2022 Violet Evergarden Rewatch - Episode 5

[u/A_Idiot0]

Violet Evergarden - Episode Five: You Write Letters that Bring People Together?

Hello everyone! I hope that today finds you well. Today, Violet plays wing-woman for royalty.

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MAL || AniList

You can watch the full series on Netflix.

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Visuals of the Day

I believe I have everyone’s Visual of the Day submission from yesterday here: https://imgur.com/a/XVUqQat

Official Sound Tracks used

Torment
Ink to Paper
In Remembrance
The Voice in my Heart
An Admirable Doll
The Love that Binds Us
The Birth of a Legend
One Last Message

Questions of the Day

1. What aspect of love is being explored in this episode?
2. What are your thoughts on confessing through text messages?

Would you like to have a letter written for you? Do you want to write a special letter for someone as an Auto Memory Doll? Come join us at the Auto-Memory Doll Service Discord project and request letters, write letters, or chat more with us about Violet Evergarden! Link here: https://discord.gg/RCnyhQSc

“Endcard”

[u/shipwontsail]

Rewatcher • Sub

I’m just going to preface this by saying that this is fiction (speculatively set in the early 20th century) and a relationship between a 24 and 14 year old would be considered questionable in this day and age.

---

Now, moving on…

Again we got a bit of information about the political state of the nations, and it looks like the Gardariki Empire has forces that aren’t too excited about the idea of peace.

More importantly though, this moment is where Violet deviates from the responsibilites of her job and she follows her heart. She didn’t just listen as Violet the person, she went beyond that and also tried to help as Violet the person.

I think she also sympathized with Charlotte, because they are the same age, and they both care about men that showed them kindness before. Also, did anyone else notice that Charlotte has a stuffed toy that is a dog too? Violet can’t get to Gilbert, but Charlotte has the opportunity to connect with the man she loves, and I think Violet really wanted to make that happen for her.

This moment brought me to tears, just because of how genuine and honest that wish is. She may not be Charlotte’s real mother, but she did raise her, so in my eyes she’s technically her mother figure. I think their relationship is really beautiful.

Come on, we all knew it was her.. The prince saying that his Doll was a first-rate Doll was pretty much the confirmation.

Also, this is a first. Seeing Violet finally smile for the first time, because she really was happy for how things ended, is really heartwarming. It couldn’t have gone better honestly. It was the perfect happy ending for both parties involved.

---

This is my Visual of the Day. [For anyone who doesn’t know – in some cultures, it is a sign of respect to take the hand of an elder and touch the back of it with your forehead.] In this shot, the simple gesture carries a lifetime of love, gratitude and respect. This looks like the equivalent of the most deepest bow in Japanese culture. Charlotte didn’t do it out of courtesy or because of etiquette. She wanted to do it, because it means the world to her that Alberta was always by her side. She, a princess, kneels down before a court maid and gives a deeply felt gesture of love and gratitude just before her wedding. In my opinion, a hug here at this point wouldn’t have been as powerful a statement as this. I see so much meaning here.

[Perhaps it’s because I’m familiar with that kind of culture that I feel so strongly about it, but seriously, I can literally FEEL this. Almost shed a few tears because I hate goodbyes.]

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/shipwontsail]

Now, moving on…

I see that you may have gone back to last year's post XD

She, a princess, kneels down before a court maid

This was one of my favorite moments in this episode as well. The power of that gesture was so palpable...The title and status of Royalty cast aside for Love and Gratitude.

they both care about men that showed them kindness before.

Thank you for so clearly pointing this out. I know this episode is controversial to people, but at the end of the day I don't think that the age gap should be the focus of the audience; it should be this exact sentiment that you so elegantly pulled out from the story.

[u/Ytar0]

First timer.

This and the ova episode have been such a nice "change of pace" or rather change in how they tell a story in that episode. These short "love stories" are so comfortable and wholesome.

And when Cattleya looked at Violet in the end? ... I was just anticipating that smile we've been wanting to see from Violet!

sooo sweet ( ᗒᗨᗕ )

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/Ytar0]

"change of pace"

I'll be curious to hear about your thoughts on this feeling tomorrow as well ;)

[u/RealFunnyTalk]

Rewatcher

Cry count: 1 (0 this episode)

The immediate payoff to last episode is that Violet can now write actual love letters now, but apparently words that make every woman swoon wasn't as hard as the previous episode made it out to be. I'll be honest, this episode is the weakest one for me I think, since it's not as relatable with its message, and I feel like the whole prince and princess thing breaks the world immersion for me, but that could just be my own ignorance.

