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FlowingCotton Just flowing with it. from GMT Plus 07:00 Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Just flowing with it.
#1: Jan 10th 2018 at 4:52:34 PM

Since there's no thread I figured I'll make one. The first episode has finally aired! There's still no confirmation on whether the US Netflix actually simulcasts the show, though, a bit worrying.

Hylarn (Don’t ask) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#2: Jan 10th 2018 at 8:17:28 PM

As a piece of animation this is phenomenal, possibly the best I've ever seen. Direction is... good. Some problems with transitions and I'm not sure the cinematic style is that great a choice, but it mostly works. The problem is that I'm really not sure the story being told is worth all this effort? Violet's not a terribly compelling character, and is going through an arc I've seen several times before

Since there's no thread I figured I'll make one. The first episode has finally aired! There's still no confirmation on whether the US Netflix actually simulcasts the show, though, a bit worrying.

My understanding is that the US gets legal access 5 months after everyone else

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#3: Jan 10th 2018 at 10:44:17 PM

@Hylarn: I'm really hoping this is the one that bucks the KyoAni trend of beautiful art telling vapid stories. The sad part is that a by-the-numbers boy goes off to war and never comes home story, which is what the PVs seem to be implying (haven't seen episode 1 yet), would still be better fare than their usual plot and character writing.

Part of the problem, I think, is that having animation that's so good raises expectations for the writing, as well. I'm not sure much could match that kind of standard... but they don't need to match the art quality, they just need to manage standard anime writing quality, and the truth of the matter is that most KyoAni series don't even manage that, in my opinion.

It's been fun.
Lyendith I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane! from Bègles, France Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
#4: Jan 11th 2018 at 4:59:54 AM

Episode 1: …Not quite what I expected. I don't remember the trailers mentioning that Violet used to be a war machine.

Visually it's stunning, obviously, almost film quality at this point. The story is… not terribly original in itself, but it's told really well so far. I need to see a couple more episodes to be entirely convinced but I'm not disappointed.

I actually just realized that VE is a light novel originally, which surprised me. Considering the production value, I expected it to be anime original.

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MyssaRei Since: Feb, 2010
#5: Jan 11th 2018 at 5:47:32 PM

[up][up]

From what I remember, this is just the first part of a story that spans several decades, with Violet as the only constant, as she outlives all the people around her.

[up]

Not just a LN, but the only one that won first prize in the studio's annual writing competition. Stuff like Chuunibyou were the runners up.

Hylarn (Don’t ask) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#6: Jan 12th 2018 at 3:45:22 AM

On the Netflix situation: Apparently most of the world is getting it simulcast, but it's not just the US that's getting left out— at least Australia and Poland have to wait as well. A lot of people are saying that this is probably the result of licensing agreement, but honestly that strikes me as pretty unlikely since Netflix almost certainly has a worldwide license. I suspect that what happened is that the head management left the choice as to whether to simulcast or wait for it to end up to the regional management

almost film quality at this point

I don't understand why people keep saying this. There's really not that much of a gap between high-end TV animation and your average anime film

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#7: Jan 12th 2018 at 8:20:00 AM

I think it's because "high-end" TV animation is rather rare, to be honest. It's certainly outside the norm of what people are used to seeing from broadcast anime, so it doesn't surprise me that people immediately associate that kind of fluidity and detail with a movie like Kimi No Na Wa.

It's been fun.
Shlugo_the_great Since: Sep, 2009
#8: Jan 14th 2018 at 1:59:45 PM

The first episode was obviously visually stunning, but what really surprised me was how not sugarcoated it was. Unlike almost every other character of this type, there was nothing cute, or funny or quirky about Violet dysfunctionality - just terribly, terribly sad and disturbing. It was pretty raw.

I hope they can keep it as good as the first episode.

kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#9: Jan 14th 2018 at 3:35:25 PM

Oh goodie. Another Netflix "original" that won't be seen by anyone when they post all the episodes in April.

Lyendith I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane! from Bègles, France Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
#10: Jan 14th 2018 at 3:39:56 PM

What's with Netflix and the 3-month delays, anyway?

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kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#11: Jan 14th 2018 at 3:54:32 PM

Get this. They DO release the episodes 1 a week, as Japan does, worldwide. ....... except in the United States .... and .... Australia. .....

Lyendith I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane! from Bègles, France Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
#12: Jan 14th 2018 at 4:03:36 PM

…Wait, aren't they an American company? >.>

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kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#13: Jan 14th 2018 at 4:25:42 PM

Yes it doesn't make sense.

Lyendith I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane! from Bègles, France Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
#14: Jan 18th 2018 at 6:49:12 AM

Episode 2: Violet tries to write a love letter for a custommer. It goes about as well as you'd expect. She has yet to learn the subtleties and contradictions of non-military thinking. Even though she clearly shows feelings whenever Gilbert is brought up.

I felt a bit awkward watching this − and that's probably the point. I couldn't help but chuckle at some of Violet's remarks, while feeling horrible because I was basically making fun of a handicapped person.

Visually, the colors were weirdly washed out in this episode. Maybe it was just my streaming?

