Spoilers Ahead
Just so we’re clear, you are about to read my thoughts that contains a great deal of spoilers concerning “A Silent Voice” which is a 2016 Japanese Animation (Anime) Movie, if this is correct, thanks for being here and read on!
This story is based around the following two main characters:
Main Girl- Shouko Nishimiya
Main Guy- Shouya Ishida
I loved this film, it has very strong emotional features such as Shouya’s PTSD where he has blocked out the world and when something reminded him of when he was bullied or feeling like he’s about to revert back to a life of being bullied he would shut down or start having panic attacks. It also deals with thoughts of suicide.
The plot, let’s start off here! So Shouko transfers to a new school, the teacher is straight up crap, he never attempted to assist Shouko, he’d turn to face the board so she couldn’t read his lips, and he saw them all bullying her but he pointed out ONE kid who I know he had to have seen become the target of bullies after calling him out, seriously, why is this man allowed to teach. I never saw an ounce of anything good about the guy, I would go as far as to say that him doing nothing about it even though he knew it was going on and could point out one of the main antagonists, he also bullied her. I didn’t realize I hated that teacher so much until I started typing this out, but wow, he was probably worse than the kids for standing by and not stopping it as an authoritative figure.
One of the girls, Naoka, seems to make an attempt at being Shouko’s friend, she tries writing down notes for her but the teacher speaks to quick for her to keep up. I think her child mind started viewing Shouko has someone using her to do her work keeping her from being able to do her own work. Shouya is the first to actually start picking on her, he mocks her for the way she reads and while everyone was really harsh to her, it was usually him who hurt her the most by breaking her hearing aids and accidentally physically hurting her, but like the sweet girl she was, she didn’t run away from him or try to make him feel bad for what he’s done to her, as a matter of fact, she told him something about the Moon ;) after they reunited and became very close friends. When we fast forward to them older, Shouya was planning his suicide, he was supposed to do it after seeing Shouko again but his mom and I believe seeing Shouko helped keep him alive long enough to finally have real friends and real meaningful relationships.
More on the plot, the two main characters are bullied as kids, it’s unclear if Shouko continues to be bullied after transferring from the school she attended with Shouya but it seems she feels like she’s a burden on others including her family though her mother, grandma, or sister (who is assumed to be a boy in the beginning, if you know anime, you can never be too sure so never make assumptions, just roll with it) always looked out for her, Yuzuru (Shouko’s litter sister) even hung pictures of dead creatures in hopes if Shouko saw death she wouldn’t keep wishing for it, sadly this may have lead her to believe she was a burden.
Shouya also has a sister but you NEVER see her face, we meet her daughter, Maria, and her husband, Pedro, but we only ever see the back of her head, her legs, or her face is blocked, I’m still trying to understand this choice. I don’t believe it has anything to do with Shouya’s insecurities as he used Xs to block faces. Not seeing her face has really kept this film in my mind but I have to admit, it was hilarious at first as I pointed it out to my husband every time she “appeared” on screen. He mocked me for nitpicking, but seriously, where is her face? On top of all this, his sister has no name!
Ok back on topic, the art style is bright with pale colors, almost like a dream state at times. I do wish Miki was taught a lesson a bit, the entire movie she always retorts that she never bullied Shouko, that she had no part in that, that she’s 100% innocent but she wasn’t and the movie never really shows her go through something for what she did. Yeah, I might have some weird revenge stick up my butt but Naoka didn’t have to go through anything either, she even became good buddies at the end. I guess that’s the moral of the story, people can change from when they were kids, you can forgive and move past a painful time in your life.
Those are my current thoughts, let me know what you thought about the film, I’ll try not to ramble on too much next time! Watch with ya later! A Silent Voice is available for viewing on multiple sites, I watched on Netflix.
I still want some type of revenge, freaking several years later still out here hating a girl for doing absolutely nothing to her.
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