Anime: A Silent Voice

 

Content Warning: Suicide attempts, kids being assholes, social anxiety and a very abridged story.

So… This is going to be an interesting review. Why? Well, it’s because it’s not as good as the manga. Thanks for coming by and hope you’ll read some more reviews!

Okay, okay, let’s talk about the movie, I guess. The movie begins with Shoya getting ready to kill himself. He takes all the money and gives it to his mom and then goes to a bridge and climbs on the railing and starts to fall. Only to be brought back to reality by a family lighting off fireworks. At this point, we go back to when he was a kid and in school. There’s a montage to establish who Shoya is with his friends and the rest of the kids in class. And then Nishimiya shows up. From here, Shoya starts to bully her, and the rest of students either quietly support him or stay out of it. They don’t like Nishimiya because she’s a “burden” to them and they’re having to adapt to her and they don’t want to. She’s “weird,” she’s “odd,” she’s “different.” And that’s never okay but they are kids. His bullying escalates and he hurts Nishimiya. After being confronted by the teachers, all of the kids blame Shoya for everything and he tries to defend himself by throwing the rest of them under the bus. Shoya’s mom has to pay Nishimiya’s mom for the hearing aids and then Shoya is bullied and exiled from friends.

We skip forward, back to where we were and Shoya tracks down Nishimiya to return the notebook. Again, she runs away and he follows her and talks to her using sign language. He apologizes. And then things start to change. He starts to change by helping out his classmate, Nagatsuka…

Okay, you know what? I can’t really do this review. Because I’ve already done this. It’s really hard to go over the plot of the movie when it’s the same as the manga, just missing some parts. Unlike a some others I can think of (Akira leaps to mind), it just tells the exact same story, with those same emotional beats, but a lot more quickly. There’s no movie subplot, which I think is a real shame. They also don’t give our various side characters any real character at all. In the manga, we really got to know these characters and understand them. In the movie, they’re just kind of there. And the ending is earlier on in the story than the manga but is still fairly good, it just doesn’t feel as powerful as the ending of the manga.

But I want to talk about what is good about this movie. One thing you don’t get in manga is sound. The movie uses sound and silence to great effect, as well as some powerful music. This is one of the best parts of the movie and I really enjoyed it. It also shows how someone who can’t hear can be alerted by other things. A very good example is when Nishimiya after Shoya is in the hospital and has a dream that he’s dying or has died. When she goes there and starts to cry, Shoya shows up, having had his own dream and finally woken up from his coma. When he goes there, he calls out to her but she can’t hear him. But he puts his hand on the railing to steady himself, which makes it move. Nishimiya feels this and realizes that he’s there. It’s subtle but works so much better in motion rather than panel by panel. There’s also a lot of visual cues about what’s going to happen with Nishimiya’s suicide attempt. The same sequence Shoya sees when he ends up saving her is shown when he thinks about killing himself at the start of the movie, again during the montage when he’s a kid and jumps off the bridge with his friends, and again when he jumps off the bridge after Nishimiya when her notebook is thrown into the river after he returns it. This same view of the water and the landing happens again and again, until he falls to what might be his death. There’s also several moments of Nishimiya and Shoya trying to catch each other’s hands when one of them falls. It’s not until that life is on the line that they’re able to connect. And that’s what this movie shows so well, is how Nishimiya and Shoya keep trying and failing to connect until the very end. It just adds to how visually well done the movie is. If you read the manga for the plot, you have to see movie for the visuals. It’s a true companion piece to the manga, as you’ll bring the full context from the manga with you when you watch it, making it so much better. Assuming you’re not like me and keep going “but what about this?” when they skip stuff or cut it short. Don’t be like me.

I feel that this movie is important. It’s about empathy and redemption. And we need that. It’s also not about the idealized or romanticized version of redemption we see in movies and media but the true reality of redemption. It’s a process, not an event. And it’s messy and it doesn’t always work the way to expect it to. You try and fail, try again and fail a bit better. And that’s what Shoya does. He tries and fails. Keeps trying and fails spectacularly, by driving everyone away with his mouth. But he isn’t there to succeed in the eyes of everyone else but in Shoko’s eyes. That’s all he cares about. And while redemption isn’t an event, you sometimes face a choice, when you have a chance to not undo your old mistakes but when you get a chance to show how you’ve changed and what’s really in your heart. And that’s what Shoya does: He is given a chance to do the right thing, to show what’s in his heart, and he does it. Without thinking, without stopping, he risks it all to save Nishimiya and it costs him. All this event really does to him is give him clarity. It doesn’t make him a better person in an instant but does give him perspective and a chance to be who he wants to be. To live up to the words he says.

And that’s why this is an important movie. There’s a lot of other reasons why this is important but it doesn’t matter why it’s important only that it is. I do find it interesting how I have a different perspective on Shoya compared to other reviews I’ve seen. When he tells everyone about their flaws or problems on the bridge when he drives everyone away, I don’t see it as some big thing. I see someone being honest about the people around them. He calls Miyoko a coward, because she is. She really is. But there’s nothing wrong with being a coward sometimes. And it seems to me that having someone call you out on your shit is a very important thing to have in your life. Perhaps I’m a terrible person like Shoya is. But I’d like to think that if I was put in the same situation that Shoya was in with Shoko, watching her starting to jump, I’d at least try to do the same thing. I don’t know.

Okay, I have to bring this to a close, otherwise, I’m going to go on and on about this topic and put my foot in my mouth. To sum up my feelings (not thoughts) on the movie, I didn’t think it was great. But it was good. And I want people to watch it. That’s why it’s my feelings, not my thoughts. Because emotions aren’t logical. Much like friendship.

Addendum: While I was in the shower, watching some video essays about this film, I realized a few things about this film and manga. I just realized that Shoya doesn't know where Miyoko ended up. He doesn't know anything about Naoko. But you know what he does know? What he doesn't have to ask anyone about? Where to find Nishimiya. Maybe he looked her up somehow but it's not shown on screen. We don't know how he knows but he does. I'm thinking he was keeping track of her, in some way or another, and that's why they didn't show it. And that shows how dedicated he is to changing. It's not perfect but it's a little thing that shows a bit more about him. Another thing that people have talked about is how bullies can change and the like. While I do agree that they can, the difference between some of these stories and Shoya's story is one key thing: He takes the effort to apologize, learn to communicate with Nishimiya directly, and then takes action on his apology. Sure, he didn't mean to try and be friends with her but he still said it and does it after he does. I've also realized that I am missing parts of the context in these things because I've never suffered anxiety to the degree that these characters do. I didn't become afraid when I had to deal with bullying, I got mad. And then I became depressed because I knew it was wrong to act on my anger. Anxiety, to some degree, is about fear. And I didn't feel the same fear I did with those. And while I was lonely, I was never really alone, like Shoya. I always had a friend or two for most of my life. They might not have been the best people and we might have grown apart but I still had someone to talk to. And that might be a key difference. And now I think it's time to finish this up, before I discuss more about myself.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: While a good watch and good movie, it’s not as good as the manga. Watch it anyway.