#the voice of reason - naoka

[springvaletales]

((To make up for the fact that I haven't finished my drafts yet, here's a bunch of picrews I did of the party (as best they would fit) for motivation.))

[my-animeandmanga-journey]

*a few minutes later*

I HATE Ueno.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this. Is Ueno blaming Shouko?

Because all Shouko did was exist, and get bullied for it. The behavior of everyone around her is on them, not her.

[billiuspendragon]

!Spoilers for A Silent Voice!

I know this is mostly a Saiki K blog, but this post is about Kawaii Miki from A Silent Voice.

I remember back when I was reading the manga I saw a lot of hate for Kawaii Miki on the internet, and at the time was sort of convinced into hating her too, even though I hadn't really thought about it before. I definitely think she has her flaws, but looking back, I think the intense hatred of her character was really quite unfair, and missed a major point of the story.

One of the biggest messages in A Silent Voice was that everyone has a bad side. Everyone has their own struggles, and most people have their own unhealthy ways of dealing with it. The main character is literally someone who tormented and physically assaulted a disabled girl countless times, and yet the hatred is directed towards a side character who, at worst, isn't very sincere? Miki is a hypocrite who doesn't take accountability for her actions. That is her flaw.

That said, her actions were nowhere NEAR as bad as Shoya's, so obviously it makes way more sense for him to devote himself to redemption. Obviously Miki still SHOULD say sorry, and if she were a perfect person, she would. But she isn't, that's the point! None of them are perfect! If she said sorry and did everything right, then what would be the point of her character?

Most characters in the manga had a moment which made me hate them (I say "most" because I never hated Shoko), and I'm pretty sure they ALL had a moment which made me love them. Tomohiro bigs himself up and lies because he is insecure. Shoya devotes himself to making Shoko's life better, even though part of it is to make himself feel better because he has nothing else to live for. Naoka is pretty horrible, but she serves a purpose in showing Shoya his own hypocrisy. Kawaii joins in with the girls making fun of Shoko behind her back, but then insists that she never did anything wrong. Maybe that's because, in her head, she DIDN'T do anything wrong. She was trying to fit in, and probably didn't think her laughter made much of a difference to Shoko. Of course it did, though, because from an outside perspective she was just one of the bullies.

I really don't get why Miki got so much hatred compared to the other characters - I would say it was misogyny but that doesn't explain why Naoka didn't get the same treatment (she was hated, don't get me wrong, but often put above Miki because she was more honest or something). I remember watching some video analysis's of all the characters on YouTube. Most of them were really in-depth and interesting, but then Miki's was just "here's why she's secretly a NARCISSIST" complete with spooky music and everything. People were just averse to looking at her as a nuanced character because apparently insincerity is worse than beating someone up.

Honestly, the only reason I can think of to explain why so many people hated Miki Kawaii is because she is maybe the most realistic. I think a lot of people are scared of taking accountability and will shift blame away from themselves to protect their image. Maybe she was so hated because the viewers saw in her a reflection of themselves.

[chrlotpony]

I hated wiggles mcsunbask then, I hate him just as much now ACK

idgaf if the pets are practically in danger and shitting their little firsuits, I'd even say it's a little silly and willy, but I think that's just me. it's wiggles mere presence that makes me want to rip my nails and teeth off. in the first place, I'm not the biggest fan of cartoon bully characters who do nothing but bully like as if it's their job. some characters like that are so good that they're actually so iconic and likable. but wiggles?? that's just a ugly talking pack of ANNOYING. his voice gives me a hemorrhoid. also his character design?? BOOOORING. that corny ahh collar is not saving bro💀🙏 "nooo but I'm just a insecure little thing, I just thought being shitty to other people would let me get my way🥺 I'm sowwy😓" oh my god. shut up. I wanted to give Zoe the biggest golden medal in that scene omg. top whatever number zoe moments. the pets were too nice too quick, I think.

And then he has the audacity to COME BACK. but WORSE. Who thought he was a good enough character to get him a whole nother B plot?? he got the same arc but more annoying😭😭😭 first he tormented the pets and then he broke them, like atp js turn to Twitter☹️ he had no reason to be like that, just be a nice person for fucks sake😭 bonus slander for the fact he has bad breath. he's not even naoka ueno unlikable, I like naoka because she sucks, I hate wiggles because he SUCKS BOOTY. I'm not rooting for his stupid, rushed redemptions twice tf

[jjraderftw]

