Venue: Dendy Cinemas, Level 2, North Quarter, Canberra Centre, 148 Bunda Street, Canberra City, ACT
Date: Saturday 5 December 2020
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Format: Digital Projection, Japanese dialogue with English subtitles
Length: 140 minutes
Production Date: 2020
Currently on Home Video in English (as of writing): No
Exactly a year on from going to see “Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll”, here I am going to watch the follow up film and conclusion to the series. It had a been a pretty eventful 12 months, that’s for sure. The film itself has been delayed twice in Japan due to COVID-19. While there were heatwave conditions the previous weekend, the week had cooled down substantially, and by late morning it was 24°C. But it felt rather cool due to a breeze and the fact it was overcast, but not overcast enough not to let some sun through the cloud cover. The forecast called for at least 15mm of rain during the day, but while it threatened, there was no rain until the early evening. It didn’t really feel like the Christmas shopping season, but that changed after I came out of the cinema around 3:15pm to a crowded mall.
Bafflingly Dendy had initially decided to screen this film at the bizarrely inconvenient time of 3:30pm during weekdays. I really have no idea if anyone except a few people would have showed for those screenings. I opted for a 12:30pm slot on Saturday. The film was also screening at Hoyts in Belconnen which now seems the norm for anime released via Madman (I don't know if this city has that many anime fans for three screenings a day for this film, but anyway...). The screening times on weekdays seem a lot better at Hoyts, so maybe I’ll drive over to that part of town next time. Unlike the middle aged, male heavy demographic for the previous “Violet Evergarden” film, this time the audience was mostly female and young; 14 patrons showed up, a mother and her two teenage children, a couple, a group of six slightly rowdy teenagers, mostly female and two women who came separately, one who wept during the film. Time to talk about the film, I think. I won’t be going into the back story of the franchise and will be assuming you’re already familiar with it. If you’re not,
go here. There are some minor spoilers ahead, but nothing that hasn’t already been revealed in Japanese trailers and other promotional material.
This concluding chapter of the franchise follows on directly from the previous film, but oddly begins by fast forwarding around 70 years into the future where the unnamed granddaughter of Ann Magnolia is mourning her death. Ann was the daughter of Clara Magnolia, a client of Violet Evergarden. Ann and her granddaughter were very close, but unbeknown to her was that Ann’s mother had asked Violet to write 50 letters to Ann, with each one being sent on her birthday for a period of 50 years. This was because Clara didn’t have long to live and wanted to send something for her birthday every year after she had passed on. Moved by what Violet had done, Ann’s granddaughter sets out to discover more about Violet.
Rewinding back to the Leidenschaftlich of 70 years ago, Violet has been commissioned to write a proclamation which is to be read out by the chosen queen presiding over this year’s blessing of the fleet. Afterwards she, along with other members of CH Postal Company, are greeted by the mayor and his wife who praise Violet’s writing. Violet is incredibly humble but in her stilted speech she almost sound like she is insulting the mayor which leads Claudia to cover for her. Walking through the carnival like atmosphere of the stalls after the blessing of the fleet, Violet comes across a stall selling broaches, which immediately reminds her of the time when Gilbert gave her the broach she treasures so much. Despite the fact she has been told repeatedly that he is most likely dead, Violet still believes he is alive somewhere.
Later at the postal company, the staff discuss the fact that technology is rapidly moving on in the post war world. The telephone is becoming commonplace. With the near completion of the radio tower in the centre of the city, they all realise that the occupation of Auto Memory Doll will become an antiquated one and they’ll eventually have to move on to other careers. Iris is particularly angered by the invention of the telephone. Some time later, Claudia and Benedict Blue ask Violet to accompany them on an outing. She politely declines. Instead visits the grave of Gilbert’s mother which she attends to at least once a month. There she runs into Gilbert’s elder brother, Dietfried. He realises that she has been placing flowers on her grave and tending to it for some time. Dietfried later advises her that he is selling the family boat and asks if should would like any of Gilbert’s childhood possessions which are on board. Her eyes light up and she agrees. She eventually decides to take a book he loved as a child (the same one Gilbert read to her) and a backgammon board game.
Upon returning to the postal company, Violet receives a call from a young boy named Yurisu who wants to use her services. When she questions him about his age, he retorts reminding her that her company advertises that they will travel to anywhere their clients are. She accepts and travels to the hospital he is in. After making Violet hide when his family shows up unexpectedly, he forces them to leave then asks her to write separate letters to his parents and younger brother. As Yurisu is slowing dying of an incurable disease, he wants her to send the letters to them after his death. Violet advises him that previously she had already done something similar a for a client in same position who wanted to send letters to her young daughter on her birthday for 50 years following her death. After accepting a reduced rate for her work (as Yurisu doesn’t really have any money), she completes the letters to his satisfaction. Just as she is leaving, he calls her back to write a fourth letter for Ryuka, a friend of his which he pushed away after the diagnosis of his illness. Violet promises him to return to complete it.
