A Silent Voice (Japanese: è²ã®å½¢Hepburn: Koe no Katachi, literally 'The Shape of the Voice') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Åima. The series was originally published as a one-shot in the February 2011 issue of Bessatsu ShÅnen Magazine and later began a full serialization in Weekly ShÅnen Magazine in August 2013. The manga ended its run on November 19, 2014. It was published in seven tankÅbon volumes by Kodansha in Japan. The manga received a digital release by Crunchyroll Manga and was licensed by Kodansha USA for a printed English release. An anime theatrical film adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation was released on September 17, 2016.
Koe No Katachi
Plot[edit]
The story revolves around Shoya Ishida, a former delinquent who bullied Shoko Nishimiya, his deaf classmate, alongside his friends back when he was in elementary school. When Nishimiya transferred, all of his friends and teachers turned against him, making him isolated well into high school to the point that he decides that there is no point in having friends. Having no plans for the future, Ishida even contemplates on committing suicide until he suddenly reunites with Nishimiya, who is still lonely due to her shyness. Realizing that both are suffering due to his past sins, Ishida sets out on a path of redemption by trying to reconnect Nishimiya with their old classmates that Nishimiya never had the chance to befriend back then, including Ishida's former comrade, Naoka Ueno, who holds a grudge against Nishimiya for 'causing' Ishida's isolation; Miki Kawai, their narcissistic former class president; and Miyoko Sahara, a kind girl who was the only one attempting to befriend Nishimiya years before. They also make new friends in Tomohiro Nagatsuka, a similarly friendless fat boy who owes Ishida when his bike was stolen; and Satoshi Mashiba, Kawai's crush.
The seven begin to work together when Nagatsuka's plan to create a film for a competition, which he plans to only include Ishida and himself, attracts the attention of Ueno, Kawai, Sahara, and Mashiba, with Ishida, additionally inviting Nishimiya to join the project. Throughout the filming, the seven face their personal challenges and conflicts. They also have a falling out when Ishida tries to isolate himself again by insulting the crew, leading to Nishimiya's attempted suicide as she feels that all of the problems are caused by her. Ishida's successful action to prevent the suicide gravely injures him; this impacts the other six as they start to resolve their problems while suspending the project until he awakens. Once he recovers, Ishida reconciles with his film crew and finally completes the film, which, while a failure, has greatly helped him and his friends.
A year after their high school graduation and their subsequent parting ways, the seven reunite for the Coming of Age Day. By then, Ishida has stopped ignoring the people around him and now has a lot of friends.[2] At the end of the Age Day, Ishida and Nishimiya are seen going into their elementary school reunion together, hand in hand.
Characters[edit]
Media[edit]Manga[edit]
A Silent Voice began as a manga written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Åima and was originally published as a one-shot in the February 2011 issue of Bessatsu ShÅnen Magazine.[3][4] It was later turned into a full manga series and began serialization in the combined 36-37th issue of Weekly ShÅnen Magazine, released on August 7, 2013,[5] and ended its run on the 51st issue of the magazine on November 19, 2014.[3] The series was compiled into seven tankÅbon volumes which were published by Kodansha in Japan between November 15, 2013,[6] and December 17, 2014.[4]Kodansha USA licensed the series for an English release in North America with the first volume being released in Q2 2015 and with subsequent volumes released every two months following.[7]Crunchyroll Manga had earlier obtained the series for a digital English release.[8] Kodansha Comics collected all seven volumes into a box set containing a poster and a replica of ShÅko's notebook from the series, and released it on December 19, 2017.[9]
Volume list[edit]
Film[edit]
The final chapter of the manga, published in the 51st issue of Weekly ShÅnen Magazine in 2014, announced that an anime project for the series was in its planning stages.[3][4] The seventh volume of the manga revealed that the project would be a theatrical film.[16] It was later revealed in early October 2015 that Kyoto Animation would be producing an anime film based on the series, directed by Naoko Yamada and distributed by Shochiku.[17] It was announced on the adaptation's official website that Reiko Yoshida is writing the film's scripts, Futoshi Nishiya is designing the characters. The film was released in Japan on September 17, 2016.[18]
The English language adaptation features a deaf voice actress named Lexi Cowden playing the lead character.[19]
Reception[edit]
The first tankobon volume sold 31,714 copies within the first week of release, ranking number 19 on the Oricon manga chart.[20] Its second volume ranked 12 selling 60,975 in its first week.[21] As of March 2014, the tankobon volumes sold 700,000 copies in Japan.[8] In France, A Silent Voice sold 131,000 copies in 2015[22] and 85,000 copies in 2016,[23] adding up to 216,000 copies sold in France as of 2016.
