During this long break we have had, I have been watching Violet Evergarden. A 13 episode animated series which can be seen on Netflix that is about Violet, an adolescent girl who is a former soldier, looking to understand how to be normal.

Her main backstory is that she was found on a deserted island and found by some stranded men. After showing her strength by killing all men but one, he noticed that she could not understand any language but knew the word “kill” and did so to whatever he wanted when he asked. He took her to Major Gilbert as a gift due to his promotion. She was put into a mutant unit to fight since many would agree that it is not safe or humane to put her in the military with her being at such a young age but her strength and agility showed promise to many within the army. She would soon learn speech and be given her name, Violet. A war happened not too long after Violet had been put into training in the military and she was sent out to fight with Gilbert and his unit. With some misfortune, she came out of the war and was sent away to become a “normal” person.

The story revolves around how Violet will become what they consider normal. Her first “task” is to find something to do with her time so she becomes an auto memory doll. An auto memory doll is someone who can write letters for someone else due to there not being many people at the time of the story who can write. This job can also be called a “Ghostwriter.” She needs to find out how to combat her trauma and find out what it means to have emotions.

I personally really like this series because it shows how one can persevere through trauma and become an independent person. The storyline has made me cry more than once and I was devastated to know that there is only one season on Netflix. This show has made me feel emotions that I would not typically feel watching anything but I must admit, this is one of my favorite shows to date and I plan on watching it and recommending it to many others.