Anime 28851 Koe No Katachi Reviews Filter Check 3

Koe no Katachi is dangerous because it is exploitative. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about deaf people. I don't. This movie certainly does not allow any greater understanding into the mind of deaf people is the point I want to iterate. It uses a serious problem as a plot device constantly and reduces Nishimiya to one-dimension. She is the textbook definition of a mary-sue as well as a damsel in distress. This is clearly troublesome when trying to explain deafness to an able-bodied audience.

Nishimiya's entire character is her illness. She is paper thin with her sole character trait being she likes ... to feed fish. She is so inhuman it is gross. Moe being used in this way is offensive. Including deafness or any other handicap into anime is an exciting idea, and I laud the attempt. Sadly, the execution is simply sickening. A personality-less self-insert male character who wants to repent for mistakes he made when he was a child falls in love with the object of his errs. It's inherently questionable to approach this topic from a romantic perspective because it's hard to sympathize with an object. And that is what Nishimiya is, an object. To be affected on, for us to pity, for us to see illness in a "new light," to justify against bullying, to see the indomitable human spirit. A show like Monster works this concept excellently because it uses the object of interest (Johan) as more of a symbol. This work tries to make Nishimiya a character as deeply developed as Shouya but they foist too many roles on an underdeveloped symbol, not even mentioning her role as a character.

Shouya, Ueno, and Ishida are all flat. Their motives are drawn to plot points not to logic. Ueno shows up when things finally start moving in a direction the audience would be satisfied with in tacky KyoAni fashion. Drama in this work is so over-the-top and predictable it's borderline cringe-worthy. Even if you could swallow the unbelievable developments that lead to the saccharine mid-section of the film the way it dissolves is so inauthentic. Shouya shows no signs of development and no effort to change throughout the work and then magically obtains a group of friends.

As for the abstract? The art? If you polish it up enough and use a voice technique the audience is unfamiliar with you have the safest ticket to visual and audio praise you can muster. Are there creative shots in this work? Impressive blocking of characters? Fresh setting or new takes on animation/style? No. This is a typical KyoAni work. They stuck with what sells.

What the point is thematically I can't tell you. I can tell you that this film is successfully doing what it wanted to do. Capitalize on disease using moe with the highest budget in the industry. This work is not even average, it is bad. Please stop and think about why you feel the way you do when you watch this work. If you're crying is it because Nishimiya is a person you have become endeared by or are you crying because she's like an injured puppy? Affection for things like this a wonderful human trait, but this work is dubious.

I don't like this movie. If you do, that's great! I'm only writing this to warn people who, like me, might find this movie to be a waste of their time, and not to say anything negative about the fans of this movie.

Story - 1
I think the story, premise wise, is alright. A boy who used to be a bully tries to become friends with his old victim. However, in execution, I think this anime fails spectacularly.
The pacing, for one thing, is extremely weird. I'm fairly sure this movie was supposed to cover several months, but I never really got a clear sense of what ... happened when. All the scenes seemed to kind of blend together, with no sense of how much time had passed in between scenes.
I didn't feel like the characters really got anywhere, or even did much of anything. And yeah, it's a drama, but that's not really an excuse. It feels like they almost went through a checklist to make this whole thing.
-Establish cute heroine
-Gather childhood friends
-Have the characters forgive themselves/others.
-Have main characters fall in love.
This last point was the one that really stood out to me. Why does Nishimiya suddenly fall in love with Ishida? Because he's nice to her? If I fell in love with everyone who was nice to me, I would be in a lot of trouble.
No, it's not because there's any logical reason. It's because this movie needs to sell copies. I felt like that justification could fit a lot of the questions I had watching this movie. The whole experience just felt like it was engineered to be another Clannad/Anohana tearjerker, and not to stand on it's own merits. Maybe this would had worked, but I couldn't get absorbed into the experience at all. Mostly because of the awful characters.
The story is also fairly slow, with few scenes I really felt moved the plot forward or developed the characters. I don't mind slow pacing, but not when it serves nothing but to pad the movie out, and nothing else.

I'm going to get away from the actual story a bit, and talk about something that bothered me. The way mental health is portrayed in this anime is a little misleading, at best, and actively harmful at worst.
At the start of the show, the main character is planning his suicide. That itself, is fine. It felt fairly realistic to me, and I appreciate when anime explores dark themes. What DID bother me was when his mother found out. She makes it all about herself, saying "How could you do this to me?" and making him promise he won't kill himself. She NEVER listens to why he feels this way, or makes ANY attempt to try to help him or get him professional help. Honestly, this kind of reaction, while only making the situation worse by making the suicidal person feel shamed and pathetic, DOES happen in real life quite often. What I have a problem with is how the movie handles this. She apologizes later, and by the tone of the movie and her being so easily forgiven, it sends the message that this is an appropriate way to respond to learning someone is going to kill themself. The movie then pretends that just by saying he won't kill himself, he's magically fixed, and never again thinks about or attempts suicide. I wish I had known years ago that the only way to stop feeling suicidal is to just tell myself that I won't do it! /s

Seriously, IF YOU HAVE A FRIEND WHO YOU THINK IS SUICIDAL:
DO NOT MAKE IT ABOUT YOURSELF. The only appropriate thing to do is to listen to them, and let them feel heard. Don't threaten them, and do not blame them. They are already dealing with difficult feelings, by blaming them all you do is make them feel worse. Try to get them help. If they won't accept it, be there for them as best you can.

*SPOILERS*



This reappears later in the movie, when waifuchan- I mean Nishimiya- also tries to kill herself. She's told that, "Everyone has suffering, so you just need to accept the bad parts of yourself". What bad parts does she even have? Her deafness, I guess? That's more of a challenge than a character flaw. Anyways, this sentiment is equally as grating. Because, obviously, depressed people just need a lecture and they'll see everything as sunshine and rainbows.
Which is essentially how this movie ends. Ishida has a revelation, and his depression is cured! I don't think the writers of this anime have struggled with mental illness. Getting better is a long, sometimes torturous process, that sometimes feels pointless. It's slow, and takes a lot of work. Nobody just wakes up and suddenly their mental illness is gone.



*END SPOILERS*

Art - 5
It's KyoAni. Of course the art is going to be good looking. I wasn't really impressed, though. There wasn't anything creative about color use, or shot composition, or creative visual metaphors.
Well, there is one visual metaphor, but it's a long stretch from 'creative'. To show that Ishida doesn't want to hear certain people, an X is placed over their face. I only found this extremely distracting. I know it's a cliche at this point, but why not just black out their faces, or maybe have the camera angles shot in such a way to not show their faces?
Other than that, I didn't really feel like there was much detracting, in the way of artwork. This isn't exactly art related, but why did the anime hide the black guy for so long? It showed the rest of the family near the start of the movie, and Ishida's brother-in-law is only shown at the end, as if it's supposed to be some kind of funny revelation. What is funny about a character being black? I guess that's Japan for you, but it felt kind of scummy.

