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Violet Evergarden First Movie: Brief Background
This movie is set after the anime series, Violet Evergarden. There are 2 movies. And this is the 1st movie.
What is an Auto Memory Doll?
Auto Memory Dolls are people initially employed by a scientist named Dr. Orland to assist his blind wife Mollie in writing her novels, and later hired by other people who needed their services. In the story, an Auto Memory Doll is a ghostwriter for people who cannot write or are looking for help expressing their emotions in letters.
Violet Evergarden First Movie: The story
The movie starts with a scene where a young orange-haired child is on a boat, heading toward Leiden (Leidenschaftlich). Then it shifts to a scene where Violet Evergarden is seen type-writing. Then back again to the orange-haired kid as she mumbles inaudibly.
It shifts to another place where Violet Evergarden takes a train to go to a school for girls. As Violet goes inside the campus, we get a voiceover from Isabella York telling us that her school was her prison. She also says only sheltered girls of means, their handmaids & teachers reside in this girls’ school separated from the world by high walls. All its students are from respectable families or will be marrying into one. She is sure that she is of the latter. She comments that Violet can go anywhere whereas she can not.
Violet introduces herself as an Auto Memory Doll to Isabella. The York family instructed Violet to help Isabella achieve success as a debutante in 3 months’ time. Violet will be Isabella’s tutor in culture, conversation, etiquette, and dance, all that is befitting of a lady. Auto Memory Dolls usually just write letters for their clients. If not for the Drossel royal family’s introduction, Violet would have declined. Isabella suddenly has a coughing fit. Violet tried to help Isabella out but rejected her help & Violet had to reveal her hand’s a prosthetic. Isabella doesn’t want to be friends with Violet & asked Violet to keep quiet unless it’s necessary for her education.
Back at Leiden, at CH Postal Company, Violet’s co-workers were worried about her.
Every girl at the school becomes curious about Violet as she passes the hall following Miss York. Isabella was greeted by a group of girls upon entering the classroom. Violet introduced herself as Miss Isabella’s handmaid. Violet recognized Miss Lancaster. One of the girls comments that Violet looks more like a princess than a handmaid.
And so, they went through classes together. In a class, Isabella has a hard time balancing a book on top of her head & it falls. Surprisingly, compared to the others with only 1 book, Violet was balancing 5 books on top of her head. At mealtime, Violet corrected Isabella on which utensil to use but she refused to comply & ate without care. In Isabella’s room, Isabella stops studying & Violet says the lesson must continue as it’s mandatory. Violet corrects Isabella on her grammar & Isabella becomes annoyed.
After finishing her bath, Isabella reminisces about her past. The scene shifts to a memory of a disheveled orange-haired child taking a bath. The orange-haired girl is called Taylor & a disheveled, short-haired Isabella who was called Amy then. As Taylor calls Amy her sis, Amy was so touched that she hugged her lovingly. She also says to Taylor that she means the world to her. Then, Isabella snaps back to reality.
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During tea time, Isabella was asked by a girl beside her about which salon she would be entering & the girl thought maybe she would join Miss Lancaster’s salon. The girl even mentioned that the Lancasters, the prime minister’s family, and the Yorks, the titans of trade, both have ties with the Drossels. Isabella couldn’t handle the talk that she accidentally spilled some water on another girl beside her. Violet came & apologized for Isabella’s mistake. She also explained that Isabella is frail & has spent much of her life alone. She added that Isabella is now trying to acclimate to living with others as she gave the girl a handkerchief to dry herself. Violet asked for a little more time for Isabella & the girl agreed. Another girl in another table comments how it’s dreamy & Violet’s like a knight from a romance story. Isabella leaves the dining room & Violet follows after Isabella while also apologizing for leaving her side. Isabella replies that seeing Violet makes her miserable & then leaves Violet alone. Isabella crouches down & as she coughs, she mentions Taylor’s name.
After class, Miss Lancaster invites Isabella to a tea party in the dormitory. But Isabella replies rudely to leave her alone. Miss Lancaster didn’t seem to hear her reply & asked what was said. Then, Violet comes forward & apologizes to Miss Lancaster & informs her that her master has instructed to limit her interactions with others until she becomes a debutante. Miss Lancaster comments that Violet is a true princess knight & decides to forget this ever happened. As Miss Lancaster turns away, Violet notices her disappointed face. Isabella stands up from her seat & says that they see her for who her family is. And she feels trapped. Isabella thinks Violet is no different from them. Violet replies that this is just a simple job. Isabella then says that Violet is perfect in every sense & she could even pass as royalty. Violet replies she’s an orphan which surprises Isabella.
Due to the early revelation, Isabella starts to warm up to Violet. Isabella asked if Violet’s sure she’ll stay for 3 months & won’t there be someone she’ll miss. Violet says there is, but they cannot see each other.
Back at CH Postal company at nighttime, Claudia Hodgins, Violet’s boss, hoped Violet was doing all right.
