Violet Evergarden is truly a beautiful piece of work - no one can deny that. Colors are vibrant, the animation is like satin to my eyes and the music complements the visuals, working with the picture rather than against it.
Those were the good parts.
Rest of this lush and vibrant garden is... mostly covered in soot and soil.
Meaning, of course, that all the other elements weren't even slightly on the par with the good aspects of the show - the art and the music. Nothing particularly terrible, mind you, but... I really don't care about the art, nor the music. I want the story to be perfect! I want the characters to have that 'wow'- effect, that glues me in, and doesn't let me go! I want to devour every minute of every single episode, and weep in a need for more!
Like I said, Violet Evergarden is beautiful... but it doesn't have that 'wow'- effect on me, being almost too beautiful, for the most parts. When the characters are crying, I see no pain. When they are sad, I feel no despair. The ugliest parts of human feelings and emotions are almost so beautifully presented, that it's just... not credible. I can't truly see the feelings, nor the emotions in their full scale... just beauty. And ironic as it is, given the inner core of the story - learning of having feelings, and expressing them - it becomes quite dulling, especially in the last four episodes.
The story - short, simple, formulaic and cliche in every possible way - is decent. It's nothing out of the ordinary, and neither are the characters. Main character learns feelings by writing down what those around her are feeling, thus "earning" herself salvation from her past - not bad, but seen and done before. We have aour ptotective Senpais, angry brother in mourning, supportive cast of nameless faces that I for the death of me cannot name but maybe one (Iris?), and those who write/receive a letter, and never appear in a story ever again. Nothing deep, complex, or something that I haven't already seen, but... I still didn't hate it. Both the story, and the characters are exactly what they need to be, and nothing more. Is it a bad thing? Not... necessarily. Am I still bothered by it? Absolutely.
The biggest problem for me in the show was that whole auto-memoir Doll - business, that I just found really, really... stupid. Unnecessary. Meaningless, even. It would be logical to have a profession for letter-writing in a world, where people were either illiterate, or if the letters somehow possessed some kind of special magic, that only the certain someones could either handle, see, touch, or read. As far as I could see, neither were the case. The only time when having a professional letter-writer around made any kind of sence, was when they were trying to court princess and a prince from two separate kingdoms through artificial love letters, but that was the only time! The show glorifies the letters almost to the point where the letters are the most priceless posessions that a person can have, and professionals writing those letters are the best people there are, but... anyone in the world can write a letter! The show even says it!
"Just write the feelings, that are in your heart."
You don't need a profession to do that!
This seems to be actually a pattern that I've come across from time to time. Aria. Bartender. Food Wars. And now, this. Shows where a one certain profession - in this case... ehm, slightly romanticized secretary - gets placed in a pedestal, and the whole 12-episodes long running time is used by telling just how awesome it is to be rowing a condola, mixing drinks or... writing letters. It gets really tedious and really annoying really quickly to be constantly told that "the bartenders this" and "the bartender is that", "precious memories inside a lovely letters" and all that sappy nonesence, and during this 13-episodes long show I was just constantly shouting to the screen
"Just wait for the day when all these people will learn how to put their own damn feelings into words - you'll be out of jobs in no time!"
So... yeah. Maybe I am a bit too cynical for these sort of shows? Overall, I still would easily recommend Violet Evergarden for its lush artwork that is in on itself a treat to behold. Although seeing this show receive so many 10-ratings hurts my little elitistic heart, I am all the same at peace knowing that the beauty of the simplicity prevailed.
Story: 4
Art: 10
Sound: 8
Character: 4
Enjoyment: 5
Overall: 6
