If I could describe Violet Evergarden in one word it would be ambitious. This stunning series from Kyoto Animation attempts to explore themes of war, humanity, and empathy. What makes the series so impressive is the layered characterization it gives to Violet herself.

Violet’s arc in the series is one of the most satisfying arcs in all of anime. Orphaned at a young age Violet is taken in by Major Gilbert to be used as an implement of war. Violet has no memories of a life outside of war. She doesn’t even any memory of her actual name.

The name Violet was given to her by Major Gilbert who sees Violet as more than a mere tool. He sees her instead as a human being and after the war is over wants to give her a better life. Violet though is confused by Gilbert’s desires for her after the war.

From Violet’s perspective the only thing she knows is war and receiving orders from the Major. Gilbert sees this and is absolutely devastated. He knows that it is his fault that Violet has become such a broken child with no personality of her own.

In the final battle Gilbert is severely wounded by enemy fire. Violet desperately tries to save and in the process looses both of her arms. Her sacrifice proved futile as Gilbert sacrificed himself to save Violet from an incoming bomb explosion.

Before the explosion Gilbert tells Violet to “live and be free” and that he loves her. Violet doesn’t understand these phrases mean but they are central to Violet’s arc in the series series as she tries to understand what Gilbert’s final words mean.

Violet then sets off on what is seemingly an impossible mission: for someone who is traumatized and destroyed by war to learn the meaning of love and human emotions. To achieve this end Violet decides to become an Auto Memory Doll, a group of typewriters who help people unable to

type put their feelings into letters. While Violet is a fast typer she early on struggles to connect with emotions a client wishes to get across. She takes her clients words much to literally and her letters read more as a military report than a personal letter.

Others find difficult to work with and are put off by her stiff, rigid, and flat personality. Despite these difficulties as Violet listens to different people’s stories, she begins to realize her own emotions and is able to help others understand the emotions they want to convey.

As Violet begins to understand the feelings of others and witnesses the losses they have endured, she begins to feel the guilt over all the lives she has taken as a soldier. To put it another Violet realizes what Hodgins meant when he said she was burning.

To only compound Violet’s grief she she has realized that the only person who brought her any happiness, Gilbert, is indeed dead. She legitimately wonders if she has the right to continue to live because of all the lives she took with her own hands.

The doubt and agony become so overwhelming that she attempts to strangle herself but cannot go through with it. She eventually asks Hodgins if it’s okay for a person like her to live after all she has done.

Hodgins tells Violet that her actions as a soldier will never be erased, but neither will all the good she has has done as an Auto Memories Doll. In the end it is Violet’s decision whether she will move forward or let herself be consumed by her past.

Violet makes the bravest decision a survivor of PTSD can make and decides to move forward with her life while accepting her past. She no longer wants to take orders. She no longer wants to be considered a “tool” of war.

She no longer wants to look down at her hands and be reminded of the countless lives she took. Instead when she looks at her hands she wants to be reminded of the countless letters that she wrote and the people that she helped. Whether that is a playwright who’s still in

mourning over the loss of his daughter, a soldier who wants to send a final letter to his family and sweetheart before he passeses, or a little girl who will live the majority of her life without a mother. These are the people she wishes to remember when she sees her hands

and with every every person she helps understand a little more what ”I love you” means.