Violet whenever she's typing out a letter, talking to her friends, visiting various places, or doing just about any other mundane activty.
- Violet Evergarden: I sleep
Violet whenever anything concerning her beloved Major Gilbert is brought up.
- Violet Evergarden: (***Activates shining eyes***) REAL S#%! SHOSA! SHOSA! GILBERT SHOSAAAAAAAA!
That meme is what Violet Evergarden is basically trying to resolve in this final movie. This movie wraps up the whole Violet Evergarden saga. Did it pan out well? YESSSsssn't.
Story: 5 / 10
The story is arguably the weakest part of the movie. Giving a 5 / 10 was by no means an easy thing to do, but I believe it was warranted. To put it simply, there was no climax, barely any worthwhile conflict, and very unsatisfactory resolution. I blame this partly on the TV series itself for setting up such high expectations.
Let's be honest. Major Gilbert played a silent and hidden yet important part in Violet's journey to move beyond the trauma of the past, move on, and look towards the future for better days ahead. This movie, however, takes the arrow of time and flips it 180 degrees to point backwards. You might think that this movie is sort of a simple revisiting of the past, but it's much more sinister than that. This movie sort of deconstructs (in a negative way) Violet to her original pieces and makes her revert to her old self, thereby depriving her of the emotional journey and experience that has benefited her in the struggle to face that painful trauma.
We all wanted to see Violet reunite with Gilbert, no doubt. None of us wanted to see Violet behave like the 14-year-old child she was. In the movie, she was 18(?) and much more mature. I can't help but surmise that this movie had been doomed from the beginning due to the difficulty in how the new and rejuvenated Violet will be challenged with facing the past.
There's also a side plot involving a dying child named Yuris. This plot at least carried more emotional weight than the main one.
Art: 10 / 10
The art is still as phenomenal and outstanding as always, but I can't help but feel like the art was dragged down by the mediocre story.
Sound: 7 / 10
The BGM soundtrack doesn't sound as good as the TV series was. I feel like there's a downgrade in quality compared to the previous BGM soundtrack, which was just amazing. That's not to say the BGM soundtrack here is objectively bad, but that relatively speaking, the quality was just not as I expected from a finale. Again, maybe it was just my bias speaking because I found the story underwhelming, but hey.
Character: 6 / 10
This is part and parcel of the story as well. Violet in this movie seems to be different from her usual modern self. All the emotional journey and experience that she has attained during 13 episodes seem to fly out the window whenever Major Gilbert is brought up. The penultimate ending scene where Violet writes a farewell letter to the Major was actually a good resolution, but the ultimate "resolution" where Violet and Gilbert meets each other face-to-face seems to be a slap in the face, at least my face on both cheeks. I think an alternative ending might have preferable where they would both reconcile but not in the very straightforward manner that the movie followed.
Gilbert as a character seemed rather shallow to me. The movie does him no favors by not giving him more screen time, especially when it came to exploring the aftermath of the separation between Violet and him. The movie seemed to meander between maintaining Gilbert's enigmatic figure and uncovering him. For most of the movie, Gilbert was stuck between both positions, and remained relatively uninteresting. I think it would have served him better if we actually got to know more about Gilbert early in the movie so that we might understand the rationale for Gilbert to remain hidden even from his closest family.
Hodgins and Dietfried didn't add much to the movie itself. Hodgins' main dilemma was trying to decide whether to remain as Violet's guardian or let her be independent and trust her. In the previous TV series, it was clear as day that Violet was slowly adapting to the postwar society and that Hodgins' guardianship would no longer be necessary, even when it came to matters concerning Gilbert. Well, that dilemma remained unanswered because Hodgins eventually accompanied Violet on their quest to find Gilbert. As part of my previous comment on the reversal of the arrow of time, the same observation seems to apply with Hodgins' dilemma because he reverted to the same guardianship that Violet had just as the beginning of the TV series showed.
Dietfried, as Gilbert's older brother, also didn't bring that much needed emotional weight to the movie, especially when Violet fell short of providing that emotional tension. In fact, both Dietfried's and Hodgins' interactions with Gilbert was very emotionless and soulless. Dietfried's presence was supposed to provide comfort to both Violet and himself as they struggled with accepting Gilbert's supposed demise, and I thought they might have made the perfect travelling couple in their search for Gilbert, but oh boy, I totally missed the mark.
Enjoyment: 8 / 10
I'd be lying if I didn't enjoy it despite the many shortcomings I've uncovered along the journey and afterwards. I think as a movie, it still holds well on its own but, as a sequel, fell short of the magnificence of the original TV series. For all intents and purposes, the movie is simply a downgrade of the TV series.
Overall: 7 / 10
I've decided to rate the movie as 7 / 10 overall (as the average of the five criteria), but even a 6 / 10 would not have been out of the realm of possibility. This movie fell short of my expectations, and it didn't bring that emotional response that I have been accustomed to act out when I watch the original TV series.
In any case, the movie is done and I'm sure different viewers will draw different conclusions and feelings about the movie, its story, characters, and other aspects, but this review is that conclusion of mine. It is part frustration, part disappointment, part enjoyment, and part sadness.