Sound - 4
I didn't really notice the music, for the most part, which is kind of the problem. The music never added anything for me. I noticed in particular during one emotional scene that there was no music. Was that deliberate? Who knows!
The voice acting was alright. Pretty standard anime fare. I was a little worried, going into this movie, that Nishimiya would go from not talking to having a perfect anime girl voice. I thought her voice was pretty convincing. I don't think I'm the greatest judge, because I've only heard deaf people talk via TV shows, but I was convinced. I looked up the voice actress to see if she was actually deaf, because I thought she might be. (She wasn't. I think it might have been better to have an actual deaf person, but I don't think it's too big of a deal)

Characters - 2
Oh boy, where do I start?
The biggest problem I have with the characters in this anime is that they lack any depth. It was obvious there was an attempt to give them depth, but this creates what irritated me perhaps the most about this movie: The characters are only portrayed as completely good or completely bad depending on what the movie wants you to feel at that specific time. When the characters are supposed to be seen as 'bad' they behave in completely disgusting ways. Then, later, the movie pretends they've gone through some kind of arch by having them apologize for it later, and never act that way again. I can excuse this in the case of Ishida- He's grown up significantly, and has gone through enough suffering to develop empathy. But the others- Nishimiya's mother and sister, and Kawai, for the most part- it just feels extremely fake.
Ishida was probably my favorite character out of all of them, but that only means that I found him slightly less obnoxious and unbelievable than the rest of the cast. I understand why he does most of what he does, and his character is bland, but in a way I could see a real kid turning out. I don't like that he never seems to take initiative and actually DO anything (Stand up to the one bully, tell his classmates who were bad-mouthing him to fuck off, go past the sister when she says he can't see Nishimiya) but again, that's the sort of issue I could understand a real teenager having.
Nishimiya is what I like to call 'waifu-bait'. She's so bland, so vanilla, so forgiving, that most weeb viewers will want her merchandise and dakimakura. What are her interests? What does she do in her free time? Is there anything unlikable about her whatsoever? Can you answer these questions? I don't think you really could. It feels like a deliberate choice on the part of the writers/ directors, in my opinion, to not give her any strong personality traits, so as to not alienate any viewers. It could be argued that they wanted to portray her sympathetically, to not make it seem like she's unlikable because she's deaf, I suppose. But as a pansexual man, the only gay characters who offend me are terribly written ones. I can't speak for the deaf audience, but if I were deaf, I would be angry to be portrayed in such a mindless, creatively-dead way.
Then there's Ueno. She's straight-up a bitch. I don't think they were even trying to show her as anything more than a mean, one-dimensional character. I know soooo many people in real life who are just mean for no reason, and never attempt to even think rationally. /s She only exists in this movie to be the villain, and nothing more.
I already kind of covered Nishimiya's family. They go from completely unlikable to saints in the span of about ten seconds. I don't really have anything more to say.
The only other character I think it worth mentioning is the best friend character, Nagatsuka. (Did you remember his name? I sure didn't!) He's fairly annoying, although in the way I could sort of relate to. I've had loud, kind of weird friends before, and they've been some of the best friends I've ever had. So his involvement in the movie was maybe the only time I could see myself in the character's shoes. I didn't like the way he seemed very... comic-relief, I suppose? He would be saying very serious stuff, but I felt as though the movie didn't want me to take him seriously. The way he was drawn was, I think, the biggest factor in this. He's a fairly serious character in a pretty serious movie, and yet, KyoAni drew him as a blob. Between him and Haru from Accel World, I'm beginning to wonder if any of these animators have ever actually seen a fat person. As someone who has, having such an unrealistic character took me out of the movie somewhat. I might be the only person bothered by this, but oh well.
Everyone else is forgettable, in my opinion. One-dimensional background characters.

Entertainment - 2
I really felt like this movie felt very 'anime'. It wasn't trying to tell a good story, or trying to show its audience any nuance or complexity. It is made to sell merchandise. I honestly wish it had entertained me. I don't go into shows thinking, "Oh boy, I can't wait to hate this show and drag down its MAL score!" I wanted to like this movie. But when the story is so bland and the characters so inhuman and obnoxious, I just can't.

Read All First! / SPOILERS*: (Im sorry if you don't agree, but this is my Review)

Koe no Katachi(Manga) had an amazing story line, filled with great character progression, and a lot of story and insight.

However I strongly believe that the movie did not do the Manga justice and left viewers with a lot of plot holes and questions (from the reaction after the movie). It should not have of been a movie, as there was too much story and character progression to be fit into a 2 hour movie (I really enjoyed understanding why Nishimiya Shoukos mother is why she acts the way she was ... from the manga)
The movie cut out a lot of scenes which made it hard to understand why people were doing things (making the film together (which was not in the film) was put to one text message and then forgotten - and a good plot line)
It should of been an 12-25 episode Anime.

Don't get me wrong I did enjoy some parts and the scene where Shouko at the festival, with the Fireworks and music I thought that was breathtaking.
however there was too much missing for my liking.

p.s this is my first review

A Silent Voice is a beautiful looking filmーlike most of Kyoto Animation’s productions. The artistic direction was on point, but that aspect of this creation doesn’t make up for the poorly constructed story. The story is about a bully making amends for beating and antagonizing a deaf girl as a child.

• That would be all fine and good, if the movie showed the recovery of the girl who got unjustly picked on and the bully helping her trust again, or something like that, but this film is all about THE BULLY making amends, so that he doesn’t feel like killing himself. The deaf girl’s ... personality is not explored whatsoeverーshe’s just the apologetic, cute, love interest.

• Yes, you heard me correctly. Love interest. The first time the characters meet after the time skip, the deaf girl (with good reason) runs away from him. But, once they meet again, she’s starts flirting with him? She forgives him? This guy ripped out her hearing aids, causing her ears to bleed, and threw away thousands of dollars worth of hearing equipment for this deaf girl and beat her for getting him in trouble.

• Saori Hayami does a good job at voicing a deaf girl, but the victim of the story, practically has no role other than to be a Mary Sue that apologizes constantly for being abused. It’s sickly reminiscent of the scene in Royal Space Forceーwhere the main heroine apologized for almost getting raped. I threw my hands up and almost quit midway through the movie because of that characterization of a sweet, deaf girl.

• To make things worse, the main character doesn’t just keep contacting her, but he brings the other bullies that used to hurt her along with him! Yeah, there’s a girl who used to be nice to her that comes along, too, and a fat guy that look’s like Deku if he gained two hundred pounds and serves absolutely no point in the story, except to make the protagonist look less creepy.

• The most well-written character was probably either Ueno or the deaf girl’s little sister. Ueno, while being a terrible person who had no right tagging along with the deaf girl after being awful to her, forcing her to apologize to her for “breaking up their friend group by snitching,” and beating her up, was one of the more fleshed out characters.

• Ueno’s character was refreshing, because she was a pretty girl that was ghetto trash and anime never does that! KyoAni did well at animating her mannerisms to look like she was a trashy, garbage can of a person and didn’t make her a moe copy/paste like most of their female characters. Sadly enough, Ueno (though unlikable) was far more realistic than the girl you’re supposed to be sympathizing with.

• The little sister wasn’t well-written eitherーseeing as she forgave the main character far too easily for all of the horrible shit he did to her sister and even seems to possibly like him? What is this, a fucking visual novel? And, she takes pictures of dead animals and posts them all over the house to... keep her sister from committing suicide? Why?

• I was seething throughout this whole movie though, if people thought Your Lie in April was melodramtic, this takes it to a new level. Seeing as the deaf Mary Sue hangs out with all of her bullies again, something bad is bound to happen. It was forced tension that didn’t need to be there. There were moments that were like, “Hey, let’s go to the amusement park with two of your bullies tagging along. Nothing can possibly go wrong!”

• As someone who was bullied pretty severely as a child and teenager, I would never EVER want to hand out with my bullies again, god forbid, have romantic feelings for one. It disgusted me that such a nice girl would be blaming herself for these awful people being unhappy, apologizing on her knees for something that was not her fault AT ALL, and even attempting suicide over it and then blaming herself when the protagonist falls while saving her.

• Overall, A Silent Voice is a movie that’s worth watching if you want to see pretty visuals, but other than that, no one should have to sit through this stupidity. It was hard watching a good person continually getting trauma heaped on her, for no good reason, while the asshole who hurt her gets to recover from the guilt of bullying her. It’s a bad movie and has bad messages in it. I give it a 3/10.

(Spoiler warning)

Deafness or Deaf-Mute is a serious disability. Another very important topics is Discrimination and bullying. These things definitely deserves more attention, even in education as well. The movie presents these topics and the major theme of the story builds up on these subjects.

However, this movie fails to present any pont or specified any statement whatsoever. I assemble a few crucial mistake to support my claims and to establish the fact that this movie is dangerous. I try to be short and straight as I going through them one by one.

