A friend recommended that I watch A Silent Voice. Even though it was the only anime-style film they had ever seen before, they said that it was definitely worth a watch. I followed through and this is what I thought about the incredibly emotional film.
Whilst out shopping with my friend, I grabbed myself a copy of the film based on his high recommendation. My expectations weren’t that high, there have been so many amazing anime films, such as Spirited Away and Your Name, which have topped the charts and are already in my list of top films. “What does he know about anime anyway?” I thought to myself. This film has without a doubt, completely blown away all of my expectations.
The story follows Shoko, a deaf girl, and Shoya, a boy who leads his classmates in bullying her for said disability. Due to constant harassment, Shoko transfers to another school and Shoya’s classmates place the blame entirely on Shoya and distance themselves from him. Many years later, Shoya aims to find and make amends with Shoko.
This film has every feature of a typical anime film: A stubborn grumpy girl who doesn’t like anything; an overly attached sidekick that’ll stick with the main character no matter what; a romance story; and the most amazing soundtrack to tie everything together. In particular, I found the soundtrack absolutely spectacular - it perfectly accommodated the scenes of the film and helped bring out the perfect emotions which were felt by the characters.
Now I may not be the most emotional person when it comes to films, however this film was different. This film ended up reducing me to tears due to the interactions between the characters, as well as the beautiful piano piece by Kensuke Ushio. This film really put me in the shoes of the two main characters and allowed me to feel both the distress that Shoko was experiencing, as well as Shoya’s struggle to try and be accepted by his friends.
Overall, I believe this film is an absolute masterpiece. Hands down, one of the greatest films I have ever seen in my life - I’d go as far as saying it’s on par with Your Name. I have to say, I definitely agree with my friend that recommended this film. Indeed, for a person that has never watched anime before, I would highly recommend this film.