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 25, 2023

cinar_kose

Recommended

I watched more than 400 anime ingridient so far. but it was a special one inside of them. ı felt so many feeling on the time I'm watching.
I found myself and this movie show me a road. ı don't know how am I spoosed to explain this feeling but. This anime movie is the only anime I cried something besides a character ı love died. I cried in this movie because I see myself, because ı understand the feelings of the every character, it was a real masterpiece. I recommend to everyone. But you have to watch it at night alone. If you feel depressed ...

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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 21, 2023

renega

Not Recommended

[Story] 0 - The feelings of a sadistic boy for a masochist girl.
[Art] 7- Characters true to their manga designs, high quality animation.
[Sound] 7 - Creative use of sound/music. Nothing too special and memorable besides theme song.
[Character] 0-The two main characters are sadist and masochist. Side characters with bad personalities like the main characters. The only good people in the anime are their mothers.
[Enjoyment] 0 - I wanted to smash the monitor for the first 30 minutes. I could barely stop myself. Actually, since it is a popular romantic anime, I thought maybe I would like it if I continued it. ...

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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	677 replies	by nanajp »» 12 hours ago
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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