Violet Evergarden Episode 13 (Final) Review: Auto Memory Doll and 'I Love You'

That’s it folks – Violet Evergarden’s last episode is finally here, with an ending that will not shock you but will most likely make you cry. It sure made Violet cry – this is literally all she’d been doing during the whole thing.

Plot

After saving Dietfried from the crazy old man who wants to destroy the world, Violet and Benedict go through some pretty intense acrobatics and manage to disarm the two bombs that were about to explode and kill everyone. As expected, Violet ruins both her hands in the process. The mission safely arrives at the neighboring country, and the peace treaty is signed, even though that means the people lost in the war are never coming back (mind-blown). Violet keeps working as an Auto Memory Doll, and thanks to a rather unusual display of affection from Dietfried’s side, she gets to meet his mother and discuss Gilbert’s death with her. A pretty nice lady, I have to say.

Violet goes back to letter writing and prepares a letter for the Air Show, which apparently is an event where thousands of letters addressed to all sorts of theoretical recipients are tossed out of an airplane for therapeutic purposes. After a lot of effort, and having written letters to everyone else, she manages to write one to Gilbert, expressing her feelings in writing for the first time. At the end of the episode, she gets called in by a mysterious customer, who she recognizes and smiles.

Episode Highlights

Senseless action: I will not be overreacting one bit if I say that the action scenes at the beginning of the episode made no sense whatsoever. Her hands exploding and then Dietfried catching the brooch before her, then her jumping around trying to rip a sturdy construction with her half broken hands while Benedict smashed the bomb with his high heels… What on earth was that.

Crying: This basically was an episode about crying. Crying of happiness, crying of pain, fear, you name it. Violet had chunky tears coming out her eyes at least 80% of her screen time. Then there was this odd scene with a tear splashing around a flower that was completely uncalled for. The size of the tears and the emphasis on them may have taken this a step too far, but I have to say, it did get me going for quite a while.

The Jewel: Violet’s brooch is probably my favorite thing about this show. Majestically colored and wonderfully animated, it is exactly what she describes it as: utsukushii.

LETTERS ARE IMPORTANT: I may have mentioned this before, but this is such an anime thing to do. I can’t help but comment on it again: the world of Violet Evergarden literally revolves around the one thing the protagonists do. Letter writing is taking place in peace treaties and national celebrations, and letters are being thrown out of planes as an event.

Comments

I guess this was not a bad last episode.

The end of an eye-candy show

To be honest, this is basically what Violet Evergarden was. This, and a lot of crying. The plot was weak and spread very thin, the action indifferent and the characters ridiculously basic, but damn that show was good looking. And I genuinely, seriously believe, that apart from making a beautiful thing to look at, the makers of Violet Evergarden were predominantly interested in creating scenes where the setup would make you cry your eyes out, regardless of the plot’s quality, and utilizing the death of loved ones as the main tool. If you like crying at good looking stuff, I guess this show is for you. But if you expected something more sophisticated than that, you’ll probably be as disappointed as I was.

What did you think of the Violet Evergarden’s last 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!