If you haven't please watch that first (though I doubt anyone would come here without watching the main series first). While doing so I'd recommend you to watch this between episodes 4 and 5 since that's when this is set.
Violet Evergarden Special is an unaired episode which is set between episodes 4 and 5 of the 13 episode series - between Iris' visit to her hometown and the one involving Princess Charlotte's exchange of letters with the neighboring country's prince. No wonder there was a time gap of a few months between those 2 adventures.
Since this happens in the first half of the series we don't get any information about Gilbert's situation after the war. Therefore he does not appear (in a flashback yes, but it was shown before). In addition, for those wanting to know whether this episode has adapted part of the LN, this is an original episode.
Story: 8
Now, just because this is 34 minutes long does not mean that there's not much to say. In fact, this is probably one of the most important (personally one of the best for me) episodes in the series. The main reason is because this is when we can clearly see Violet struggling to write a letter for her client. In fact, it's the first time that Violet is taking care of a client all by herself (though technically she does get some help - after all, she's not experienced at this point). It also explains the time gap between episodes 4 and 5 - how did Violet manage to get a chance to write letters for a princess only after a few months from graduating?
The episode involved Violet writing a love letter for an opera singer. Bearing in mind that Violet is still in her learning stages for writing letters, we are shown her struggles a number of times, which is pretty obvious since Violet still doesn't know what 'I love you ' means. She manages to get help from her colleagues to improve and meet the singer's expectations. Just like other episodes about Violet's adventures, we get a glimpse of the client's past, which involves the painful loss of her love partner during the war. I won't spoil beyond this point, but you should probably know the conclusion from most of Violet's other adventures.
But how does this answer the question I mentioned before? Well, since Violet learns how to write love letters here, this is probably the main reason why her writing skills were significantly better than before in episode 5. It also partly explains why Hodgins chose her to handle an important client like Princess Charlotte - Cattleya was writing on the other side while Iris and Erica probably didn't have any experience writing love letters for important clients like Violet.
"Violet. I know this is no easy task, but you've completed a great many jobs over the past few months." - Claudia Hodgins, start of Episode 5
One of the "great many jobs" included this episode. Now some people may say that this isn't enough, which I perfectly understand, but 1 episode is better than none.
If I was to point out a major flaw, it would be the teacher's recommendation for Violet to write the letters. I mean, she only saw Violet write one letter... I don't think that would have been enough to be so sure to take care of a hard task like this.
Overall, I'll give an 8 for bridging the time gap.
Art: 10
Maybe it's just me but watching this after almost 2 months since the main series finished made me appreciate the art a lot more. I'm no expert in art, but everything was flawless to me, maybe even too flawless. My favorite parts were the water fountain scene and the candles. Just can't get enough of them.
Sound: 7
A new addition in terms of sound is the singing of the opera singer - her voice was really overwhelming and managed to captivate the audience's attention, including me.
Character: 8
Without this episode, Violet's development would've had a huge gap in her path to improve her writing skills. This was a massive plus for me and it's also why I give an 8 for character. Some people might argue that whilst this episode did help to cement the cracks of her development, the pace at which this occurs may still be too quick. I think it's understandable since all of her adventures involving clients are only 20 minutes long.
This leads me to Irma's character. Since she was a client it's obvious that there was a lack of development. I think this was the weakest part of this episode, even more so than others because her flashbacks felt too short for me to feel much sympathy for her. Maybe it's because VE has always been using the loss of loved ones on most of its episodes - Violet losing Gilbert, Oscar losing his daughter, Anne losing her mother...
Enjoyment: 8
I personally think this episode should've been included in the main series in the first place, to bridge the time gap between Violet's first and second adventures, which could have reduced complaints by some people questioning Violet's quick growth. Regardless, I still enjoyed this episode.
Overall - 8
Would recommend, though you may not be satisfied.