…But anyway, the early synopsis for this series was incredibly misleading. It made you think that AMDs were non-human beings with supernatural powers (something about reading the mind and finding memories), but it turns out they're just normal girls working as ghostwriters.

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kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#15: Jan 18th 2018 at 7:47:04 AM

Sweet lil Yuki-Nagato android doing her best. :3 You can be a great memoir doll someday!

Shlugo_the_great Since: Sep, 2009
#16: Jan 18th 2018 at 3:13:34 PM

It's not Violet fault that people are neurotic messes who can't communicate their feelings properly. Humans are so silly.

I question why everyone kept calling Violet a "weapon". Like who sees an emotionally stunted girl who weights like 40 kilo soaking wet and thinks "ah yes, the perfect weapon!"?

Man, there are so many different complex issues in this show, even outside of Violet quest to learn what love is.

This is probably the best show of the season so far.

Hylarn (Don’t ask) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#17: Jan 18th 2018 at 5:44:19 PM

Direction on Ep 2 was better, but I'm still not that fond of the writing. Still dragging out that "don't tell Violet about Gilbert" thing, there's a weird tech level where they have artificial limbs and whatever Violet is, but typewriters are fairly new, and Violet herself... Like, Violet Evergarden is trying to be a downbeat drama, but Violet Evergarden is pretty much a comedy character. She's a weird, largely unsympathetic character who's main trait is wackily misunderstanding people. It's like having Amelia Bedelia as the main character of a period drama

edited 18th Jan '18 7:14:44 PM by Hylarn

GabrieltheThird Since: Apr, 2012
#18: Jan 18th 2018 at 6:59:08 PM

Yeah, the individual parts don't really mesh together that well. The world doesn't feel real. Like it would not work.

I can't help but feel that the work of the Dolls does not make sense. It's not that I can't imagine a world where people are employed to write letters to the illiterate masses, but the show doesn't sell me on it being a profession where people are damn passionate about it or where it's a lively crux of people's lives where myriad of heartfelt stories interact, where the workers learn as much about themselves as they learn about the people around themselves... But it really wants to. It just doesn't click. Feels like it'd be just another mundane job.

Plus, if people are so illiterate that many places employ people to write letters to others, who reads those letters?

It's a place where people wear plain, functional clothes except that then this one character has an outfit designed for maximum cleavage and it's not even commented on? Even though no one else wear stuff like that?

The war was long and recent, yet feels distant at the same time.

Stuff [up] mentions and [up][up]'s point about Violet being treated as a weapon, because? The show wants to take itself seriously, with attention to detail, but then there's all this small stuff that fights against it. Since its trying to hard, every discordant detail sticks out like a sore thumb and takes me out of it.

You can write a world where all this stuff is justified. In fact I figure we'll get some explanations on some of the more plot relevant wrinkles. But just because you can justify it, it doesn't mean it works. Doesn't help that Violet is both not that interesting and treading very well trodden ground. Unemotional robot learning about feels is not novel.

edited 18th Jan '18 7:00:49 PM by GabrieltheThird

kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#19: Jan 18th 2018 at 8:20:16 PM

You know that is a good point. Why DOESN'T anyone tell Violet about Gilbert??

Other than that this ep was more engaging, more down to the earth, more digestible. I see they still have no OP. Is that intentional?

Lyendith I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane! from Bègles, France Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
#20: Jan 19th 2018 at 12:55:25 AM

[up][up] I don't have the impression the people asking for the letters are all illiterate. Like, that woman seemed pretty well off, she just wanted to make a "professional" write for her.

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Kiefen MINE! from Germany Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: It's not my fault I'm not popular!
MINE!
#21: Jan 19th 2018 at 1:45:25 AM

It does seem a bit unlogical though that they don't read the letter to the costumer before they send it out.

Apparently the conversation about Claudia's Gender-Blender Name was mangled by the translators.

GabrieltheThird Since: Apr, 2012
#22: Jan 19th 2018 at 4:18:00 AM

[up][up] I mean as [up] says, she clearly didn't know the content of the letter before it was sent. One would imagine if she could read it, she would have. But yeah, how they didn't even read it back to her before sending it was one of those things that made no sense for me and took me out of it.

Edit: Also, I don't think the woman requesting the letter was supposed to be well off. The shot at her hands full of small cuts seemed to be there to establish her as poor working class who wanted to give an impression of themselves as upwardly mobile. It's a good example of the attention to detail the show does have that I like, but, as I said, because they pay attention to small stuff like that the other stuff that make little sense become more glaring.

edited 19th Jan '18 4:27:37 AM by GabrieltheThird

Lyendith I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane! from Bègles, France Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
#23: Jan 19th 2018 at 4:22:24 AM

...That is admittedly pretty dumb. >.>

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kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#24: Jan 19th 2018 at 9:30:15 AM

Garkada of Glass Reflection noticed in a recent video that the production team went so far as to record characters' footsteps, as well as the friggin plumbing sounds in the ambiance! That only makes me more annoyed at some of the questionable story decisions.

Lyendith I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane! from Bègles, France Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
#25: Jan 19th 2018 at 11:08:13 AM

Which video? surprised

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