(L) Violet Evergarden

[Haak]

Originally Posted by seiftis

When Violet received the brooch from that instructor, I was like... "err what.. She only typed directly what the other girl said.. Nothing else"

Too easy

I thought it was a bit unnecessary. Especially that the girl would go through all the trouble of explaining it to that teacher and then arrange a slightly mawkish, feel good celebration just for special Violet. It's not like the teacher could even know if she's telling the truth just by showing the letter Violet wrote.

I was also unaware that a formal qualification was all that necessary, especially when the show is seemingly based on an era where apprenticeships are still a big thing. I think it would've been nicer if Violet were a bit more of a freelancer, forging her own path to her goals rather than rely on "orthodox" classes that couldn't possibly teach her what she really needs to know (and didn't anyway).

I'm not bothered by the fact that it was too easy though. The class course itself didn't strike me as having particularly high standards given how quickly they were over and done with it before they were awarded their qualification. Seems like it was only a few weeks, though I could be wrong.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the episode though. I think Violet probably saw a bit of herself in that girl which is why she was able to empathise with her. I think the best direction this show can go is through the "baby steps" route and it looks like the writers are pulling it off pretty well. I was worried that it might be too difficult for a character as far out there as Violet but it's working. The show can be a bit relentless in the drama and the naval gazing but it's not turning me off. I guess in a sense KyoAni are going back to their roots a bit, what with how they were with Key.

[Marcus H.]

It's really hard to give the episode a good pacing.
Those who don't like "training arcs" won't like it if the intensive workshop episode was given more time.
Those who wanted an anime series to show every fucking nook and cranny would probably prefer three episodes just for this intensive workshop.

Personally, I'm just glad that Violet has taken the first step.

[EroKing]

[pagan poor]

The OP and ED videos look like they take place in the same universe as the anime, and is a little story in itself.

[AB079]

Episode 4

Spoiler for --:

4 episodes in, with anime original content that does nothing but show how Ishidate and Kyoani decided to use cheesy drama stories instead of the LN where the first chapter beats every single one of these 4 episodes. This literally feels forced as hell, specially this week's soap opera drama with the whole family situation.

Honestly the only good part was the scene at the end with Violet and Gilbert, the rest is just lame and the bad writing doesn't help this series at all. Maybe that's why after how much promotion and shilling VEG is flopping but I guess that doesn't matter with Netflix money involved on this.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by AB079

Episode 4

Spoiler for --:

4 episodes in, with anime original content that does nothing but show how Ishidate and Kyoani decided to use cheesy drama stories instead of the LN where the first chapter beats every single one of these 4 episodes. This literally feels forced as hell, specially this week's soap opera drama with the whole family situation.

Honestly the only good part was the scene at the end with Violet and Gilbert, the rest is just lame and the bad writing doesn't help this series at all. Maybe that's why after how much promotion and shilling VEG is flopping but I guess that doesn't matter with Netflix money involved on this.

I notice Kyoani likes to go the anime original route with a lot of their anime-version IPs.
Is it because their source materials usually don't have that many volumes to them?

[AB079]

Originally Posted by zztop

I notice Kyoani likes to go the anime original route with a lot of their anime-version IPs.
Is it because their source materials usually don't have that many volumes to them?

To be honest with you, nobody knows the reason behind their desition of not using the source materials, they've been doing this for years with lots of terrible adaptations and flops but instead of learning from those mistakes they insist on this bullshit.

Adaptations are always different from the sources on one way or another but completely changing the stories and ruining them is the worst thing they can do. Amagi was the only one that ended on being decent but that happened because is not owned by kyoani and they got help from the author to do the changes.

[Kuroageha]

Wtf, again? Why?
The studio needs to learn that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Kazu-kun]

Okay, now I'm officially confused. I thought the first few episodes were anime-original to set things up because the novel started in medias res and didn't work too well. But now it looks like they're just ditching the novel altogether. I honestly didn't expect that and I'm not sure it's a good idea. Episode 3 was good but this one was way too melodramatic for no reason, and treating the topic of love so explicitly when Violet still lacks basic concepts of feelings doesn't make any sense.

[Lukes YGO & WS on YT]

Spoiler for Episode 4 Comments/Feedback:

That could have been a real catastrophe at the start, hopefully her arm heals up soon.

That's not cool by her mother, trying to force her to quit work and get married, settle down ect.

Iris got friendzoned, not wonder she was so upset.

Violet's ghostwriting is getting better each episode.

Really awesome how both Violet & Iris were names after beautiful flowers.

[zztop]

I found an interesting comment by a Redditor, ryorp, defending the anime-original changes to Violet's structure. Their opinion, not mine.

Spoiler for Redditor Defense comment:

...[V]olume 1 (is) a really good STANDALONE book. I can't stress that point enough. It was clearly written and structured to be standalone, and have no further content. It leaves us with a hugely intense climax that I personally love to death.

