Saturday, July 04, 2020

Violet Evergarden and the story of human emotions

First, to clarify, I have yet to read the light novels, so this is more about the anime adaptation of Violet Evergarden.

To me, while the main protagonist is Violet herself, and the story is centered around her as she learns about human emotions, most of the episodes are also about separate stories of the other characters in each episode. We see their stories as how Violet would see it, absorbing the details.

About the relationship between siblings. The relationship between a father and his daughter. A mother and her daughter. A young adult and his parents. Between two lovers. The anime is as much about their stories as it is about Violet as she grows emotionally.

And that is the appeal, at least for me.

Because it does not limit the focus on the protagonist. Yes, Violet remains the protagonist throughout the entire series, and yet each episode has its own protagonist that we focus on. This "double focus" gives life to the entire series, which is entirely fitting since it is a series about the range of human emotions, and there is a broad range of human emotions.

A series that focuses solely on Violet's growth will soon grow boring. A series that does not have a central figure will end up as a disjointed series of individual stories. This double-focus style allows the series to stay consistent and coherent as a series, yet portray each individual story to its fullest.

The upcoming movie, though, is likely to be more focused on Violet. And rightly so, since it is time we shine the spotlight on her, to see how much she has grown. She has given us insight into the stories of others. And now it is time to look at her story in detail.

Edited July 6, 2020: This following fan video about the making of Violet Evergarden is probably the best I have seen for any "making of" video. It is a loving tribute to a great anime series.


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