Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)

As a wild youth, elementary school student Shouya Ishida sought to beat boredom in the cruelest ways. When the deaf Shouko Nishimiya transfers into his class, Shouya and the rest of his class thoughtlessly bully her for fun. However, when her mother notifies the school, he is singled out and blamed for everything done to her. With Shouko transferring out of the school, Shouya is left at the mercy of his classmates. He is heartlessly ostracized all throughout elementary and middle school, while teachers turn a blind eye.

Now in his third year of high school, Shouya is still plagued by his wrongdoings as a young boy. Sincerely regretting his past actions, he sets out on a journey of redemption: to meet Shouko once more and make amends.

Koe no Katachi tells the heartwarming tale of Shouya's reunion with Shouko and his honest attempts to redeem himself, all while being continually haunted by the shadows of his past.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Koe no Katachi won the following awards: Japanese Movie Critics Awards for Best Animation Feature Film in 2016; Japanese Academy Award for Excellent Animation of the Year in 2016; Tokyo Anime Award Festival for Anime of the Year (movie) & Best Screenplay / Original Story (Reiko Yoshida) in 2017; Japan Media Arts Festival for Animation Division - Excellence Award in 2017; Japan Movie Critics Awards for Best Animation of the Year in 2017; and Camera Japan Festival for Feature Film in 2017.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Koe no Katachi
Other:	Koe no Katachi Specials

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Nishimiya, Shouko

Main

Hayami, Saori
Japanese

Ishida, Shouya

Main

Irino, Miyu
Japanese

Nishimiya, Yuzuru

Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi
Japanese

Ueno, Naoka

Supporting

Kaneko, Yuuki
Japanese

Nagatsuka, Tomohiro

Supporting

Ono, Kensho
Japanese

Ishida, Maria

Supporting

Kamata, Erena
Japanese

Pedro

Supporting

Watanuki, Ryuunosuke
Japanese

Ishida, Miyako

Supporting

Yukino, Satsuki
Japanese

Sahara, Miyoko

Supporting

Ishikawa, Yui
Japanese

Mashiba, Satoshi

Supporting

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Nakamura, Shinichi

Producer

Tateishi, Kensuke

Producer

Iizuka, Toshio

Producer

Senami, Riri

Assistant Producer

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Opening Theme

"My Generation (マイ・ジェネレーション)" by The Who

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Ending Theme

"Koi wo Shita no wa (恋をしたのは)" by aiko

Reviews

Nov 3, 2023

Wolfchild22

Recommended

Koe no Katachi is a really great movie, but there's something I didn't get. I mean, it's all about Shouko, right? She's such a nice girl, but I don't understand why she doesn't talk. Like, if she just talked, everything would be way easier, you know? The story is all about how people should be kind to each other, and I totally get that part. I love how the main character, Shouya, tries to make up for what he did when they were kids. But still, Shouko not talking seems kinda strange to me. Maybe it's because of something that happened when they were younger, ...

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Oct 15, 2023

tinshard

Mixed Feelings

Warning: this is not a detailed breakdown that takes everything into account and try to be as objective as possible, it's a personal opinion. I share it with you to to explain my score and for people who might feel similarly.

Greetings everyone.

I could write a lenghty synopsis but I'll jump to the point, the thing you are probably here for. Why didn't I like this wonderful show?

First of all, I don't want to offend anyone. If you liked this show, good for you. However, it didn't work for me and I'll explain why. One thing I realised after reading countless of anime reviews is that ... objectivity doesn't exists. Our past experiences will always influence our decisions (to a certain extent). And that's the case with Silent Voice too. I was thinking about why people love Silent Voice so much. I have two ideas: they had a similar first hand experience and they can relate to the characters and the story. Or, they didn't have experiences that could hinder their enjoyment on the show. As for the second theory, I had such experiences.

My problem is when a medium tries to increase sensitivity towards a topic. In my opinion, it's emotional manipulation. And I... let's just say, strongly dislike this. The Media floods me with it. And it really bothers me. I'm not a child who has to be told "Bullying is bad. Don't do it." I already know this! You don't have to remind me![*] If there are so many people unaware of this problem, well, humanity is doomed and I'm disappointed yet again. In short, this feels like a personal attack for me, even if it's not.

"So what if it's a little manipulating? It's still a beautiful story!" you might say. The thing is, Silent Voice has a core concept and relies on it entirely. It makes Nishimiya maximally likeable without flaws to make it easy to relate to her. So much it gets unreal. And sure, it's fiction, and I don't reject it solely because of this, but still. If you like the concept, you like the show. If you don't, you are like me. Is this a bad strategy to make a film? Well... no. There are other shows that do the same and many of them are amazing. And in the case of this film it's also not a mistake, the large fanbase proves this. But it'll be a hit-or-miss if they build solely on the viewer's sympathy.

To show a counter example, 86 was also manipulative, it almost shouted at you who to like and who to dislike, but it had action and a cinematic feel rarely found in anime series, giving other reasons to like it. Of course I don't think Silent Voice should contain action, that would be absurd.

To sum up, your enjoyment will depent on whether you can relate to the characters. Silent Voice is not missing anything, it doesn't need anything extra. It just contains something that bothers me.

Thank you for reading.

---
[*]This is the part where most people will disagree, so I want to make something clear. I know this is not the focus, I know the focus is Ishida's personal growth. But I can't concentrate on this. It's too distracting for me.

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Nov 4, 2023

cianuredioxyde

Not Recommended

Personnaly as someone who have been bullyed for all of my school,i hate this story, maybe it's more touching for people having bullied others if the movie is adressed to them i don't know but for me it was like to spit in my face, like a message saying "but you have to understand the peoples harrassing you, they are not bad peoples and they have good reasons after all, in fact you the peoples being harassed are the problem, look what the poor bullyes that are good peoples have to endure because of you being a problem for them, but fortunatelly for you they ...

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Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Koe no Katachi Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) nihon_no_tsuki - Sep 21, 2016	674 replies	by Virtecek »» Nov 12, 4:00 AM
Poll: Should Koe no Katachi get a reboot as a TV series HyperBrid - May 22, 2017	46 replies	by mdo7 »» Nov 6, 10:38 PM
Poll: Does the 'lit(var)' hold the title for the greatest anime OST ever created? removed-user - Sep 24	35 replies	by chilljoy »» Nov 4, 1:56 AM
Why was Shouka in a choir class if she was deaf? That seems horribly unfair to her. TheBlockernator - Oct 29	27 replies	by Adnash »» Nov 1, 4:19 PM
Did you cry? ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stacias - Aug 1, 2022	250 replies	by faker2003 »» Oct 30, 5:31 PM

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Nishimiya, Yuzuru

Ueno, Naoka

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