‘Violet Evergarden’: Netflix U.S. Release Date Confirms OVA Episode 14 For 2018 ‘Violet Evergarden’ Anime

When it comes to animes like Violet Evergarden, Netflix has been delaying the release of the episodes for audiences in the United States until the entire season is complete. Sometimes, like in the case of the Kakegurui anime, the Netflix premiere date will be months after the final episode aired in Japan. Thankfully, Netflix did not make Americans wait too long for the Violet Evergarden anime since the release date was officially confirmed for the spring of 2018.

The Netflix Violet Evergarden release date was scheduled for April 5, 2018. Since Violet Evergarden Episode 13 aired in Japan on that same day, that means Americans can catch up instantly. What is interesting about the timing is that Netflix indirectly confirmed a rumor that a Violet Evergarden OVA episode was planned.

Back in January, it was reported that the Violet Evergarden anime would end with Episode 14 since the Blu-Ray page on the official website listed four volumes containing a combined total of 14 episodes. Back then, it was believed that the first season’s ending would be Episode 13, which meant Episode 14 would be a Violet Evergarden OVA episode. Since Netflix usually only releases an anime season to U.S. audiences in its complete form, that meant the rumor might be true.

The Violet Evergarden OVA episode was eventually confirmed. It’s scheduled to come out on July 4, 2018.

The other interesting thing to note is that the official Netflix page for the Violet Evergarden anime says, “Season 1 Coming April 5.” That does not necessarily mean that Netflix is indirectly claiming that Violet Evergarden Season 2 will be released in the future, but it is a real possibility. Anime studio Kyoto Animation is well known for extending a story beyond its source material, which they have done successfully in the past with anime series like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, K-On!, and Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions. Now that the anime is fully released, they have directly stated a new anime project is greenlit and that it will be “completely new.”

Before the anime had released multiple episodes, many fans assumed that a second season was impossible since the Violet Evergarden light novel series is only two books. The first volume was only six chapters, while the second volume was seven chapters. The chapters are not in chronological order in the light novels, while the anime adapted the source matter into a chronological order.

“It would be troublesome to use the same presentation techniques in the animated adaptation that were used in its original written form,” explained Kyoto Animation director Taichi Ishidate. “And so we reconstructed the story into a TV series.”

To put the anime into perspective, the first half of Season 1 was mostly original content. Characters like Erica Brown and Iris Cannary are also original to the anime adaptation. Chapter 1 of the first book was the primary source material up until Episode 7, although Episode 6 used stories from the middle of the book. Episodes 8 and 9 skipped ahead to the last chapter of the light novel, while the events of Episode 10 were drawn from Chapter 2.

Thankfully, that means anime fans might be able to look forward to watching Violet Evergarden Season 2 on Netflix someday (or maybe a Violet Evergarden movie). Let’s just hope that OVA Episode 14 becomes available on streaming platforms in 2018.

[Update April 6, 2018] Added confirmation of Violet Evergarden OVA episode and changed the article to past tense.