After the Great War and her time in it came to an end, Violet Evergarden is adrift. Her purpose was once only battle, and now she must find a new one. After recovering from the loss of her arms, Violet takes up a job at the CH Postal Services. Here she transcribes people’s thoughts into what should be emotional letters. However, the “emotional” part seems to greatly escape her, but she aims to learn how to move people with words.
Since it is as visually stunning as it it emotionally painful, there is a good reason that Violet Evergarden has become a legendary anime series. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Violet Evergarden, head on down below.
Anime Like Violet Evergarden
For Fans of Understanding Emotions
Iroduku – The World in Colors
In this world, there is only a small amount of magic left. Hitomi is a descendant of an old witch family who lost her emotions and ability to see color at a young age. Feeling bad for her granddaughter, the great witch Kohaku sends her into the past where interactions with her young self and Kohaku’s friends will hopefully foster some growth in her granddaughter.
Both Violet Evergarden and Iroduku tell emotionally-charged tales surrounding emotionally-muted girls. They are put in a situation where they grow emotionally as they often take part in the experiences of others. While Violet Evergarden is a frequent tearjerker in its various arcs, Iroduku is a more focused plot, leaving the emotional impact to build up for the ending.
Vivy – Fluorite Eye’s Song
In a theme park ran by AI, there is a lonely stage where the first-ever autonomous humanoid sings in order to fulfill her mission of making everyone happy with her songs. This AI, Diva but given the nickname of Vivy by a young fan, has an encounter with an AI named Matsumoto who explains he traveled from 100 years in the future where AI have advanced so far that they rebelled and started exterminating humanity. Together, he guides her to singularity points on a hundred-year journey in order to change the course of history.
Both Violet and Vivy act like machines, though Vivy is actually a machine. However, what these series have most in common is their passion for raw emotion. You watch both emotionally-muted main characters develop real emotions over the course of the many short and emotionally-charged story arcs they take part in.
Death Parade
After death, there is no heaven or hell, but there is a bar where some souls go that decides whether you reincarnate or disappear into oblivion. Pairs of the recently deceased must play a random game which decides their fate while an arbiter looks on in silent judgement.
Unlike Violet Evergarden, a series that looks very much like the art that it is even at a glance, Death Parade hides its depths beneath the surface. It is just a series about people playing games to decide their fate after they die, but the series is all about evoking emotions. Furthermore, as things go on, it is about examining those emotions as well as the system of judgement in place. Like Violet Evergarden, Death Parade is quite thought-provoking even if it isn’t quite as good at bringing forth your tears.
Your Lie in April
Although once a child prodigy in the music world, pianist Kousei Arima is left in a downward spiral after his mother’s death, unable to even hear the sound of his own piano. Even after two years, Arima has all but left the music world behind, disappointing fans and rivals alike, and living in a colorless world. Then one day that that all changes when he is introduced to the beautiful violinist Kaori Miyazono who brings color into his world once more.
In Violet Evergarden, Violet is trying to understand the emotions of others, and in doing so, forms emotions about her own past. However, while she is stunted and needs to learn, for the rest of us, our adolescent years are about sorting out our own emotions. That is the tale that Your Lie in April tells – a story about being honest with your emotions. What both series do really well is make you cry.
Ancient Magus’ Bride
After being abandoned by her family, Chise Hatori is a 16-year-old teenager without hope. In order to not have to worry about herself, she sells herself to slavers, only to be purchased by Magus Elias Ainsworth. There she is told she will become his apprentice and, in the future, his bride. Together they work together to build a relationship and work to control her own magus powers that will eventually result in her early death.
The obvious similarity here is that they both feature female leads that are emotionally stunted in various ways. Throughout each story, they find things that make them understand what it is like to feel. However, what is most interesting about both these series are the unique worlds that they craft. They aren’t generic anime fantasy worlds, and they are occasionally more interesting than the characters.
