This is an anime movie that's been on my list for a while but took me forever to get around to.
2016's A SILENT VOICE is about a Japanese high-school boy Shoya who sets out to make up for past wrongs by befriending the deaf classmate, a girl named Shoka, he severely bullied in elementary school.
I watched the English dubbed version on Netflix which I know can be a bit of a faux pas when it comes to anime--you're supposed to read the manga and watch the anime, you're supposed to watch the English/[your native language version here] and the original Japanese version ... but I didn't.
Maybe I will in the future.
The animation was okay but there wasn't really any moments that really awed or impressed me like WEATHERING WITH YOU or some of Studio Ghibli's stuff. I'm not an expert on that stuff though so take that with a grain of salt or however the saying goes.
While it didn't immediately hook me like other anime movies and TV series, about halfway through the movie started to grow on me a little and definitely hit me with a small emotional gut-poke at the end.
But therein lies my complaint about this movie, it took a while to draw me in. There's definitely some traumatic bullying in the beginning but I couldn't really fully empathize the characters until spending at least twenty or thirty more minutes with them. Perhaps that's due to all the TV series I've been watching, so I expect to have more time and to not be immediately won over by the various fabricated personalities.
It's his motivation. I kept imagining the movie pausing and Shoya looking into the camera and complaining to the director, "Why am I doing this? What's my motivation? Am I trying to impress the purple-eyed girl? Why do I like the purple-eyed girl? Why is she so obsessed with me later in the movie, despite not seeing me for five years? Why is there so much emphasis on legs in this film? Is it some kind of motif about standing up for yourself, standing up for others?"
The other issue I had with him is his change of heart--he goes from throwing Shoko's schoolbook in a pond to ending up in the pond himself and him becoming the bullied kid. The film gradually explains this later but the overall pacing of the entire thing was quite strenuous. Thankfully I sat through it and received a decent emotional stirring at the end but I don't know if I would've managed if I hadn't been adamantly searching for highlights from this popular anime film.
Ugh and don't get me started on Shoko -- It's not like I demand for a disabled female character to be some sort of almighty feminist mary-sue ... but she's basically a mime.
Other than being really quiet and apparently [SPOILERS] suicidal, there doesn't seem to be much to her character until the end.
The irony struck me as odd, the movie's about the lack of voice a disabled person has, especially in the face of an abusive local culture or society, and yet 99% ... okay maybe 95% of the movie ... is her change-of-heart bully's introspection and monologues--I mean for Christ's sake, that seriously sure is one hell of a Silent Voice, right?
I mean, let the girl talk.
The strongest parts of the movie are when they allow this Shoko's silent voice to finally be heard but when they do I couldn't help but think this movie focuses on everyone else but her.
But overall I liked the film.
Why?
The first half is meh or but the last half of the second half was pretty chef's kiss I do say so myself ... but I am surprised this film has an 8.1 out of 10 on IMDB. It covers some serious topics: disabilities, bullying, suicide. I was even wondering if they were going to do some sort of twist reveal that the main guy had some kind of intellectual disability but ... nope.
If I was being generous maybe I'd give A SILENT VOICE a seven but the first half of the movie's such am ill-paced jumble I feel like a six and a half out of ten's more appropriate.
IMDB has SPIRITED AWAY, which I consider a masterpiece, an 8.6 out of ten. The very thought that Studio Ghibli's SPIRITED AWAY is only 0.5 points better than SILENT VOICE is very difficult to believe.
This movie did get me in the end though. It was like watching someone fumble the ball the entire game and then score a 100 points at the end, not exactly how it's supposed to go but they somehow scored in the end.
So, to be fair, my final grade will be:
If you're interested in more reviews, here's a list of other movies I've written about:
Movie Review for 2020's "The Night House"
Movie Review for 2021's "Hellbender"
Movie Review for 2022's "Chainsaw Massacre"
Movie Review for 2014's "Mama"
Movie Review for 2021's "Cursed"
Movie Review for 2021's "Master"
Movie Review for 2022's "The Batman"
Movie Review for 2021's "Stillwater"