Before we start, I would like to note things I don't like;

- Fake ... things
- Overdramatizing.
- Hoax-forced drama.

I.

- A deaf girl in a non-disability school. ( It may have been the closest school for her family ) Although, the teacher and the school principal should have cared her safety and take a speech for her class. ( How to behave ect. ) Whether you want or not, she is like a bunny inside the lions cave. It would have been priority to make these actions for her environment.

Well in my country Deaf people are going to different schools, not just for the sake they weren't be harrassed. It's for the reason they education system is different. It's humanly impossible to educate a deaf people next to hudreds of well-being. They indeed need to be separated, it would not be necessary tho. However the current education system requires this.

II.

The deaf girl, who indeed deaf, therefore she can not possible speak as a healthy human being. Called out by her own teacher to read up loud from the exercise book.

III.

Her classmates took her hearing aid countlessly times. And abuse her as they possibly can. At this rate , about 15 min in the movie. I felt pain in my stomach.

So, when they destroyed 10 hearind aid of hers. Her mom decided it cannot continue like this and enrolled her in a different school.

IV.

The boy, who abused her the most.
Went to apologize to her? At least that's what he should do. But nah.

The Boy despite of the fact that the Girl situation is made him impossible to approach her at any cost. He forced the Girl out of her safety zone. And he takes her to places against her will. I mean the Boy never actually asked the Girl , -Do you want to go out with me? Or spend time with me? The Girl despite all of that she like to hangout with the Boy. But here it comes again.. we need more drama!

V.

The Boy who turtured the Girl and forced out from her safety zone, throwed her to the lions ones again. The old classmates.. Thanks to the Boy, the depression was revived..

Therefore the Girl figured that The Boy is never gonna be happy if she is in his environment.. ( Wtf )
So she tried to end her life by jumping out from a balcony. The Boy saw her beforehand, and watched her like 20 min straight, then runed towards the Girl but the table was in the middle of the room and the Boy was like - I would not be an anime character without falling. So She I mean He felt on his nose destroyed half of the living room in silence. The girl didn't even noticeed him at all. ( Bc of the fireworks ) yeh all right. So anyway the Boy falled out instead of saving Her ,but unfortunately he didn't died.

Therefore... Again She is the one that everyone anger vent on.

The problem with this movie is that the characters behave the way to generate more drama. I cannot believe such a school and an environment, that sensless and function as inhumane as in this story. Not just all the classmates and their perents, the teacher the principal too.. This also true for the two main Boy and Girl. They are like an Evil Wolf and a Carless Butterlfy. A Boy as Evil as it can be, and a Girl whoes soul just like the wings of a butterly...

I know the world out there is dangerous, and yes it is real, this situations are present. But where is the pont in this? I mean if you present all these therrible situations, without showing how to treat them right, or how to behave correctly.. It just doesn't make sense.

They tried to put as many dramatic scenes it can fit in a 2 hour movie. From that you feel pain, and think this is so sad. I just can't see as a real event. Over...Over...Dramatized.

At the end, nothing really changed. It was depresed all the way, without any development in the story. There was no such a development on the characters side either.

..The message?.. ! The story basically left suicide as an option.. !

People will give this a 10. Even a madman who's higher score 5 will score this as masterpiece. Why? I don't know , I really dont.

And Kimi no Na wa which is now the second best movie. Clearly criticazed because it wasn't based on real story.. Well, that movie feels more real than this, believe me.

Anyway. Some people will agree with me, most will not. But for me, this move isn't just the most overrated thing. It was disgraceful for they audience and for the anime industry itself.

Koe no Katachi is a horror anime. At least that's what I say to justify its existence. It tackles three themes at once, ableism, bullying, and trauma. Because the writers behind this anime don't understand any of these themes, it kind of falls flat on its face. This is meant to be a redemptive story, but the redemption of the main character comes across as extremely insincere.

First let's talk about the lens and worldview. It's told from the perspective of an outgoing bully, turned withdrawn shy guy. This is the first pitfall of any failed redemption story, being radical and difficult to process changes ... in the character. It doesn't make any sense for the main character to be shy after living a childhood where he's extremely outgoing.

Normally I could overlook this if the change didn't happen off screen. Unfortunately, the writer didn't want to concern themselves with the more difficult process of working with an actual bully character. I think the term is having your cake and eating it? Idk, that saying never made any sense to me. It's like expecting to graduate from college without taking any classes, ignoring the most crucial process by which your accomplishments could make any sense.

So as a redemption story it fails, good to know.

Then there's the issue of Nishimiya, the female main character. In trauma language, she would be a fawner, someone who tries to please people as a coping mechanism for unresolved childhood trauma, apologizing often, and so on. You'll be happy to know that she never gets better. This is never properly addressed. It's just something I happened to notice. the other thing I noticed was the chance of complex PTSD manifesting in Nishimiya. C-PTSD in this case would be characterized by repeated instances of traumatic events.

Why would this be a potential condition? Well, not only were Nishimiya's alarming symptoms never addressed, but she remained in abusive, toxic environments throughout the resolution of the story.

So what if I told you that our main protagonist never actually redeemed himself, and his victim remained a victim? As it goes our MC continued to enable abuse against Nishimiya at the hands of his childhood bully friend. By the end, she is criticized for her fawning behavior, which I found mildly repulsive. No one really takes responsibility for anything; no redemption really occurred. The fact that the MC saved Nishimiya from a suicide attempt felt really forced, and hogtied.

I think after years of thinking about this movie, I've realized its fundamental issue. It's told from a lens of entitlement. The main character believes that he's changed, and expects his victim to just accept it. In this fantasy version, the victim not only accepts, but develops a crush on him, which is bizarre to say the least. Her feelings for him are not properly explained so again, it's very confusing and kind of messed up in a way. Perhaps what's going on then, Nishimiya is seeking out people from her past that abused her, subjecting herself to further maltreatment. This can actually happen, and I think the movie ultimately failed to really nail what could have been a very important point.

In this case the bizarre love interest honestly seems like it would fit into an entitled lens. Entitlement is also a very common trait among abusive individuals. If a person were to tell me that after going to therapy, their boyfriend came back more violent than ever, with the most outlandish expectations, I wouldn't be surprised. Often cognitive therapy teaches abusive men to think more highly of themselves, which doesn't really help if their issue is one of entitlement.

Simply put, this would have worked as a psychological horror. Nishimiya very much behaves like an abuse victim, and the fact that she has such a paper thin personality would suggest that this story is being told from the perspective of her abuser, who does not really consider or respect her as a person, which is another common issue among abusive people.

However, the producers and animators managed to fool themselves into sympathizing with this lens and believing it has merit, despite the plain as day fact that no part of Nishimiya's situation would have been considered tolerable in the real world. If I for instance, where to tell my therapist that I was hanging out with my old childhood bully, and that he was still hanging out with a friend, who had assaulted me twice within the past week, and that I had attempted suicide within that time frame, I get the feeling said therapist would be extremely alarmed.

You should be alarmed too.

Unfortunately while I do love good soundtracks, and good animation, I really don't think the approach for this movie was at all accurate. The plot is horrifying and senseless, the characters are fundamentally incoherent, and because of this the animation and overall aesthetics fail. Why does the animation fail? Because it's not cohesive, nor conducive to the characters. It fails to adequately capture what is actually going on. In fact it seems to work in the exact opposite fashion as the plot and character actions would suggest.

In any case, I've talked to others about this, including deaf people. I unfortunately cannot offer their lens on the matter. I just happen to be slightly more informed on trauma, and can offer this perspective.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS.
______________________________________________

A feels-good film for people who bullied others to watch meant to make them feel better for their terrible actions.

Literally no redeeming qualities about this movie if I'm being honest. As someone who was bullied into attempting suicide multiple times I find it terribly inaccurate and a poor portrayal of what it actually does to someone bullied for a disability.

