There’s no doubt in my mind that VE is visually appealing and accompanied by a great OST. However, do the characters and plot live up to it? So far, it’s too early to say despite 4 episodes still out. But we can kinda take a guess at this point. However, I do find the setting to be quite interesting and how the characters act seem to be somewhat realistic.
There’s many reasons why people can rant on about this series, and no, “It’s KyoAni” and “It’s Overhyped” aren’t some of them despite people using these as reasons regardless. Violet’s introduction left many questioned, many thinking “She’s not interesting.” “She’s Bland” or “She’s 1-Dimensional.” But to be quite honest, the fact that she’s uninteresting and bland means there’s room for growth, and anyone can figure that out considering this has been done quite a lot. The start of the anime really showcases violet and her imperfection. Monotone, Boring, Lacking. Which is all the more reason for me to look forward to the end result of her character after upcoming development. Sure, maybe the way it was executed or presented seems questionable, but what the hell do you expect from a child that's been practically raised in war, got constant blood on her hands, and kills people without batting an eye? Anyways, I believe there’s a bigger picture to this and that this sort of direction has a purpose. Or it could be just bad directing, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
I see no reason to give lack of growth or undeveloped as reasons to criticize characters so early on. It’s like people expect 14 episodes worth of developed from Violet in the first couple episodes. There’s reasons why developments exist, and it’s to further a character and make them more interesting as people would expect to see. However, it’s how they go about this development that makes me question the series a bit. The direction it’s taking can go either way, so we’ll have to see.
Like I’ve said, there’s so much room to give more proper development on violet’s character and the rest, but if it’s accompanied by mediocre writing, then this development would be half assed. Now the writing isn’t horrible for what it’s worth, but sometimes it’s hard to care about what dialogues these characters decide to use. There’s only a lack of substance since it’s still too early for its full potential to be known. So there’s really no “substance” to rate upon anyway. But that’s why although I’m not fond of the writing so far, I look forward to the conclusion and hopefully they successfully develop the characters enough for us to sympathize or to understand them much better. I think people expected this to be somewhat deep and thought-provoking. But this is somewhat a simple story about a girl trying to find herself. Just that it takes on a more dramatic approach.
Despite the inner contents of the series itself, it definitely does the outer contents right. To the art style, the character design, the colours and background, as well as character movement, which makes them feel more realistic and humane. Sometimes the interactions between characters are fun to watch as well.
I think that VE is one of those shows that needs time and a slower process to really form the bigger picture and its true purpose. Although the pacing seems...awfully slow, I wouldn’t go as for to deem it “boring.” For me, I don’t think that at all. It makes me curious for more and how they decide to execute the given scenarios and how each character grows from it. Sure some of the drama hasn’t been so impactful or meaningful thus far, but it’s been mentioned many times here that with enough time, I believe the drama then will carry more impact and weight than before.
I don’t think people should try place this anime on some sort of pedestal because it’s simply KyoAni or it looks amazing. Violet Evergarden is FAR from perfect, but it’s also not horrible at the same time. It’s been mentioned before, I believe it’s one of those anime that requires time to be able to fully understand VE’s potential. So I recommend lowering your hype level of this series and treat it like any other show this winter, because you'll probably ruin the show for yourself if you don’t. Violet Evergarden doesn’t offer much but great visuals and soundtracks along with it. Look at what type of series it is and see if it interests you. I understand many people feel obligated to watch it because it’s solely KyoAni (Me Included tbh). But see if it truly catches your interest. If it doesn’t, then don’t bother.
I think VE may carry a simpler story than one might think. Not insanely thought-provoking or riveting, but I believe that since this show focuses on Violet’s Character, we’d be able to go more in depth on her past life and her adventures later on. We will see Violet grow as a character as she learns from others’ experiences. That’s her job after all, to deliver letters to people and to fully express their emotions onto a piece of paper.
Overall Violet Evergarden has caught my interest personally and although it’s hanging on the edge, I do hope that the staff finds a way to really bring out the full glory of the series into its full light and shows us a great series with fine narratives and well-developed characters (although sometimes the development is being dragged out a bit too much). Not sure why some of the side characters are original, but I suppose they add a bit to Violet's character.
Thankfully, I’ve learned not to give a damn about MAL scores a long time ago, because those “scores” used to influence me whether to watch something or not. I don’t give a fuck if VE ends up in the 6’s or low 7’s once this is over. If I enjoyed it personally and loved it, then that’s that. But again, my opinion on this can change easily. I’ve only read a couple chapters of the source material so I can’t really determine how well the adapatation is so far. But VE shows promise, it’s up to the staff to live up to the promises and opportunities they’re given. Both the OP and ED were beautiful and the OST's are just great, really not much to talk about there.
Overall (as of Episode 12):
Story - 7
Art - 10
Sound - 9
Character - 8
Enjoyment - 8
Anyways, I truly believe Violet Evergarden can come out as one of the best from Winter, dare I say year, if it’s done right…
If.
