[Highlights] Violet Evergarden 13 (Finale): A Doll’s Will

A decent end to the series. I was glad they got through the awkward battle bit as quickly as they did – Violet Evergarden is a show more about letters and reconciliation than action after all.

• Dietfried catches Violet’s brooch before it flies off somewhere. This was the moment Dietfried redeemed himself for me.

Bad guy does evil laughter…mwahaha, you can never escape my bomb!

• Seriously, this dude. He came out of nowhere last episode, and doesn’t even have a cool style or anything. Such a boring villain doesn’t deserve to be the final obstacle in the series.

• Violet breaks both her arms in her attempt to stop the bomb from going off. I had no idea her entire arm (or at least half of it) is prosthetic.

• And peace happens, because the bad guys failed to stop it. This was a nice moment to watch; great to see Cattleya in the spotlight for once.

• Violet is now more than qualified to help people through letter therapy after the war. She understands, and her clients can perceive that.

• Violet tries to write a letter to Gilbert, but has flashbacks instead. More of that last conversation she had with Gilbert is disclosed.
• It’s interesting how this line is basically the exact same line she says to her clients as a Doll. Are Dolls required to say that, or is it just Violet? It’s probably just Violet. She can’t abandon that mindset so easily.

• Dietfried brings Violet to his mom without telling her beforehand. Gilbert’s mom’s memory isn’t actually as “hazy” as Dietfried claims, because she has the important role of being the one to relieve Violet of her burden – that of not having been able to save Gilbert.
• The body language in this scene was memorable. See how Violet tries so hard to stand straight and still the entire time while tears start trickling out?

You go, Erica! -wait…it’s Benedict?

• People write the most personal letters. I honestly didn’t see it coming though, Erica and Benedict? Will probably be unrequited for a long time, if not forever. Love is difficult, Erica.

• Too bad for Erica – Benedict is more interested in Hodgins. Meanwhile, Hodgins wrote a cheesy letter to his future daughter, the draft of which Cattleya discovers and reads aloud. The letter is then treated as some sort of inspirational wrap-up to the series while Hodgins sinks to the ground in embarrassment. Kind of an odd and entertaining moment.

• Letters fly everywhere. A satisfying moment. One single letter defies gravity and flies into the distance, paralleling the letter from Violet to Gilbert that the anime opens with.

• Violet claims to Dietfried that she doesn’t take orders anymore, but she still takes requests! I’ve always felt kind of ambiguous about the lines she says to each client she meets for the first line, part of the reason being that it seems to echo her mindset in the military as a killing machine. That might be reading too much into that parallel (*see above), but it’s just kind of weird that the whole ghost-writing thing is being romanticized as a service of sorts. I don’t know if I made the maid cafe comparison already, but you can really get the vibe from that poster featured in episode 11, in which Dolls are only depicted and talked about as beautiful maidens. Beautiful maidens heal your soul and are willing to do anything for you, that sort of thing?
• Violet repeats the lines she always does; the change is that she can now say her name with emotion. I guess the fact that she keeps the exact lines serves to emphasize how the difference is that she appreciates her role more consciously now, though the goal of her position has never changed.

• Season 2? I guess it’s possible if it’s just Violet going around healing people with letters – an iyashikei series that I probably won’t watch. Perhaps if it’s an OVA.
• Question: why is Violet called “Violet Evergarden,” and why is the show named that, when Mrs. Evergarden gets ditched completely in the first episode?

Overall, I have no strong feelings about the series. It is not something I would watch if I hadn’t chosen to review it episodically, but it’s also not something I had any difficulty finishing. The final episode isn’t particularly impressive, but it wraps up everything and feels satisfying enough, and that’s all a concluding episode really needs for a non-action show, I think.

Thoughts on the ending or on the series?

Advertisement