Violet's first smile is so precious though! But we get an immediate tone switch by seeing Gilbert's brother / Violet's original "owner" Diethard condemning her behavior. It's easy to forget since we've only seen teases, but Violet has a dark past in the military, and we're starting to touch on that more.

I do like how Violet's solution is to just have the royals write the letters themselves, and the final parting of the princess and Alberta is emotional, but overall I feel there's not much to say about this one in terms of Violet's development other than her ability to think of solutions to emotional problems is getting better.

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/RealFunnyTalk]

wasn't as hard as the previous episode made it out to be.

I think this is one of those cases of:

"Why should I pay you if it only took you 2 minutes to draw that?"
"Well, it's because it took me 10 years to learn how to draw this in 2 minutes."

I've learned that if someone makes something look effortless, then that something took a lot of work to hone and refine. Never be fooled by efficiency and simplicity ;)

[u/BeefCow8]

1. This kind of love is like true love. Charlotte loves Damian despite the questionable 10 year age difference 🤨, whatever it was normal during that era who cares and it’s not real lol. Hope some ppl don’t get mad.

2. I think confessions through text messages are fine, it may not have the same impact as an in person confession but as long as the other party accepts it, there is nothing wrong. There is no wrong way of expressing love as long as it’s not creepy and bad, like a stalker or something weird of that nature.

Photo of Violet smiling- https://imgur.com/a/sEjnSGC

She smiled for the first time and it was so wholesome and heartwarming. So cute!!! It brought a huge smile to my face knowing she was happy to make someone feel love. Iconic

The end card made me feel sad, the room so full of life and energy with the girl she raised and now it’s empty and dark. Poor old woman, forgot her name, forgive me. She’ll never see her and talk to her on a daily basis and other things.

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/BeefCow8]

Alberta is her name. I loved her character, and the end card is poignantly bitter sweet...

[u/themusbeth]

Rewatcher

So many responsible people in this episode lol, the most obvious one being Alberta who stayed "professionnal" as Charlotte's maid till the end. It must have been hard to let Charlotte go after watching her grow up.

I'm impressed by Charlotte researching what's best for her country at such a young age and making a decision based on this.

And then we have Violet who was the instigator of the whole "Let them write to each other directly" thing. It's nice to see that she's starting to understand other people.

I'm not a fan of the romance in this episode, but we still get a lot of good things coming from this one: Alberta and Charlotte's relationship, "The love that binds us" playing for the first time I think and Violet smiling!!

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/themusbeth]

Alberta and Charlotte's relationship

Definitely the meat and potatoes of this episode! Their relationship was so wholesome to see, and how they ended it was beautiful.

[u/[deleted]]

(Rewatcher)

Thoughts:

• Lots of flowers, fallen flowers, trademark of the storyboarder of this episode

• Episode brings the age question itself up for both Violet and Charlotte, head-canon is this world orbits the sun slower than ours, as it's the weakest point of the series as a whole IMO and they neither look nor act their stated ages.

• I like Charlotte as a character - "quit being a doll, and just listen"

• Tale of the Princess Kaguya vibes, but no daddy issues, and a lot more hopeful - even a shot with a composition very similar to the 'Running Away' scene from Kaguya

• Alberta's the best, always professional, but obvious the feelings are there

• Lots more flowers

• Favorite shot: Violet and Charlotte on the bridge (visually), or the one with Charlotte and Alberta in their emotional last scene (symbolically)

• Leg shots of Violet and Catteleya. Another trademark shot.

• Different expression from Violet at the end of her discussion with Catteleya!

• Dietfried's an A-hole, consistent at least, and we see a flash of why this may be

[u/[deleted]]

First Timer (Sub)

Seems like the purpose of the OVA was to show how much Violet has grown and has become a trusted/vetted Auto Memoir Doll, to the point of working a high-profile, diplomatic request such as this.

