Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021 (「ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン」オーケストラコンサート2021) takes place on August 14 to 15, 2021. There are a total of three performances: one on August 14, and two on August 15 (with the final one being streamed online).
[Update August 25, 2021: The official report in Japanese from KyoAni can be read here. This post has also been updated with the names of the pieces based on the official report. Nice to know that my original post, based on memory, was more or less accurate.]
Tickets were sold online via balloting, but I managed to get a ticket for the second performance, which takes place today on August 15.
It was a rare chance to experience Violet Evergarden live and up close again, but the weather was really bad today. It has been raining heavily, and it was pouring buckets this morning. But the rain let up a bit just before noon, which allowed me to make my way to Shibuya. The concert was being held at this place called LINE CUBE Shibuya.
The concert is orchestra music, songs, and clips from the
Violet Evergarden series (TV, Gaiden, 2020 movie). The following is an account of the concert, which contains a lot of spoilers (especially the second half of the concert, which was about the 2020 movie) so please stop reading if you don't like spoilers. Also, KyoAni has released some pictures from the concert on the
official Violet Evergarden Twitter account, and I have embedded them here so that readers can better visualise the concert.
It was a full house for this performance (actually, all tickets sold out) and it is nice to see that the organisers kept alternate seats empty as a measure against COVID-19. The event was quite well managed in this aspect, with staggered entry times, disinfectants, and temperature checks. Even after the concert ended, exit from the hall was staggered to prevent crowding.
Seats were assigned by the organisers, but I was lucky. My seat was right in the middle of the hall.
This is the view from my seat.
The concert started with Ishikawa Yui (the voice actress who voiced Violet Evergarden) coming in to give the standard Violet Evergarden greeting: お初にお目にかかります。お客様がお望みなら、どこでも駆けつけます。自動手記人形サービス、ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデンです。
This was followed by TRUE singing the OP of the TV anime, "Sincerely". Of course, the OP animation was played on the screen during the first part of the song.
Then, the orchestra played a medley which basically summarised Violet's journey in becoming an established Auto Memory Doll. The screen showed clips from episodes 1 to 4, then the OVA. From her recovery in the hospital, meeting the Evergarden family, then joining CH Postal Company. Followed by attending the school for Auto Memory Dolls, visiting Iris's hometown, and writing the song for Irma. Seeing Violet's journey again brought tears to my eyes. 😭
After that, TRUE came on stage again and performed the song "Letter" which was from the OVA. 😭
This was followed by Yuuki Aira performing the song "Believe in..." which was the ED for episode 9 of the TV anime series, with scenes from that episode. This part covered the portion when Violet learnt about Gilber's death as well as the consequences of her actions during the war. 😭
After that, another medley which talked about episodes 6, 7, and 10. Basically, Leon, Oscar, and Clara/Anne. Scenes from episode 10... 😭😭😭 Good thing it was an orchestra concert and crying so much didn't affect my enjoyment of the music.
The scenes then jumped to the Gaiden movie (officially Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll) accompanied by the orchestra playing "Debutante Waltz", "Violet and Isabella", and "A Bond Between Sisters".
The first part of the concert concluded with Chihara Minori performing "Amy". 😭
During the interlude, Ishikawa Yui and composer Evan Call took to the stage. Evan Call talked about the composing of the music score for the TV series and two movies. For the TV series, most of the pieces were composed without a specific scene in mind. The production team then took those pieces and used them as appropriate within the series. But for the two movies, due to timing, every piece was composed with a particular scene in mind.
Evan Call also said that in the TV series, he used more woodwind and strings for the music, and in the movie, more brass to show that Violet has grown. I think this is probably because woodwind and strings give better harmony while brass can be more strong and provide stronger character. He again mentioned that recording for the music was done in Tokyo for the TV series, but he wanted more depth for the movies so recording for the music of the two movies was done in Germany. This is because, unlike the TV series where sound comes out of the TV and thus lacks depth anyway, the movies are meant to be enjoyed in the expanse of a theatre and thus needed more depth to be impactful.
The second part of the concert covered the events in Violet Evergarden The Movie. This started with the first piece called "The Legacy of Violet Evergarden" that was played after Daisy read the letters from Clara to Ann and the scene shifted to Leiden. This was followed by "On That Fateful Night" and "Another Voice Calls Out".
Then, Ishikawa Yui came on stage to say "忘れることは、できません". The orchestra then played "A Young Boy’s Hope", then "Beyond the Waves" and "After All These Years" with scenes of Violet traveling to Ekarte Island, then "The Hardships of Gilbert Bougainvillea", "Tears in the Rain", "A Young Boy’s Last Wish", and "Live on for Me" with scenes of Gilbert refusing to open the door for Violet. 😭
This was followed by "Violet's Final Letter", the piece which played during the scene when Gilbert read Violet's final letter to him. The letter was read out by Ishikawa Yui. 😭
After the final letter, just like in the movie, we had a performance of "みちしるべ" ("Michishirube") by TRUE. 😭 On the screen was the part when Gilbert ran to the coast to reunite with Violet. I mean, it was basically a reshowing of the movie, minus the voice acting.
Evan Call then came on stage to conduct "Echo Through Eternity" which was the piece that played during the ending fireworks (which was shown on the screen). This was another touching scene for me because it reminded me of KyoAni's journey after the arson attack. 😭 (I touched on this in this
post.)
Evan Call then handed back the stage to the conductor Yoshida Gyochi (吉田行地), and the orchestra performed the piece which played during the final scene when Daisy visited Ekarte Island and wrote a letter to her parents.
And like in the movie, this was followed by the songs which played during the end credit roll. TRUE performed "WILL" first. When it ended, someone started clapping... sigh... but everyone who watched the movie knows that this song is followed by "未来の人へ" ("Mirai no hito e")... which was performed by TRUE too. Both were powerful performances. 😭
This concludes the part for the 2020 movie, but not the concert. Yuuki Aira came on stage and performed "Violet Snow". A way to end the concert by where it all started.
Ishikawa Yui then said again "お客様がお望みなら、どこでも駆けつけます。自動手記人形サービス、ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデンです。" Just like how the TV series ended.
The concert may be over, but it can still be enjoyed online until August 29. Tickets for viewing the recording of the third performance can be purchased
here and
here. (English language site
here.) I hope they release a DVD of this too... it needs to be enjoyed with eyes and ears.
[Afternote: It is a matter of time before someone uploads the recording of the third performance to the Internet. Still, tickets are being sold until August 29, 2021, so I hope people can at least purchase a ticket before watching it on whatever other platform they can find it on.] [Afternote 2: KyoAni will be releasing a Blu-ray of the concert on January 19, 2022.]
I hope you enjoyed my quick recounting of the concert!
Events:
Audio commentary notes:
All posts related to
Violet Evergarden.
