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Home Reviews Animated Movies

[REVIEW] ‘A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi)’

Rachel Wagner by Rachel Wagner
July 28, 2017
in Animated Movies, Indie-mation, Reviews
2 min read
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[REVIEW] ‘A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi)’
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It’s no secret that 2017 has not been the greatest year for animated films. Sure, some have been better than expected, but there has yet to be a real stunner released (unless you count Your Name as a 2017 release). The only upside to this trend is that it might force animation fans to dig a little deeper than the major studios, and look to anime and indie releases to find greatness. A new anime film called A Silent Voice is just the ticket.

Based on a popular manga, A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) tells the story of a boy named Shoya Ishida and a deaf girl named Shoko Nishimiya. Starting in elementary school, the film follows them into adulthood, and begins with Ishida bullying Nishimiya as a child. Ishida is a very unhappy child and he brings that out to persecute Nishimiya, which can be quite painful to watch. The film does not hold its punches, nor does it gloss over or glorify what Ishida does. He gets expelled from school and once he realizes what he has done becomes consumed with guilt and self-loathing.

It’s a very tough tightrope director Naoko Yamada walks with a protagonist bully but she manages to underscore the social anxiety and rejection of both characters with poignancy and power. Ishida reaches the point where he can’t look at anyone around him and this is illustrated by blue Xs over their faces. As he gets some confidence, an X will slowly be peeled off. Nishimiya is also a very complex character, who is not the paragon of virtue some might be tempted to portray with a disabled character. She has her own self-loathing and despair she deals with. Basically, the two characters are incredibly lonely.

I won’t tell you any more of the story but A Silent Voice is a powerful look at forgiveness, loneliness, mental illness, peer pressure, and more. It can be sad but it controls tone remarkably well. I never felt manipulated watching it because it had an emotional honesty I could relate to. A sad movie can be very inspiring if it comes from a true place.

As you can probably tell from these images, the animation is stunning. The character design is fairly generic anime but the backgrounds and production design are beautiful. I loved the way the film used light and nature, like flowers and rain, to portray different emotions.

A Silent Voice is probably not going to win over many non-anime fans to the medium. It’s a little too experimental for their taste, but as a fan I loved it. In a way, it is a nice counter-balance to Your Name‘s sci-fi spiritual elements. This is a simple story about a bully and a victim who conquer their loneliness. Thank goodness for anime in 2017!

★★★★

Edited by: Kajsa Rain Forden

Tags: A Silent VoiceanimeKoe no KatachiNaoko YamadaYour Name
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Rachel Wagner

Rachel Wagner

Rachel is a rottentomatoes approved film critic that has loved animation since she was a little girl belting out songs from 'The Little Mermaid'. She reviews as many films as she can each year and loves interviewing actors, directors, and anyone with an interesting story to tell. Rachel is the founder of the popular Hallmarkies Podcast, and the Rachel's Reviews podcast/youtube channel, which covers all things animated including a monthly Talking Disney and Obscure Animation show. Twitter @rachel_reviews

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