Forgiveness isn't something that is earned or should be earned by bullies. Learning to live with the consequences of quite literally torturing someone mentally is what they should be doing, not pestering the person even more out of their ... sense of guilt.


[[[Spoilers start after this point]]]

MORALITY REVIEW:
___________________________

You don't deserve forgiveness after literally destroying someone elses' mental stability for the sake of your "jokes." Notice how he was only remorseful when the bullying started happening to him. Had the rest of his classmates never turned on him he never would've shown any remorse for his terrible actions.

Everything in this movie was about how HIM bullying someone else affected HIM. And how HE /WANTED/ to seek forgiveness to soothe /HIS/ guilt.

It's gross in every way, shape, and form. Literally just a movie to make bullies feel better about their terrible actions. This movie does absolutely nothing for the disabled community other than tossing representation in the form of a two-dimensional heroine that fits every stereotype I think they possibly could've fit into this movie.

CHARACTER PORTRAYAL REVIEW:
_____________________________

Portraying the main female character as a naive, one dimensional character was just a poor and inaccurate representation of people with disabilities. She quite literally is a punching bag the entire anime up until the very end. The final scene is still bullying and I don't understand how that was meant to provide closure for the audience; if anything it makes the movie more problematic.

The movie showed none of her struggle with mental illness as a result of the actions of the sh!thead male character who shall not be named, instead focusing on his struggle to deal with the guilt of his own actions. As he should.

The primary focus that would've made this movie better would've been if it showed in depth everything that happened to her mental stability as a result of the poor actions of her classmates, instead we're given a cheesy attempt at a suicide scene and some murky backstory about her wanting to die. They slapped a bandage over the mental trauma she had because "hE lIkEs hEr".

It's gross. The "Love fixes everything" card only works whenever it isn't your abuser trying to woo you. It's /INCREDIBLY/ inaccurate.

The whole entire film is gross. The artwork is decent and the sound, but unfortunately I can't say that the works of the brilliant artists will ever get a good notion in my book because it was absolutely destroyed by the horiffic writing and abysmal representation of the disabled community.

If I could give this a 0, I would.

It's relatively obvious that the people who genuinely thought this story was well-written weren't severely bullied growing up. I'm disappointed in the writers for this storyline, and will most likely be avoiding any future works from them on the basis of this terrible movie.

Koe no Katachi is quite shocking, but not in a good way. Perhaps many viewers have never met a deaf person in real life, or perhaps a deaf person may love this simply because it has a deaf person in it. However Koe no Katachi turns a deaf girl into a one dimensional character and dehumanizes her. It reduces her to just being deaf, and being depressed about being deaf. It's pretty shocking to see an offensive work like this be praised by the many and as I've known deaf people myself first hand, I found it pretty disturbing. Let's talk about things done right ... first. The art style if you like typical moe art is pretty decent quality though I've never personally been a fan of Kyoani's art style which tends to be the same style for many of their series. Sound was fine but unmemorable. The melodrama is apparently considered really good considering how many people had "feels" from this. Meanwhile I was just sitting there waiting for something interesting, emotional, or deep to happen. What we have here is more of a typical bully redemption story, it's just so poorly done overall. It felt like if the main character wasn't attracted to the deaf character that he wouldn't have tried to make up for what he did and that's a major problem... The main character regrets bullying her because he was treated badly for it afterward and he only tries to make up for it cause he thinks she's cute. If that doesn't sound just wrong and messed up to you then I don't even know what to say. I could not root for or like either of these characters because of how the movie portrayed them. Any other side characters were briefly touched on and didn't do anything to make the story any better. If there was some meaning derived from the film then maybe, just maybe it could've left off with some value despite being an offensive piece of work but no, it leaves you with nothing new to think about. So I have to say this work is irredeemable.

A powerfully executed story that sacrifices depth and realism for exploitative sympathy-bait. This is a film created with a single goal in mind: to make you cry.

Without spoiling any more than MAL's synopsis, the film's plot is as follows: A bunch of sadistic 11 year-olds bully a deaf girl until she transfers to another school. Ishida - one of the bullies - takes all of the blame which results in him being ostracized by his classmates and his realization of the weight of his actions. Five remorseful years later, a suicidal Ishida bumps into the deaf girl and decides to apologize. She immediately forgives him ... (or rather could never think badly of him to begin with) and they begin building a friendship.

That's the first 45 minutes of the movie; an emotional (albeit simplistic) story about a bully who learns remorse and reconciles with his victim. But wait, the film is over two hours long... what else is left to resolve? This is where the film decides to wring the audience for every molecule of sympathy they're capable of feeling. The latter 90 minutes are a combination of Ishida and the deaf girl rejecting each other's advances, because they're too oblivious and wallowing in misplaced guilt to recognize them, and one of the old bullies showing up and deciding to interfere for reasons unexplained. Finally, she too is miraculously cured of her sociopathy and the movie abruptly ends.

Notice how I keep referring to our heroine, Shouko, as 'the deaf girl'. This is intentional, since she's lacking any personality, interests, backstory, opinions, or defining traits aside from being deaf. Her Buddha-like passiveness and inability to experience contempt is all conveniently justified by her deafness. She is a narrative tool to make possible a plot in which bullies can dish out abuse without consequence for as long as it takes for them to start feeling remorse, and to give Ishida a prize for developing empathy and becoming a decent person.

The world of Koe No Katachi is one where every person is either a Good Person, perfectly moral and determined to bear the weight of all the world's pain, or a Bad Person, sociopathic and bent on torturing all that is pure and good - until somebody flips their empathy switch and they instantly convert to Good where all their sins are forgiven. If they feel guilty enough to attempt suicide, they'll get a girlfriend for compensation!

While these elements might be written off as idealistic or a bit shallow, the excessive exploitation of the characters' suffering is what makes the film seem self-indulgent and borderline offensive. The entire second half of the film serves no purpose other than to delay the resolution of Ishida's and Shouko's feelings, and to drag them through a gauntlet of abuse for the sake of fostering the audience's sympathy. Shouko's speech, which is impeded by her disability, is utilized exclusively for her humiliation. Ishida is routinely punished for the bullying he already spent 5 years and a suicide attempt getting over. Minor characters, whose roles in the story are just shallow mirrors of Ishida's, show up to harass the main cast for reasons left unexamined. The movie really, really, REALLY wants you to cry, and it's willing to kick as many puppies as is necessary to make you do it.

Somehow, the film does manage to strike a few powerful emotional chords and deliver some heartbreaking moments. It is visually gorgeous, with expressive and well-acted characters, and a score that's always subtly guiding you on how to feel. But what is it all in service of? What's the point of anything past the 45 minute mark, when Ishida has already repented and made amends? "Don't antagonize innocent disabled people?" "Don't hang out with psychopathic bullies?" or perhaps, "Don't kill yourself?". Nothing that wasn't said with a thousand times more subtlety and effect in the first 45 minutes is present in the remaining two thirds.

Koe No Katachi is a carefully constructed exploitation of pity, which beats you over the head with the pointless suffering of good people until you're so worn out you either cry or disengage entirely. The film can superbly execute emotional scenes, but fails to construct the context to justify them, yet it shamelessly stuffs them in anyway. There's a touching little short-film in there, but it drowned in a bloated, unrealistic, and exploitative plot.

Story [3]
Art [7]
Sound [5]
Character [2]
Enjoyment [3]
Overall [4]

STORY

The story of Silent Voice was pretty bland since the beginning. It wasn't very surprising as to how the plot progressed. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to movies, however, it's one of the many downfalls to A Silent Voice and why it can't be seen as such a 'powerful and tear-jerking' film.
...
A big issue with this movie's storyline is their lack of understanding of deaf people. Despite this being a film about a boy trying to come to terms with his past actions. We never see him explore learning more about Deaf people in general. All we get is a time skip and bam, he knows sign language I guess.

