Happy Sunday!

Over the past few months, I've consumed a lot of stories - some good, some bad, some funny, some sad. (This summer you'll probably be hearing quite a bit about them XD.)

Most recently, I just finished the eight-month-long process of watching Violet Evergarden, one of the most beautiful stories I think I've experienced. This is a fantastic beginner anime, so if you're looking for a good show that allows you to dip your toes into this medium, Violet Evergarden is a perfect place to start. It's got beautiful visuals and a solid storyline.

And as much as I could rave about how aesthetic the entire show is, I want to discuss the storyline today.

(Welcome back to another rambly reflection/fandom post XD. Also, beware of some spoilers ahead.)

In case you haven't seen this show and want a brief summary: Violet Evergarden tells the story of a girl named Violet, a war survivor who's trying to figure out who she is and move past the trauma of fighting on the front lines as a child. She spends the majority of the show trying to figure out what love means, since she's never been introduced to it. Along the way, she takes a job at a writer's agency, where she helps people write letters to their loved ones - and, in the process, helps her to love and heal. 

And this show. THIS SHOW made me sob through nearly every episode.

Now, usually when I sob over stories, it's because the story is heartbreakingly sad. For instance, I cried over the horror webtoon Sweet Home because it's incredibly dark and painful and physically hurts to read. Another example: Your Lie in April. Episode 22, while containing some hope, is one of the saddest endings to a TV show I've seen. 

Violet Evergarden, though, is different. Don't get me wrong - it is sad. One of its episodes is literally about a dying mother writing letters to her daughter, who she'll never see grow up. It is rough going at times. 

But I realized about halfway through the show that there was something more to this show, something that Sweet Home and Your Lie in April definitely included, but never explored to their fullest potential, I don't think. 

Violet Evergarden is a sad show. But more importantly - and more powerfully - it's a hopeful show. There's so much beauty woven into the sadness. Of course, the most obvious way it does this is through the soundtrack and the visuals, both of which are just stunning.

But hope permeates not just the visuals and music, but the entire plotline as well, and there's so much beauty in every episode - even in the episodes where it seems that all hope is lost. For instance, the episode I mentioned earlier about the dying mother is incredibly heartbreaking. BUT. The heartbreak isn't the end. With Violet's help and through letters, the mother is able to show her daughter love years after she's passed away. Despite the sadness of her death, there is still hope and happiness present at the end. 

The writers could have ended that episode with the pain of the mother's death, but instead they chose to show the daughter receiving a letter every year on her birthday, show the emotion and the love that came with it - show the hopeful ending that arose out of such a horrible scenario. 

And all this hope culminates in Violet's character arc to learn what love is and move past her violent childhood. Through seeing all the ways that her writing has impacted the people she's helped, she finds hope and beauty in her own life.

While writing this post, I was reminded of a song quote that goes, "What earthly sweetness remaineth unmixed with grief?" Violet Evergarden completely turns this on its head and asks, "What earthly sadness remaineth unmixed with hope?" And I think that's a beautiful perspective to have, one that I find lacking in many of today's stories. 

We want to focus on the darkness of the world, show that it's not all sunshines and rainbows. And that's okay - we need to show that the world has been stained by sin. If we fail to do so, we're not spreading truth in our writing, and spreading truth, to me, is one of the most important reasons to write. 

But at the same time, if we focus too much on the darkness, we can forget that there's something higher, something more powerful than despair and sin. 

Violet Evergarden is a secular show; no God is mentioned. But I believe that secular stories can point to God and to truth without perhaps intending to. And for us Christians, the beauty and hope of Violet Evergarden can point to the beauty and hope in our own world. Except our own is greater, because we have a God who died for us so that we can have hope and beauty. 

That hope is what made me cry. Not just the sadness, not just the heartbreak, but the stunning visual realization that there is more to life than just pain and grief.

There is beauty.

There is healing.

-Nicole <3