A Silent Voice

Oh boy this masterpiece! When I saw that we had to watch this movie I was ecstatic because I had loved it the first few times I had watched it. This emotional roller coaster was one of the first quality anime I had the pleasure of watching and made me shed quite a few tears upon my viewings. Even today, I couldn’t help but feel sentimental at the events of the movie and felt all forms of butterflies in my stomach during the climax of the film. The movie tells the story of Shouya, a young bully who, with the help of other students in the class, ridicules and abuses a deaf girl named Shouko who also has trouble speaking due to her disability. The bullying torments the poor girl until she leaves school after Shouya takes it too far. His actions then caused him to lose all his friends and become the new target for ridicule. Time then skips forward 5 years and Shouya has grown up and realized that what he did was immoral and wrong. He tried to not only pay back his mom for all the money she lost paying back Shouko’s family for their expenses, but also tried mending things with Shouko herself, for closure. In the process he lost everyone and everything and became so depressed he tried to kill himself. Though, after a realization with his mom, he continues to live and amend his past by making true friends and saving Shouko from despair. I can’t possibly cover every single theme nor symbolic meaningin this movie because it would amount to an absolutely insane amount of writing and depth that may be out of the scope of this post, so I’ll be limiting my discussion to exclusively the themes of discrimination and self growth/discovery. Although it is very important to mention that each character in this movie symbolizes a different stage in life and the flaws and benefits associated with each stage. The colors, position of the characters, and role reversal paint a picture of true art that, again, I can’t possibly do justice here. Having said that, I have attached a link to a great analysis of this movie if you want some more depth.

The theme of discrimination is very obvious and prevalent in this film. The character of Shouko symbolizes and depicts those in society who are different (in this case: those with disabilities). The students in the class such as Shouya and Naoka represent general society. When Shouko first arrives in the class, the students all bat an eye at her. They see her as different and strange. He is an alien to them, and since humans hate change and things that aren’t the norm, they ridicule her. This is made even more ironic by the fact that Shouko can barely hear. To her, she believes that those around her are trying to be her friends and make an acquaintance with her despite the student saying horrible things about her. She genuinely tries to make friends with everyone but they all talk down to her and harass her. This symbolizes the real mannerisms that the bullied and discriminated against feel in real life. It’s often the case that outcasts genuinely have a good intention and just want to fit in with everyone but are unable to because of factors outside of their control. Because Shouko can’t hear, she assumes they are being friendly. Similarly, people bullied and those treated unfairly in our world are at times lured into a false sense of security before being hurt. Her lack of hearing can also symbolize talking behind one’s back which is most commonly the root cause of bullying. Later on in the film and even a bit in the beginning, we notice how Shouko’s most commonly said words are “I’m sorry.” She is unapologetically apologetic which is a common form of psychological torment. Since most people treated her badly due to something she had no control over and to her was the norm (being deaf), she believed that the reason everyone didn’t like her was because she was a bad person incapable of changing. Such isn’t the case. Many groups of people who face harassment may at times feel this way but the true root evil lies in an unchangeable societal standard. Shouko goes through many emotional issues and experiences great pain and suffering (and even tries to take her own life) because society doesn’t adapt to new people and ideas. Instead, society expects people to change for them.

In terms of self growth, the biggest example is Shouya. He quickly realizes that his mannerisms and behaviors towards Shouko were horrible and rude. He spent many years of his life feeling guilty for his actions and wanted to find a way to atone for his misdeeds. He believed for a time that he was worthless and not worthy of friends nor life. However, his mother, his friend Tomohiro (the absolute goat btw), and Shouko and her family showed him that in order to truly grow, you must look at your past and not dwell on it, but learn from it and grow. If you never change, you will stay locked in history. You will never change and become a member of the society that causes nothing but pain to others. If you don’t learn to change, you’ll never be able to experience new things and accept people who are different from you. A perfect example of someone who failed to change is Naoka. Her hatred towards Shouko never changed and she remained a hateful and mean person. As a result, people distanced themselves from her because she only attracted negativity. A person like that who stayed hateful and mean spirited can never know the true value of people because of their closed off headspace. One must recognize their faults and choose to change and learn from their mistakes. Though it can be hard, one must never run away from their problems and avoid change because it will only hurt those around you and not solve anything, bringing about more pain (something Shouko and Shouya taught each other).

Once again, I loved this movie and highly recommend it. I encourage you to watch the analysis below as it’s a great perspective on the depth this movie has.

A great analysis: https://youtu.be/xeub2gZnJC8

[springvaletales]

"If this is a trick, it will be the last one you ever play." Naoka's grip tightened around the handle of her mace, but she did slowly begin to lower it. She may not have liked it, but the stranger was right. As long as she could still hear the shrieks of chaos in the distance as the monsters continued their rampage, any enemy of the monsters had to be her friend.

....for now, at least.

"What in the nine hells set loose these creatures?" The elf asked asked as she let her mace hang by her side. The more information she could gather, the better she could prepare for the many battles ahead.

open starter

"Now is not the time for use to be fighting each other. There are far more dangerous monsters in these parts than I and without me you stand a very slim chance of living through the night." The dhampir warned the stranger. Skilled as they be the Darkspawn were relentless killers that did not need rest, seeking to kill anything and everything in their path.

"I might share their blood but I am NOT one of them nor am I corrupted by the Archdemon. I am your only chance, now lower your weapon!"

[randoimago]

ik this is super random but I just made my stoic parents watch A Silent Voice and these are some commentary bits: "WHY IS SHE (Nishimiya) APOLOGIZING SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG?" "Man this teacher fucking sucksss" "WHY IS SHE (Naoka) HERE??" "What a douchebag" I cried when the whole "scene" (iykyk) happened and my dad laughed his ass off LMAO cried at the end too WOO

One of these days I'll finish that movie. I think I watched like half of it then stopped for some reason? Idk, I just know I wanted to kick that guy's ass.

