A Silent Voice, or Koe no Katachi, was the right movie at the wrong time.
An anime picture released only a month after Your Name debuted,
Whilst that box-office monster was still tearing up tickets,
It could have easily lingered in that shadow and faded into obscurity.
Indeed, compared to the loud bombast of Shinkai's latest,
A Silent Voice was fittingly quiet, even muted,
But, in the years following it has proven to be something truly special
With a voice all of its own and something desperately important to say.
All you have to do, is learn to listen.
I briefly spoke about Naoko Yamada before, the director of the fantastic,
fun and lighthearted K-ON! series and in the decade since her directorial debut
she's swiftly become one of Japan's most interesting up-and-comers.
Her latest film, Liz and the Blue Bird, is a feature-length Side Story to the
wonderful Sound! Euphonium, but it was with 2016's A Silent Voice that Yamada
staked her claim as a force to be reckoned with.
Based on Yoshitoki Oima's manga of the same name A Silent Voice is the story of
a girl, Shoko, who can't hear being bullied by a boy, Shoya, who can.
The original work is a phenomenal achievement not only in its beautiful
artwork and touching story but in its earnest commitment to representation.
Despite being a very accessible country for people with disabilities,
Priyanka Mogul of the IPF reports that there's still a culture of shame around disability in Japan.
Representation in manga and anime is mixed in general,
but with A Silent Voice Oima strived to avoid the reductionism it can so often boil down to.
Instead of using the disability as a quirk or motive for the dramatic story unfolding in the foreground,
it's treated with respect and care,
even earning the official support of Japan's Federation of the Deaf
As with many adaptations, A Silent Voice suffers slightly with its abridged runtime,
unable to enjoy their leisurely, more natural pacing the manga boasts
and if you haven't already I'd recommend checking out that original run
before sitting down with the movie.
But in the move to cinema A Silent Voice lost none of its beauty,
its pain or its respect for the subject matter.
Yamada's adaptation comes across just as earnest, and just as nuanced as the source material.
The core theme of A Silent Voice is redemption.
At the end of the film's prologue, focused entirely on Shoya's torturous relationship with Shoka,
we find Shoya a broken man on the verge of adulthood.
Haunted by the guilt of his past and the social ramifications of being ousted by his classmates as a bully,
he's a lonely, depressed pariah who has erected his own walls to protect what little is left of his ego.
He can't look people in the eye,
indeed they cease to exist for him, instead choosing to drown out their noise and retreat inside himself.
Much like the girl whose life he made hellish all those years ago
he's deaf to those around him and lives in a world of silence.
He actively seeks to minimize his own impact on the world seeing himself as
harmful to others and is only looking to repay his debts before leaving his life behind.
One of those debts is, of course, Shoko.
Can we make up for a truly heinous past,
and is it ultimately selfish to try?
These are the questions A Silent Voice concerns itself with, and it's obsessive in its quest to find an answer.
As Shoya rediscovers Shoko for the person she always was behind the disability,
a disability he only ever saw as a nuisance to his carefree school life,
their poignant past hangs over them
Shoko reveals herself to be just as haunted and broken as Shoya,
but as they stumble through the beginnings of their newfound friendship,
a simple thing that Shoko has sought out unsuccessfully her entire life,
They begin to heal one another.
Ugly revelations and hurt feelings resurface time and time again,
made better and worse by the reintroduction of old classmates and new characters,
but as the film continues our leads find their footing not only as friends, but as individuals.
To watch A Silent Voice is to buckle in for a rollercoaster,
whose highs are wonderfully high and whose lows are absolutely devastating.
It's an emotionally crippling film, one that will leave viewers full but fatigued.
Whilst it can be brutally blunt with his cruelty, however,
A Silent Voice truly sings when it's subtle.
This little moment for instance is my favorite of the entire movie -
a preemptively jealous glance of a school friend who's worried she's about
to lose the affection of her classmate in favor of the new girl.
This understated eye for detail is at its best however when it's turned towards the ostracization of Shoko .
Throughout the film Shoko's sense of other is explored in brilliantly visual ways,
whether that be struggling to keep up with her classmates,
or appearing imprisoned by her disability, unable to truly ever connect.
But, despite how often A Silent Voice seeks to hurt its viewers,
it's done with the vitally important message of love and compassion.
In a time and place where it's easier to ignore disability or hide it away altogether,
A Silent Voice is a cinematic journey that seeks to shame such notions.
Much like Shoya, we're urged to grow as a people, to make an effort for those who might be struggling,
and ultimately to reach out to one another no matter what barriers life throws up.
A Silent Voice is the story of a deaf girl and her childhood tormentors,
and the evolution of such a dynamic as these players grow and mature.
It's about the different ways we can react when faced with adversity or pain.
It's about forgiveness and resentment.
But, ultimately, A Silent Voice is about friendship
and how such a curious human trait never moves in the way we expect it to.
A Silent Voice speaks to the unexpected places friendship springs from,
explores how it rarely ever moves in a straight line,
and it understands that relationships can blossom in a mire of bitterness.
That love and hatred are two sides of the same coin.
For a film that occasionally stumbles over itself to get to its next heartbreaking story beat,
and trades almost explicitly in youthful melodrama,
it's a surprisingly adult tale of finding one another despite it all.
Thanks for watching.
When A Silent Voice came out I was upset to see it overshadowed by Your Name,
It deserved better, honestly,
and I'm glad to say that in the two years since its debut it's gotten the recognition and love
such a beautiful movie warrants - some of which has been in the comments demanding I cover it.
It's thanks to the generous donations of my Patrons
that the stretch goal to do just that was finally reached.
the next goal is to cover the massive multimedia works of Berserk,
so if you're as interested as I am in seeing that terrifically bloody video come to life,
head over and pledge a buck.
Otherwise you can follow me on Twitter or subscribe here on YouTube to be notified of new projects.
If instead you're frustrated that I'm nearly two years into this gig
and I've yet to actually talk about Your Name directly
hit the like button, and I'll continue only to mention it in the margins of my videos.