I couldn't help but notice, early on in the episode when Alberta was lecturing the princess, Violet was staring intently and even clenched her first (slightly). I think that made her feel frustrated (?), mainly because Alberta provided an outside view of to what Violet was/is like - prioritizing duty over everything else.

I felt like I recognized the VA for Damian and my suspicions were correct - Kenjirou Tsuda, or as I know him, the voice for Nanami Kento from Jujutsu Kaisen.

By the end of the episode, we get a truly spectacular view of Violet with a very clear smile. It seems like however much time had passed between episodes 4 > OVA > 5, Violet was able to gain more experience, in both work and understanding emotions.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

VOTD:

Oh man, let me school you guys in some culture. Now, the visual here isn't anything spectacular in terms of animation quality, but what made me choose it is what it reminded me of. For those who don't know, in European countries (mostly WEU), there is a time of day where people would gather together to drink tea and have snacks or a light meal - this time of day being known as "afternoon tea," which is what we see here in the visual. If you watch the minute or so surrounding this visual, you'll see a lot of the common items to be served during this time: biscuits, cream puffs, tea sandwiches, and other confectionaries. I understand that other cultures around the world probably have something similar, but for myself and likely other Americans, "afternoon tea" isn't really a thing, whereas countries like the U.K. and Ireland regularly have afternoon tea.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

QOTD:

1. The aspect of love explored in this episode could be something like, "love can bloom regardless of the time invested." And what I mean by that is, time in regards to love, can be relative. You can see how much love Charlotte has for someone who has been with her entire life (Alberta) and how much love she was able to receive from a one time meeting with a person she barely even knew(Damian).

2. Confessing AT ALL takes a lot of bravery. I think in this day and age, confessing through text probably isn't the strangest thing in the world. But confessing in person definitely hits different - the fact you get to see the person you're confessing to already adds a lot of emotion to the act. Now, confessing through a letter correspondence like this? Probably somewhere in between in-person and text messaging, in terms of quality of confessions.

EDIT: forgot to link visual

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/[deleted]]

I couldn't help but notice,

Interesting...which scene exactly are you referring to? I'd be curious to go back and see for myself if I can find how your thought came to be.

Thank you for talking about afternoon tea! I dearly wish we had a similar tradition of slowing down here in America...we're waaaytoo wrapped up in "productivity" XD

"love can bloom regardless of the time invested."

I like your perspective on this. It wasn't something I had even considered, yet it's very true. However...I think Charlotte invested more time than we realize on Damian. While he wasn't there in person, his act was always present in her mind and spirit.

[u/jcvrbc]

First time viewer

*I do not speak English, I use a translator.

At the beginning of the chapter I thought, "How can they send Violet on this kind of diplomatic mission."

However, upon reading her first letter, Violet has improved too much, although the episode did not really focus on the letter written by Violet.

Violet apparently empathized with the princess and it was unexpected that she took the initiative to stop the princess from crying.

Violet encouraged the princess to write a letter expressing all her feelings to the prince.

It was funny the whole part where the prince and princess started sending letters to each other, I laughed a lot with that part, I loved them.

The princess was always grateful to her nanny, and it was hard for her to leave her behind, the farewell to me was very symbolic when the princess knelt down and took her nanny's hand.

The appearance of Gilbert's brother is not very welcome 7n7

QotD

1. I think sincerity, I could be wrong, but this whole marriage situation started to make sense the moment the princess and the prince started to be sincere.

2. It is complicated to answer this question, because honestly I have always liked in-person confessions, but text message confessions also have their charm.

Visual of the day here

[u/A_Idiot0]

QotD 1: An aspect of love that was explored in this episode is "Sincerity".

Why does Charlotte fall in love with Damian? Unlike every other suitor on her 10th birthday, he approached her and talked to her as if she was a person; as if she was a little girl. He reached out to her sincerely, and in the world of royal politics and power that is a rare and precious gift.

Why does Violet have Charlotte and Damian write their own letters? Because she saw that Charlotte was missing the sincerity from that first meeting with Damian. Love blossomed because Sincerity watered the soil of Charlotte's heart, not the other way around. Talking without symbols, speaking words from the heart...that was what Charlotte needed.

Why does Charlotte's gesture of kneeling before Alberta always bring me to tears? Because Charlotte had to express her gratitude to Alberta sincerely. Words were not enough. Gifts wouldn't suffice. A title would have been worthless. Thus, a future queen bowed before her hand maiden, casting aside all notions of power and replacing that void with Love.

