聲の形 / A Silent Voice

(Spoiler alert for people who want to watch the movie!)

[Blog 3]

“聲の形 (Koe no Katachi)” or “A Silent Voice” is an animated film that premiered in Japan September 17, 2016. The story is about a teenager named Ishida Shouya, who tried to commit suicide, but stops himself right before he jumps off the bridge. We then get a flashback of his life up until now, and we see that in elementary school, Shouya and his friends bullied a deaf girl in their class, named Nishimiya Shouko. Shouko transfers out of the school, and Shouya is singled out as the only bully. He becomes a social reject until high school. Shouya and Shouko meet again, and their friendship starts to grow. But the past problems bubble up, and destroys the progress they made. During the night of a fireworks festival, Shouko heads home early, planning to jump off her balcony, but is saved just in time by Shouya, who falls off the building instead. Shouya is hospitalized, and enters a coma. Shouko has a dream one night where Shouya says goodbye, and in a panic, runs to the bridge where she and Shouya feed the koi. Shouya wakes up from his coma, and runs to the same bridge, hoping to find Shouko there. Shouya apologizes for the way he treated Shouko, and asks her to help him live. The two of them go to Shouya’s school festival, and Shouya finally allows himself accept the forgiveness Shouko has given him.

The part that makes this a melodrama is definitely the characters, in my opinion. There are some characters that don’t really get a redemption arc like Shouya, and are seen as bad through the whole movie. For example, old elementary school friends Ueno and Shimada, are seen as bad from beginning to the end. Shimada makes one appearance during their high school years, but he doesn’t want to become friends with Shouya again. Ueno, who also bullied Shouko, is shown to even hit her and push her in a ferris wheel during high school. Ueno, throughout their years, consistently blames Shouko for all the friendships falling out, and says that Shouko needs to apologize and stop apologizing. Another classmate, Kawai, bullied Shouko as well, but denies her involvement with it until she cries, making people side with her, which makes her bad too. She manipulated others for years in believing she was innocent. Then, there are characters that are definitely good. Nagatsuka is one of them. Nagatsuka is one of Shouya’s friends; they become friends after Shouya stands up to one of Nagatsuka’s bullies and prevents his bike from being stolen. Throughout the whole movie, Shouya is seen as a very overprotective friend, always siding with Shouya and believing in him, even when Shouya pushes him away.