Anohana
After the death of childhood friend Meiko “Menma” Honma, Jinta Yadomi and his group of friends grew apart, each trying to deal with grief and guilt in their own way. However, when Jinta starts seeing what he believes to be Menma’s ghost, the group of friends are drawn together to help grant her long-desired wish.
There is nothing like a trauma to stop you from emotionally maturing. While that is the case in Anohana and not quite in Violet Evergarden, if you enjoyed watching Violet discover her own emotions, then this is a follow up for you. Both series are all about people confronting a more emotional side for the plot.
Casshern Sins
With the world over and humanity gone, all that is left is sentient robots. They were supposed to live forever, but as they begin to rust and die, a rumor goes around that eating one called Casshern will stop their passing. Casshern, the target of their intentions, knows nothing of his past, but leaves death everywhere he goes as he is constantly hunted.
A post-war world and a world filled with only rapidly decaying robots are vastly different things. However, while Casshern Sins is often just about Casshern traveling and someone picking a fight with him, often there are ponderous themes being explored while they throw hands. Violet Evergarden is often thought-provoking on a number of topics, and Casshern Sins can be the same about the topic of life and particularly about death.
Carole & Tuesday
This is the story about two very different girls with the same goal. Tuesday, a girl raised in wealth, and Carole, a girl just scraping by, both want to make music. A chance meeting brings them together, and together they may just make their dream come true.
Both shows are innately different in plot, but they have a similar overall theme. Violet Evergarden highlights the beauty of being able to send raw emotions through a well-crafted letter, but Carole & Tuesday is often about how music can be a powerful tool for communication rather than just entertainment. Carole & Tuesday is filled with struggle and can be emotional, but it is often a lighter in tone.
For Fans of Human Tools
86
For years, the Republic of San Magnolia has been at war with the Giadian Empire. They were constantly plagued by their hordes of unmanned drones until the government created an unmanned solution of their own, finally able to wage their war without casualties. However, that is not quite the truth. The “unmanned” combat weapons are actually used by those of the 86th sector of the Republic, but they are not considered even human. This is the tale of both Shin, an 86er and battle commander, and Lena, their sympathetic handler who remotely commands the detachment from inside the city.
You see moments of war in Violet Evergarden, and when you do, it often highlights the misery of it. 86 is very much the same. The war is miserable for those fighting. Furthermore, like Violet is used as a tool, so too are the 86. They are a group of people discriminated against so much that they are no longer even considered humans. Alongside stunning animation, these series both also share deeply emotional stories that will have you reaching for the tissues. However, 86 does have a singular plot line that is is following compared to Violet Evergarden that augments its overall plot through short story arcs.
Plastic Memories
Tsukasa Mizugaki has failed his college entrance exams, but he manages to land a job at the Sion Artificial Intelligence Corporation. This corporation is responsible for the creation of Giftias, or highly advanced androids which are almost indiscernible from normal humans. However, unlike humans, Giftias have a maximum lifespan of around nine years and four months. Terminal Service One, the station Tsukasa was assigned to, is responsible for collecting Giftias that have met their expiration date, before they lose their memories and become hostile.
Violet, with her replacement arms and lack of emotion, seems pretty much like some sort of robot, but she was just raised to be a tool. As with any story about human tools, both of these shows are about the growing emotions of these women and all the feelings that come with that. Plastic Memories is for those that like to hurt.
Gunslinger Girl
In Italy, the Social Welfare Agency rescues girls dying in hospitals and gives them a second shot at life using cybernetics. However, these girls are then brainwashed and turned into assassins that carry out missions for the government. Despite this, they are still children and crave recognition for those they love, even if that love is manufactured.
If you like emotionless little girls, then man, is Gunslinger Girl right for you. Furthermore, in Gunslinger Girl, you get some decent action, though not as beautiful as anything in Violet Evergarden. Both series are really about weapons of war that are, or at least were, used as disposable tools.