A large number of postal items addressed insufficiently causes Claudia and Benedict to evaluate what to do with them. Going through the storage area for these items, Claudia spots a letter with handwriting that is very familiar to him. He later confronts Violet to advise her that he may have discovered where Gilbert may be. He tells her it is a bit of a long shot, but the only thing she can hear is that he may still be alive. Violet insists that she goes along with him to the island the letter was sent from. However, the trip does not go well at all. While on the island during a fierce storm, the postal company contacts the pair to say that one of their clients is on his death bed. Violet feels responsible that she was never able to complete the letter to Ryuka and tries to set out back to the mainland to get to the hospital where Yurisu is. Claudia advises her that there is no way she can get back to the mainland and she’ll have to wait until the morning when the ferry arrives.
As I previously stated, this film wraps up Violet’s story. Though you could easily suggest that nothing needed to be wrapped up at the end of the TV series. The conclusion was perfectly fine and there really was no hanging questions or unresolved plot threads. While the previous film diverted somewhat from Violet's life story and ventured into two side stories which tied into each other at the end, once again the focus returns to Violet. For almost around half of it’s runtime, the film seems to meander around, following Violet doing her everyday tasks. It slowly but surely focuses on her sole unresolved issue in her life; finding Gilbert Bougainvillea. In hindsight how they’ve written this into the story is quite interesting. It creeps up slowly without you noticing. It’s also interesting to note Violet’s change from being very formal to barely restrained mania when she thinks she may find Gilbert.
Coupled with the Gilbert Bougainvillea plot line is a secondary plot involving a young boy, Yurisu, who has a fatal disease. To a degree this feels unrelated to the main plot, but does tie in with the main storyline for the search for Gilbert. Both story threads are about reconnecting with loved ones you have been apart from. But from the start we know how Yurisu's story is going to end. At this storyline’s climax, it does blatantly ramp up the melodrama and sadness, almost to the point of being mawkishly maudlin. Considering what is happening in the main storyline simultaneously, it does seem really over the top, though honestly, I’m a sucker for this franchise and I didn’t mind it too much. This part of the story also ties in with the events of episode 10, in which a sickly mother asks Violet to write letter to her young daughter. This in turn links up with the third storyline in the film which follows the the unnamed granddaughter of the mother’s daughter.
To be honest, this is the least successful of the plot lines and could easily be trimmed with no consequence to the film. In fact, I think would have made the film tighter and better paced. As I have previously mentioned, the film opens some 70 years in the future with the unnamed granddaughter mourning over her death and having a fight with her parents, where she accuses her mother of not visiting her own mother often enough. After the discovery of letters written by Violet, and her father explaining what Auto Memory Dolls are, she sets off to find out more about Violet. The granddaughter only appears in three sections of the film; the opening scene, a second section where she goes the CH Postal Company office, which is now a museum and the post climax sequence, where she travels to the place Violet remained until her final days. As a whole, the granddaughter’s story does feel rather divorced from the rest of the film. It would have made more sense and tied her into the film more closely if she had been the narrator of the film and been more involved in discovering and retelling Violet's story.
Violet herself in seems like she has reverted to a previous version of herself right from the beginning of the film. This seems at odds with how she was portrayed in “Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll” and the end of the TV series. Perhaps this was done to show that her unresolved feelings for Gilbert are getting in the way of her fully living a normal life. I quite liked how they portrayed Claudia in this film. He knows he cannot compete with Gilbert, who for all intents and purposes is long dead. He also understands that he really can’t reconcile Violet's longing for Gilbert. Another stand out character is Dietfried. While he is still portrayed as untrustworthy, in this film he is redeemed to a large degree. The film also manages to squeeze in cameos from all of the cast members without it feeling forced or unnatural. There are also numerous Easter eggs hidden away in the film if you look closely enough. Admittedly most of them are blink and you’ll miss them type shots, so it maybe easier to spot them when the film eventually comes to blu-ray.
Wrapping up; this film is a quite satisfying end to one of my favourite TV series of recent years. The animation is excellent as per Kyoto Animation’s usual standards and I always find the acting within the character animation to be subtle, extremely expressive and really well done. However, I don’t think the three main plot lines meld as one all that successfully, especially with granddaughter’s scenes, which feel really out of place with the rest of the film. Possibly trying to tie all three plot lines together was a bit too ambitious. I think the previous film was a far better film overall, and nothing can beat the original TV series. But I have to admit the climax was quite emotionally satisfying and well done. There is a short post credits sequence (and I was the only one in the cinema who stayed for it) which does tie a short scene with Yurisu and Violet to Gilbert and Violet. It’s not essential to the film itself, but it’s a really nice coda. Overall, I’ll give this film 7 out of 10.
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