I will run as fast I can wherever my customer desires. I am the Auto Memories Doll, Violet Evergarden.
-Violet Evergarden
SPOILER WARNING
A lone young woman sits quietly in a small country hospice in the countryside of Leidenschaftlich. The young woman has been in recovery for weeks. This story opens with a man named Claudia Hodgins coming to take Violet home after she has been recovering from severe injuries during the climactic battle of a continent-spanning War. The War itself and how various members of the cast react and grow in the aftermath of the war is central to the plot itself. Each episode in of itself follows a similar path, but in of itself represents a unique story told from a mixture of Violet’s and her client’s point of view.Violet herself after the initial start of the story becomes an “Auto Memories Doll” a ghostwriter paid by a postal company to write a letter for a client. In the primary world of the anime, many people have come to hire Auto Memories Dolls so they can properly convey their thoughts.
Beautiful Tragedy.
Tragedy and Trauma are some of the key themes that are found throughout the story of Violet Evergarden. Formerly, Violet was a child soldier who fought for the army of Leidnschaflich. This is of itself becomes a major plot point as several characters often refer to her as the “Warrior Maiden of Leidenschaflich” at various points of the story. Conversely, the major inspiration for most if not all of Violet’s actions center’s on final words given to her by her commanding officer, Major Gilbert Bougainvillea:
“I love you.”
It’s a pretty sappy line, but the moment itself remains clear in Violet’s mind. As a child soldier, she is incapable of understanding anything for most of her life outside of “orders”. Gilbert’s brother, Dietfried, saw her only as a tool of war with her extreme skills in fighting be an advantage to be used against the enemy. Throughout a series of flashbacks, it becomes clear that it was his humanization of Violet that led to her growth during the war. It is the continued humanization by her friends and experiences with her clients that Violet finally processes her trauma and comes to grip with what she was feeling for the Major.
The first few episodes see Violet acting in a purely mechanical manner. She focuses on typing quickly on how quickly she can type and how efficiently she can render the word for her clients. One of the first major points of understanding for our heroine is when she watches a woman break out in tears and begins to weep. This episode in question is important as it is where Violet truly breaks out of her self-contained focus.
Helping Others Move On
A man writes a story as a way to move on after the death of his child. A young girl reads a letter each year written by her mother as a means of connecting after death. The stories in Violet Evergarden are squarely focused on how people handle death and loss in their lives. Violet’s childlike mindset and the focus on doing things as any soldier provides fertile chances for Violet to grow and to learn while acting as a changing force for those around her. One of the first stories, focus on Violet coming to grips with her changed life. By the time she fails her first few letters she begins to see how her wording can have had a dramatic effect on another.
Next, as she comes to understands others around her she challenges herself to explore the question of “Love”. One of the greatest scenes of the entire show occurs on Episode 7. To foreshadow the series the episode opens with the scene of a story tale styled play about a young girl who can speak to spirits. Eventually, Violet is hired by the writer of the play, Oscar Webster, to write as the final scenes and the play’s conclusion. After a and emotional back and Oscar tells the story of how he translated stories he told his daughter into his play.
The climax comes as Violet promises she can dash across the water only holding an parasol once cherished by Oscar’s deceased daughter. In fact, this scene mirror’s part of his daughter’s own actions who dared once that she could jump across the water herself just using the parasol to fly. The conclusino sees Violet valiantly sailing over the water only to come crashing down yards later. Still, her one-act inspires Oscar’s simple and picturesque ending to the play. Violet, in turn, is given the parasol as a token of gratitude for her work in helping Oscar grieve and find closure after losing first his wife and daughter to the same disease