A Silent Voice has been around since 2016, yet the first release of this film mostly went unnoticed as it was only screened in probably a few theaters in the US. Nevertheless, more than two years passed before the restoration was at long last confirmed, giving the western audience a chance to experience a video release for the second time in the cinema as it was meant to be.
Coming out of the cinema, when you hear the words second chance, A Silent Voice may come to your mind. This particular Japanese movie is based on an anime manga series of the same name by Yoshitoki Ōima. The film centers on Shōya Ishida, a boy who bullies Shōko Nishimiya, the deaf girl who enters into Ishida’s classroom graduates from elementary school as a school transferee. After putting up with too much bullying and pushing things too far, Shōyo is little by little becoming the outcast of his classmates and ends up feeling lonesome and depressed with no friends. Realizing that he cannot live with the shame of what he has done for the last five years, he fan out seeks to make amends to Shōko while making his first with her as her trepid best five years after all this transpires. What follows is a dramatic story full of forgiveness, love, and the desire to understand and love someone despite all their imperfections.
Bullying in any shape is a challenging topic for the media not just because of the prospect of the topic from the lay perspective but also because of the attempts to recreate this to an extent. A Silent Voice does so well in exploring both aspects of this aspect. The character Shōko carries the burden and the longing of wanting to belong and to be accepted as they are by people of their age, whilst Shōya’s character has the need to fulfill obligations, to make people happy and to have a certain status.
From the very beginning, Shōya displays the worst of human nature in his behavior, but as the movie progresses it is very possible at least to cheer for this character, which relates also to the idea of the film’s wonderful rhythm established by Naoko Yamada (K-ON!, Tamako Market) who manages to cramp seven volumes of Ōima’s manga in a two-hour runtime. Quite a number of scenes from its source material remain omitted from the film including its original ending – even so, there is no impression that any of the scenes was in a hurry or appeared to sail to nowhere. Each and every interaction, each and every dialogue, each and every jump in time is just perfect and feels right.
Though most people look down upon standing apart from the crowd, however, this is not the case with A Silent Voice, for the said film attempts to achieve the same sort of intonation and emotion as its original Japanese version. English speaking actress Lexi Cowden, who assists in voicing Shōko, has also participated in some attention-grabbing scenes that have a bit more drama to them since she too has a hearing disability. The same can be said about most of the other cast, both male and female, including their voice over actors and actresses. Each of them contributed enough characterization to the characters in order to avoid monotony and enhance the story’s line or the characters’ growth arcs of the two main characters in its center.
A Silent Voice is breathtaking. Its every scene, every background, every doll, every moment, everything. Kyoto Animation (Clannad, Nichijou, Sound! Euphonium) displayed its status as the best of the best in Japanese anisimation practice, and here it is no different. This film is quite complex, and yes the characters his like most animators would avoid, the use of bright colours and pounding music is evident. To add on to this feeling, there is hardly a single word even spoken and still the scenes are captivating enough to carry that feeling. Prepare for more than just pill squeaking action and cute artist when The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya comes out. For those who saw its trailer that has become somewhat of a ‘cult’ figure, but does rather different things compared with normal Hollywood romances especially the ending which will make most viewers cheer.
A Silent Voice is a brilliant animated movie that addresses some of the most avoided issues in many other societies including bullying, depression, anxiety and suicide. Having gone through any of these heading may make one feel this is for people who have gone through emotions more minimal and quite relatable. Comparatively as mentioned within the first option more assuring such that most if not all fans will not remain restless for quite long. Notable animated films like Spirited Away and The Wind Rises are almost 10 years apart between them. This however, is a fairly considerable lapse and so it I expected that somewhere in 2014 we will get a sequel to the Franco-South Korean animated adventure which will be equally spectacular.
Watch Silent Voice on Kimcartoon
