Violet Evergarden Episode 11 Review: I Don't Want Anyone to Die Anymore

As Violet Evergarden closes to an end, Violet leaves for her most dangerous doll assignment yet – to write letters from a soldier in the battlefield. Get some tissues ready, because if this episode doesn’t get you going, I don’t know what will.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 「もう, 誰も死なせたくない」

Plot

In continuation to last week’s writing letters for a dying person, Violet returns to the post company and overhears Claudia (still a woman’s name, by the way) discussing with Cattleya an odd assignment request he received. A soldier from a battlefield to the north has requested a doll to write letters for him. Claudia, obviously unwilling to send any of his employees to actual war, decides to ignore the letter. Violet grabs the opportunity to steal it and sets off to find the soldier who needs her services. Is everyone illiterate in this world?

Violet travels to the north and manages to convince a local postman to fly her over a deserted mountain and let her jump down from the airplane there. The pilot/postman is surprisingly eager to drop a 14-year-old child from a plane into a battlefield, and conveniently enough, the moment she is about to jump, her client’s battalion has just been attacked, and he is seriously wounded. Violet kicks some ass, drives the old rebel meanies away and carries AIdan to a safehouse, where he dies as he dictates his last words to her to be sent to his parents and loved one. Violet holds his hand as he dies, then visits his hometown to deliver his letters. Everyone cries, and Violet finally breaks down and cries along with them.

Themes & Trivia

Bad guys: I always get annoyed to see people in war acting like the good or bad guys in media. The people who got killed in patrol could have been the ones shooting around; it was but a matter of circumstances (and story) that the client was the one getting shot. Then the rebels had to walk around and be all ‘Oh we’re so tough, these guys deserve to die’. How cheap.

Building up the pain: This episode made me cry a lot, and that was due to it successfully increasing the levels of emotionally charged material as it went. First you see the soldiers getting shot, then one of them tries to save one of his shot friends, his friend gets shot to death, then he gets shot, gets saved barely in time to remember all the beautiful times he had with his girlfriend and family (in very emotional flashbacks), then he dies, and after I’ve cried my eyes out, I have to witness Violet delivering the letters and everybody suffering. Thanks.

Comments

The season is almost over, no sign of Gilbert – or anything plot-related, for that matter – yet these last couple of episodes have been some really strong short stories. I still find the whole concept of intense letter-writing slightly naive, but the show is doing a great job transferring intense emotions to the viewer.

Saving the best for last?

I think that as far as tension goes, the show cannot go much further unless it turns into some baby-killing gore letter writing. I think Violet’s trips have had more than enough drama. Now, I’m hoping for the last episode to be mind-blowingly amazing, so I can somehow justify watching Violet being a breathing typewriter during the whole season.

What did you think of the Violet Evergarden’s eleventh episode? Let us know in the comment section! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Winter 2018 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!