Awards and nominations[edit]
A Silent Voice received an award for 'Best Rookie Manga' in 2008.[24] The vector of the content made it difficult for publication on any manga magazine until it was picked up after months of legal dispute by the February edition of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine, where it won first place. Due to the subject matter, the serialization has been reviewed and supported by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf.[25] It was nominated for the 8th Manga TaishÅ.[26]
In February 2015, Asahi Shimbun announced that A Silent Voice was one of nine nominees for the nineteenth annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.[27] The manga went on to win the New Creator Prize.[28] In April 2016, it was announced that A Silent Voice was nominated for the Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia award in the 2016 Eisner Awards.[29]
Otaku Desu Koe No Katachi 2References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Silent_Voice_(manga)&oldid=904659777'
A Silent Voice: The Movie (Japanese: æ ç» è²ã®å½¢Hepburn: Eiga Koe no Katachi, also translated as The Shape of Voice: The Movie) is a 2016 Japanese animatedteendrama 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.[3] It is based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Åima. The film premiered in Japan on September 17, 2016 and worldwide between February and June 2017.
Plot[edit]
Japanese teenager ShÅya 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, ShÅya 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 ShÅko Nishimiya into his class piques his interest when she informs the class that she is deaf. She tries her best to live normally and integrate with the class. However, ShÅya and Naoka Ueno found her to be extremely irritating with her communication notebook and they start to bully her viciously. ShÅya often plays with her hearing aids and throws them away while Ueno would talk behind Nishimiya's back.
When word of the bullying reaches the principal, ShÅya 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 ShÅko. ShÅya blames ShÅko and the two get into a physical altercation 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. ShÅya finds himself alone, relegated to the role of a tormented outcast. After being thrown in a pond by his classmates, he finds ShÅko's notebook and kept it.
Now in high school, ShÅya 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. ShÅya visits the sign language center to return ShÅko's once-waterlogged notebook in the hopes of making amends. The two begin meeting at a bridge to feed bread to koi.
Yuzuru, ShÅko's younger sister, strongly doubts ShÅya's intentions. One day, ShÅya jumps into a river after ShÅko does the same to retrieve the notebook they both dropped, which happens to be prohibited. Yuzuru secretly takes a photo of ShÅya jumping in, and posts it online. ShÅya is suspended for the act. Yuzuru reveals that she was responsible, first to ShÅko who yelled at her and Yuzuru ran away for the night. Instead of getting angry, ShÅya brings her to stay at his house. When she leaves in the middle of the night, ShÅya follows and tells her that he is genuinely remorseful for the way he treated ShÅko. The sisters' mother, Yaeko, however, is still very resentful and slaps ShÅya's face before bringing Yuzuru inside.
ShÅko soon gives ShÅya a gift and confesses her feelings for him, but because she tries to verbally communicate her affections rather than signing it out, ShÅya does not understand her. Worried that the misunderstanding upset her, ShÅya invites her to go to an amusement park with him and his group of classmates with Yuzuru's encouragement. There, Naoka tries to reconnect ShÅya with an old friend who shrugs him off, but he is intimidated and tells her that he isn't interested. In revenge, Naoka drags ShÅko into a ferris wheel but not before Yuzuru hands her the camera with the recording on. She finally voices her feelings of hatred in secret to ShÅko, which Yuzuru later shows to ShÅya. In class, desperate to remain blameless for ShÅko's bullying, Miki Kawai, another former classmate, exposes ShÅya'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 at the koi bridge, ending with ShÅya calling out every one of them for who they really are. Afterwards, he asks ShÅko if she wants to go to a 'special place' during summer vacation.
ShÅya goes back to the bridge to meet ShÅko but ends up seeing Yuzuru whose grandmother had just passed recently. To cheer ShÅko up after her grandmother's death, ShÅya 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, ShÅya contrives to regularly meet with the sisters.
During the fireworks festival, ShÅko goes home under the guise of finishing some schoolwork. ShÅya follows when Yuzuru asks him to get her camera. When he arrives, he finds ShÅko standing on the balcony, on the verge of throwing herself to her death. ShÅya succeeds in grabbing her and pulls her back up, but he falls over the side into the river and slips into a coma. Yaeko and Yuzuru beg for forgiveness from ShÅya's mother. Then ShÅko and Yaeko become victims of Ueno's wrath when she heard of the news. To atone for this guilt, ShÅko comes to see Ueno and ShÅya every night at the hospital.