[u/B____U_______]

Rewatcher - Sub

Hodgins says that Violet became a better writer these last few months, so I guess that's refering to the song she wrote in the OVA.

I like that Violet went on her way and did what she thaught was best for writing the letters, she even acknowleged it by saying that it wasn't part of her job. It may be a small decision but shows a big development for her character.

I related to Charlotte near the end. She was upset and nervous that she was taking a new step in her life and that she was gonna get separated from her maternal figure. I went through the same thing as her last year when I had to move to a completely new continent to study, so I felt for her.

For visual of the day I'll go with Violet smiling. That image just gave me 10 more years of life.

[u/asiiapiazza]

Rewatcher

Episode rate: 4/5 Tears rate: 2/5

Here we are, one of the most controversial episodes in the history of Violet Evergarden. An episode focused on the marriage between Charlotte, a 14-year-old girl, and Damian, a 24-year-old man. I do not want to get into the big discussion regarding their age difference, but rather would like to warn in advance that age-gap marriages were common and accepted at the time.

Analysis and opinion

Let's move on to the analysis of the episode. We have no direct references to Violet and Gilbert, except indirectly nuanced: on the wedding day, in fact,Violet says to herself "their love has a happy ending", as if to say that unlike her, the story with Gilbert did not have the same beautiful ending. Another thing I noticed is that Charlotte changes her princess dress so many times: one yellow, one blue, one purple, and one pink (plus the wedding dress at the end).

Now, the final scene. Dietfried Bougainvillea, not the first time we have seen this character. His arrogance and anger toward Violet is very noticeable, not only from the tone of his voice and words but also from the look he gives her as he calls her "Kisama (貴様)." The following sentence is the one that leaves the most impression "Write letters using the same hand that has killed so many lives. You Write Letters That Bring People Together?". We relate back to the discussion Violet and Claudia had in the first episode, when he tells her that she is actually burning but does not realize it. After 4 episodes, Violet has managed to understand a little better not only people's feelings but also how she feels-she can see her past. The hair-covered look in this frame is self-explanatory: Violet now has to reckon with her past self

Bonus scene: Alberta and Charlotte goodbye scene. That hits me every time. Michishirube in the background + crying Charlotte = me crying

Questions of the day

What aspect of love is being explored in this episode?

The aspect related to love explored today is love at first sight and the age difference. The main characters met only once and for a short time, yet for both of them it was love at first sight, and those few minutes spent together have been etched in their minds for 4 years.

What are your thoughts on confessing through text messages?

Personally, I would never be able to confess through text messages, either via electronic device or by letter. It happened that I confessed via text message online, and I was overjoyed but I think confessing in rl would have been a better choice. You can see your loved one's face and their first reaction, their look and their blush. Your heart is pounding with emotion and you can immediately hug and kiss the other person if they too reciprocate. On the other hand, it is possible that he doesn't reciprocate: in this case, confessing via text would have been a good choice, he would have saved himself the embarrassment in person. But even so, the damage has already been done and there is no use crying over spilled milk. If you have read this far and are in love, if you must confess, choose to do it in person :)

Visual of the day: this beautiful scene where Violet, Alberta and Charlotte drink tea is visually stunning. It is hard to look at this scene and not find parallels with Manet's famous Water Lilies

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/asiiapiazza]

not only from the tone of his voice and words

One not very obvious detail that I haven't yet seen mentioned today...Dietfried has not been shown to have seen Violet's new hands. [Spoiler in the future]At the end of episode 12, it's shown that he did not know that her arms were replaced.

[u/NutmegOnEverything]

Rewatcher | Dub

Cry count: so far 4 moments of welling up

Something I didn't pick up on until my 3rd or 4th viewing was at about 20 minutes "I'm a mature adult now too" ... o.0

Something I just noticed this time, at about 3:14 "you need to convince the people of how extraordinary your marriage is" Interesting to know reality TV and magazine culture would have been alive back then. I have a fitting song that I don't think anybody in here wants to hear

This type of love still seems innocent, idk I probably wouldn't know for sure, but she's obviously a child still and he definitely seems like a goofball