[connorssuperniftyblog]

"It Takes a Village to Bully a Deaf Little Girl," an A Silent Voice Reflection.

I’ve heard of A Silent Voice many times before, but have never had that much interest in watching. Funnily enough I always confused it with Your Name, which I also have never watched and know nothing about; also because I’m very dumb. However, I’m so glad I ended up watching it for this class.

It was honestly so compelling framing the movie by showing just how much of a, for lack of a better phrase, little shit Shoya was as a kid, what with bullying Shoko and just being all around a brat. After all, children can often be very mean and selfish and egocentric. However, the thing that makes it so compelling is that we clearly see that he’s changed. He genuinely wants to atone for what he did, and I like how real of a feeling it is whenever we see him think about how he acted, especially in regards to how he treated Shoko, and then cringing or feeling such overwhelming shame. I was really rooting for him to do the right thing and make amends; the right way that is.

You see, the cold open of the movie shows Shoya marking off his calendar for what seems to be a very important day. I also somehow completely missed that the rest of the month was torn off. We then see him burn all his bridges- quitting his job, paying back his mom for all the money he’s borrowed, and in the process getting rid of all his possessions. It didn’t yet click with me what he was doing this for, and because I’m dumb and also forgot that su*cide was a big part of this movie, I thought he was preparing for something much different, like moving or something (yes, I know, I’m very dumb). However, when I saw him walking with no possessions and still in his school uniform, it clicked, and I literally said out loud “oh my god he’s gonna kill himself” (I was alone in my dorm room so nobody heard me). And the conversation he had with his mom the following morning were so uncomfortably real that I couldn’t look away.

Seeing Shoya put off his su*cide because he wanted to atone for how he bullied Shoko was very heartwarming. And I was genuinely so glad to see that due to him restoring and building anew a friendship with Shoko, as well as finding a new friend in Tomohiro (the goat), his life began to improve. I think what really helped to endear me to him so much was seeing how much he’s changed for the better. Like, without the characters needing to turn to the camera and go “wow Shoya, you sure have changed a lot since elementary school,” the film naturally conveyed his growth.

However, at the same time, it was just as interesting to see those that for the most part didn’t change at all.

The scene with Naoka where Shoya talks to her for the first time since middle school was honestly a standout scene for me. Not because it was a super special or emotionally charged scene, but because I had become so accustomed to seeing Shoya’s growth, that I had just expected the others to have grown as well. It’s for this reason that when Naoka started to pick on Shoko again, I actually audibly said “oh… she… hasn’t changed at all…” (I was still alone in my dorm at this point so nobody heard). I don’t really know how to describe it, but that scene just had such a real sense of disappointment that was just so natural. I mean, the whole reason Naoka still hates Shoko is because she thinks she’s the cause for her friends group breaking up in middle school.

Now that’s a stupid (REALLY STUPID) reason to hate on a deaf girl who literally did nothing wrong, but, and if I may go on a quick tangent, I still hated another character just a little more. It genuinely made my blood boil whenever Miki opened her mouth. I think the thing that makes me despise her more than Naoka was that with Naoka, she at least acknowledged that what she was doing was hurtful, but she believed she was justified, even if she’s clearly not. Miki on the other hand also participated in bullying Shoko in elementary school, yet tries to take the moral high ground and virtue signal. Worst of all, she takes absolutely no accountability for her actions. What made me forgive Shoya for how he acted was that he fully owned up to what he did and tried to atone for it. Miki on the other hand would literally die on the hill that she never did anything mean to Shoko. And then she has the gall to virtue signal to Shoko when she tried to kill herself, and literally acted like she herself was the victim in the whole thing. And unlike Naoka, the film never acknowledges this as shitty behavior, and thus, she’s never punished for it.

Anyways, lastly, I want to talk about Shoko herself. It was so heartbreaking to see how she was treated as a kid, especially since she made every effort to reach out and make peace despite the fact she did nothing wrong. She literally apologizes to her bullies for getting bullied. And thus, it absolutely wrecked me to see her internalize this, and come to believe the world would be better off without her. I’m so happy Shoya was able to get through to her, and I’m so happy she was able to save Shoya.

Overall, if you couldn’t tell by the length of this post, I very much enjoyed this movie. It might be the piece of media we’ve gone over thus far that I’ve enjoyed the most. I highly recommend this to anyone. Literally anyone.

Also, this is completely superfluous and a total aside, but I have perhaps never felt more seen by a piece of media than by the way Yuzuru sits in her chair when she’s talking to her grandmother. That’s literally how I sit. I can't find a picture of it though. Just trust.

[lunxsole]

「 A Silent Voice 」( 2016 )

[springvaletales]

While he isn't afraid of them, Michael does get very nervous around clerics and those with any kind of religious authority. The only exception seems to be Naoka, who he seems perfectly relaxed around despite her being a priestess of Skaadi (albeit a roaming one).

[crybabysunflower]

Thoughts on Koe no Katachi

Disclaimer:- Major spoilers and of course trigger warning since it mentions s***idal thoughts

I rewatched A Silent Voice yesterday, it brought back all the past memories, feelings of mine towards the movie/manga.

