Shouya Ishida. That name alone is perhaps the greatest reason why I fell in love with Koe no Katachi.

The film starts with Shouya being a social, friendly kid teasing his friends until a new student arrives in his class. Her name is Shouko Nishimiya—a deaf girl who uses a notebook to communicate with her classmates. Almost instantly, Shouya takes advantage of her deafness and torments her at every chance he gets, all while knowing she is a completely guiltless girl.

He bullies her, the main reason not to feel good about himself but more importantly, to impress his classmates. Relationships are a driving factor in Shouya’s juvenile life, and his constant mistreatment towards Shouko almost gives Shouya a form of validation, a form of evidence that he deserves the relationships he has because he’s able to make his friends laugh. However, it's at the cost of an innocent girl’s mental health.

So when Shouya snitches on his friends in order to spread the blame of bullying Shouko, he loses all of those friendships, the same friendships he thinks were rightfully earned through continuously harassing Shouko. Shouya’s relationships now full of bitterness and hostility towards him, he’s able to forget the “need to impress” and finally reflects on what he had done.

It was all wrong. The neverending harassment, bullying, torment—all of it.

When Shouya realizes this, his entire personality changes into its total opposite. He becomes a timid, quiet teenager who doesn’t even have the courage to look people in the eyes. He often stares down at his feet, feeling sorrowful but deserved of this dull state. Over the years, the guilt he carries makes him extremely regretful, and he wants to atone by living an unimportant, meaningless life—even wanting to end it all in the near future.

Years later, he sees a familiar face at his school. It’s Shouko Nishimiya. He recognizes her quickly and communicates to her using sign language which he had learned as another way to atone. He then gets to know her little by little, wanting to become friends with her to make amends and apologize for what he did in the past. Their friendship grows stronger through fluffy and cute moments, new friendships are made while old ones are revived, and Shouya feels happiness.

Yet, he still feels so underserved of everything. Undeserved of his positive friendships, forgiveness from the girl he bullied years ago, and the very sense of joy. Shouya feels as if it isn’t okay for him to live such a wholesome life, so when he sees Shouko on the verge of committing suicide, he knows exactly what to do. He doesn’t hesitate for a second to lose everything he has and trade his own life for hers.

After Shouya miraculously wakes up from a coma, he finally comes to the realization that he has changed as a person and deserves to treat himself a little better than before. He realizes he’s not the same vile bully he was years ago—he’s now a kind, friendly teenager who wants to befriend and talk to others. He understands at last that he doesn’t need to punish himself anymore for his past actions, and he asks Shouko to help him live what he missed out on all this time—a meaningful life.

In the final scene, when the X’s drop from the faces around him, Shouya doesn’t feel the consequences of his sins anymore. He knows he has redeemed himself as a better person, crying when he can finally bring his sight from his shoes to the people around him.

Shouya’s path to redemption is a captivating rollercoaster of emotions filled with real modern problems that affect even today’s society, such as bullying, social anxiety, and suicide. A Silent Voice shows how he handles and eventually overcomes these sensitive yet relatable topics which creates an eloquently dramatic plot full of incredible character development.

Shouya Ishida is an exceptional protagonist who vividly emphasizes that even if we are in a constant state of melancholy, isolation, despair, hopelessness or anguish, that we can forgive ourselves and after, change.

I know this movie isn’t 100% perfect as no movie is or ever will be. The side characters, including Shouko, aren’t nearly as developed as Shouya, but would I want to see their character development while sacrificing parts of Shouya’s? Definitely not.

also, aesthetic, voice acting, sound design, animation, character design, art style, ost, and basically everything relating to audio and visual effects—top notch stuff very good 10/10 dont have to make a detailed review on it because it all speaks for itself and enjoyed every last minute of it thank you for reading all of this and have a great day <3