A Silent Voice: The Movie (Japanese: ?? ???, Hepburn: Eiga Koe no Katachi, also translated as The Shape of Voice: The Movie) is a 2016 Japanese animated teen drama film produced by Kyoto Animation, directed by Naoko Yamada and written by Reiko Yoshida, featuring character designs by Futoshi Nishiya and music by Kensuke Ushio. It is based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Yoshitoki ?ima. The film premiered in Japan on September 17, 2016 and worldwide between February and June 2017.
Video A Silent Voice (film)
Plot
Sh?ya Ishida sets his affairs in order and walks to a bridge, intending to commit suicide. Coming to his senses at the last minute, he hears fireworks as he recalls his days in elementary school and the events that have led him to this point in his life.
In those days, Sh?ya was an indifferent child, one who viewed his fellow students as a way of staving off his boredom. The entry of a new student named Sh?ko Nishimiya into his class piques his interest when she informs the class that she is deaf. In spite of her disability, she tries her best to live normally and integrate with the class. However, the other students and the teacher come to believe her presence is upsetting the social balance, and Sh?ya begins to bully her; fellow classmate Naoka does the same.
When word of the bullying reaches the principal, Sh?ya is singled out as the culprit. He names his friends as accomplices, but they turn on him, denying their involvement. Soon, the class's bullying is directed toward him, subjecting him to the same treatment he gave to Sh?ko. Sh?ya blames Sh?ko and the two fight after he finds her doing something to his desk. She is subsequently transferred to another school, and he discovers that she was erasing hateful messages his classmates left in chalk on his desk. Sh?ya finds himself alone, relegated to the role of a tormented outcast. After being thrown in a pond by his classmates, he finds Sh?ko's notebook.
Now in high school, Sh?ya remains a social reject, having grown to accept his past as punishment. Full of guilt and anxiety, he blocks out the faces of those around him, unable to look them in the eye. Despite his isolation, Tomohiro Nagatsuka, another loner, befriends him and quickly comes to consider him his best friend. Sh?ya visits the sign language center to return Sh?ko's once-waterlogged notebook in the hopes of making amends. The two begin meeting at a bridge to feed bread to koi.
Yuzuru, Sh?ko's younger sister, strongly doubts Sh?ya's intentions. One day, Sh?ya jumps into a river after Sh?ko does the same to retrieve a notebook, which happens to be prohibited. Yuzuru secretly takes a photo of Sh?ya jumping in, and posts it online. Sh?ya is suspended for the act, and Yuzuru reveals that she was responsible; instead of getting angry, Sh?ya brings her to stay at his house. When she leaves in the middle of the night, Sh?ya follows and tells her that he is genuinely remorseful for the way he treated Sh?ko.
Sh?ko soon gives Sh?ya a gift and confesses her feelings for him, but because she tries to speak her affections rather than signing it out, Sh?ya does not understand her. Worried that the misunderstanding upset her, Sh?ya invites her to go to an amusement park with him and his group of classmates. There, Naoka finally voices her feelings of hatred in secret to Sh?ko. In class, desperate to remain blameless for Sh?ko's bullying, Miki Kawai, another former classmate, exposes Sh?ya's past to the remaining students who were still oblivious to it, while downplaying her own involvement. The group has a heated confrontation about each member's level of responsibility, ending with Sh?ya callously calling out every one of them for who they really are.
To cheer Sh?ko up after her grandmother's death, Sh?ya takes her to the countryside, where he begins to understand how much she blames herself for everything that has happened to him. Desperate to reassure and change her mindset, Sh?ya contrives to regularly meet with the sisters.
During the fireworks festival, Sh?ko goes home under the guise of finishing some schoolwork. Sh?ya follows when Yuzuru asks him to get her camera. When he arrives, he finds Sh?ko standing on the balcony, on the verge of throwing herself to her death. Sh?ya succeeds in grabbing her and pulls her back up, but he falls over the side into the river and slips into a coma.
One night, Sh?ko dreams of receiving a farewell visit from Sh?ya. Horrified, she runs to the bridge where they fed the koi and collapses in tears. Sh?ya, awakening from his coma in a state of panic, stumbles to the bridge himself and finds her there, huddled in despair. He formally apologizes to her for the way he treated her, and for the many things he did which may have caused her to hate herself. He asks her to stop blaming herself, and also admits that, while he once considered giving up himself and ending his own life, he has since decided against it. Sh?ya then asks her to help him continue to live.