The problem starts with volume 2, and the fact that it even exists. It's purpose is to expand and continue the story, but because of the way volume 1 is written and how it ends, it's like trying to eat a burger after eating at a fancy restaurant. Can you do it? Yes. Will you enjoy it? Most likely. Will it be the same? Absolutely effin' not. Volume 2 even ends in what I find personally a quite lackluster way. But that's just because it has to compare itself to volume 1. Volume 2 was still good, but it just wasn't the same.

So what do you do as KyoAni? Well, you adapt it. And I do mean adapting. You change so you can bridge volume 1 and 2 in a more natural way. So how do we do that? Sacrifices must be made though. Volume 1 thrived on keeping us in the dark at the start, but we can't do that if don't wanna make a huge climax at episode 7 and then just riding it out for the rest of the cour. But that sounds dumb doesn't it? It'd be basically coming down from a high for 6 episodes. What about only adapting volume 1 if it's so great? Eh, it leaves the problem of not being enough content for a cour, but impossible to make into a movie, leaving KyoAni no realistic way of getting people onboard.

So what you do is what KyoAni is doing now. Properly set up the world and characters, introduce things that will serve a greater purpose at the start. The light novels does not do this. This is why so much is anime original. We need this start if we are to adapt both volume 1 and 2. Light novel content will come. We've seen it in trailers.

[AB079]

^Delete that right now, that belongs to the LN thread.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by zztop

I found an interesting comment by a Redditor, ryorp, defending the anime-original changes to Violet's structure. Their opinion, not mine.

This logic makes sense only if the first two or three episodes were anime-original. Now it looks like they're just dropping the novel content altogether. At this point they probably wouldn't even have the time to properly cover the novel anymore.

[germanturkey]

Originally Posted by AB079

^Delete that right now, that belongs to the LN thread.

eh, there's nothing spoilerish about that.

i can't say i'm a fan of what they're doing. the first volume is so good compared to what they've done so far. maybe they're just doing filler until there are enough episodes left to adapt the first volume faithfully? my initial estimation was they could do 2 eps per chapter if they wanted to go full detail, but that'd make for a disjointed viewing experience. if they pare it down to 1 ep per chapter (except for the vital ones), there may be a few more background pieces before they jump into the novel.

[Kazu-kun]

I doubt it. If they just wanted to adapt the first volume they didn't have to extent the length of the show to 14 episodes.

Honestly I have no idea what the fuck they're doing. Maybe they're just going full original. It wouldn't surprise me coming from Ishidate.

[germanturkey]

that would be absolutely stupid. i'm getting more angry thinking about it. the first four or five chapters from the novel blow what they've done so far out of the water. instead, we get 4 episodes of original content that's not even that good? before the show came out, my friend and i were talking about the expectations i had of the show and why i was so hyped for it. he said, "i hope it lives up to your expectations." and i was like, "so long as they do it like the novel." well, guess what's happening. there's a reason my wallpaper for this season is 02 and Hiro instead of Violet..

[AB079]

The entire problem is just the same pattern that Kyoani it's been following for years.

Pick one of your own LN's > do changes that aren't needed > lots of promotion, marketing, bonus, etc > Adaptation is still mediocre, massive flops > rinse and repeat.

It was said by the Director that the first 3 episodes were different and a bit of a mess simply because they wanted to pull them out fast so they can show them in theatres and with that get the attention of the media and the viewers, in this case the formula should work using the argument of "is for the viewers so the can connect with the series". The thing is episode 4 proved that this is not the case, they're just going anime original and instead of making the experience better they're just ruining it.

So much hype, so much for the so called AOTS/AOTY by some people who watched those 3 episodes and others that fell for it (The ones who watched them at theatres), now we have another Phantom World. Still, I wanna see what's going to happen with ep5 and ep6, if they keep this anime original bullshit then it will be 100% confirmed the future of the series, for now there's not a single trend on japan, not even hype for this anymore and the numbers in the ranks are mediocre.

[MeoTwister5]

It's souring to even post in this thread now with the way LN readers have taken over this thread attempting to speak for everyone.

Not to mention all the passive aggressive digs at people who don't read the LN and actually like it.

[rulfo]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

It's souring to even post in this thread now with the way LN readers have taken over this thread attempting to speak for everyone.

Not to mention all the passive aggressive digs at people who don't read the LN and actually like it.

True. I mean it's funny when they accuse people of having a strong opinion of something (mainly because it's too positive for them). Everyone has their own opinions and some just can't live with that truth and wish to just rain on other people's parade for having a different opinion.

I say just ignore it.

On the other hand though, I do agree that I'm one of those who are waiting for the novel materials to kick in. I do like the episode but I feel that it's taking too much of its sweet time to develop Violet.

[jwai]

I haven't read the novels, but I didn't think this episode was awful in itself?