One night, ShÅko dreams of receiving a farewell visit from ShÅya. Horrified, she runs to the bridge where they fed the koi and collapses in tears. ShÅya, 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. ShÅya then asks her to help him continue to live.
When ShÅya goes to the school festival with ShÅko, he finds out how much his friends from elementary school still care for him and all of them are reconciled. Afterwards, ShÅya requests them that the group should go to the school festival together. During the festival, ShÅya finally overcomes his past mistakes and is finally able to look at other people's faces, as he cries and realizes that he has obtained redemption and found forgiveness at last.
Voice cast[edit]
Production[edit]
The anime adaptation of the manga was announced in the manga's final chapter that released on November 19, 2014,[7] later specifying that the adaptation will be an anime theatrical film on December 17, 2014.[8] In the Weekly ShÅnen 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.[9] The film's distributor, Shochiku, listed the adaptation releasing in Q4 2016.[10] On April 8, 2016, the film adaptation's official website opened, announcing that Reiko Yoshida would write the scripts for the film, Futoshi Nishiya would designed the characters and the film was scheduled for release in Japanese theaters on September 17, 2016.[11] Kensuke Ushio and Pony Canyon composed and produced the music, respectively.[4] The film's theme song, titled 'Koi wo Shita no wa' (æãããã®ã¯), was performed by Aiko, while 'My Generation' by The Who was used during the opening credit.[12][13]
For the English dub, deaf actress Lexi Cowden was cast as Shoko.[14]
Release[edit]
The film premiered in 120 theaters across Japan on September 17, 2016.[11][15] It was screened at the 2016 Scotland Loves Animation festival on October 22, 2016,[16] and at the ICA in London on February 5, 2017.[17]Anime Limited distributed and released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 15, 2017.[18] Purple Plan released the film in Singapore and Malaysia on March 9, 2017.[19]Madman Entertainment released the film for a limited duration in Australia and New Zealand from April 9, 2017 and April 16, 2017, respectively.[20]Viz Media Europe acquired the film for distribution in Europe (excluding the UK and Ireland), Russia, Turkey, and French-speaking Africa in 2017.[21] In 2017, Konnichiwa Festival released 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 was released by Anifest having a theatrical release in June.[22] Pioneer Films released the movie in the Philippines on May 10, 2017 nationwide.[23]Eleven Arts screened the film at Anime Expo on July 3, 2017, with a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on October 20, 2017,[24][25] and a second screening in January 2019.[26]
Home video[edit]
Pony Canyon released the film in Japan on May 17, 2017 on standard edition DVD, standard edition Blu-ray, and a limited edition Blu-ray. The limited edition Blu-ray contains two animated videos of the film's theme song and 'Speed of Youth', one of the original soundtracks by composer Kensuke Ushio.[27] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Anime Limited released the film on standard edition DVD and Blu-ray, and a collector's edition combo set on October 30, 2017.[28] Madman Entertainment released the film on standard edition DVD and Blu-ray, and a limited edition combo set on December 6, 2017.[29]Shout! Factory released the film on a standard edition DVD and Blu-ray combo set in North America on April 2, 2019,[30] and Right Stuf will release the film on a limited edition combo set on November 26, 2019.[31]Netflix released the film on their website on June 5, 2019.[32]Images of piano keyboards.
Reception[edit]Box office[edit]
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.[15] As of November 30, 2016, the film has grossed a total of over ¥2.2 billion from 1.7 million admissions.[33] It ranked at #16 on Nikkei Hit Ranking for 2016 from East division.[34] 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 ($19.56 million).[35]
In China, the film grossed CNÂ¥44.5 million[36] ($6.7 million).[37] It also grossed $310,407 in the United States and Canada, $110,552 in the United Kingdom, $437,577 in Bolivia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Spain and Thailand,[38] and $5,471,482 in other territories,[39] bringing the film's worldwide total to approximately $33 million.
Critical reception[edit]
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.[40] 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.[41] At 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the film was selected as one of the nine feature films in competition.[42]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 32 reviews, and an average rating of 7.61/10. 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.'[43] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating 'generally favorable reviews'.[44]
Accolades[edit]
See also[edit]References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Silent_Voice_(film)&oldid=904068336'
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