The story behind: A Silent Voice

Assalamualakum and hi everyone! This will be my first ever review on anime and instead of reviewing I would like to discuss the message of the story. So, my first "the story behind" will be about A Silent Voice (Koe no katachi). I've made a podcast on this topic but it is super awkward! My blog will discuss in detail. But if you prefer in the audio form you can check out on a few platforms such as Anchor, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, and PocketCasts (click on the platforms name to be directed or you can type in "AwTalk" on those platforms). It's a trial episode so forgive me for the bad quality!

cr. https://pin.it/5rCJ6G6

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Bully, depression, and suicide trigger!

Title: A silent voice / Koe no katachi

Genre: Drama, school, shounen, romance

Production studio: Kyoto Animation

My rate: 9.5/10

I have watched this anime for almost 4 times and every time I watched, I start to understand this story more and it gets depressing and sad!  This story starts off with the guy name Ishida Shouya, a highschool student who tries to take off his own life by jumping off the bridge. He quit his part-time job, sell off his belongings, and emptied his bank account. He proceeds to give all the money to her mother. At this point, he really determined to take his own life. Somehow, his attempt was failed as he was reminded to Nishimiya Shouko. 

Long story short, during elementary school, Nishimiya Shouko was transferred to Shouya's class and she has a hearing disability.  Shouya and his classmates bully Shouko out of the fun. When the mother notifies the school, Shouya has been blamed alone. Shouko has transferred to another school and later, Shouya has been bullied by his classmates. He has been ignored throughout his entire year in middle school and later in high school. He has no friends and he was kind of canceled everyone else in his life. He grows up with all the guilt towards his mother and also Shouko. He reunited with Shouko to amend his wrongdoings and he wants to reset his own life. 

Characters

I personally think each of the characters in this story is another reason for this anime being so amazing! The characters are so relatable in the real world and yes, these types of people exist. Let's get into sides character apart from Nishimiya Shouko and Ishida Shouya.

Nishimiya Yuzuru- Is Shouko's little sister. I believe she is the bridge between Shouko and Shouya. Despite her young age, she feels like she holds a lot of responsibilities in her family. She acts like a guardian for Shouko. She is very mature for her age. 

Ueno Naoka- Is one of Shouko's bully. She is very active in bullying Shouko but she put the blame on Shouya and then she had the audacity to call out Shouko for ruining Shouya's life. 

Nagatsuka Tomohiro- He was the first person Shouya open up to, in high school. I honestly, love Tomohiro's character and I believe everyone needs this type of friend. He is very supportive and he just doesn't judge a person based on their past.

Kawai Miki- I just can't put it in words how much I dislike this character. She was also part of Shouko's bullied. But she will always act like she is the victim and everyone should like her. But, it is not fair, she has a good looking and kind boyfriend. NOT FAIRRR! *internally screaming* 

Mashiba Satoshi- He is Kawai's boyfriend. At first, I thought his character has nothing much to do with this story but I changed my mind. He can be a really good friend and a good boyfriend that can help others to improve themselves. 

Sahara Miyoko- She is the only one who is willing to befriend with Shouko and learn sign language to communicate.

Lastly, Shimada Kazuki and Hirose Keisure. These 2 boys are Shouya's best friend during elementary school. But they are the ones who put the blame on Shouya and later bully him. 

A Silent Voice

A silent voice or should I said silent voices? Physically, Shouko is deaf and she has difficulties to convey her message to other people. Mentally, Shouya was not able to open up to people and tell them how he was feeling. Shouko was not able to listen and Shouya did not want to listen. Shouya admits that if he tries to listen, all his and Shouko's suffers will not happen. He was young, probably around 12 years old and he regretted that moment a lot. Throughout the movie, we can see Shouya was suffering from anxiety.

"Back then, if we could have heard each other's voices, everything would have been so much better" - Ishida Shouya

Shouko fell in love with Shouya. But in her point of view, it was all her mistakes. She thought she has ruined Shouya's life and she feels he cannot be happy with her. Although Shouya tries to seek redemption for his past wrongdoing, both of them are living on their own lines and they didn't really understand each other yet.

I also believe silent voice implies to their elementary school classmates too. They silent their voice for their own benefits, like putting all the blames on Shouya. They also refuse to listen to both Shouya and Shouko.

If you open the eyes and look around us, this movie somehow relatable to reality. You know how anime tend to over exaggerate things. But Koe no katachi, is written beautifully. My opinion can be a little different from yours but I can see a lot of people loving this story.

This anime is suitable for the non-anime watcher too. What do you guys think? Have you watched this anime? Share with me on comment section below! See you guys in the next entry!