When Sh?ya goes to the school festival with Sh?ko, he finds out how much his friends from elementary school still care for him and all of them are reconciled. Afterwards, Sh?ya requests them that the group should go to the school festival together. During the festival, Sh?ya finally overcomes his past mistakes and is finally able look at other people's faces, as he cries and realizes that he has found redemption and forgiveness at last.
Maps A Silent Voice (film)
Voice cast
- Sh?ya Ishida (????, Ishida Sh?ya)
- Voiced by: Miyu Irino, Mayu Matsuoka (child) (Japanese); Robbie Daymond, Ryan Shanahan (child) (English)
- A high school boy who bullied Sh?ko in elementary school along with his friends, who turned on him when he attempted to reveal their roles. Now a social outcast, he strives to make amends with Sh?ko.
- Sh?ko Nishimiya (????, Nishimiya Sh?ko)
- Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese); Lexi Cowden (English)
- A deaf girl who transferred to Sh?ya's elementary school, where she was the victim of constant harassment by Sh?ya and her classmates, forcing her to transfer again. Now in high school, she visits the sign language center with her sister Yuzuru.
- Yuzuru Nishimiya (????, Nishimiya Yuzuru)
- Voiced by: Aoi Y?ki (Japanese); Kristen Sullivan (English)
- Sh?ko's younger sister who is skeptical of Sh?ya's attempts to meet Sh?ko. Due to her boyish look, Sh?ya initially assumes she is dating Sh?ko, a lie she continues until she reveals herself. She regularly takes photos of dead creatures to show Sh?ko the morbid reality of death.
- Tomohiro Nagatsuka (????, Nagatsuka Tomohiro)
- Voiced by: Kensh? Ono (Japanese); Graham Halstead (English)
- A rotund high school boy who befriends Sh?ya after he prevents his bike from being stolen. Tomohiro is defensive toward Sh?ya, often confronting others involved with him.
- Naoka Ueno (????, Ueno Naoka)
- Voiced by: Y?ki Kaneko (Japanese); Kira Buckland, Gia Grace (child) (English)
- Sh?ya's elementary school classmate who joined him in bullying Sh?ko. In the present, she works at a café. Although she is apologetic for her actions toward Sh?ya, she remains antagonistic toward Sh?ko, blaming her for what has happened.
- Miyoko Sahara (?????, Sahara Miyoko)
- Voiced by: Yui Ishikawa (Japanese); Melissa Hope, Catie Harvey (child) (English)
- The lone classmate in Sh?ko's elementary school who was friendly to her; the two reunite years later.
- Miki Kawai (????, Kawai Miki)
- Voiced by: Megumi Han (Japanese); Amber Lee Connors, Annabelle Corigliano (child) (English)
- A classmate of Sh?ya's from elementary to high school; she vehemently denies her involvement in Sh?ko's bullying.
- Satoshi Mashiba (?? ?, Mashiba Satoshi)
- Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Japanese); Max Mittelman (English)
- A high school boy who befriends Sh?ya.
- Kazuki Shimada (????, Shimada Kazuki)
- Voiced by: Ryo Nishitani, Sachiko Kojima (child) (Japanese); Michael Sinterniklaas, Spencer Rosen (child) (English)
- Sh?ya's elementary school friend and accomplice in bullying Sh?ko. After Sh?ya attempted to expose his role in harassing her, he led his former friends in bullying Sh?ya in response. He currently works at an amusement park.
- Keisuke Hirose (????, Hirose Keisuke)
- Voiced by: Takuya Masumoto, Hana Takeda (child) (Japanese); Brian Beckerle (child) (English)
- One of Sh?ya's friends in elementary school who later turned on him alongside Kazuki.
- Takeuchi (??)
- Voiced by: Fuminori Komatsu (Japanese); Marc Diraison (English)
- Sh?ya's teacher in elementary school. Although he opposed Sh?ya's harassment of Sh?ko, he made no effort in intervening until the principal confronted the classroom.
- Miyako Ishida (?????, Ishida Miyako)
- Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese); Sara Cravens (English)
- Sh?ya's mother who runs a hair salon.
