Coming to Japan in order to watch this movie was one of my best decisions this year(2020). Mere month after I've seen final Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel movie I came back this time to Kyoto. Is it better than super hit from ufotable? It doesn't matter actually, I'm speechless. And in love. TV series has few flaws, plot pretty bland and predictable, simplified to the border. But I still loved it, because all these things weren't actually problematic as Violet Evergarden never pretended to be something else than beautiful story about understanding what love is. And it was damn beautiful. And this movie took it whole level up.
STORY: 8
So how this 140 minutes long movie looks compared to its prequel? Well, much, much better. It went full melodrama mode. Movie pick up the story basically where 2018 TV show left. Violet is unable to forget about Gilbert and don't want to believe he's gone forever. Even everyone told her to move on. The MAL synopsis doesn't give much justice to the actual movie plot, but on the other hand... it's somewhat perfect. This nearly two-and-a-half hour long movie throws us pretty fast in the story and it's damn hard to avoid spoilers at this point. Enough tho say, that Violet herself is at her limit and anything can broke her faith and feelings she just learned to understand. As for romantic melodrama pacing is damn fast and story and directing doesn't give much time to process the story. But it ain't flaw, actually it's better for the plot and it's heartbreaking twists. Trust me, even with no spoilers, you'll need napkins. This movie doesn't take prisoners, you'll cry. Especially changes towards Light Novel went even deeper than in TV series. And I'm happy of that, especially when it comes to the finale. Trust me, you can expect suprises, even tho it's still bit predictable. But it was to be expected. It's Violet Evergarden at her finest.
ART: 10
Honestly, this movie is breathtaking. KyoAni did another masterwork, quality of animation is just speechless. Such a beauty, starting from flawless and even more enhanced character designs, throught amazingly animated action and dynamic scenes, finishing on backgrounds and planning. Animation is flawless, smooth and better than ever. Colours, quality, shadows, all location and character designs is just top of the top notch. If it comes to animation this year, no one can stand next to this masterfully crafted work, except ufotable of course. And even that, it's extremely hard to compare this animation to anything I've ever seen. Work of pure art, such a beauty that leaves you literally speechless. KyoAni outdone themselves.
SOUND: 10
It's KyoAni, sound quality is over the top. Perfectly synced, beautifully fitting every second of this movie. All-star seiyuu squad did work of the year, next to final F/sn movie, can't actually decide which is better. Voicing is perfect, leaves no doubt that it's real piece of art. There's soul and love in every dialogue, feelings and power is everywhere, it's a work full of dedication and understanding. Both, for characters and audience. Then we have beautifully crafted atmosphere, world is full of life and ambient sounds are just perfect. And finally we have soundtrack. Evan Call outshine himself once again, music is beautiful, very soft, but at the same moment powerful. It's extremely well fit the melodramatic atmosphere and works both, as perfect piece of work that hit you straight into heart and separate album, will get it asap.
CHARACTER: 9
As before, this movie stands mostly on characters. But this time psychological portraits are deeper and much more detailed. Violet struggling with herself, her feelings, beliefs and past even more than before. It can be truly heartbreaking at one point. This time Dietfried, Gilbert's brother received much more screen time and his character is much deeper and more clarity than before. Finally we can completely understand him, his pain and he went throught. In the past and now. Fortunately rest of the supporting characters got just enough time and plot to actually, unlike the TV series, be much more important to both, Violet and audiences. I mean that this time every important character, starting from Claudia finishing on Cattleya have important task and deepened characteristics and psychological portrait. It's a huge step forward comparing to the prequel and deserves praise. This time characters are on the first plane, including the most important one next to Violet.
ENJOYMENT: 9
The movie heavily plays on the feelings, even more that TV series. But taking whole melodrama to another level it was pretty predictable. Enjoyment is top notch, but can be literally painful at some point. Before you visit your nearest cinema, ensure you have enough tissues on you. I'll not spoil anything, but it's Violet Evergarden, so trust me, you'll need them. Enjoyment overall is great, you'll sit on the edge of your seats, you'll feel, laugh and cry with the characters. And you'll love Violet even more than before. Such a powerful chatacter. Once again she's having literally whole production on her shoulders, but this time, there's no flaws. Enjoyment, even hurtful sometimes is outstanding. It's a perfect entertainment. And perfect sequel, without a doubt it's the best return for KyoAni after the tragedy. Beautiful.
OVERALL: 10
It's 10. Second best anine movie I've seen this year(2020). Extremely poignant, beautifully crafted, with beautiful, bit predictable, but still satisfying plot. It's an perfect example of closing a story and hitting deep into soul of its viewer. This anime movie is not only the best closure for the story, but actually is better in everything than its prequel TV series. It's deep, touching and full of extremely different feels. Will leave you speechless, shocked and ultimately satisfied, even if you didn't like prequel. KyoAni managed to achieve something very rare, they delivered satisfying, amazingly crafted epilogue to this story that's actually better than ever before. 140 minutes long runtime gives perfect amount of time to answer all unanswered questions, to deliver beautiful romance and extremely touching story. It's a masterpiece on its own rights. And beautiful tribute to all these people that died in this awful fire. Is it better than final Fate movie? Probably not, but it manages to stand next to it like equal. Terrible year for humanity, but great year for anime. This is how you craft masterpieces, even if you don't agree. Beauty.
Long live Kyoto Animation.
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