Hideo Kojima is a big fan of Violet Evergarden.The famed game designer praised Kyoto Animation's emotional anime series on Twitter. "I'd never seen Violet Evergarden, either on TV or in theaters, and only knew the title from a commercial for the movie version," Kojima said, adding, "I'm glad I watched it. I cried a little at the end."  The series tells the story of Violet, a woman with mysterious origins who, after fighting in a brutal and violent war, works as a ghostwriter for people who need help conveying their true emotions in letters. "I used to be a letter writer," Kojima stated, "But I don't think I've written a letter in about 10 years."
Violet Evergarden began in 2015 with a light novel series written by Kana Akatsuki and illustrated by Akiko Takase. Kyoto Animation began its anime adaptation of the series in 2015 with a TV series directed by Taichi Ishidate, who previously directed Beyond the Boundary and Full Metal Panic, and Haruka Fujita, who worked on many of Kyoto Animation's earlier projects, including Sound! Euphonium and Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions. The series ran for 13 episodes in 2018 and was followed up with an OVA (original video animation) release and the series first' movie, Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll, in 2019.
The series' finale, Violet Evergarden: The Movie opened in Japan on Sept. 18, 2020. The movie was delayed several times, originally due to the tragic arson attack on Kyoto Animation's main studio that killed 36 people, including several artists who worked on the series. The movie was then delayed again due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The movie went on to earn the equivalent of $21 million USD in the domestic box office and was widely praised for its emotional storytelling and beautiful visuals and animation.
Hideo Kojima's latest game, the supernatural sci-fi delivery simulator Death Stranding, was released in 2019 to generally positive reviews. A Director's Cut of the game was released earlier this year. The game was the first title to come out of Kojima's new independent development studio, Kojima Productions. Prior to that, Kojima and his team were employed by Japanese video game publisher Konami, a company that was once known for publishing beloved video game franchises such as Castlevania, Contra, Silent Hill and Kojima's most famous creation, the Metal Gear series. Kojima Productions has been working on an unannounced new project since 2020.
Violet Evergarden is available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Twitter