- Yaeko Nishimiya (?????, Nishimiya Yaeko)
- Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese); Lipica Shah (English)
- Sh?ko and Yuzuru's mother, she disapproves of her daughters meeting Sh?ya and demands them to stop, though they refuse.
- Sh?ya's Older Sister (????, Sh?ya no Ane)
- Voiced by: Ayano Hamaguchi (Japanese); Stephanie Sheh (English)
- Maria's mother and Pedro's spouse.
- Maria (???, Maria)
- Voiced by: Erena Kamata (Japanese); AnnaBelle Deaner (English)
- Sh?ya's niece and the daughter of his older sister and Pedro.
- Ito Nishimiya (????, Nishimiya Ito)
- Voiced by: Ikuko Tani (Japanese); Barbara Goodson (English)
- Sh?ko and Yuzuru's grandmother, who lives with the family and bought Yuzuru her first camera.
- Pedro (???, Pedoro)
- Voiced by: Ryunosuke Watanuki (Japanese); Chris Jai Alex (English)
- Maria's father.
Production
The anime adaptation of the manga was announced in the manga's final chapter that released on November 19, 2014, later specifying that the adaptation will be an anime theatrical film on December 17, 2014. In the Weekly Sh?nen Magazine's 46th issue of 2015 that released on October 14, 2015, Kyoto Animation and Naoko Yamada were announced to be the animation studio and director of the film adaptation, respectively. The film's distributor, Shochiku, listed the adaptation releasing in Q4 2016. On April 8, 2016, the film adaptation's official website opened, announcing that Reiko Yoshida will be writing the scripts for the film, Futoshi Nishiya will be designing the characters and the film is scheduled for release in Japanese theaters on September 17, 2016. Kensuke Ushio and Pony Canyon composed and produced the music, respectively. The film's theme song, titled "Koi wo Shita no wa" (??????), was performed by Aiko, while "My Generation" by The Who was used during the opening credit.
For the English dub, deaf actress Lexi Cowden was cast as Shoko.
Release
The film premiered in 120 theaters across Japan on September 17, 2016. It was screened at the 2016 Scotland Loves Animation festival on October 22, 2016, and at the ICA in London on February 5, 2017. Anime Limited distributed and released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 15, 2017. Purple Plan released the film in Singapore and Malaysia on March 9, 2017. Madman Entertainment released the film for a limited duration in Australia and New Zealand from April 9, 2017 and April 16, 2017, respectively. In 2017, Konnichiwa Festival will be releasing the movie in theaters in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Peru, for a limited time in May, while in countries like Argentina and Uruguay, the film will be released by Anifest having a theatrical release in June. Pioneer Films released the movie in the Philippines on May 10, 2017 nationwide. The film had a screening at Anime Expo on July 3, 2017, where it was announced that the film will have a limited release in U.S. theaters in October 20, 2017. The Blu-ray home video release volume was released in Japan on May 17, 2017, which contains two animated videos of the film's theme song and "Speed of Youth", one of the original soundtracks by composer Kensuke Ushio.
Reception
Box office
The film opened at #2 at the Japanese box office behind Makoto Shinkai's Your Name, and grossed a total of ¥283 million from 200,000 admissions within two days of its premiere across 120 theaters. As of November 30, 2016, the film has grossed a total of over ¥2.2 billion from 1.7 million admissions. It ranked at #16 on Nikkei Hit Ranking for 2016 from East division. It was the 19th highest-grossing film in Japan in 2016 and also the 10th highest-grossing Japanese film of the year in the country (tied with Death Note: Light Up the New World), with ¥2.3 billion (US$19.56 million). A Silent Voice earned $19.56 million in Japan and $2,936,334 in other territories for a worldwide total of over $22 million. It has grossed CN¥43.4 million in China.
Critical reception
Makoto Shinkai, director of Your Name, called the film a "fantastic piece of work" and a "polished and grand production" which even he is unable to replicate. It won Best Animation of the Year in the 26th Japan Movie Critics Awards, where director Naoko Yamada also received praise for her work on the film. At 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the film was selected as one of the nine feature films in competition.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As beautifully crafted as it is powerfully written, A Silent Voice looks at teen bullying from a soberingly hard-hitting perspective that's uncommon for the animated medium." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Accolades
See also
- List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing
References
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- A Silent Voice (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- A Silent Voice on IMDb
- A Silent Voice at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of article : Wikipedia
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