Violet Evergarden Episode 2 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Mar 6, 7:52 PM

#421

Jiborjas

Offline

Jan 2024

105

Me aburrí un poco pero igualmente me gusta ver una historia tan centrada en los diálogos y las emociones.

~ Jiborjas

Apr 5, 2:36 PM

#422

TabbyPog

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Apr 2024

Gets the story goin'!

May 31, 2:15 PM

#423

curleyswife

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Feb 2024

I'm very excited to return to review episode two of Violet Evergarden. If you missed my review of episode 1, you can check it out here.

I would first like to apologize for my last review's suggestion that the role of "Auto Memory Doll" was a position of sex work. As it becomes clear in this episode, that is not the case. Here, we find Violet working as a letter writer, and struggling immensely with that. This comes juxtaposed to the portrayal of Violet in episode 1, almost a superhuman that can do no wrong. But here, in episode 2, we can pinpoint Violet's greatest struggle: empathy and emotion. We got a hint of this in episode 1, as the red man, whose name I have discovered is Claudia, describes her inability to love. Claudia proves to be right.

Claudia is potentially a highlight of episode 2 for me. He is developing from somebody who I first found untrustworthy, to someone who reminds me of a trusting, warm father figure. Him and the popular auto memory doll make a particularly strong "mom and dad" pairing. This is especially true toward the end of the episode, when we learn that Claudia gave up his entire month's salary in order to get Violet's gift from Gilbert back to her. This is extremely kind, but this act, along with the final scene of him and his lover at the bar, raises questions of his relationship to Gilbert, and who Gilbert is as a person. It is clear that Claudia has developed some misgivings toward Gilbert, yet, he seemingly willing to humor Violet's affection toward the Major. Why is this? Is Claudia afraid of hurting Violet by revealing information to her about Gilbert's flaws? What's the long term plan? It seems obvious that Claudia does not want Violet to reunite with Gilbert, he takes her letter written for the Major and likely never has it delivered. Yet Claudia is willing to spend an entire month's salary to retrieve Violet a gift from the Major?

Of course, one of the most striking scenes, yet potentially one of the least impactful to the plot, of this episode was Violet seeing and approaching Gilbert in public. The audience is left of little detail of this interaction. It seems, fulfilling to Violet? She is still attached and obsessed with the Major by the end of the episode. Yet, it is striking that she is not frustrated by his disappearance. Violet seems to display what most psychologists would refer to as an "anxious attachment style." This is most often characterized by: being overly accommodating, clingy, lacking boundaries, fearing abandonment, and needing constant reassurance. It's surprising that Violet was not upset with the lack of outcome from this interaction. Gilbert has seemingly not returned to be a stable presence in her life. So, what happened between them? How is Violet still obsessed, yet not frustrated at her abandonment? We are left with little information.

Another character who I am particularly interested in is the blonde mail carrier. He's very sneaky and nosy. He also appears to have an uncomfortable fascination with women. If this were real life, I might be concerned that he would go down the incel pipeline. But because this is anime, I don't expect this to be the case. I have to wonder if there's potential for him and Violet to get together. I think both of them have some growing to do before they get into romantic relationships, but I could see them together. On an unrelated note on another side character, the auto memory doll worker with the round glasses seems to have some legitimate self-worth issues, believing that she's unqualified for the job she's been doing successfully. This is interesting. Maybe Violet's harsh feedback got to her? Or maybe she did not receive strong enough affection growing up. I hope she can work on this by the final episode.

As a final note, a theme I thought was very interestingly approached here was the relationships between the women working. The auto memory dolls at certain points give off "mean girl energy." They are constantly jealous, competing with each other, and frankly rude. I wonder why this is. Are these women getting paid per client, or a flat rate? Surely if it was the latter, they would not care that one auto memory doll is getting the most clients? Unless they are perhaps competing for a promotion. But then, of course, how would they feel knowing about Claudia's relationship with an auto memory doll? Certainly that might violate some ethical and professional guidelines? Maybe they just base their self-worth off of their value to random men and letter writers. That seems unfortunate, but maybe an accurate read on how society has conditioned many women.

Overall, episode 2 of Violet Evergarden was a strong follow up to the opening episode. I'm excited to learn more about Gilbert, watch the relationship between Claudia (who may be my new favorite character) and the Doll develop, and hopefully see somebody confront Violet, who seems to be morphing into a narcissistic AI-generated robot. But above all, an intimate scene between Claudia and the Doll would satisfy all of my hopes for this show.

Jun 14, 12:18 PM

#424

marta_valse

Offline

Apr 2024

241

It is so sadddddddddddd

Aug 21, 9:14 AM

#425

Archean-Return

Offline

Dec 2022

5300

The ghostwriting business is surprising. Normally, you'd expect that either the client or Violet's co-workers would at least review the letter before it was sent, just to ensure it conveyed the right message, but apparently not. Given that Violet is both a rookie to the job and somewhat eccentric in general, I thought such a safeguard would've been standard procedure.

ｲ乇刀乇乃尺ﾑ乇

╔⏤═⏤╝

╚⏤═⏤╗

☽ Shaded Horizon ☾

Aug 29, 2:52 AM

#426

HiljainenSipuli

Offline

Aug 2019

2372

usually dont like glasses girls in anime but erica(?) is kinda cute.
that outfit really looks nice on violet

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Sep 25, 8:57 AM

#427

White-Iris

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Jan 2024

Beautiful and soulful

Nov 3, 2:28 AM

#428

therealnagora

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Sep 2022

Picked up a bit from the disappointing first episode. I'm not clear on why one woman is wandering around with her tits out but that's completely eliminated any chance of my wife watching this.

Story-wise I'm not sure what age Violet is supposed to be. There was a reference to her being a child but she doesn't look any younger than Iris or the other girl who's interested in the history of the typewriter.

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