And the unnecessary scenes that the story include, does nothing for the story's plot. Instead of tying loose ends or exploring the characters' emotions, let's feed the fish! No, let's go to a cat cafe! Actually No! Do you want to yakisoba? There were so many different ways the film could have reintroduced old characters, but instead, they tried to use pointless nuanced scenes that honestly seem jarring when 3 minutes ago, we were in the middle of this sentimental moment

ART

Art? Honestly, it was great I guess. There wasn't anything special about it, except the fact that it was animated nicely. The background was amazing and the images were very clean, but what did this add to the story? Did the environment add any variating vibes? No, it rained meaning it was an emotional moment, the sun shined meaning it was either a happy moment or a dramatic moment. That's it.

SOUND

Sound....I- what sounds? I don't even remember if the rain made a pitter-patter on the hard concrete. I remember at a certain point there was a screeching sound, the one you'd hear after a loud explosion. I imagine that's the symbolize how Shouka heard things, but in the situation that it took place in, that meaning was lost.

The voice acting was honestly superb, all the voices seemed as though they were a perfect fit fo reach character, perfectly encapsulating their 'personalities'.

CHARACTER

All the characters are one dimensional, getting their 10-second character growth near the end of the film. We have the mean one, the self-centered, the middle schooler, the shy one, the boyfriend, and the best friend. The movie spends no time trying to build up characters or emotions for its side characters. And this is practically inexcusable when their Main characters are just as one dimensional.

Nishimiya is a horrible portrayal of a disabled character. Her entire character revolves around the fact that she is deaf. The movie almost treats her as an object, a tool to draw tears from the audience. Her actions are all emphasized by the fact that she can't hear, and it almost sickening how they try to use moe to cover their horrible representation. Nishimiya is only their for us to pity, to look at her, and think of other disabled people in a different light. And that's a terrible way to go about it, why should we pity Nishimiya? Because she's deaf? We don't know anything about Nishimiya, not her dreams, aspirations, what she likes to do. So how does being deaf affect all those things?

Shouya is another character that never shows any true development. A quote from Nishimiya's sister was " you’re only here to satisfy yourself..." and honestly that was exactly how I felt about Shouya. I didn't understand why he did anything! Yes, he got bullied in retribution to bullying a girl in his class. But is that it? That's enough to warrant a time skip, to high school where he's suddenly fluent in sign language and ready to return a book to Nishimiya? If you ask me, a scene like that has hardly any emotion tied to it, when you have no idea what happened in between his time in elementary school and high school.

I understand that Nishimiya lost his friends and now he struggles with social anxiety. However, the movie spent zero time properly exploring how people with social anxiety overcome this. One second Shouya had no friends, and in the next, he has his whole crew back. A development that most people with social anxiety could never accept so quickly. And the scene where Shouya, chases his friends away with a single line, isn't able to overthrow that.

ENJOYMENT

A Silent Voice is a cash grab. A fake sad anime movie cash grab. The movie was great in terms of achieving what it wanted to do, which was to capitalize on the sympathy of its viewers. The movie in its raw essence is bad. If you thought about it enough, why did you feel sad while watching this movie? Were you crying because Nishimiya was struggling in her life because of her liability and Shouya was an emotionally crippled teen trying to overcome his bad traits? Or was it because Nishimiya was deaf, and that's all it took, and oh what's this? Shouya wants to die? A tragedy. Were you really sad? or were you just empathizing?

My opinion about this movie is obviously a very unpopular one, and if you enjoyed this movie I'm glad you were able to enjoy something I wasn't. I went into this with high hopes obviously, and I had heard it was just as good if not better than Your Name. The beginning was really good. The music, the flashback, everything was great. I think where it started to go downhill from a solid 10 to an 8 was when Shoya and Shoko meet again for the first time after she had transferred. I expected this movie to be about Shoya's redemption, and how he became ... Shoko's friend but they became friends way too fast in my opinion, and it seemed to me like Shoko's 'personality' was feeding bread to fish, smiling, or being sad. Where I started to get a bit pissed off was when the black haired girl Ueno showed up. Obviously this borderline sociopath harbored some sort of love for Shoya and deep resentment for Shoko after all this time, and I was looking forward to when they would finally teach this girl a lesson. Boy was I wrong. I understand this is a story about very flawed characters, trying their best to redeem themselves, but where the story failed was actually redeeming them. Kawai blames 100% of the bullying on Shoya, despite 1. Supporting their treatment of her 2. Being a bystander 3. Laughing and engaging in the bullying herself. She does not redeem herself, even by the end of the movie she still claims to be completely innocent and nothing changes. Sahara was Shoko's only friend who was bullied along with her, until Sahara ran away to an all girls school or something. Nobody ever apologized to her, and she was just kind of there. The rest of the group who mysteriously became a part of this movie meant nothing to me, and only enabled the unforgivable behavior of Ueno. Speaking of Ueno, she is the reason this move is at a 4 for me. Ueno is one of the worst god damn characters I have ever seen in anime. It would be understandable if they treated her as a villian, or tried to even remotely redeem her, but she is not punished for a single fucking thing she does throughout the movie. She beats up Shoko, a disabled girl who tried to kill herself, and the punishment Ueno receives is a few slaps from Shoko's mom and nothing else. She is treated as some sort of tsundere who still hates Shoko by the end, but nobody seems to care. I have seen so many people claim that Ueno is 'a real one' or a cool character who is expressing her feelings but she only looked like a massive cunt who got off scott free to me. Overall, I went in expecting an amazing movie, and I came out pissed the fuck off. I understand what they were doing, and im sure if they had done it differently i might have enjoyed it but they created a whole bunch of shitty people, redeemed like one or two of them, and by the end of the movie they're all laughing it up at the festival. I also want to say that I hated how they treat Shoko like the bad guy in the second half, like she has something to apologize for. She was a girl who was bullied for being disabled, tried to kill herself, beat up by Ueno, and then she says sorry to Shoya for some god damn reason. Fuck these characters, and fuck Ueno. Seriously. This might not be the most professional review, but its how I feel and I stand by it. 4/10 cool music tho ^-^

"Koe no Katachi", or "A Silent Voice", promised to deliver a unique and heart-touching story, but instead, it left many viewers scratching their heads, questioning the decisions of the filmmakers. While the anime world is filled with its share of outlandish scenarios and exaggerated characters, this film takes "unrealistic" to a new level.

The film's central premise hinges on the character Shouko Nishimiya, a deaf girl, and her struggles to fit in and communicate with her peers. And herein lies one of the movie's major issues. It's hard to believe that in a world as advanced as ours, a character's deafness becomes the central plot device. ... Yes, the intent was probably to show the adversities faced by differently-abled individuals, but the film tends to overemphasize Shouko's condition to the point of absurdity. It's 21st-century Japan, and we're to believe that nobody has met or interacted with a deaf person before?

Moreover, the film would've been vastly more relatable and grounded had Shouko not been deaf. The story of a girl facing challenges in school, such as bullying and friendship issues, is universal. By introducing her deafness as the primary conflict, the movie unnecessarily alienates a majority of its audience. Rather than being an intimate portrayal of teen struggles, it turns into an overwrought melodrama.

The characters, too, leave much to be desired. Their motivations are often unclear, and their reactions to events border on the unbelievable. Instead of deeply exploring the psychological implications of bullying, guilt, and redemption, the film skims the surface, providing only a superficial glance at these complex issues. It's a disservice to viewers, who were expecting a thoughtful and nuanced exploration of human emotions.

Furthermore, the plot's progression feels forced and contrived. Relationships between characters change on a dime, without proper buildup or justification. Critical emotional moments that should've been the film's pinnacle come across as shallow and lacking genuine sentiment.

In conclusion, "Koe no Katachi" missed the mark in many ways. While it had the potential to be a profound exploration of human connections, it gets bogged down by its insistence on making Shouko's deafness the focal point. The filmmakers would've done well to focus on universal themes and relatable challenges, giving audiences a story that resonates deeply. Instead, we're left with a tale that sounds hollow.