Prima Doll
After the end of the war, advanced mechanical dolls known as Automata we left to ruin. A select few of the Automata were restored and brought to work at the Black Cat Cafe. However, while they are slowly adjusting to a peaceful world, they are having trouble letting do of their past responsibilities.
Both series feature tools of war finding a purpose for themselves after that war. However, while Violet is a human used as a tool, Prima Doll focuses on actual mechanical tools of war shaped like girls and near enough to human. While Violet Evergarden leans very hard into impactful, emotional stories, Prima Doll is a less emotional affair, but deals with some similar issues.
For Fans of Emotional Short Story Arcs
To Your Eternity
One day, an entity, for reasons unknown, threw an orb to Earth. With no emotion or identity, the orb is meant to gather sensations and is able to take the shape of things it encounters as it learns. For many years, it was a rock, and then it became moss, and when a wolf took its last breath near it, it became the wolf. After wandering for some time, it met a boy. After a long struggle, the boy, too, took his last breath. With human form, now the orb sets off on his never-ending journey where he will meet many new people and have many new experiences.
Violet Evergarden is able to pack in a tight number of emotional stories believably due to Violet’s work. To Your Eternity takes the more unique approach of having the main character be an immortal. Both series are real tearjerkers as you watch rather emotionless main characters develop real human feelings as they experience the pains and joys of those around them. If you liked how hard Violet Evergarden could hit, To Your Eternity is a series that often hits just as hard and as frequently with its character stories.
Natsume’s Book of Friends
For as long as he can remember, Takashi Natsume has been chased by spirits, but recently he discovered that the reason was because his deceased grandmother had passed on to him her “Book of Friends,” a book containing all the spirits she had brought under her control. Now Natsume realizes that these spirits haunt him in hopes of gaining freedom. With few friends, no loving home, and constantly hunted by malicious spirits, Natsume looks for a place where he belongs.
While Natsume’s Book of Friends has a more supernatural twist, it has a similar type of storytelling to Violet Evergarden. You follow the main character as they get into a number of short stories via different individuals. Much of the time, those individuals are spirits in Natsume’s Book of Friends, and they can have surprisingly emotional stories. However, while Natsume’s Book of Friends dips its toes into a number of genres with its stories, it is a generally more light-hearted slice of life series.
Wandering Witch – The Journey of Elaina
Ever since she was a child, Elaina has been enamored by the stories in her favorite book. It tells the tale of Nike, a famous witch who enjoyed many great adventures around the world. After becoming a fully-fledged witch herself, she departs, becoming entangled in a number of stories of those she meets around the world.
Like how Violet Evergarden finds herself entwined in a moment of someone’s life as she is writing for them, Elaina inserts herself into the stories of a number of people. If you enjoyed seeing various going-ons in the world through Violet’s work, Wandering Witch captures some of that magic as she travels and meets new people.
Mushishi
In this world, there exist Mushi, spirits that often exist with no purpose. However, these Mushi can affect the physical world in countless forms from diseases to more pleasant phenomenon. Why do these Mushi exist? That is the question that Ginko the Mushi-shi, a researcher on the phenomenon, asks himself as he travels the land investigating Mushi-related incidents.
Like Violet Evergarden, Mushishi paints a unique (and beautiful) world which is shown off through the tale of one person. Throughout their story, they interact with a number of people in order to learn things. However, Violet Evergarden is more emotional while Mushishi can be more ponderous.
Kino’s Journey
Accompanied by her talking motorcycle, Hermes, Kino travels through her mysterious world, spending only three days and two nights in each town. The idea is that three days is enough to learn almost everything about a place. This is the story of her journey.
Like Violet often travels for her work, so too is Kino’s Journey about traveling. This set up for the story allows you to experience a number of different situations as it explores the world. Both stories can be surprisingly emotional, but they both also tell stories that run the gamut of happy to sad.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Violet Evergarden? Let fans know in the comments section below.
