A Silent Voice
Everyone wants to pretend that bullying is something you solve like a crime. That it's the bullied and the bully, and it's that simple and reductionist. But while that underlying truth is there in A Silent Voice, this remarkable and empathetic anime looks for deeper, more worthwhile lessons than simple discipline and punishment. In this adaptation of Yoshitoki Oima's manga Koe No Katachi (The Shape of the Voice), the trigger is the arrival of a new student at an elementary school in the small city of Ōgaki. At least that's how high schooler Shoya Ishida (Irino) recalls it as he considers committing suicide by throwing himself off a building. He's wracked by guilt from the time he spent torturing Shoko Nishymiya (Hayami), but also alienated from all his one-time friends because of what he did to her in elementary school. She's deaf, and he would mock her speech, or steal her hearing aid – horrible actions that deserve punishment and require contrition...
