Violet Evergarden looks like an average 14-year-old girl. Well, actually the way she is drawn she looks more like late teens to early 20’s. But that’s beside the point. For the sake of the story, it begins when she is 14.

So Violet is actually a highly trained combat specialist who lives only to follow the orders of Major Gilbert. Emotionless, she lives to fight and kill the enemy in a war with a neighboring country. But the series really begins after the war is over. Violet is in a hospital recovering from her wounds, including the loss of both arms which are replaced by two robotic limbs. Psychologically, she seems to be in a bit of a mess; so much so that her new guardian, LtCol Hodgens, can’t tell her that Maj Gilbert is dead.

So much for the set-up. Now Hodgens has left the military and founded his own company – an independent mail service. He brings Violet to work as a carrier, but soon she seeks to become an “Auto-Memory Doll.” These Dolls write letters for people who can’t express themselves, and with the amount of work that seems to be most of the country. Violet hopes her experience as a Doll helps her to understand emotions, especially what Maj Gilbert meant when he said “I love you.”

So Violet goes on to effect the lives of those she meets through her work as a Doll. As you can guess, there are plenty of tearful moments and a few tragic stories. Through it all, Violet learns what it means to be human.

For most of the series, there is not much action or violence. Outside of a few flashback sequences, there is one flashback episode which lets us in on Violet’s wartime experience. The last three episodes deal with a dissident faction trying to restart the war, which actually does not seem to fit in with the rest of the series. But we do need to see how much Violet has grown, and the possible return to war achieves that.

There was no slacking off with the artwork and animation. Look carefully and you can see a few subtle details which make the characters more lifelike. The effort here is more than what you find in most series.

What really makes this series work is the tear factor. It does tug at your heart quite a bit, so if you like sentimental stories you should like Violet Evergarden.