When I first got into Koe no Katachi in 2017 , the only thing I remembered is relating myself a lot to Shouya, although my school exprience was not as worse as his but....I too was once an outgoing kid who grew up as a quiet one , Shouya also made me want to be a better person again like he did two years ago by being mature enough to admit my mistakes, although I sometimes forget about it.

From Shouko I learnt a lot too, She taught me not to become too passive for the sake of being good because thats the reason why bullies made her an easy target. Don't get me wrong I am not blaming her but sadly this is the reality of today, more good you are, more painful it becomes to survive in the society.

I remember hating on Naoka back then because I was like "how can she expect Shouya to love her after all those shit, yeah she is being sorry to Shouya but she is still bullying Shouko and now thats enough to put him off"

but I dont hate her much now because now I find Kawai worse than her although back in 2017 I never understood why Kawai was really hated, I remember she appeared really nice, caring and overall 'good' which is a stark contrast to Naoka's bad girl personality, I still dont like Naoka but I hate Kawai more.

The manga and the movie is much better than most other shows on bullying and mental health because most of the time the bullying is always one sided, but this came up with a fresh plot which heavily involved Karma, not just that Koe no Katachi did not make younger Shouya as a typical bully who has an abusive parent (since this arc is getting more clichèd) rather, made his bullying childish yet justifiable.

When it comes to mental health it did a good job portraying the side effects of bullying. It had also portrayed suicide in a better way than most other Mental health related shows because it focused on both sides:- Why the person would want to die and What would happen to the loved ones of that person when he/she is gone, especially on that part when Yuzuru (Shouko's little sister) reveals why she is so obsessed with clicking pictures of dead animals. Some people would say that Shouya's mother reacted inappropriately when she found out that her son wanted to die but....in real life thats how a typical mother is likely to react in the given situation, and no everything did'nt go away 'magically' Shouya continued to struggle with his pessimism and his anxiety throughout the movie and the manga (except the last chapter, which has a happy ending).

But the movie had flaws, since movies are always shorter than a series, they had missed out a lot of stuff, Shouya's childhood was entirely self narrated and movie missed the point to reveal the chidish reasoning of Shouya, the movie did not explain how Shouko ended up becoming deaf, why Yuzuru acts so 'boyish' and during the Hospital arc there were chapters which focused on the perspective of the supportive characters (Tomohiro, Naoka, Miyoko, Kawai and even Satoshi too) which were missing here

I currently have lost all my old Koe no Katachi fanarts, except this one, I guess this was my first fanart

[azuradreaming]

A Silent Voice Analysis: Shoya and X

The fourth part of A Silent Voice review is here! It took longer than I thought. I think I’m going slow down the posting to once a week before I burn myself out.

My most favorite symbolism throughout the movie is Shoya and the Xs he sees on people’s faces.

We have talked about how Shoya was a bully-turned-bullied, but we have yet to talk about the process of it and how it affected Shoya’s entire life growing up.

Shoya seeing only Xs on everyone’s face with a few exceptions is a representation of many things:

His distrust in others from betrayment

His guilt and shame of his past

His belief in needing to be punished and that he is undeserving

Betrayal of Friends and Peers

We all know Shoya was a bully, but he wasn’t the only one. He, his friends (Kazuki and Keisuke), and Noaka actively took part in bullying in Shoko, while the rest of the class were indirectly involved for they neither directly took part nor tried to stop it.

However, when things went too far and Shoko got injured from the hearing aids being ripped away by Shoya, the bullying was being addressed by the principal and the teacher officially. 

At first, when asked who did this, no one answered and we obviously see that Shoya was about to admit to it. 

But before he could admit it himself, the teacher called him out on it. 

This led to Naoka, Kazuki, and others to follow along, shoving all the blame to Shoya (since he was the one who started it and did the physical works) and claiming to be innocent.

No one in the class stepped up for Shoya either. They also pushed the blame entirely onto him alone. And from then on, they, especially Kazuki and Keisuke, turned on Shoya and started to bully him by giving him the same exact treatment he gave Shoko.

Once friends, now betrayed by those very friends. 

That was the mark of betrayment of friends and classmates.

Betrayal of Adults

Now if we think about this deeper, the teacher called him out for being the bully in front of the entire class disregarding the fact that Shoya wasn’t the only one, which led to betrayment. 

When Shoya became the bullied, the movie implied that the bullying didn’t stop, which means the teacher and the faculty either didn’t notice it or turned a blind eye to it OR disregarded it due to the prejudice that Shoya was a bully.

I don’t know if the teacher was aware that Shoya wasn’t the only participant in bullying Shoko or not, but it makes sense if he thought Shoya was the only one for Shoya was the only one who was seen to physically and vocally bully Shoko, while everyone was making side comments or talk behind Shoko’s back. 

But the way the teacher handled the situation felt very wrong and biased. It felt like he believed that he knew 100% what exactly was going on and concluded on one thing: Shoya was the one who bullied Shoko. 

And because he is the teacher and the authority, his one statement. His one call out became the only truth. This one “truth” and the way it was said and handled ruined Shoya for the worse.

