A Silent Voice (koe no katachi)

 

A Silent Voice (Japanese: 聲の形, Hepburn: Koe no Katachi, lit. 'The Shape of Voice') is a 2016 Japanese animated drama film[4] produced by Kyoto Animation, directed by Naoko Yamada and written by Reiko Yoshida. It is based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. Plans for an animated film adaptation were announced back in November 2014, Kyoto Animation was confirmed to produce the film in November 2016. The theatrical release poster and official trailer were released in July 2016.

A Silent Voice is an emotional and beautiful movie that almost anyone can relate to in some shape or form. The story is both heart wrenching and heartwarming, as it tackles many issues such as bullying, disability, forgiveness, mental health, platonic love , social anxiety, depression, and suicide. Many of the characters deal with some or all of these issues. It follows the story of a former bully turned social outcast, who decides to reconnect and befriend the deaf girl he had bullied years ago.

 Rating:

 IMDb - 8.1/10

 Rotten Tomatoes : 95%

 MyAnimeList : 9/10

Some of the main characters in the movie are :

Shōya Ishida (石田 将也, Ishida Shōya) is a male protagonist of Koe no Katachi.

During grade school, Ishida loved to go on self-imposed adventures and played a lot, in what he described as a battle against "boredom". He always used to play pranks with living things and other kids. After Nishimiya transferred to their class, Ishida became more devious as he used to always mock Nishimiya , which ended up in receiving scolding from his teacher .  

As a result of bullying Nishimiya, Ishida was isolated from everyone and became an introvert. He was deeply filled with regret for all things he did to Nishimiya. He also started to hate everyone and saw them as pretenders.

Then 6 years later after meeting Nishimiya again and befriending her, he starts to gather new friends together, along with old ones he had during elementary school.

2. Shōko Nishimiya (西宮 硝子, Nishimiya Shōko) is the female protagonist of the Koe no Katachi 

While Shōko may not be completely deaf (given the hearing aids she possesses in both ears), her hearing loss is drastic enough to the point that she can be considered clinically deaf. Despite this, it has been shown that though she cannot clearly understand individual words, she can hear various pitches of tones in the voices of other people.

Shōko is a very easy going person and is able to quickly forgive many, such as Shōya Ishida ; her childhood bully. She is somewhat clueless and doesn't see herself as a special individual that needs to be pitied. Shōko is also hard to anger and slow to cry, as she has endured a long, painful life; with her mother aside leaving her grandmother to take care of the Nishimiya sisters. 

3. Yuzuru Nishimiya (西宮 結弦, Nishimiya Yudzuru) 

She is the younger sister of Shoko Nishimiya and a third-year middle school student (9th grade), but rarely attends. Yuzuru became interested in photography at an early age. She was fascinated with a camera and how it worked. Yuzuru, for a time, dropped out of middle school for whatever reason. She became somewhat depressed, and only had interest in her photography endeavors.

4. Tomohiro Nagatsuka (永束 友宏, Nagatsuka Tomohiro)

 

Nagatsuka has a strange personality. He is very protective of Ishida. He is very jolly and always joking or smiling. Nagatsuka was the first person that Ishida befriended after six years of isolation and call him as a best friend. He was the first to have his 'X' on his face peel off, which showed that Ishida trusted him.

My Review :

A Silent Voice is one of my favorite anime movies ever created. It at first seems like a simple romance movie. And while it is romantic, its also much more than that. To put it simply its a psychological account of the effects of bullying on the bully and the bullied. But its not like one of those videos they force kids to watch about bullying. It’s a much more nuanced tale with beautiful writing and emotion behind it. It doesn’t just say: bullying is bad. It expresses its various forms and impacts on people as well as tackles reasons for bullying in an amazing way.

The Verdict :

This anime is about learning to overcome your own problem - that you have to reach out to others for help when maybe, others should be looking for people who are vulnerable and helping them out as well. Just give it a try I'm damn sure you will love it.