Yamada has been with the studio Kyoto Animation for 13 years, but A Silent Voice is her first feature not to have been spun off from a cartoon series, and also her first to gain a British cinema release. Intricate, romantic and bright as a jewel, it’s a high-school melodrama which follows the changing relationship between Nishimiya (voiced by Saori Hayami), a deaf teenage girl who arrives at a new school, and Ishida (Miyu Irono), the class clown who picks on her then comes to regret it. The screenplay was adapted by Reiko Yoshida from a manga, or comic-book series, created by Yoshitoki Oima – ... and the fact its creation was steered by three women in an overwhelmingly male business makes it something of a rarity.

It begins with a punchy, quick-cut collage of the young Ishida messing around with his school friends, set to the sound of The Who’s My Generation. But the film’s pace is very slow and dull, as Yamada fleshes out the complex teenage politics which drive the film’s unexpectedly expansive plot. Nishimiya’s new classmates show varying degrees of insensitivity about her deafness – the fact she has to communicate with them via a notepad, for instance, is mostly seen as a novelty.

But Ishida takes things much too far, snatching her hearing aids and bellowing behind her head. His bullying is bad enough for Nishimiya’s parents to eventually move her to another school, a development that turns Ishida into an outcast, and spurs him into a funny, often circuitous quest for redemption.


Yamada and her artists work in a style that’s not as bewilderingly detail-rich as that of some of her contemporaries, but its vividness and clarity really pop, particularly in the cinema. Ishida’s pariah status extends to the way he’s drawn – all long and loose, with the sketchy outline of one of Hosoda’s gawky teens from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, or Summer Wars. In a low-key stylistic masterstroke, A Silent Voice’s own bashful gaze reflects its cast’s adolescent self-doubt. The film rarely seems able to look its characters directly in the eye, and its gaze often wanders to rest on telling incidental details, like anxiously clasped hands and nervously scuffing feet.


And in a flourish that’s probably only possible in anime, Ishida’s social standing is kept track of with symbolic blue crosses that cover the faces of his classmates, and which flap loose from anyone he feels able to talk to, then fall to the ground like a discarded crisp packet. As Ishida sets about turning over a new leaf, a mismatched friendship group keeps threatening to cohere around him, but it remains intriguingly in flux. Yamada makes a point of contrasting the agonising complexity of high-school life with the clean simplicity of the moments that really count: hushed conversations on a bridge in springtime, a shared roller-coaster ride under empty blue skies

However, that the bully, rather than his victim, remains the focus of the story throughout never really feels in the moment like the risky narrative strategy that you realise it must have been in retrospect. Compared to, say, the metaphysical leaps and bounds of Your Name, the premise of A Silent Voice may seem modest.

Overall, the enjoyment, story and character development was really dully and bad which could have been explained more in depth throughout some of the scenarios I've mentioned in my review.

It deserves a 1/10 overall as the only thing positive about this movie is the animation.
.

Confused waste of time
(NO SPOILERS)

It starts strong. The movie makes you feel pity, disgust, hopelessness right from the start. It shows you bunch of cruel people, a bullied girl and one idiot who rides along with the bullies. You feel for the victim but you also get to know the idiot and you feel for him too. How he was played, betrayed, you feel how he hates himself, blames himself for what he did, or how his mother loves him despite all this. Then as he tries to make amends, you witness the gradual growth, turning from darkness to light. Heartwarming sensation of healing. You ... don't pity only the girl he bullied but also him and you see how they might help each other through mutual understanding and caring. This hits right in your compassion centre. Beautifully human.

BUT... this film actually isn't about any of that. Somewhere in the second half it turns away from honesty, from healing, from the two protagonists. The development stops and the movie rather shows you how every one is misunderstood and should be loved. Even the people who you could not care less about, who continuously hate, destroy, bully and hurt the two protagonists to the point they wanna jump of the rooftop. Because they suffer too...

WE KNOW JAPAN! Everyone suffers! But that is not a reason to hurt others. So bloody decide what are you going to make a film about! Two hurt people trying to heal together? Or a film about heartless pretending to understand others and suffering quietly, so you won't have to tell people the truth they don't wanna hear, or you are too scared to tell! 'Cause this sht takes really drastic turn from the former to the letter. Nothing gets developed, everything stays on a superficial level and NONE OF IT GETS CLOSURE, most of the second half of the movie feels forced to the point it makes no sense (and makes me wanna puke) and the whole proces of healing of the protagonist, the gradual build up to the final idea suggested in the first half - " I learned to love myself through you" is lost in the white noise of japaneseness. EVERYONE SUFFERS SO JUST APPOLOGIZE AND KEEP SUFFERING YOURSELF, KEEP SMILING AT THOSE WHO HURT YOU, KICK YOU, INSULT YOU, MAKE YOU WANNA DIE.

That's not care! That's disgusting and cruel fakeness I wanted this film to show me how it can be overcome. The final scene ( still no spoilers) is so out of place and quite literately spits at the whole idea of healthy compassion and care. Nothing changed from the beginning to the end. Everyone just started pretending the world is fine and started smiling.

You had it all film! Amazing animation, amazing voice acting, strong premise, beautiful idea, actual bloody humanity and honesty and then you throw it all away in favour of the typical japanese self blaming? WHAT THE HELL? I am really pissed. The first part was brilliant, the second part... I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes.

This movie is about abuse, and this is my perspective about it, as a victim of abuse. This is my point of view about a movie that was supposed to talk to people like me.
If you love it and because of that you feel like you should send hate to anyone who has a different opinion, you may have missed the "message", as if this movie has any message.

A Silent Voice was shown as a movie that would talk about deafness, depression and bullying. We were introduced to Nishimiya Shouko, a girl who we see suffering non-stop for the first half hour of the movie, ... and then she disappears. Well, because, as I learned afterwards, the focus of the movie isn't her, but Ishida.

Ishida is her main bully and the main reason she suffered in school. Very hateful at first, after her departing he is betrayed by his fellow bullies and now he is the one who suffers the aggression. We see parallels between him and Shouko, but it's only fair after what he did, and we don't hate him anymore, but still don't like him. Yet, it cuts straight to his suicide attempt as if we're supposed to care about him.

...Also the dramatic moment of his mom threatening to burn the money ending in her actually burning it by accident took down the seriousness level of the movie to a Monty Python sketch.

Wanting to redeem himself, he finds Shouko again, asks for forgiveness and gives back her notebook. He also asks to be her friend and later considers the request a mistake for being too soon. That alone would be perfect. But yeah, the story will force them together somehow.

After the first 30 minutes it seems that the story is already closed, yet we get introduced to new characters and old characters who re-appear, each one of them with his very own sub-plot. And of course, none of them gets resolved by the end of this two-hour movie. I mean, if they wanted to extend the story that much, why stick to a movie instead of doing a 12-episode series?
Not like it's the movie's fault for this, as the manga barely answers these questions as well.

The worst subplot of all was the romance between Ishida and Shouko. Despite all the bullying and general suffering she got, she still had a crush on him? Well, weird but understandable, as she was just a middle-schooler. But now she is older, so she should have realised how messed up that was, yet she falls in love with a guy she knows nothing about but all the terrible things he did to her in the past.

They both have been through a lot of suffering and deserve to be happy, but being put together with little development gives the movie its very own Stockholm Syndrom couple. Yup, this movie romanticizes abuse. Thinking about it, if this move has any message to give, is that you can mistreat people however you want and they will do nothing about it, will continue to like you and even fall in love with you.

How Koe no Katachi wants to speak to bullying victims like this? I just couldn't watch it taking it seriously, being someone who spent a long time of my childhood suffering physical and psychological trauma. Can't imagine how it was for people with deafness who have been through some of the same things as Shouko, and how she was represented in this movie that was supposed to be about her.