Based on the movie, the teacher did nothing to stop others from bullying Shoya. 

He is a teacher. 

He is supposed to teach students what is right and what is wrong. 

He’s supposed to be fair. He is also supposed to protect. 

Instead, one way or another way, he literally permitted this bullying to happen. 

They were all children at the time. Still learning right from wrong. 

Bullying is wrong. But how is it okay to allow a child bully turned into being the bullied? 

How is it okay to practically allow an ENTIRE class to become the bully?

How is it okay to allow them to think bullying the bully is right?

Regardless, the bullying of Shoya was not stopped. 

And this marks the betrayment of elders, aka teachers, aka adults.

Guilt. Regret. Self-Hate.

Now that Shoya has become the one being bullied, he has been directly put into Shoko’s shoes experiencing the same treatment he gave her. Through this experience, he realizes the extent of the misdeed he has done to her. 

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Almost. 

Unlike Shoko, he wasn’t bullied for something he was born with. 

He was bullied for an action he did. 

He finally learned that bullying is wrong, but by the time he had learned his mistake, he was denied the chance to apologize, admit his wrong openly, or start over.

Adding to his new found guilt, he was constantly reminded of what he did to Shoko by being called a bully by everyone, even though he no longer was one. By being bullied himself. 

As this continues to happen, the more guilt he feels. 

The more guilt he feels, the more his regret grows and which leads to self-hate growing stronger and stronger until it becomes too unbearable. 

Because he is a bully.

And thus, this self-hate grows into this thinking:

I realized I need to bear the sins, and need to be punished for it.

He deserved the hate and punishment. He is undeserving of anyone. He does not deserve friends. Everyone is judging him because he “is” a bully. 

That is what Shoya believed.

Outcasted by People and Himself

When Shoya and the class graduated into middle school, the bullying stopped but became something else. Although he wasn’t being bullied the same way in elementary school, he was isolated due to prejudice. The “fact” that he “is” a bully followed him to middle school.

From the movie, we saw that Kazuki started spreading “Shoya is a bully” to their new classmates. This leads to the continued biases and prejudice. 

However, unlike elementary school where he was actively being bullied, he was instead ignored and isolated by everyone.

He became an outcast by people.

However, being betrayed by both his peers and adults who were supposed to watch over him together led to the beginning of Shoya’s damaged trust in everyone around him. 

And adding on to his belief that he got what he deserved which further remains a burden in his mind, Shoya believes everyone hates him.

These two factors led Shoya to outcast himself from everyone. 

Covering His Ears and The X Symbolism

Betrayal of friends, peers, adults. Guilt, regret, and self-hate. Outcast by both everyone and himself.

These factors put together bore him down severely in every way possible.

Unlike Shoko, Shoya can actually hear the people talking behind his back, hence why we see the scene of him covering his ears. 

Unable to bear any more of the backlash, the burden, the judgement, the guilt, and shame, he chose to shut off from the world unwillingly to listen to anymore.

And for the same reasons, he couldn’t bring himself to face anyone nor trust anyone. 

He doesn’t want to see their faces, thus the Xs on everyone’s faces except those he trusts.

I want to point out that by shutting himself out from everyone, Shoya has allowed himself to disconnect from everyone else and their real impressions of him. As we can see in the classroom scene, where he fills in dialogues of students with hate words towards himself thinking that’s what they are saying which further proves his self-hate.

Shoya isn’t hated by everyone as he thought he was as we can see when a group gather near his desk to look at an airship, they tried to get his attention to see it too, but he was deep in his self-hate world to notice this.

The Removing and Applying of the Xs Symbolism

Removing the Xs on individual’s faces symbolizes Shoya’s new found trust and the feeling of safety in them. 

We can see from the scene when Tomohiro befriends Shoya, the X on Tomohiro’s face fell off symbolizing the beginning of Shoya’s trust in him and acknowledgement that he is a friend. And that applies to everyone after Tomohiro.

What led me to believe that this is the meaning behind the Xs on everyone’s face and its removal was the Shoya’s scenes with Naoka.

When they first met again, Naoka didn’t have an X on her face, which means that Shoya is still okay around her; he still trusts her to some degree.

However, when she starts to try to bully Shoko like in the past again and Shoya stops her, we don’t see her face at all until the amusement park scene where we suddenly see that there is now an X on her face. 

This means Shoya no longer trusts her. 

As they continue to have fun at the amusement park and Shoya realizes he has friends he can trust now, we can see that he began to trust Naoka again as her X was removed at one point.

Buuut that didn’t last long when Naoka went behind Shoya’s back and arranged for him and Kazuki to meet again, which led to X being slapped back on her face for Shoya didn’t want to meet Kazuki and being suddenly forced into this awkward situation by her led to his distrust in her again.

Finally, Uncovering His Ears and Permanent Removal of all the Xs

This is my most favorite scene, so I couldn’t bear to just put a gif version without the audio that compliments with the visual so well, so I found the clip on YouTube.

After both Shoya and Shoko have come to terms with themselves and reconcile with everyone completely, we see the scene where Shoya finally removes his hands from his ears and finally hears all the sounds around him. And all the Xs on everyone’s faces fell to the ground.

