10 Second Anime - Violet Evergarden - Episode 2

Violet begins her training as an Auto Memoranda Doll, but finds the ghostwriting nuances hard to grasp.

Episode 2 - "Never Coming Back"

Hmm.

I don't know if it was intuition on Violet's part or good old fashioned writer's prerogative, but Violet's decision to become an Auto Memoranda Doll was perfect for her goal of understanding Gilbert's declaration of love for her. Through a quirk of culture and history, as we learn from one of Violet's colleague Erica, the nickname for ghostwriters of letters in this German style country was based on a dictation machine a husband made for his suddenly blind prolific author wife.

In Violet, we have this dictation machine personified in an emotionless girl who will come to learn more about her own emotions by picking up on the subtle bodily clues displayed by the Doll service customers. Writing a letter for someone in this world isn't just taking down their words, but crafting a letter based on their intended tone and the emotion they want to convey. The two dissatisfied customers we met in this episode showed how difficult that can be if the Auto Memoranda Doll has no experience with their own emotions or with asking relevant questions to clarify intent and tone.

One thing I was heartened to see was how Violet's little stuffed puppy began to share her bed instead of being placed in the middle of the floor as a forgotten item. She's making progress with an outward display of caring.

Heh.

Flashback. Gilbert's older brother "gave" him Violet, whom he says he found somewhere. He cautioned him to use her only as a weapon and not to get attached. It wasn't clear to me whether she already had the name "Violet" from the hard transition to present day.

These other Auto Memoranda Dolls sure are protective of their status in the hierarchy below Cattleya.

Iris is nice and pouty.

Erica keeps her dislike of Cattleya's modesty about being rookies to herself.

This scene with Violet and the typewriter really play up their similarities as dictation machines.

These prosthetic arms are amazing. I'm still not clear on the technology at play here. Is Violet just an extremely physically capable young girl, or does she have other machine parts in her?

Ha! Type quieter! Why?

These hot receptionists are Nerine and Lillian. They don't like Benedict much.

Nice. The old dude will eat Benedict's noodles. He just wanted to be friendly. Why do these women not want to be sociable? I like this old dude.

All the ladies wear some sexy shoes. Iris isn't used to her high heels yet though.

Hoh. Cattleya and Hodgins have history. Ongoing history? Whose name did Hodgins yell out in bed? Or was it just muttered in his sleep and Cattleya is teasing him?

Har. Violet calls the typewriter a "weapon."

Aw. That stuffed dog is still placed haphazardly on the floor in Violet's room.

Hmm. Hodgins is still vague with Violet about Gilbert's whereabouts. I have a feeling he's going to keep Violet's letters somewhere and big drama is going to happen when she finds the stash.

Violet and Erica make a good dichotomy on how inexperience plays out in this Auto Memoranda Doll service. Violet is bold and just writes like a dictation machine. Erica is meek and doesn't get the customer's tone and intent correct because she's too shy to ask questions or has no life experience to inform her word choice.

This beautiful lady customer is displaying all sorts of non-verbal clues of how much she likes the recipient of her letter. She just wants to play a little hard-to-get. Cattleya would definitely have picked up on those clues.

There they are. KyoAni jazz hands.

Benedict has a nice motorized bicycle. Benedict also has some serious stiletto heels...

That's a nice exposition device to let the mousy, bookish Erica explain this cultural quirk of how the original Auto Memoranda Doll became the term for a ghostwriting service.

Ah! Hodgins found the brooch! On the black market. No wonder his salary for the month is gone.

Good man. Always thank the person buying you drinks.

Hodgins was still vague on whether Gilbert is actually dead or if he's no longer a man with spirit because of how he survived his wounds. That sliver of hope for Violet reuniting with him is getting awfully thin.

Aw. The stuffed dog is now on the bed like a stuffed toy should be in a girl's bedroom.

She bit that brooch, didn't she? Violet combined two of her unique gestures. Clasping her hand to her throat where the brooch should be pinned shows her love and biting things to put her hands through clothing shows her current state of identity. That gesture of biting the brooch is a sign of enduring love.

I'm still waiting for a proper opening and ending credit sequence. Maybe next episode?