Violet Evergarden the Movie (劇場版 ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン, Gekijōban Vaioretto Evāgāden) is a 2020 theatrical anime film based on Kana Akatsuki’s light novel series and a continuation to the Violet Evergarden 2018 anime series. The anime is directed by Taichi Ishidate and produced by studio Kyoto Animation. Staff credits also include writer Reiko Yoshida, and music composed by Evan Call. The anime first theatrically released in Japan in September 2020.
Note: While I will not delve into the film’s story, the images in this post may contain spoilers to the film.
Background:
“Violet Evergarden, a former child soldier turned “Auto Memory Doll” scribe, has made a name for herself writing letters that evoke the feelings her clients cannot, in pursuit of understanding the meaning behind the “I love you” spoken to her long ago.
When a terminally ill boy asks her to fulfill one last request for his family, Violet must confront her own feelings of love, loss, and her past with the one who told her those cherished words in order to write one final letter.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, December 2022.
It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Kyoto Animation. We know them for many of their classic shows including Haruhi Suzumiya, Hyouka and CLANNAD. Among their newer shows over the past couple of years wase Violet Evergarden which streamed exclusively on Netflix, and as such more people internationally checked out the show in multiple audio languages. They even get to see how much work the studio has put into their animation and production.
Though for many, they may remember the studio more for what had happened back in 2019 with the arson attack that took the lives of over 30 people including director Yasuhiro Takemoto and character designer Futoshi Nishiya. Despite what has happened, Kyoto Animation were able to continue work on their projects and honour those who lost their lives back then.
The Violet Evergarden theatrical film projects were among those that the studio worked their hardest to wrap up. We saw one of them be released in late 2019, which was a spin-off called Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll, that eventually became available for both streaming and theatrical in some regions including the UK. Then a year later, Kyoto Animation released the official continuation to the series simply known as Violet Evergarden the Movie.
Violet Evergarden the Movie is the final instalment of the storyline, and I admittedly have yet to watch (I also haven’t watched the spin-off film which I had intentionally held off so that I could watch both films together), but what was interesting is that Kyoto Animation managed to give the film possibly the best treatment possible. In Japan they released the film theatrically at the Dolby Cinema and included both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision support for home video. That’s right, this film was released on the 4K Ultra HD format, though like other anime, it is upscaled to 2160p resolution.
Similarly, to the spin-off film, Violet Evergarden the Movie was licensed in the UK & Ireland by Anime Limited before Netflix added it to their streaming platform. Crunchyroll (formerly known as Funimation) also acquired the US & Canada rights, and both distributors released the film theatrically in English and Japanese. However, Anime Limited is the first of the English-speaking regions to release the film on home video and in 4K Ultra HD format. Anime Limited are also known for their delays in production, so this film was supposed to have been released back in the summer but somehow got delayed by 4 months for reasons beyond the distributor’s control.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Violet Evergarden the Movie continues the deluxe treatment that the franchise had received from Anime Limited. The big inclusion here is that the film does include a 4K Ultra HD disc, and while there were some that would have wanted a Blu-ray only variant, I personally prefer the better format of the two whenever possible.
The package is presented as a rigid box with a slightly clear slipcase that covers the film’s title and some distributor logos. Once removed you have a clean box with no text on each view. Inside the box you have a 4K Ultra HD Amaray case to house the 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray discs, a 68-page artbook with interviews, character bios, and artwork, a 12-page booklet with interviews going over the Dolby process, 16 artcards, a one-sided poster, and a replica of the letter from Violet in its native language and an English translated version.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack set is limited to 1000 units for SRP £69.99 (with its SRP risen due to the UHD format and extra physical items). As of the time of this write-up, a standard Blu-ray is also available on the day of release, but no word on a standard 4K Ultra HD option (which will probably happen but not right now).
The film was available as an early bird during the June 2022 line-up for £49.99 (and I ordered at £45 thanks to the Anime Unlimited membership discount). As mentioned, the film was supposed to have been released in the end of August but then got constantly delayed to early December.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with slipcase, clean artwork and UHD Amaray packaging
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 68-page Artbook
- 12-page Special Booklet
- 16 Artcards
- Poster
- Original & Translation of Violet’s Letter
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 5th December 2022
The collector’s edition release for Violet Evergarden the Movie contains the film on a single 4K Ultra HD disc and Blu-ray disc. The audio options for both formats include Japanese with English subtitles and the Spliced Bread Productions Inc. English dub commissioned by Netflix.
The 4K UHD disc is encoded and authored by the folks over at VDMS, mainly due to their experience dealing with Dolby Vision. Dolby Atmos is available for Japanese audio alongside Dolby Vision for High Dynamic Range. As for the playback, the white subtitles are locked during playback, and the disc is all region.
The Blu-ray disc was also encoded and authored by VDMS. As for the playback, the white subtitles are locked during playback, and the disc regions are locked to B.
UPDATE: The English subtitle translation was worked on by Front Row Filmed, a distributor for MENA territories. As such this includes a number of issues with its translation. A disappointing effort from Anime Limited’s part.
4K Ultra HD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1) |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 2.35:1 aspect ratio Dolby Vision HDR |
| Region | All Region |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-100 |
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1) |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 2.35:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras on this disc
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras on this disc
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Violet Evergarden the Movie is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack can be acquired through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s store, MVM’s Anime-on-Line, and United Publications.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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