To me, this was both my favorite and the most powerful scene in the movie. We know that Shoya has officially apologized to Shoko for the bullying and reconciled with everyone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he has forgiven himself and let go of the self-hate.

This scene is the proof that he is now willing to open himself up to others, trust them, and believe in them. 

By doing so, he realizes that he isn’t being judged that much as he has once thought. In which this and his tears became the proof that he has forgiven himself, let go of his self-hate, and is now moving forward with his life. 

And in a way, he is re-entering society

I think it is the most beautiful scene because when he was covering his ears at the beginning, there was a lot of chattering and eeriness.

There was so much fear coming from Shoya when he felt that everyone was staring at him like they’re judging him.

But when we came to this scene where he uncovers them, it was like a sudden enlightenment and realization that he now has people he can trust and that no one’s looking at him anymore with a judging look. 

It was like coming out of a very long dark tunnel.

The song of the post for this post is the OST, lit(var) by Kensuke Ushio, from the movie itself where Shoya for the first time decides to fully uncover his ears to try again to trust everyone once more.

Disclaimer: I do not own A Silent Voice. All rights are reserved to Kyoto Animation. Images and Videos are used solely to help give visuals to my review and analysis of the movie.

[raeblissy30]

narrative essay: social and moral purpose , bullying and communication

in my view the narrative of ‘a silent voice’ is beautiful ,well toned to it aesthetic animation style but is very tense at various plots in the scenes to the story it is telling. the themes that the narrative it gives off relates to the social and moral purposes such as bullying and communication between others within the younger generation .

I came to the idea to use a silent voice animation is due to recently watching a film called ‘that's what I am’ a live action / true story about young boy called Andy in a middle school of 1965 who's paired up with boy stereotyped as a geek ,unpopular boy called Stanley aka Big G. the films make me think about the causes and the effects of bullying .To how different people respond to the actions or words acted upon from the bully making person a victim. Big G is mainly bullied for his appearance with his outstanding red ginger hair , large head and ears which makes him venerable. appearance or how people look is always a main cause of bullying and that he has stable and strong intelligence and psyche in the high school bullying people cause they are intelligent or strongly at a advantage than other people, makes the bullies frustrated.  

bullying can be in the form of physical , social and verbal abuse and actions which mainly occurs to one person doing it or numerous peers that are having enjoyment to join in.

a silent voice explores the causes of Shoko’s being the victim of the bullying and how the reason of cause starts and escalates within their times at grade school.

introduction to shoko 

silent breaks as teacher tells her to introduce herself (of course she deaf), the silent continues and the breaks to her pulling her notebook flipping the pages introducing herself, and explain the notebook must be used to talk. whispers begin questions , feeling sorry for her , ‘she's deaf?!’. this clearly shows in the plot the signs of social and moral purpose it is shown to be rude and uncomfortable for whispers to spread around a class room and the social purpose is that learning about shoko the various peers are open to be involve in a positive effect whereas others are negative to the approaching her appearance and her flaw in the beginning of the plot. 

The cause of bullying 

at the start the scene is play with piano track from the music class, the choir is interrupted by shoko’s attempts to sing the word are no presented well , the class start to whisper, character Miki helps into the situation.  

this escalates to shoyo reacting shoko's voice in very childish and harsh after shoko attempts to read out loud in the class

This further continues to her having her earring aid being taken played with or destroyed by the student such as shoyo and naoka with us aswell

Shoko doesn’t realise at first by damage they are doing she still wants to be friends, this understates the victim of the bullying can sometimes not realise the bullying at first or tries to ignore it . She tries to befriend naoka and the other girls but soon they leave her isolated but shoyo makes an appearance and bullies her more in a physical context

The bullying goes too far when shoyo rips shoko earring aids out of  her ears leaving her in pain , which is symbolised by the blood dripping from her ear and her character position is hunched holding her ear and showing signs to be upset , small amount of other students come into aid for shoko. The moral purpose of this sequence is that when bullying is not notice and being dealt with , it can lead to physical or emotional pain, leading to serious consequences 

Hanakotoba, the Japanese flower language, is meant to communicate a strong emotion or impression from giver to recipient without needing words. especially when her initial attempts at communicating with her classmates via notebook only serve to facilitate their bullying. Similarly, ikebana, the art of flower arrangement, is meant to unify humanity and nature through minimalist but careful presentation. The simple act of arranging allows for moments of spiritual reflection and a small, peaceful moment where one can appreciate the beauty of nature.

Daisies have been used in other anime — Chidori Takashiro from Kiznaiver was also represented by a daisy flower — and symbolize purity or a return to innocence. This is especially true if the daisy is white. As a gift, daisies send a message of faithful, almost childlike, love.

https://formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/the-flower-language-of-a-silent-voice-part-1-fireworks-and-daisies/ 

this is clips of the keys acts which shoyo shows of bullying of shoko which I will descuss more in my essay 

[trulyinspiringmovies]

A Silent Voice

“A Silent Voice” is a beautifully animated Japanese animated film that I, unfortunately, didn’t enjoy as much narratively as I did visually.

