how what they see is "different from what they imagineed how could see.

[AB079]

Originally Posted by Blueknight78

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

well i see diferent comments about it, about which the original source don't have a proper chronology and you can easy get lost on that, because they don't proper connect in the chronologic way and peoples which read the novel liked more the appoach here where the anime try to make the pace here much more stable and we see she going from a "emotionlesss robot" to someone learn about emotions.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

Yep, that's true and is a criticism you will see everywhere. The LN is not perfect at all and it has many issues (I remember saying this when the adaptation was announced) but still has a lot of good stuff that depicts Violet's character in a better way than what the anime did.

The chronologic stuff is present on both LN and the anime too, for example episode 5 packed a period of time of around a year? then we jumped straight to episode 6 where is not clear for how much time Violet was there (@germanturkey mentioned this before, there is a deleted content that is really important but that could've added even more problems with the chronologic issue).

In the end this issue will be fixed at the end of the season, probably in the last 2 or 3 episodes to give this adaptation an end, or better said an end to Violet's journey.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

And in my opinion, that is why there is not enough enthusiasm for this show. Because it is no longer about the audience and the people around her trying to piece together their own stories of Violet Evergarden, but Kyoto Animation trying to show off their own pretty sculpture.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

You aren’t wrong, but the entire reason that worked was because it was a novel. It simply wouldn’t fly in an anime, or any kind of serial media.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Endscape

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

You aren’t wrong, but the entire reason that worked was because it was a novel. It simply wouldn’t fly in an anime, or any kind of serial media.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

But there has been precedence for both episodic and achronological shows. There was Haruhi, Cowboy Bebop, and the first season of Darker than Black.

And in those shows, the titular character was not always in the spotlight in every episode.

I don't necessarily expect this anime to be a 1:1 adaptation of the novels, but this inside-looking-out narrative is the complete opposite of of Violet's story that is built on outsiders looking in.

It would be like if Haruhi was told through Haruhi's perspective instead of Kyon's.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

But there has been precedence for both episodic and achronological shows. There was Haruhi, Cowboy Bebop, and the first season of Darker than Black.

And in those shows, the titular character was not always in the spotlight in every episode.

I don't necessarily expect this anime to be a 1:1 adaptation of the novels, but this inside-looking-out narrative is the complete opposite of of Violet's story that is built on outsiders looking in.

It would be like if Haruhi was told through Haruhi's perspective instead of Kyon's.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

The issue isn't that it's episodic or achronological. It's the issue of learning Violet's story through the lens of other characters.

Novels are a more introspective media, that can work well there. In a tv show with episodes every week, that is much more difficult to accomplish.

[rulfo]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

But there has been precedence for both episodic and achronological shows. There was Haruhi, Cowboy Bebop, and the first season of Darker than Black.

And in those shows, the titular character was not always in the spotlight in every episode.

I don't necessarily expect this anime to be a 1:1 adaptation of the novels, but this inside-looking-out narrative is the complete opposite of of Violet's story that is built on outsiders looking in.

It would be like if Haruhi was told through Haruhi's perspective instead of Kyon's.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

Haruhi TV anime was good ol fun but the story telling is pretty shit IMO. Those who valued coherency over the wacky nature of the show absolutely hated it.

From both stand points I can see it works as binge show, but for weekly basis I can't say I'll enjoy it as much. Probably the same reason why I think it was for the best they went this route than adapting it as the same as novel. The episodic format in the novel is viable because the whole material is readily available for consumption. In TV anime format, you wait for week. IMO starting the show with the Novel's first story would work but it makes it difficult to understand Violet's character and her conflict. This is why as much as I enjoyed the stories, Violet wasn't a character I easily empatized with.

Anyway, I digress though. We're stepping into LN spoiler territory.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

It would be like if Haruhi was told through Haruhi's perspective instead of Kyon's.

Spoiler for Comparison to Haruhi:

I would actually love that. Haruhi was easily the most interesting character (not her personality, but her character in general) but we barely learned anything about her because we were stuck on Kyon's POV. I'd love a remake telling her story.

That's just me though.

[rulfo]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Spoiler for Comparison to Haruhi:

I would actually love that. Haruhi was easily the most interesting character (not her personality, but her character in general) but we barely learned anything about her because we were stuck on Kyon's POV. I'd love a remake telling her story.

That's just me though.

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels and to Haruhi:

It won't work the same way because Kyon himself was narrating his POV regarding circumstances to that was caused by Haruhi.

Violet works very differently from that. In the first place, there is no Haruhi-like main character that is the character in focus from the protagonist's POV. Not to mention almost directly involved in every scenario whether actively or passively.

Also if you notice here, the ones actually doing the narration(if there's any) are the clients. Majority of the story is told from their perspective.

[Haak]

Another decent episode but this time made better by what happens after Violet's work with the playwriter. Violet is finally made aware of Gilbert's (presumed) death though it really does beg the question how it was kept a secret from her longer than it had any right to be.