Basically, the girl already suffers from deafness, then she is bullied for months, suffers physical and psychological agression and has to transfer to another school, dealing with god knows how many traumas. But let's not talk about her, and give her zero screentime. Let's focus on her agressor's suffering, as he is our poor male protagonist. And yeah, let's bring the girl back just so she falls in love with him and serve as an eye-candy, submissive love interest.

It has been a long time since I was so utterly disappointed in a hyped animated film. I was certain I’d like this one from what I’d read and all the great reviews, but this film is incredibly bland and fake deep. I can see how I would have enjoyed it when I was younger, maybe, and just experiencing and learning about these deep concepts for myself. That must be why so many people liked this... it has to be people with no true depth of character yet, nor any deeper/personal understanding of these concepts, of course this film wouldn’t seem so shallow then. ... It tried to deal with too many important concepts at once that it makes a mockery of them, and is quite honestly borderline offensive. I’m confident that anyone who has actual struggled with mental illness will understand what I mean, it’s pretty insulting in my opinion.

The story is entirely too simple, yet they manage to make a mess of it. The plot is too perfect the whole way through (not perfect in a good way, but as in predictable). I was constantly waiting for a twist to make the hype make sense, like someone being dead the whole time and it’s just wishful thinking. It’s just a joke... a joke to those like me who have struggled with mental illness since being a kid, and an even bigger slap in the face to those who have been bullied. The characters are atrocious and unrealistic, which is fine in fiction if the story you are telling isn’t meant to be calling attention to and based around important realistic concepts. I so want to appreciate the deaf/hard-of-hearing representation, but unfortunately they not only made her character a wimp (it was fitting and flourished her character at first), but they kept her that way. She had no growth, and actually, they decided to make it as if she somehow needed to take responsibility, as if it was her fault. That was her grand realization after everything happens....her line of thinking isn’t altered it just gets worse. I SO wish that was done on purpose, but judging by the rest of the film, I know it was simply just the terrible choice of creators and writers who thought they were going to be incredibly deep with this film. “The bully is kind of in the wrong too. Everyone may be struggling, so you should all just be friends. It is possible to be friends with people who don’t apologize and still want to you to off yourself for no goddamn reason” That is genuinely what this team had going through their heads. By the end, this film is full of dangerous messaging and ideas, and they were still executed so terribly at that.

The dialogue is even worse. Overdramatic and just constant whining and apologizing for two hours straight. Not to mention we were supposed to care about characters that got thrown around willy nilly. That red head kid was introduced with, “he wants to be your friend”, says two lines, and then is presented towards the end as if he is a major part of Ishida’s life. I’m so sad I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted, and even more sad to find that so many people thought this was a good film because that just shows how many people in the world do not truly understand mental illness, among other things. The movie starts off really well and develops nicely, but in the second half it just turns out more and more atrocious with each scene.

A Silent Voice is praised because... well, pretty colours, because there is nothing else that I can highlight other than the animation. Let's talk about what's wrong with this movie:

1. Good idea, awful execution: The anti-bullying premise and redemption sounds interesting on paper, but it fails in this movie because they are used as a means of victimization, edgelord shit and a drama joke.

2. Characters: The deaf girl is the typical altruistic because yes, she received bullying for a large part of her life and excuses her attackers as if nothing had happened. What bothers me the most about this character is that she does ... not make the slightest attempt to solve her problems. They introduced a lot of characters in a relatively short movie, for that reason they weren't adequately explored and we only learned about the issues they have. In addition, one of the bullies is rewritten to fall in love with the protagonist because the script demands it. There was not even an anticipation of what she could be falling in love with.

3. Victimization: Most of the film is about victimization, seeing characters crying for their own sake instead of presenting how they face the problems they currently have.

4. The Message: As I said in the first point, there were interesting ideas within this movie, however, thanks to the terrible characterization and the need to victimize the characters at all times, it leaves the film without a clear message.

In conclusion, it is another forced melodrama that is based on emotional manipulation to try to get the viewer's attention.

Movie was dogshit.
Trying to get us to sympathize for a bully who bullied a poor deaf girl for a crumb of attention. As someone who had a close friend commit suicide from school bullies; the bullying in this movie hits hard.

People can say that the character's development was great and what not. I myself dont feel bad for the main dude at all. Like...good, he SHOULD feel bad for what he's done in the past.
Literally all the problems that happen in this movie stems from Shouya being bitch to people.
Fuck this dude and fuck school bullies, even if it was just grade ... school, that shit stays with people for a long time and can ruin people's lives even to adulthood.


Animations and sounds in the movie was dope though :) +2 for arts and sounds.

2/10

Alright, to start off, I wanted to list off some positives. I was drawn in by this movie because of the beautiful animation, the movie truly looks really good. The score is also pretty decent, although I didn't pay attention to it very much. It leans more on the basic side of anime scores, but overall it had very pretty music as well. The music typically fit the scene of the movie pretty well.

That's the only positives I have for this movie. Everything else about it was absolutely revolting. This work is extremely dangerous when it comes to the perspective of disabled people. I am ... not deaf, I'm not going to pretend I know what it's like. But this movie is extremely exploitative with its disabled protagonist. She is a paper-thin, one dimensional character that is only characterized by her disability. She does not grow or develop past being a weak damsel in distress that is mistreated constantly for her disability. Nishimiya is depicted so badly, she doesn't even feel like a human being, just a plot device. The execution of revolving the plot around a disabled girl is sickening, the writing itself shows no empathy or compassion for her perspective, only for the perspective of Shouya, her former childhood bully.

The writing focuses more on the consequences of being ostracized for being a bully and how it effected Shouya when he's older. This concept, in itself, is not inherently problematic and I think it has potential to be executed well. But this was executed horribly, and all the empathy the narrative has is only reserved for Shouya and his depression. There is no compassion for Nishimiya or the abuse she faced, the abuse she CONTINUES to face after he forced himself back into her life just so he could be able to forgive HIMSELF. Which brings me to Ueno, who is such an abysmally developed character, it is so clear that she exists solely to be a narrative obstacle instead of her own person. Her very sudden possessiveness over Shouya and her aggression towards Nishimiya makes this crystal clear.

The other characters aside from Nishimiya and Shouya are also criminally underdeveloped, and not very interesting. All the characters in the main cast are incredibly flat where they can easily be boiled down to a single trait. The writing of the drama in this movie is so incredibly over-the-top and blood boiling, it almost feels ridiculous. It felt ridiculous while I was watching it. Shouya makes absolutely no effort to change himself or even prove that he actually cares about Nishimiya either, even after he finds out that Ueno cornered Nishimiya and verbally assaulted her, he does nothing. Shouya never actually does anything to help Nishimiya with the same abuse he put her through when they were children. Nishimiya's character is so papery and flowery, all she does is feel guilt and apologize for him getting ostracized as a child after she moved schools, all she does is take the blame and the burden for the abuse and drama other people force on her just because she's disabled.

The message and the point to this movie is all but nonexistent. This work is so painful to consume, I can't even call it painfully average. It's just outright bad, exploitative, and dangerous. It treats the disabled character in it's movie more like a pitiful, abused puppy than an actual human being with feelings and thoughts.

What makes a movie realistic? Is it found in the themes that it covers? Is it found in the way characters behave to these themes or the vernacular they use? Dramas try to answer these questions in their own way, usually through a serious and emotional look at a character’s recent misfortunes. However, it is often times a drama can bite off more than it can chew, resulting in a work that feels over the top (melodrama) or, at worst, unfaithful to the topics at hand. This is commonly seen in soap operas, where there’s always a problem to be had for the cast, but ... I feel that this is more prevalent in Japanese anime than I had expected. So when A Silent Voice, a movie that covers the serious and realistic topics of deafness and bullying, comes along, it’s hard to find fault alone based on what it aims to do. Unfortunately, this movie’s execution and use of its premise hinder the movie badly, almost feeling more exploitative than real.