Shōya Ishida used to bully this girl back when he was in elementary school. This girl named, Shōko Nishimiya, was a new student that was transferred to his class. What the class discovers on the first day is that Shōko is deaf and needs to use a hearing aid. Although she’s super nice to everyone, Shōko is targeted by a couple of bullies, mainly Shōya. When Shōko is finally transferred out of the class due to the kids destroying eight hearing aids, Shōya is blamed for all of the bullyings. This forces him into isolation because the kids in his class no longer want to associate with him. A couple of years later, he’s driven by a motivation to right his wrongs. He learns sign language and attempts to give Shōko her notebook back from elementary school. At first, she’s hesitant and even runs away, but they eventually start a friendship. However, the two still deal with demons of their own and because of that, the friendship suffers. It also doesn’t help that all their old elementary school friends start popping back up into their lives again.

This movie has a lot of heavy-handed themes. There are themes of acceptance, social isolation, regret, forgiveness, friendship, romance, and most importantly communication. I feel like the message of this film was good, but its execution was a bit bad. For starters, I feel like showing the audience the main characters as these despicable kids was a bad move. The beginning of this movie shows how Shōko was undeservingly punished for being disabled. I don’t think this type of behavior could be just chalked up to them just being kids. There’s got to be a deeper psychological issue that makes these kids less empathetic, especially since we see other kids treating her nicely and wanting to make her feel welcome. This specific group of kids does such heinous acts that I can’t believe it’s just because they’re kids who don’t understand. However, it’s never explained why they’re so much more malicious than the other kids. It’s just who they are. Then there’s this time jump to when Shōya and Shōko are grown up and Shōya is a completely different character. He’s shy and timid, rather than the loud troublemaker he used to be. He’s apologetic and wants to make amends, but it’s never clearly explained why. Sure, after Shōko transferred, he lost all of his friends. I don’t think this explains his sudden change of heart that well. The rest of the movie dragged on for the two-hour runtime because I didn’t empathize with Shōya throughout the whole film. The film never gave me a reason to care about him other than a forced change of character. Another problem I had was with the character, Naoka Ueno. She’s clearly a mirror for Shōya’s character arc because they start in the same place. They both bully Shōko, but where they differ is how they treat her when they’re older. While Shōya’s remorseful, Naoka doubles down on her old habits and goes back to bullying her. Naoka has not grown as a character. The problem is that it’s hard to tell why they think differently now. What in Shōya’s mind happened in order for him to act differently towards Shōko. Nothing that we’re shown on screen; that’s for sure. Finally, my main problem is this film’s lack of subtlety. I’m aware enough to know when a character feels alienated in film. Most people are too. There are also subtle visual tricks to help elevate this feeling without taking you out of the film. You can have everyone else wear a different color from the protagonist in order to achieve this effect. You can also blur them into the background or you can isolate characters with smart use of space on the frame. To its credit, this movie does that sometimes. There are shots where a single tree separates Shōya from other characters. The glaring issue was the big, fat X’s on everyone’s face. It comes in the middle of the movie and it took me out of the movie because it wasn’t previously established. It’s like the movie was screaming in my ear that Shōya was alone. This film wasn’t all bad though. It’s beautifully animated. There is some expert use of colors in a multitude of shots. The film isn’t afraid to have dynamic camera blocking because it understands that it was through the lens of a subjective perspective; mainly Shōya’s. The music is outstanding and really helps elevate certain moments. Finally, I admire this movie for trying to give a new perspective to an age-old story. Instead of following the bullied kid, it follows the psyche of the bully himself. It offers a unique perspective and really makes for unique storytelling. If this movie was shorter, made its characters more relatable, and was more subtle, I would’ve absolutely loved this movie.

★★★

Watched on December 10th, 2018

[sassyhazelowl]

Series thing a silent voice

Favorite character

Shōko Nishimiya. She’s just so strong and forgiving. Normally not the type of character I’d go for but your main characters should be the favorite. So kudos.

Second favorite character

Shōya Ishida. He’s the rotten little shit you can actually root for. And he’s very human.

Least favorite character

Naoka Ueno. She’s just not very likable and there’s a good reason for her X throughout most of the series.

The character I’m most like

Hmm. Superficially, I’d say I’m closest to Miki Kawai if you’re going from the flaw angle. 

Favorite pairing

None. Although I should see some future ships based off the manga ending.

Least favorite pairing

None.

Favorite moment

Mrs. Nishimiya slapping the shit out of Naoka. Because someone needed to. Normally I would not be into a grown woman slapping a teenager but it was satisfactory and marginally justifiable. 

Rating out of 10

manga 9.5/10 movie: have not seen yet

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[recentanimenews]

"A Silent Voice" English Dub Cast Listed

Anime Limited has big plans for their release of anime movie A Silent Voice (aka Koe no Katachi). IIn Edinburgh on Tuesday 17th October, it will be the World Premiere screening of the dub at the Filmhouse cinema as part of the Scotland Loves Anime Film Festival. Then home video releases hit the UK on October 30th. Preparing for this, they have announced the English dub cast. 

