I haven't kept up with seasonal anime in years. Most things just kinda fly by without any care from me, at most eliciting a "oh, pretty cool." I think the last time I was excited about an anime before its release was Evangelion 3.0, and the hype train behind that was monumental. That's why I was really surprised when Violet Evergarden was announced. For the first time in years, I was excited for an anime. I looked at the trailers, the barrage of KyoAni's budget being thrown into all 5 of my senses. I was heavily following news of it's development and release. I read the Light Novel and was somewhat impressed, but I was also very worried. I thought that the show would never be able to achieve the monumentally high expectations that I was placing on it, so I toned myself down, cautious but very optimistic.

First of all, the show is beautiful. It's probably one of the best shows I've ever laid my eyes on, and all of the animators involved should be proud. The OST, individually, also has some good tracks that I've found myself listening to by themselves. However, I won't be denying that it wasn't somewhat out of place, as it really failed at enhancing the show. Most of the time it felt disconnected and just placed to attempt an emotional response. It wasn't bad, it most certainly had some emotion and effort behind it, but it never really felt like a part of the show. It's as if they just found the best composers and asked for their best pieces, instead of composing music that really connected with the show.

The blur is just too much at points, and can get very distracting.

As opposed to the light novel, which started in medias res, the show began with a few initial episodes to introduce the premise and characters. As the show aired, I was somewhat disappointed. The show was beautiful, and the art direction was really stellar (except for early abusing of bloom and depth of field shifting), but it felt empty.  The characters felt bland. The world didn't feel real. The plot, while interesting, just felt like it was going way too slow, and the pacing felt really off. It's hard to tell how much time had passed in between each episode, which makes Violet's development feel really sudden and almost jarring. It always felt like there was a big disconnect between the viewer and Violet's character.

However, it still managed to keep me interested enough to continue watching, and I'm pretty happy I did. Once the show begins to pick up though (at around episode 4), it became significantly more enjoyable to me. The show became more of a "story of the week", starring Violet's adventures writing letters all across the continent. There is an overarching plot throughout the show, but it was weak and never really became an object of interest. However, each individual episode stands very strong on it's own. Violet Evergarden really excels at quickly developing characters that you may only see for one episode enough where you actually care about them, and their story. While there is never any major development, and most of these characters aren't fully fleshed out, they do a well enough job to make me excited to continue watching a new story every week.

aaaaaaaaaaa

The main flaw of Violet Evergarden is a lack of focus. There is a split between attempting to grow Violet's character from her experiences in the war, and attempting to make the world feel alive by showing how other minor characters are coping in this post-war environment. I would have liked them to focus more on the latter, but the show fails at investing the viewer in either, making both of these focuses feel half-assed and incomplete. Later in the show, it also makes a jarring change from the relatively calm environment of a post-war era into attempting to become an action show in the ending, which further divides the focus of the show even more. If you're expecting a full-fledged plot across the whole show, you'll be disappointed. It excels at being a series of short stories, with 1 or 2 recurring characters, instead of having an overarching plot with a solid cast, and making each of them memorable. I feel like the author just did not have enough confidence in being able to write a story of this magnitude, and instead attempted to create a well made show by trying to replicate what he saw previous successful dramas do.

It's not the masterpiece everyone exclaims it to be (and it's hype may be causing me to see it in a somewhat more negative light), but it has it's strengths. And when it plays to these strengths, Violet Evergarden creates amazing pieces that tell touching stories. It fails at creating an overarching plot across multiple episodes, but each individual episode was very well made, albeit with only vague themes that carry through the plot. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who even has a passing interest, or liked how the trailers looked. Just don't expect a masterpiece. This is a cautionary tale of the hype train, as coming into this show with expectations of this magnitude will certainly be a bad thing over coming with none at all.

Violet Evergarden – 6.5/10

ReLIFE was a mediocre watch, but it does have it's great moments.

Let's get this started, *sigh*. Hope I can actually write something decent one day.

The overall story wasn't particularly special. It stars Kaizaki Arata, a 27 year old NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) who can't keep a job. Early in the story, he obtains the opportunity to ReLIVE his last year of high school (hahaha) via the use of an experimental drug that changes his appearance to his 17 year old self.  It's not one of those "go back in time to relive your life" kind of shows, he simply just enters a new high school with his current 27-year old mind inatct with a 17-year old appearance. High school slice-of-life shenanigans ensue.

The whole NEET trying to redo his life is fairly cliché at this point, but the plot does have interesting points. My main issue with the plot is that it doesn't particularly know where it's going. You have the main plot of Arata trying to redo his life, but then also have a lot of other sub-stories that try to intrude upon the story begin to take over fairly quickly. It isn't particularly bad, per say, as the side stories were usually well done. Side characters in the story and their circumstances did bring in well done dramatic, and emotional moments. However, they dragged on for way too long, taking a lot from the main story. The pacing of the show in general is very slow. It starts to build up well through the first half, but then forgets about the main plot and instead provides a story that seems like it would be part of an OVA, shoehorned in without any real significance. The show tries to be humorous at points, which it succeeds at times, but falls short on others. It's very hit or miss. I either found myself chuckling or groaning.

The internet, the best advice giver for socially inept people.

The story also throws away a lot of dramatic potential in later episodes, especially settling for a fairly unsettling end after all of the build up they showed. I really wish the story didn't try to stretch itself short, and instead focused on one character at a time. It always went from one character doing X, straight to another character doing a completely different Y. The story just keeps rushing on and not really clarifying the actions of each character. I do enjoy that they didn't beat around the bush for the very predictable romances, even if they were a little overdone. The rest of the ending, however, was very unsatisfying. I'd like to have a nice end without having to read the manga.

The characters themselves were mostly one-dimensional, and didn't really go through any development except for one, Chizuru Hishiro. For a show which focuses on a rehabilitation experiment for NEETs, it's kind of surprising that the main character did not really change that much from episodes 1-13. This is pretty disappointing, since it feels like the characters were initially well designed, and could go through a lot of development.  Hishiron's development really did strike a chord with me, though, as I was in a similar position as her growing up. The romantic relationships were very cliché to the point where it was kind of frustrating. I could very easily tell who was going to end up with who. However, they do have their strong moments, which I think makes up for it. Romances do come off naturally and never feel forced.

The relationship between Arata and Hoshiron was very cute at points. It never seems forced at all.

The animation and art was painfully mediocre. I liked most of the character designs, although they did seem a bit generic. This anime also makes plenty of use of the over the top "lol xd anime face" trope, with backgrounds that look like they were drawn with barely any effort put in. It wasn't unwatchable, but it was nothing impressive. The soundtrack was also lacking quite a bit. I hope you like pianos, because this show has about 5 tracks that almost always find a way to never fit the atmosphere. The opening theme was really generic, but I did like the fact that the show ended off on a different ending theme every episode.

An example of the over the top lol xd anime face

All in all, however, the show wasn't a bad watch at all, and I did enjoy watching it. I felt that the final twist in the last episode was very well done, with a lot of foreshadowing that I don't think one would notice without a rewatch. I wasn't impressed beyond belief, per say, but I would recommend this show if you have any interest in slice-of-life anime. While the animation and sound felt like a show from 2007, it doesn't particularly take away from the show. The story could use some improvements, but I think the webcomic will help wrap up things nicely. Not a fan of relying on the source material to help the adaptation, but I'd understand, since the webcomic isn't finished yet. I think this show will benefit from a season two when the story is over.

ReLIFE – 6/10