A Silent Voice was released by Kyoto Animation Studios back in 2016. Based on the manga of the same name, it tells the tale of Shouya Ishida and his changing relationship with the deaf girl Shouko Nishimiya. The setting first takes place in an elementary school, where Shouya and his group of friends harass Shouko for her disability. Things take a turn when Shouko eventually transfers out of the school due to an increase in bullying, scaling to a more violent form. This sparks a chain reaction that causes the class to turn away from Shouya, casting him out and ostracizing him from his classmates. This attitude haunts him until high school, where he happens upon Shouko once again. To make things right, he tries to reconnect with her. This effort to reconnect soon spreads past Shouko to other students and Shouya’s efforts may be the key to breaking him free from the loner status he has attained.

Although this sounds like a fine premise for the movie, notice a key aspect of the synopsis: Shouya and his group of friends harass Shouko, yet Shouko is the only one ostracized. This is one of a few problems in the beginning of the movie that hurt the film from becoming something heartwarming. The first 20 or so minutes shows the daily life of Shouko, including the cruelty she endures. Yet most of these actions make very little makes sense. The homeroom teacher Takeuchi includes Shouko for chorale singing and vocal reading despite her lack of hearing. Not only does it not make sense for her to participate in these activities, if including her in these activities is a burden, why bother at all? Takeuchi also suddenly gets a change of heart when Shouko transfers out of the school, roaring at an explanation from him to the principal and class. Why does he suddenly care now when he witnessed all the actions up until this point with a blind eye? If it’s due to the principal’s presence, then it’s clear to him and the rest of the class that students such as Ueno and Shimada should also receive punishment. These unanswered questions (or, perhaps, improper actions taken in response to these questions) set the scene to make Shouya the sole “villain” of the movie, the only character needing of redemption from an ensemble of misfits.

A second major problem is not found from Shouya’s side but rather from Shouko’s side. Shouko is a nice girl to a rather unbelievable degree. Rarely throughout all her torment do we see any sign of her dislike towards main “villain” Shouya. It would be understandable early on if she suppressed this or ignored it due to her having an introverted nature. Perhaps this could have even been a roundabout effort to make friends. By the time she transfers out, and it is revealed that 8 of her hearing aids have been damaged in the last 5 months, it seems ludicrous as to why she would continue to allow herself to be in the presence of these students any longer (one of these instances involves Shouya ripping out her hearing aids, making her ears bleed!) We see how concerning Shouko’s family is for her in the film, so how come it took so long for anything to be done? Alternatively, did we need to see more instances of physical bullying towards Shouko instead of what was happening behind the scenes for answers as to Shouko’s attitude towards this and her family’s efforts in helping her with her schooling? These two major problems (alongside other minor questions/problems) beg the question as to what the movie is trying to say or where its focus is.

The greatest problem with the film happens shortly after this. A time skip occurs and Shouya, all grown up, has ostracized himself. At first, this was due to rejection from future classes he took (Shimada spreads this information to other students, despite him being one of Shouko’s bullies) but has recently become a form of “self-punishment” for his cruelty long ago. He encounters Shouko again and shockingly enough, despite all the torment this “sole villain” has caused, she has very little ill will towards him. He even begins to talk to her in sign language, a skill he’s learned during this time skip. At this point, the focus of the film becomes clear. This is not a movie in which we learn more about understanding those with disabilities nor is it a film dealing with finding strength towards bullies: this is a movie about self-pity. This movie is a focus on Shouya learning to love himself, a premise that doesn’t work because the main conflict is set up to be Shouko’s struggle with her hearing loss. Nobody in the school is scolding Ishida for his actions (it’d be ridiculous at this point if they did anyway) and his growing circle of friends even includes some of the former bullies. Yet as his circle continues to grow, he continuously holds a negative image of himself, asking himself if he’s “allowed to have fun”. Perhaps this rather childish remark would hold water had he not re-encountered Shouko. Since we’ve seen that Shouko has no problems towards him after all she’s been through, it’s a nonsensical question. Not only is this problematic, Ishida’s “woes” hinder the actual serious conflicts that happen later in the film. By the time they occur, I was so swamped with drama that it hardly made an impact. It’s a case where it’s often better to focus on one conflict (ESPECIALLY in the form of a movie) than it is to introduce several.

Adding to this is the lack of depth to some of the supporting cast. Ueno has strangely not changed since the time skip and acts in impudent and rash ways. Her first major appearance since the time skip could make a case for her character to be sociopathic. Characters like Sahara and Kawai offer little except more faces to the circle or more drama to a movie plot saturated with enough drama as is. A few exceptions to this are present: Nagatsuka and Shouko’s family. Nagatsuka's initial characterization is an upbeat, caring friend who goes out of his way to help Ishida, though he is prone to being seen as a comic relief character due to his mannerisms. Shouko’s family naturally holds a grudge against Ishida for what he’s done. I would’ve liked to have seen more action taken from Mrs. Nishimiya, but it’s understandable given the age of the characters and their growing independence. The characters in the family start, grow and end more naturally than others in the film (even more than Shouko herself). With such a large ensemble and amount of character-specific problems, they’re also lucky that their story gets concluded. The film spends too much time on trivialities and introducing new dilemmas that by the time film ends, there are still many more questions yet to be answered. This seems like a case where this should’ve been a TV series instead of a movie.

This film would have been better if they had made a few changes. The first change is to make Ishida the ONLY villain of the movie. Having more bullies in the class only takes away from the impact of Ishida’s story and adds confusion as to how the rest of the class perceives them when they aren’t punished. The second change would to NOT have a time skip, instead showing the results of his actions and change of attitudes more clearly. Seeing Ishida learn sign language (his struggles with a new language, understanding the disability, possibly making new friends in a sign language club) is much more fundamental to a character’s growth than glossing over it with a time skip. This would contribute to the third and most critical change – changing this movie from a romantic drama to a drama about understanding disabilities. With the way this movie portrays Shouko’s deafness and the big conflicts the movie tackles, it feels like the movie doesn’t even need Shouko to have hearing loss. Save for one or two small moments, you could rewrite this movie to have Shouko not be deaf (conflict would be primarily the bullying) and not much would change. It’s often better to write a simple story and do it well than to throw in serious topics for the sake of grabbing an audience’s attention and flub up the delivery.

What probably has most of the attention of the audience is the art for the movie. Kyoto Animation was the studio behind this movie and they did good work here. The characters are well drawn and fluid, though not more so than a usual KyoAni TV show. The highlights would be found in the backgrounds and scenery, with their vibrant color and lighting to make the world around the characters feel like places of pure beauty. One negative that I have with the art is the use of chromatic aberration. This is a flaw in traditional film as the lens dispersion makes the colors in a shot appear blurry or have colored edges. This was intentionally placed into A Silent Voice, as digital animation would not have this effect normally. Perhaps director Naoko Yamada felt it added a dreamy quality to the film or gave it a more realistic look, but I found it rather distracting. The sound of this film was par for the course. Considering how dramatic the film was, I would think there would be more compelling pieces but there was nothing that stuck with me after the movie was over. The sole exception would be the use of The Who’s “My Generation” at the beginning, which is a good rock song to enter the movie with and sets the scene for how wild of a character Shouya is (even if the lyrics aren't exactly characteristic of Shouya as a character). The voice actors did fairly good, with some points given to Saori Hayami’s awkward Japanese for when Shouko speaks. The voice actors fit their roles and did it well, though there were no moments that made me feel it was truly real or captivating.

Overall, I give A Silent Voice a 4 out of 10. My main problem with this film is that it sets itself up to be a realistic drama about the struggles of disabilities and dealing with bullying but comes off as a melodrama for the characters to wallow in. This could’ve been so much more – it could even have been a critique on Japan’s policies and treatment of those with special needs with how the film sets itself up in the beginning. Unfortunately, it feels to me this was a movie that cared more about its image than what it had to say. I do not recommend this film.

Do you like or dislike this anime? If you haven't watched it, are you encouraged to watch it or not? Leave a comment on my profile telling me what you think of the anime and/or my review.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!