  Shoko in the English dub for A Silent Voice will be played by Lexi Cowden, an actual deaf actress working in LAhttps://t.co/5mVpGiHubF

— MrAJCosplay (@MrAJCosplay) September 27, 2017

Details on UK Home Video release of ’A Silent Voice’ + English cast announcement!https://t.co/pVoviikkTI http://pic.twitter.com/v21VF48kCa

— All The Anime (@AllTheAnime) September 26, 2017

  ABOUT A SILENT VOICE

Synopsis: “Shoya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shoko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shoya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shoko and Shoya do not speak to each other again… until an older, wiser Shoya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shoko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late…?”

  ENGLISH DUB CAST

One of the things we’re most excited about with our release of A Silent Voice is the fact that we have dubbed the film into English produced by NYAV Post (Your Name, Napping Princess, A Letter To Momo) so that the many fans who couldn’t or weren’t able to experience the film at the time due it only being available in Japanese with subtitles will now be able to enjoy it again and again.

Today we can also reveal the complete English cast list –

  A Silent Voice – English cast list CharacterActor Shoya Ishida Robbie Daymond Shoya Ishida (in year 6 at school) Ryan Shanahan Shoko Nishimiya Lexi Cowden Naoka Ueno Kira Buckland Naoka Ueno (in year 6 at school) Gia Grace Miki Kawai Amber Lee Connors Miki Kawai (in year 6 at school) Annabelle Corigliano Miyoko Sahara Melissa Hope Mikoko Sahara (in year 6 at school) Catie Harvey Hirose (in year 6 at school) Brian Bekerle Kazuki Shimada Michael Sinterniklaas Kazuki Shimada (in year 6 at school) Spencer Rosen     Yuzuru Nishimiya Kristen Sullivan Yaeko Nishimiya Lipica Shah Ito Nishimiya Janis Carol Miyoko Ishida Sara Cravens Nagatsuka Graham Halstead     Satoshi Mashiba Max Mittelman Maria AnnaBelle Deaner     Additional Voices Christine Marie Cabanos   Marc Diraison   Amanda Winn Lee   Michael Schneider   Michael Sinterniklaas   Stephanie Sheh   Michael Sorich

    Director: Stephanie Sheh

Additional directing by: Amanda Winn Lee, Michael Sinterniklaas

Spotting: Clark Cheng

Casting director: Stephanie Sheh

Additional writing: Amanda Winn Lee, Clark Cheng

Consultant: Amanda Winn Lee

    DETAILS ON THE UK HOME VIDEO RELEASE

In total there will be three versions available (plus a special bundle that will be exclusive to AllTheAnime.com; 

Ltd Collector’s Edition Blu-ray+DVD set

Standard Blu-ray

Standard DVD

  Contents of the Ltd Collector’s Edition Version – 

Ltd Collector’s Ed.

This will come packed in a rigid case with a digipack to hold the Blu-ray and DVD discs. Also included is 76 page book that includes –

An introduction about A Silent Voice

Character profiles

Gallery

Storyboards

Plus we have articles included analysing A Silent Voice written by Andrew Osmond (author of 100 Japanese Animated Feature Films) and Jonathan Clements (author of Anime: A History)

  AllTheAnime.com Exclusive ‘A Silent Voice’ Bundle –

We know a lot of you love the visuals around the film and that you would like to be able to have some of the theatrical style posters as seen in cinemas. There’s been a lot of work behind-the-scenes to see if this would be possible and we’re happy to say we are able to offer special bundle that will be exclusive to our AllTheAnime.com web shop (while stock lasts) where you will receive the Ltd Collector’s Edition set AND also get two A3 posters!

AllTheAnime.com Exclusive Bundle – while stock lasts

The posters are not signed off (at time of writing) which is why they’re appearing as TBC in the image above, but to give you a hint as to what we’re hoping for here, one would (hopefully) be in similar style to our theatrical poster as seen in cinemas around the time of our theatrical release earlier this year, and the other (also hopefully) will be utilising certain imagery that’s featured in the Japanese home video release, that we were not able to include in our home video release.

The bundle is simply our Ltd Collector’s Edition version along with the two posters. The posters will be shipped separately in a poster tube in November 2017; the release date of the product itself is 30th October. The reason they will be shipped later is simply due to production time.

  WHAT’S ON THE DISCS?

The contents on the discs themselves are all identical. So no matter which version you purchase you it will include the following –

The main feature “A Silent Voice” in both English and Japanese with English subtitles

Audio: English 5.1, English Stereo, Japanese 5.1, Japanese Stereo

Subtitles: Dialogue+Signs & Songs (this is the subtitle setting to accompany the Japanese audio), Song & Signs only, Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

On-disc extras are as follows

Music Video: “Koi wo Shita no wa” by AKIO

Music Video: “Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)” by Speed of Youth

Trailer and TV Spots

UK TV Spot (NOTE: this is a shorter version of our theatrical trailer)

Real-Life Locations

Interview with Director Naoko Yamada

Interview with Character Designer Futoshi Nishiya

Interview with Art Director Mutsuo Shinohara

Interview with Music Composer Kensuke Ushio

 Distributor Eleven Arts has announced an October 20th date for the US screenings of anime movie  A Silent Voice. 

  ------ Follow on Twitter at @aicnanime

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com