A Silent Voice: Truly hated or just misunderstood?

Modified Mar 26, 2024 16:30 GMT

Understanding why A Silent Voice is often misunderstood by the viewers (Image via Kyoto Animation)

A Silent Voice is a film that was released in 2016 and took the anime community by storm. This movie received a ton of mixed reviews among animanga fans. This movie was often compared to the likes of Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name. This movie was both appreciated and criticized.

A larger chunk of the audience didn’t seem to like the movie all that much. However, fans believe that the movie wasn’t well received by a portion of the fanbase because it was misunderstood.

The reason why this film is misunderstood is due to the confusion with regard to the main theme of A Silent Voice. Let’s understand the confusion that fans seem to have and why clarity on this subject matter will help viewers enjoy the film even more.

Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of self-harm and sui*ide

Understanding why A Silent Voice is misunderstood

Shoko and Shoyo as seen in the anime movie (Image via Kyoto Animation)

One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about this film is that it’s a story centered around romance. While there are romantic elements in the film, romance is definitely not the central theme of the story. The most important theme in the film is the concept of redemption. The main character, Shoya Ishida, was ostracized because of his actions early in middle school. He constantly bullied a deaf child, and this left lasting mental scars on her.

As the years passed, he repented for everything he did and loathed himself. He genuinely believed that he wasn’t worthy of love. He lost all hope until he reconnected with the girl he bullied. The entire movie is about his journey towards accepting himself after all the changes that he has worked towards.

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He also learned sign language in order to converse with people who have difficulty hearing. The movie tackles subjects like bullying in a very realistic manner. Those who have bullied others often have a group of people surrounding them who will deflect the blame. However, there comes a period when the bully has to live with regret for the rest of their lives.

Shoya has a similar experience. A Silent Voice also explores the themes of sui*ide and self-harm. Shoya wanted to kill himself because of the guilt he felt for bullying Shoko. One of the things that is common among those who attempt to harm themselves is that they plan out and have a good day before they depart. In this, Shoyo earned money and gave it to his mother before attempting to kill himself.

In A Silent Voice, Shoko also tried to kill herself after the fireworks festival. The above-stated trend could be seen here too, because she was overwhelmed with joy moments before she tried to kill herself. In the end, Shoyo ended up falling while trying to save Shoko. However, he was saved by his friends just in time. When Shoyo and Shoko held hands, it wasn’t an indication of romantic feelings. It was a sense of redemption that they both managed to achieve.

The concluding scene in the film where Shoyo saved Shoko from killing herself

In A Silent Voice, the duo loathed themselves, and they were emotionally scarred. They had their own set of problems that seemed insurmountable, which is why they tried to kill themselves at various points. However, their shot at redemption has always been the big picture in A Silent Voice, which was depicted in the concluding events of the movie.

If fans do not understand this, it’s quite easy for viewers to misinterpret the intended message. This is why this particular film is misunderstood, and it received a little bit of hate from some members of the animanga community.

Stay tuned for more anime and manga news as 2024 progresses.