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Khris Thammavong

Brenda McKenna

Writing 1010

29 January 2019

A Silent Voice: Movie Review

Koe no Katachi, also known as A Silent Voice or The Shape of Voice, is a 2016 Japanese

animated film produced by Kyoto Animation and based off of a manga of the same name. It tells

a story of Shōya Ishida, a bully on the path of redemption. He, along with some of his

classmates, bully the new student Shōko Nishimiya, a girl with a hearing disability. However,

once the principal got news of this, Shōya was singled out as the sole culprit and was betrayed by

his classmates; the bullying also turned onto him. In high school, he is a social reject and accepts

his past as his punishment. He decides to visit Shōko in the hopes of making amends and he

makes friends along the way. A Silent Voice has viewers go on an emotional journey using its

carefully crafted soundtrack, amazing characterization, and its underlying symbolism and

themes. However, reviewer Jake Wilson claims that the characters are generic and the movie

does not have enough emotional impact, but he does admit the animation is phenomenal.

Sound and Music:

The soundtrack in this movie consists of mainly instrumental music, with the primary

instrument being the piano. The soundtrack isn’t too overpowering at points where it doesn’t

need to be but is also a huge contributor to what makes some scenes very emotional. Most of the

music is very subtle, but there are some tracks that leave such an impact that it leaves an impulse

to listen to it again after the movie is over. Two of the tracks I’d like to talk about are SLT and

LIT. SLT is a very dramatic sounding track that really makes the listener feel the suspense of the
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situation. The tension is amplified when the violins kick in as the music gets more intense and

grows slightly louder. In the scene this is used in, the audience is left clenching their seats,

anticipating what is going to happen next. The song ends with a calm and bold piano solo, easing

the tension the song built up. LIT, in contrast, is a very calm yet passionate song that feels

nostalgic somehow. It starts off calm and peaceful and explodes into raw emotion without

making it too overpowering. This song plays at the very end of the movie and the first time I

watched it, I cried. I believe the soundtrack was a key factor in making me feel that way. The

usage of music isn’t the only thing the movie does right, it also knows when to stop the music. In

some of the tensest scenes, the music and sound cut out entirely, giving the feeling of

speechlessness.

Characterization:

One of the main things that really makes this film emotional is the amazing character

development. The character development of Shōya is the most impressive in my opinion. It’s

hard for the audience to like him at first because of the bullying that is shown at the start of the

movie. I’ll even admit that I hated him at the start. However, as I went further into the movie, I

started to like his character more and more. I grew to like him so much that I was very emotional

at the end of the movie. Self-blame and guilt are a prominent subject in this film and is also a

vital part of a lot of the characters’ characterization and most prominently shown in Shōya and

Shōko. This movie also doesn’t make all the characters perfect; they have their faults. There are

also some characters that fill in some character tropes e.g. Nagatsuka filling in a comedic relief

character. However, the movie doesn’t abuse these trope, but rather uses them as a baseline and

adds personality on top. Shōya points out the faults of almost every character after a fight on the

bridge, calling out everyone (with the exception of Shōko) for who they really are. This scene
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was really important for seeing Shōya’s true thoughts about everyone and the fact that he didn’t

call out Shōko shows that he was either too afraid to say something about her, said nothing out of

guilt, or just straight up had nothing to say about her because there was nothing to say. However,

almost all the characters have some kind of growth. The one character that I think is the

exception is Miki Kawai. I feel like her character was completely fake and I found her to be my

least favorite character in the whole movie. I feel this way because I believe throughout the

whole movie she has the least change in personality. Going back to self-blame and guilt, I don’t

think she shows an ounce of either of those during the movie. She plays as the victim when times

get tough and tries to act like a good friend when things get better. Even Naoka Ueno, the

character who continued to hate Shōko throughout the movie, seems to have a change of heart

and even attempts to learn sign language by the end of the movie. Despite this, I still think Kawai

was an important character in the movie and I still think her characterization was well done

because the character was able to make me feel something about them, even if it was negative.

Themes and Symbolism:

Another thing the movie does well is its use of symbolism and themes. One of the

recurring things that show up in the movie is koi fish. Koi fish in Japanese culture is usually

associated with good luck and fortune. However, they can also represent perseverance in

adversity. I think this symbolizes Shōya’s perseverance through his journey of redemption and

overcoming his past. Another thing that shows up often is the act of jumping off a bridge into a

river; it happens many times throughout the movie. It can represent the act of suicide as that’s a

recurring theme in this movie, but it can also represent taking a leap of faith. Two of the main

characters attempt suicide in this movie and this could just be another way of subtly hinting at

that. However, it can also represent taking a leap of faith and challenging himself to overcome
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his past and achieve forgiveness. A small little detail that I thought was enjoyable is that Shōya

covers his ears near the start of the movie when he starts getting social anxiety and uncovers

them at the end of the movie after he has overcome it with the help of his friends. I feel like that

was a nice way of showing his growth. Another, representation of his social anxiety is the x’s on

almost everyone’s faces. It visually shows how he can’t look people in the eye and what it might

feel like. The x’s fall off the face when he trusts the person enough and can look them in the eye.

However, they can reappear, as it was in the case of Ueno when he felt betrayed by her. By the

end of the movie, where he achieves his redemption, all of the x’s fall off and he can look at

people’s faces again.

Synthesis:

Jake Wilson’s review on A Silent Voice, in contrast to mine, is fairly negative. He does

praise the visual design of the movie though, and says that the movie is “a film about looking,

and certainly one that gives a degree of visual pleasure.” Although I do agree that the animation

is amazing, I don’t believe that it is the main point of the movie. I feel like the animation is not

supposed to be the main focus, but rather there to complement the movie as a whole. He also

describes the characters as sketchy and generic. As mentioned before, I do understand some of

the characters follow common character tropes, but to call these characters generic is far too

harsh. I also understand that a few of the side characters were less developed than others, but it’s

already hard enough to fit the character development the movie already had into the timeframe of

two hours. There had to be some sacrifices in development in order to make the movie as

impactful as it is. The point he makes that I have the biggest problem with is that he claims the

movie is “lacking in the emotional force that is its supposed reason for being.” I disagree with

this statement, with every fiber of my being. A Silent Voice is one of the most emotional films
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that I have ever seen in my life. The main character goes through so much growth throughout the

movie that it feels as if the audience has gone through it personally.

Conclusion:

Overall, A Silent Voice is an emotional masterpiece that tugs on the hearts of the audience

using its likable characters that the audience gets attached to. Combined with the soundtrack that

amplifies the emotion of every scene as well as the subtle symbolism and themes, this movie is a

beautiful experience. I couldn’t recommend it any more than I already have.

(If you haven’t watched it yet, it should be in theaters around this time)
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Works Cited:

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/a-silent-voice-review-manga-adaptation-lacks-

emotional-force-20170405-gve5wh.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Silent_Voice_(film)

http://blogs.evergreen.edu/daysmore/japanese-symbolism/