A Silent Voice

Anime Film Review

A Silent Voice 1

Whether you are a fan of only mainstream anime works or prefer something a little more niche, Australian anime fans have had many opportunities to head to the cinema and enjoy a film kudos of Madman Entertainment. While it isn’t the most prolific or even the best offering this year, A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi | 映画 聲の形) proved to be an endearing film which has remained in the back of my mind since first screening in April. Moving forward to December, we finally have the opportunity to enjoy this film on DVD and Blu-ray. Revisiting this film after more than six months, was A Silent Voice worth the re-watch and have the chance of becoming a future classic? Read on to find out…

I first watched this film without having read the original manga writter and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ooima, going into it only with initial perceptions formed via the promotional videos. I was left pleasantly surprised when my expectations were surpassed, being presented with a memorable and engaging narrative which offered a tale of forgiveness, redemption and togetherness.

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Storyline

A Silent Voice centers on the story of Shoya Ishida during two phases of his life. At the start of the film we see him as a rowdy and rather cruel elementary school student, who begins bullying fellow classmate Shoko Nishimiya, who suffers from severe deafness. Following a rather nasty spate of attacks by Shoya and fellow classmates, Shoko ends up transferring out of the school, while Shoya is branded as a target of harassment himself. Moving forward into the future and into the brunt of this tale, Shoya is a high school student with no friends, very low self-esteem and suffers suicidal thoughts. But things change on the eve of a suicide attempt, when he builds up to the courage to meet with Shoko one last time. Unable to kill himself, he instead takes a chance at righting his past wrongs…..

A Silent Voice is not a simple romantic film where everything takes a turn for the better once the pair meet up again. Rather, this is a tale where many of the characters are forced to battle their inter-conflicts. While there are some heartwarming moments throughout the film, there is a much greater focus on the struggles faced by the characters, spurred through their past experiences or being (re)acquainted with Shoya and Shoko. While a fairly emotional tale, it didn’t feel like the writers were attempting to simply evoke emotion in either the viewer or characters. Instead, the story was well constructed, and delivered a course of events which were mostly justified.

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With a large cast to work with, there is a continual stream of concurrent events either presented or implied to the viewer. However, due to the run-time and how many manga volume this film sought to adapt, there is much more to the characters than presented. I felt that the characters they opted to focus on received ample development; and the deliverance of themes, messages and the overall plot surrounding them worked well. Then there are other characters, who were introduced during the film and were evidently well developed in the manga, but had little purpose in this adaptation.

In terms of the characters themselves, there is a good mix of personalities. Another pivotal character to the film, whose development in my opinion is a great contrast to Shoko’s, is her protective younger sister Yuzuru. It was refreshing that attention was put onto her as a sibling who found herself needing to care for her sister, and it was in my opinion, more interesting to watch grow through her interactions with Shoya.

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Design | Music | Voice Acting

A Silent Voice features work from animation studio Kyoto Animation, who have a history of animating a number of well-regarded TV anime series. The studio did not disappoint in their work on this film, offering some nice environments, good character designs and solid animation. While some conversations with Shoko were done through a book or slower conversations, the film does make use of Japanese sign language (JSL) at parts, which was a personal highlight. 

The musical backing in this film was for the most part uninterruptive, and subtle enough to fit a scene without being a dominating component. That said, there were a few scenes near the end of the film where the music really kicked in, adding an extra element to some of the more intense moments. The English song My Generation by The Who features as the series’ opening theme, and was a surprising but well-incorporated way to kick-off the chronology of events.

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The DVD and Blu-ray release of A Silent Voice offers both the original Japanese voice-overs and a new English dub – featuring the likes of Robbie Daymond as Shoya, Lexi Cowden as Shoko and Kristen Sullivan as Yuzuru. This is yet another instance where I would recommend you stick with your personal audio language preference, as both are above-average dubs.

Extra Content

The English release of A Silent Voice comes with a small collection of on-disc content including interviews with the director and production staff, music videos and a few other trailers and goodies. Nothing I would watch more than once, but better than nothing. The collection also comes with a third subtitle option, offering more descriptive subtitles for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. I love this idea and would love to see more animated films offer this in the future.

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Final Words on A Silent Voice

A Silent Voice is an occasionally confronting yet refreshing and in many ways beautiful coming-of-age film which I found myself captivated with from start to finish. There are many school-life anime on the market, and this is one strong example which highlights how the medium is not only limited to entertainment, but can creatively present experiences that are touching, emotive and able to present complex issues which aren’t all that uncommon in reality.

While it lacks the detail we might have seen from a TV anime adaptation and I have my doubts whether this is a film that will be talked about for decades to come – it is a film I enthusiastically recommend those intrigued by the premise watch at least once.

Image Credit: Yoshitoki Oima, KODANSHA/A SILENT VOICE The Movie Production Committee.

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Final Score
There are many school-life anime on the market, and A Silent Voice is one strong example which highlights how the medium is not only limited to entertainment, but can creatively present experiences that are touching, emotive and able to present complex issues which aren't all that uncommon in reality.
9
out of 10
Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

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