Synopsis
A Silent Voice is an animated Japanese film released in 2017. It was written by Reiko Yoshida and directed by Naoko Yamada. While the premise of the movie revolves around teenage Ishida, who attempts to make amends with a deaf girl he bullied in the 6th grade, the true story revolves around his relationships with the people around him.
A Silent Voice – Review
A Silent Voice is more than just a really good high school romantic drama. It is a captivating love story that deals with depression and friendship in a remarkably relatable way. The story is both heart-wrenching and heartwarming, as it tackles many issues such as bullying, social anxiety, depression, and suicide.
The characters are fun and loveable, and the plot is quite different. Many of the characters in the movie are easy to get attached to and well put together. Each character is distinct and serves a purpose in the tale. Without these characters, the movie would have been quite bland.
The main character in the movie is named Shoya, who is just a kid who hasn’t yet been taught manners. Everyone in the class thinks he is hilarious. He is the one who harasses Shouko the most by doing all sorts of terrible stuff to her, but one day he takes her hearing aid and ends up hurting her.
Everything then comes to a stop when the principal comes to discuss that Shouko is being bullied, and Shoya, the one everyone blames even though he wasn’t the only one. He ends up being the most hilarious to most hated. Everyone treats him like how he treated Shouko.
The visual storytelling is a powerful and effective soundtrack. This movie is great because it is such an emotional movie that shows you that you should treat everyone you meet with kindness. The animation of the movie is so spectacular. The colors of this movie are very vibrant, and warm even though most of the story is quite sad.
The plot is extremely unique in comparison to other stories. But I am glad it was like this because it truly puts you on a roller coaster of emotion.
Exploring the themes – A Silent Voice
A Silent Voice is a sensitive film that tackles themes of :
Bullying
One of the arguments A Silent Voice makes is that bullying happens as a form of seeking acceptance from others. This theme is strongly explored with the character of Shoya Ishida, who, as a child, was quite popular with his classmates. The first person to bully Nishimiya is, of course, Ishida. After Nishimiya attempts to read a passage in front of the class, Ishida follows by making fun of her voice, generating more than a few laughs among his classmates.
Mental Health – A Silent Voice theme
The events that take place in A Silent Voice depict a true, vivid image of how much our mental well-being can affect us. Whether it’s Ishida battling anxiety and depression or Nishimiya struggling with the scars of bullying. Their mental health plays an important part throughout this story.
Depression
A Silent Voice explores the endemic relationship between disability and depression through its two protagonists, Shouko, a deaf girl ostracized since childhood, and her middle school bully, Shoya, who feels incredible guilt from his past actions and unspeakable treatment of Shouko.
Suffering from crippling depression, he decides he wants to take his own life, but only after he properly apologizes to Nishimiya. It is only after he finds and reconnects with Nishimiya that Ishida realizes that suicide is not the way out, and he decides to try his best to give life another try.
Anxiety
While Ishida roams the halls, he is looking down, apparently shameful. Until he lifts his head and we observe his point of view: every face he sees is occupied by a purple cross.
These crosses are brilliant in the way we see through Ishida’s eyes and how they symbolize his perspective of other people as “not my friend” or “does not like me” or “will only hurt me”. Every face he sees at school has a cross over it. Throughout the film, friends he makes along the way lose their crosses, signaling he is comfortable with them as a friend. Another lead into a major theme.
