Ultimately, where this anime fell just short was within it's characters. From Violet to Claudia to the little girl in episode 10, every episode is designed to tell a story with Violet being the centre piece of the whole show. However, what they all lack in the end is depth. For the 1 episode protagonists, we never have enough time to become invested with their stories (episode 10 being the major exception) and this even extends to some of the main side characters who appear throughout the series. While a number certainly have interesting backgrounds, rarely does that come to light and often it feels irrelevant (episode 4 for example, Iris is useless after this point). Claudia being the exception whom has the best background and who's arc is based solely around redeeming himself for what he did to Violet during the war....why doesn't anyone else have interesting arcs like this?
The climatic story also falls short. When the chips are down and the series picks up with brewing threats and Violets past coming back to haunt her, the once episodic series tries to tie together lose ends and themes in a climatic finally that feels rushed and forced. The shows strongest elements were always with Violet helping others, learning their stories, understanding their emotions and the themes at hand. VE's special is a great example of Violet's personal journey mixed with a troubling situation that has serious issue's of war and love. While it was great seeing Violets past during the war, It didn't seem to live up to the small snippets of her violent upbringing in episode 1. That being said, I couldn't help but feel like Violet's character development was a shy bit shallow. While in the end she did grow, her journey didn't necessarily reflect her desire to understand what it is to feel except in the later episodes.
Yet I have to praise the show for a lot. I doubt the Art needs any mention, it's spectacular, stunning, gorgeous and encapsulates the world, theme and characters beautifully. This is what Kyoto is best at, and they've proved it time and time again from Hibike! Euphonium to A Silent Voice. The soundtrack is just as beautiful, with sorrow notes and a touch of classical (love the use of the typewriter in some songs) it evokes emotion's that drive many scenes and without it, the show wouldn't be the same. And tbh there are a lot of moments I really did enjoy within the anime (need I mention episode 10 again?) I just really hope that the movie version can encapsulate everything great about the series, condense it, put in some more character development and you have yourself one hell of an amazing anime. Until then, we have this and it's really not all that bad. Overhyped, but certainly not bad.
