-Ishida, Shouya
“Koe no Katachi” is a story of a boy’s (Ishida, Shouya) path to redemption after bullying a deaf girl (Nishimiya, Souka) to transfer from his school. Afterwards the boy gets bullied in return from those who he used to call friends and ends up alone. A few years afterwards the boy tries to make up to the girl he bullied while also being suicidal.
I remember reading the manga and thinking “I can’t wait to see this animated”, today I can’t say the same. The manga was a wonderful read but the anime though missing a not so miner part but at the same not a major part of the story, it still got all the essentials parts in. I can understand why some parts where taken out because they were considered minor, but still some of the short scenes are important. They gave more depth to the story, like how far Yuzuru would go just to protect his sister. In the manga she is prepared to go quite far and is forced to reveal herself, but in the anime she just tells it openly.
I may criticize the anime but I didn’t dislike it, I enjoyed watching it. The animation is stunning Kyoto Animation has really show what they can do, I really liked that there were thing happening in the background though minor but still beautiful. And the music fits perfectly with the animation and story, the music gives depth to the story and you get the same feeling as the characters.
The story is great just getting to follow Shouya’s path to redemption, you really get to see that he really is a teenager with common teenage problems. The one question that Shouya asks is a very common and I think everyone has at least thought about it; “What is a friend?” The fact that Shouya asks that question is more or less premise of the movie. After being ostracized by the people he thought were his friends and after years of keeping to himself Shouya starts to open up a little to other people, but considering his past Shouya can’t help but to think “What is a friend?” since he thought he knew what friendship was until his class turned against him.
In conclusion, I do recommend this movie to everyone, but I urge that you read the manga first. This a beautiful story of communication where you get to follow a troubled teen.