In the middle of the night, Isabella had another coughing fit. Violet was nowhere in sight. As she continued coughing, Violet came into the room with medicine to feed Isabella. Violet holds Isabella’s hand & pats her back. In the morning, Isabella wakes up holding Violet’s hand & mentions Taylor. Violet corrects her that it was her. Isabella wakes up startled. Isabella was worried that Violet stayed up all night. Violet answered that she went through endurance training so a little missed sleep is no issue at all. Isabella opens up to Violet how she wants to talk to girls her age but don’t know how. Violet asks what Isabella wishes to talk about.
At this school, it’s customary to practice with students filling in as male dance partners. Violet decides that Miss Isabella should take the woman’s part while she takes the man’s part. Violet was again commented on by the girls, akin to fangirling over her. Isabella worries that she’s gonna step on Violet’s feet. Violet replies that there’s a secret, Isabella should relax her body & follow Violet’s lead. They then danced.
Isabella convinces Violet to take a bath with her as they’re friends. Isabella was able to see Violet’s metal arm prosthetics. Isabella admits it’s her first time taking a bath with anyone. Later, Isabella wants Violet to sleep with her on her bed. In bed, Isabella mentions sleeping with her little sister before.
Seemingly a flashback memory, Amy poured syrup all over the pancakes & cut a portion to feed to Amy. Amy asked if it was good. Taylor was happy with the food & called sis to Amy. Suddenly, Taylor disappears & the room dims with darkness. Isabella wakes up with tears in her eyes.
Days passed, Isabella became close to Violet. At mealtime, Isabella checks with Violet standing behind her if she got the right utensils & Violet agrees. Violet comments that Isabella got the basic steps down nearly perfect & decides to add new steps. Violet braids Isabella’s hair. Seeing that Violet always has the same hairstyle, Isabella decides to style Violet’s hair as she did her little sister’s hair. Violet commented that Isabella seems to have fun. As they’re late to class due doing Violet’s hair, they had to run to school from the dorms.
Violet Evergarden First Movie: Facts
Debutante varies across history; it’s usually between 16 & 18 years of age.
Orders from the royal family tend to be absolute & can’t be refused.
About the Drossel royal family & the public love letters mentioned, they are in an episode of Violet Evergarden. Violet had a hand in the public love letters of a royal couple with the help of a fellow Doll. The York family has ties with the Drossel royal family, thus why Violet was chosen.
The salon mentioned in the movie is not the salon we know where to cut & stylize our hair. But a salon refers to a gathering of people held by a host. So, it’s a social gathering where they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation.
Violet Evergarden First Movie Opinion
When I read that Violet will be teaching Isabella to be a lady, I’m impressed. Looks like Violet’s learned a lot since the series ended, even learning etiquette & dance.
By watching a second time, I found that it was odd that Isabella had no knowledge of etiquette & manners of a noble. If you were born in a noble family & even born frail, she should have some knowledge & manners. And the reason was later revealed, Isabella grew up in the slums as Amy Bartlett & maybe due to the harsh environment is why she’s prone to coughing fits.
When I saw a flashback memory of Amy feeding pancakes to Taylor, I knew it was a dream because pancakes & syrup were luxurious food. Most nobles eat them & it is impossible to get with their situation. I was right about the dream as everything in the dream fades away. And later on the actual memory was shown.
Violet looks cute in pigtails but she thinks it’ll block her line of sight during an emergency. I was thinking: Violet, you’re not on a battlefield anymore & I doubt there’ll be an attack in a girls’ school. And can’t she just enjoy a different hairstyle.
I’m happy that Violet gets to experience school life though she’s there as Isabella’s handmaid. She’s been a soldier before working as an Auto Memory Doll.
About why Isabella York’s past identity was kept secret, it is because she is an illegitimate daughter of the York family. Being an illegitimate child can either cause scandal or harm to the reputation of Isabella’s father, who is possibly the head of the York family.
About Isabella’s mother, there are 2 options: either she was an ex-maid of the York family or a prostitute that the father had a fling with. By the way Isabella’s father called her mother, “that woman,” my guess is it’s more of the latter, a prostitute & it would make more sense why Isabella as Amy was abandoned as having Amy around may get in the way of her work & it was hard to feed oneself. Also, it may have been the birth mother that told her father about her birth upon learning he was one of the nobles as doing so can get her money.
I see a parallel when Taylor Bartlett was adopted by the Evergarden family just as previously Violet was arranged by Gilbert Bougainvillea to be adopted to the Evergarden family. The Evergarden family was kind enough to help out Violet with Taylor even though Violet doesn’t live with them as she lives in the company’s dormitory. It also helps that Taylor doesn’t have to be sent back to her orphanage & when she’s at a working age, she can nearly go to CH company to be a post mail carrier.
All things come to a full circle.
Hope you liked Violet Evergarden First Movie: Eternity and Auto Memory Dolls! We will be writing out the second and third movies soon so stay tuned to our blog site for updates!