Oct. 15, 2021

Photo Credit: Funimation Films

SAN JOSE, CALIF.— Netflix has finally premiered the long-awaited, emotional roller coaster “Violet Evergarden: The Movie,” on Oct. 13, 2021.  After the success of the “Violet Evergarden” manga series, many animated series and specials were created by Kyoto Animation for its profit. The wonderful masterpiece, “Violet Evergarden: The Movie” was born. And since release, there has been much controversy for two particular characters, Violet Evergarden and Gilbert Bougainvillea among the fandom.

The franchise, “Violet Evergarden,” was written and illustrated by Kana Akatsuki. The audience is strung along her journey from being a detached soldier, to working at a postal office as a “doll” writing letters for others, in hopes of finding her purpose in life than to just follow the instructions of her former major to live. During her new life as a doll, she learns how to be sympathetic and to let out emotions that she thought were “unnecessary.” She greatly influences many individuals’ lives for the better, pushing her closer and closer to her answer towards her undying question: what is love?

Although, the characters Violet and Gilbert, have a rather interesting relationship that makes it hard to decipher whether Gilbert just treats her with care like how you would like a parent or perhaps something more. Considering in the beginning Gilbert took Violet in as a young orphan during the war, it is made visible that he wanted to take care of her as a parent-like figure. However, as time passes Gilbert expresses a deeper, innocent interest in Violet as pictured in later scenes.

In the series, Gilbert is displayed to have said the phrase, “aishiteru” to Violet in the heat of chaos and death. Which in English means, “I love you.” Although the translation doesn’t show the true meaning of this phrase; in Japanese it is rarely used as it is supposed to emphasize sincerity and deep love towards a person they’ve been in a long relationship with. This then makes fans wonder that maybe, Gilbert doesn’t see Violet as just a daughter. 

Silver Creek student, Joe Nguyen, supports this opinion. Nguyen believes that the two are clearly not a platonic relationship and thinks they’d be “cute” as a couple. However, another student, Francheska Bitao (@bunnykounna), seems to be on the opposite side. They have claimed that Violet and Gilbert are like father and daughter, and have expressed their feelings on how emotional the two made the movie. 

Personally, my take on this controversy is that Violet and Gilbert, no matter how much they seem to sugar coat or deny it. They both are in love with each other. And I think they deserve the comfort of one another, after all they’ve been through with the severe impact of the war. They both have been waiting, hoping, yearning to see each other; and I see no reason for them to be hated for just being happy in each other’s presence.