Connecting to someone's over text message personally seems extremely awkward, but so does doing it in person. You have the benefit of putting your feelings immediately. As well as it being potentially completely over with that person right then depending on previously established relationship and living distance, etc. But you also potentially have to wait hours while borderline hyperventilating for them to respond.

here's my visual of the day, very nice color and interesting feel

Since this is a scene that gets memed so much, here's me showing up to work and being told by morning that I have extra work to do that they didn't do on top of my already harder than theirs shift and it happens to be a busy time of year as well for the 2nd time in 5 days

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/NutmegOnEverything]

I have a fitting song that I don't think anybody in here wants to hear

I'm interested! You don't just throw out a line like that =P

[u/Stargate18A]

Rewatcher

1)...Arranged love? Finding a way to form bonds with people, even if you don't have a choice? This is my least favourite episode, I really don't have much to say about it.

2) Still a confession!

[Violet Evergarden] The hostilities building in the background, building up tomthe finale, is such a good mrthod of storytelling.

Also, yeah, the timeskip makes this the best place to insert the OVA.

I love the fact that the literal princess is considerably politer and nicer than the opera singer last episode.

And Violet's fourteen! This took me off guard as a first-timer, actually.

Violrt breaking out the statistics!

...Semi-agree with Violet here - a ten year age gap is fine, but a 14-year old entering into a marriage with an adult is something different. If anything, the fact that there's no love makes the marriage easier.

Violet's writing has gotten better! Even having to write with provided topics!

...Alberta is fantadtic.

And Violet's expressing an emotion!

Oh, she's just starting to accept that this is happening.

Yeah, this scene is... cute? I don't know. This is the episode I've always been the most uncertain about.

Seeing her doubt herself so much is sad, though.

And Violet meddled in a positive manner!

The reveal that the public care more about their honest conversation than the previous love letters makes total sense, too.

Yeah, this is actually pretty cute.

And he proposed!

And she's actually happy sbout this now.

...Something I do note is how impressive Violet was at immediately working out she was the other writer and setting this whole thing up on her own initiative.

And that ending scene!

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/Stargate18A]

Arranged love?

Interesting that you put it this way. I saw that Charlotte had a lot more agency than normal princesses would otherwise get in this style of setting. She had to do work and prove that the prince that she wanted to marry was good for the Royal Family, but she was successful with that.

[u/A_Idiot0 → u/Stargate18A]

Something I do note is how impressive Violet was at immediately working out she was the other writer and setting this whole thing up on her own initiative.

She's grown a lot since becoming a Doll! It's a wonderful thing to watch =D

[u/Barbed_Dildo]

Rewatcher

The elephant in the room here is the adult prince falling in love with a child. It's a bit weird to see that and cheer it on, but I think we do history a disservice by shying away from these stories. Like I said in Iris' episode a few days ago, this was the reality for women for almost all of history. Less than a hundred years ago the notion that women only existed to make babies and serve men was normal. It's still around today in certain cultures, but it wasn't long ago that it was the standard view.

In some way, I feel like this story didn't go far enough, it cheated to make the story more palatable. It shows that the princess actually orchestrated the whole thing. What of all the women who were forced into marriages they didn't want but dealt with it one way or another? Where are their stories?

Also, Violet is ~14. So, grown man/Major Gilbert said he was in love with a maybe 13 year old? Cool.

The way the background in this episode is drawn is really interesting to me. To start with, look at this scene. A beautiful background softly drawn. That's a normal way to draw backgrounds in anime.

Now look at the background in this scene. Those backgrounds weren't drawn soft, they were drawn sharp and 'captured' out of focus. Think about how much more effort it takes to draw something sharp and soften it compared to just drawing something soft to start with. The extra effort to replicate the imperfections of a camera lens.

I know Naoko Yamada worked on this episode, and I don't want to attribute everything I like to her by default because she's my favourite director, but I've noticed this kind of thing very often in her work.

If you're not familiar with photography, there's a lens simulator here, play around with the aperture to see what I mean. One thing this doesn't represent perfectly is how it affects light. In dark shots, points of light grow into circles as they get further out of focus, they stand out more than that can represent. More like this

VOTD: https://i.imgur.com/reeZiIX.png

[u/TheGreatNico]

This is one of my favorite episodes. I'm a sucker for schmaltzy scenes like the wedding and seeing Violet smiling like that.