This episode of Violet Evergarden, Violet learns the feeling of loneliness, AND I find myself largely indifferent to it. Not a bad episode by all mean but when the show makes same old beats and adds little thing to the table, it doesn’t leave much lasting impact. Let’s get to the positives first, I really enjoy this new setting Justilia Province, a mountainous place with cable cars, dome and star observatory. This episode also marks the first time that Violet doesn’t ghost-write other people’s feeling, in fact she transcripts whatever materials the guy she assigned with recites. No doubt that Violet is the perfect person to pull this job off, as writing at the speed of sound is always her speciality. This week is in fact, the story of her partner, Leon, as he able to move forward with the help of Violet. I’m not that keen of his story to be honest. While his backstory about his Mom abandoned him has its merits, the way Violet Evergarden brute-forces those details to our ears in the form of these boys in the library is just…bad storytelling. It was obvious and dull to the point of dragging his backstory down. Remember Violet Evergarden, viewers don’t like to be spoonfed because it’s just an indication that you don’t trust us enough. Jeez
As for the story, Leon has always felt awkward towards girls in general and the Dolls in particular, mostly because of his issues with his own Mother and his current status within the Manuscript Department. His way of view changes the moment he meets Violet though, since Violet is neither your regular Doll, nor your regular girl. Despite his low-esteemed, she sees him as an equal, and remarks that they are similar in many ways. Our young Leon opens his heart for once and invites her to watch the Ally Comet, which appears only one every 200 years. And from the moments they watch the comet together he decides to travel the world to learn new things and hopes to see Violet again, if ever. The development is frankly, conventional and predictable but I have to note that this is the first time someone has a bit of romantic feeling towards our Violet.
As for Violet, her range of emotion has varied gradually from when we first met her and this episode is the first time she blends in well with the rest of group. Her expression becomes more natural and she can clearly express many things that she’d have troubled addressing before, mostly when it comes to her feeling with Gilbert. She claims that she only knows loneliness on the conceptual level, but by Leon’s observation she indeed feels lonely. Despite my lukewarm feeling overt his episode, I still think Violet Evergarden goes in the right direction: episodic nature about people who affects by Violet’s letters with the steady development of Violet as its cornerstone. Step by step, Violet grows right before our eyes.
I actually liked the episode a lot, and the animation was very good. I also like the development in Violet. This show is definitely not for everyone, but I am enjoying it.
Me too. Aside from Violet realizing she was lonely, I’m glad she managed to find a potential love interest. I’m kinda dreading what she might do in the end when she finds out what happened to her Major.
I’m still bothered by the time skip between episode 4 and 5 where she suddenly learned literary writing and that thing she does to form a smile with her hands. There’s some huge potential plot and character development there. Where did she pick that emote up from?