Anime is a genre notorious for creating allegories for real-world struggles, often using children as their vehicle. One of the most common and most difficult to grapple with is that of grief. Recently both theViolet Evergardenseries and a Netflix movie calledChild of Kamiari Monthboth attempted to tackle this daunting task, and they both did so very differently.Violet Evergardenuses the titular character’s travels and interactions with others to unlock her buried grief and force her to face it.Child of KamiariMonth on the other hand focuses almost exclusively on the main character, Kanna, struggling with her grief. Neither of the young girls deal with their grief in the same way, and viewers can relate to the struggles of both despite their differences.
The main emotional push ofViolet Evergardenis her struggle to accept the fact that the man she loved, the Major, died in war. A lesser but no less profound grief is the guilt that she faces when dealing with the atrocities that she witnessed and committed in that same war.Child of Kamiari Monthdeals with the far more relatable, but no less tragic, grief of a child whohas lost her mother.Violet faces her grief when she is forced to deal with the grief and pain of others in her job as an Auto Memories Doll. Kanna deals with her grief by trying to see her mother one more time through spiritual means and also deciding if she truly wants to give up their shared activity of running.
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Similarities
Both Violet and Kanna are dealing with the loss of a loved one. Violet a potential lover, who was also something of a role model, and Kanna a beloved parent. In this way, both young girls suffered major blows totheir respective support networksthat left them feeling like they had no purpose in the world.
Both girls are also shown futilely doing their best in their lost one’s final moments to save them despite the impossibility of the task. Both show the main characters' journeys to acceptance of their situations and living life to its fullest once again.
Differences
There is where the similarities stop, however. Violet manages to learn more about herself and unlock her own bottled-up emotions by helping others. Kanna learns how to let go of the grief that she is expressing by accepting that loss is final and life goes on.Kanna shows some selflessness,and a lot of selfishness, throughout the movie, but Violet repeatedly sacrifices everything for others and is notorious for never thinking of herself.
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The primary argument against the strength of theViolet Evergardenfranchise comes from its ultimate conclusion. Where Kanna must accept the very real fact that her mother is gone and she must find a way to live with that, Violet does getreunited with the Major.This sets up some interesting emotional conflicts that are impactful to viewers, but ultimately reduces much of her previous lessons to nothing. She had just begun to truly live a life of her own, which she immediately throws away to once again live by the Major’s side.
Which Has a Greater Impact on the Audience?
While this is arguably a matter of opinion it is no less important to answer. Is the head-on approach of Kanna or the tangential approach of Violetmore impactful to the viewersof the anime? Despite being an opinion it is clear that Violet does a far better job of emotionally drawing the viewer in. With each episode being a dissection of another individual’s life, the creators are able to manipulate the viewers’ emotions uniquely each time. It even contains one episode with a similar trauma as Kanna’s as Violet writes letters for a young girl to receive after her mother passes away.
Kanna’s story on the other hand is less emotionally wringing for viewers. This may be in part due to the fact that it exists only as a movie and not as a show. However, the limited story of Kanna would not lend itself well to a series, though it could be possible. Her story, while objectively sad, is told with a lighthearted feel for the most partthat undercuts the emotional heaviness. Additionally, the main pull on viewers' feelings isn’t even revealed until later in the movie when she reveals that the reason she wants to see her mother is to tell her that she doesn’t want to run anymore. Had this been built up more throughout the show perhaps it would seem more poignant.
Both of these stories are extremely emotionally powerful, and depending upon the lesson that viewers are seeking to learn may have varying impacts on them. Ultimately Kanna is the only one forced to truly learn, whereas the viewer feels so muchmore about Violet’s journey. Ultimately the question of which approach is more impactful lies with the viewer themself, and both anime are wonderful depictions of grief, mourning, and the beauty of life.
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