A deaf girl, Shoko, is bullied by the popular Shoya. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko, the class turns its back on him. Shoko transfers and Shoya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed... Read allA deaf girl, Shoko, is bullied by the popular Shoya. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko, the class turns its back on him. Shoko transfers and Shoya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed, the regretful Shoya finds Shoko to make amends.A deaf girl, Shoko, is bullied by the popular Shoya. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko, the class turns its back on him. Shoko transfers and Shoya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed, the regretful Shoya finds Shoko to make amends.
- Awards
- 6 wins & 9 nominations
- Shôya Ishida
- (voice)
- Shoko Nishimiya
- (voice)
- Yuzuru Nishimiya
- (voice)
- Tomohiro Nagatsuka
- (voice)
- Naoka Ueno
- (voice)
- Miyoko Sahara
- (voice)
- Miki Kawai
- (voice)
- Ito Nishimiya
- (voice)
- Maria Ishida
- (voice)
- Pedro
- (voice)
- Kazuki Shimada
- (voice)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaShoko's English dub voice actress Lexi Marman is actually deaf in real life.
- GoofsDuring Ishida and Ueno's conversation at the crosswalk, Nishimiya is seen holding the pouch that Ishida had given to her as a gift. However, it disappears after Ueno sprints across the street and removes Nishimiya's earpiece; it is nowhere to be seen on her person or on the ground.
- Quotes
Miyoko Sahara: I couldn't change. I couldn't protect you again. I was the same coward.
Shoko Nishimiya: You can change from now on.
- Crazy creditsThough the official Roman-character title used on merchandise in Japan, and on the movie's posters, trailers, video boxes, video menus and so on in English-speaking countries is "A Silent Voice: The Movie" (often shortened to just "A Silent Voice"), the Roman-character title which appears on-screen in the full movie itself is instead "The Shape of Voice", which is an awkward mistranslation into English of "Koe no katachi".
- ConnectionsFeatured in MsMojo: Top 10 Saddest Anime Movies (2019)
Any film dealing with bullying and its consequences deserves to be applauded for the effort. Bullying, often stemming from something that should be a non-issue but turns out to be an easy target for bullies (for examples if your parents disallow you to play a popular video game for obvious reasons, if you have a posh accent, if you listen to and perform classical music, if you have a physical or social disability, false rumours spread about you, if you were a hard-worker rather than somebody who messed about and disrespected substitute teachers) is something that is very much relevant still and has damaging effects, it is an issue that needs to be addressed and acted upon much more than it is. This is coming from somebody who suffered merciless bullying myself in school, for all the above reasons apart from the first (in my case my school did nothing about it too), and nearly a decade on it has damaged my confidence/self-esteem, made me feel worthless and made my already bad anxiety worse despite getting a degree in music and singing regularly.
So as one can probably tell, 'A Silent Voice' really resonated with me on an emotional level. At the same time, it also really made me think and see that there is much more to the issue, the bully, the witnesses and the victim than one would tend to perceive. 'A Silent Voice' also turned out to be a very good film in its own right. It isn't flawless, some of the supporting characters are under-explored and in a few cases inconsistently and one-dimensionally written and some of the story jumps around and doesn't always feel complete.
Despite being over two hours, didn't think it was too long considering the number of characters and their stories. If anything, perhaps 'A Silent Voice' would have been even better as a series which would have solved the problems.
On the other hand, 'A Silent Voice' has an awful amount to recommend. Great isn't a strong enough word to describe the animation. Rich in meticulous background and character detail, atmospheric and ethereal in colour schemes and alive to nuances in its use of settings and character gestures and expressions, it becomes a character of its own and there are some memorable images throughout like towards the end. The music has whimsy, haunting beauty and understatement, while not overbearing the drama and letting it speak when needed. The song is catchy.
The writing is thought-provoking and contemplative, doing it in a way that will make bullying victims and those who bullied alike identify with what is said. A lot of it is remarkably insightful, and even when the film was really resonating with me it taught me a lot about an issue that isn't as black and white as perceived. The story has its issues but has a strong emotional core, with the truly powerful and touching ending leaving me shell-shocked.
Not often does one find themselves rooting for a bully as well as the victim, 'A Silent Voice' is one of those rarities. The voice acting is dynamic.
In summary, not perfect but very well done. 8/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 22, 2017
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Una voz silenciosa: Koe No Katachi
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $764,723
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $121,732
- Oct 22, 2017
- Gross worldwide
- $30,504,476
- Runtime2 hours 10 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1