OK I was planning on starting to review on Kuroko’s Basketball series 2. But a week on Friday I’m off to Filey for a week before the summer holidays begin. So I thought that I’ll wait till after I come home then. For this blog I’ll be reviewing on:
Trailer:
Synopsis:
When a grade school student with impaired hearing is bullied mercilessly, she transfers to another school. Years later, one of her former tormentors sets out to make amends.
Review:
It starts off with Shoya Ishida quitting his part time job, withdrawing his money, leaving his money with his mother and about to jump over the bridge because he just wants to end it all.
Before we continue with the present the anime film flashes back to his childhood school years. I did love the choice of song for the opening sequence because it was:
The Who’s ‘My Generation’
This song was a great choice because it’s mainly about rebellion and getting into trouble during a younger generation. We all been through it ourselves haven’t we? So we all know what it was like. During a normal school day a new student arrived at the school called Shoko Nishimiya. She mainly gets to know people by writing in her notebook because she’s deaf. So she asks if her classmates want to talk to her to use the notebook. Shoya reminds me of Denis the Menace. Not just because of the way he dresses when he was a boy but always when he’s causing trouble. Most of her classmates seem to be friendly towards Shoko. However some of them have been making fun of her let alone bullying her. Making it harder for Shoko to fit in with everyone else. I think it’s because they don’t really understand her. One day Shoya and his friends kept pulling Shoko’s hearing aids and breaking them. That is until she started bleeding from the ears and they took things too far. In this film hearing aids are really expensive. Once the school received a phone call from Shoko’s mother after finding out that for the past five months eight of Shoko’s hearing aids have gone missing or broken. And believes that her daughter has been bullied. Those who have been bullying or harassing Shoko must come forward and take responsibility. But the teacher knew it was Shoya who’s been bullying Shoko most of the time. Pretty much of all of the classmates have told that he’s been pretty much doing all of the bullying and the rest have barley even done anything. When the school called Shoya’s mother about him bullying Shoko. As the weeks went by Shoya’s been trying his best to be nicer to Shoko but things got a lot worse as he got into a fight with Shoko. Shoko’s mother had no other option but to transfer her daughter to another school.
Years later and now were at the present. Shoya is now a teenager and is taking sign language class. But what he didn’t know is that he would meet Shoko again. After seeing her again he just want to amend things between them. Shoya’s mother wanted to know why her son wanted to commit suicide. All he said was going through a lot of stuff. He better promise his mother that he will never ever do again. Committing suicide doesn’t make things better, it only make things worse. As Shoya walked through the school hallway all he can see on everyone’s faces were X’s in order to feel safe. He’s always afraid of those who spoke about him and bullied him. Most of Shoya’s elementary school friends are attended the same high school as him. When Shoya saw what looked like to him just another student attending the same school as he is being bullied he stood up to the bully and said “Why don’t you take my bike instead?” and that’s what the bully did. Took his bike and didn’t return it. During lunch Shoya tried to talk to Shoko but her sister was protecting her. The student who Shoya stood up for managed to find Shoya’s bike and returned it to him safely. Only for Shoya to start recognising that the student was Tomohiro Nagatsuka, a student who used to attend the same elementary school as Shoya. Since Tomohiro and Shoya are friends now they might as well hang out together. After trying to talk to Shoko again Tomohiro well let’s just say defended Shoya as well as mistaken Shoko sister as a boy. But once Shoya he has certainly have gotten really good at sign language. Shoko’s sister has been taking photos of her sister and Shoya and has posted it online. The following morning the whole school have seen the photo and it got Shoya into so much trouble that he ended getting suspended from school. Shoko’s sister thinks that Shoya’s stalking her bug sister. But he wasn’t stalking her at all. And I should know what I stalker looks like as I was stalked twice. Shoko’s sister should judge Shoya for what he’s not. The little girl Maria that Shoya and his mother are looking after was so cute and adorable. Shoko’s mother is still mad at Shoya for what he did. The following days Shoko asked Shoya to track down a friend called Miyoko Sahara after showing her his phone. I’m sure he’ll ask Miki Kawai for assistance. But she doesn’t know. She suggested that he tries the school Taiyo Girls Academy and find out. Shoko felt left out with the whole Miyoko Sahara seem as though she suggested. So she tagged along with Shoya. But they didn’t have to look very far as once they got off the platform and about to leave the train station they ran into Miyoko Sahara. Not only that Shoya ran into Naoka Ueno who is now working at the Meow Meow Club. From the moment I first watched that scene it really reminded me of the Kitty Café that I go to with Becksy Preston. I really love going there so much. Maybe it’s the cuteness overload talking but I swear those cats look cute. Towards Shoya and Shoko, Miyoko barely changed since all three of them were in elementary school. Shoya still couldn’t understand that Shoko that she loves him. Maybe he should ask her out with him and maybe he’ll understand.
The entire gang: Shoya, Shoko, Satoshi, Miyoko, Naoka, Miki, Tomohiro and Yuzuru (Shoko’s younger sister) went and spend the day at a theme park. Shoko isn’t used to rollercoasters as she got a bit of a wobble after she got off the ride. Shoya stared asking if it’s ok for him to that much fun. Of course it’s ok to have so much fun. What’s life without fun in it? To Shoya it feels normal to him and like they’re all friends. And whilst they were at the theme park Shoya ran into another friend called Kazuki Shimada whilst getting some takoyaki at a food kiosk. Kazuki used to be Shoya’s accomplice in bullying Shoko, but then once the school principle found out about the bullying he started bullying Shoya. Naoka wanted things to go back to before Shoko showed up. But things didn’t go so well on the ferris wheel with Shoko and Naoka. Thankfully Yuzuru handed over her camera to her big sister and recorded everything that went on. This is what Naoka said to Shoko:
“I want you to listen to me carefully. I hate you. Let’s not use that. I’ll speak slow so that you can understand and I’ll listen to you carefully. Back in elementary school, I didn’t understand you nearly well enough. But you didn’t try to understand me either. So instead of getting a clue, you gave me your stupid notebook. You were always acting weird. When something happened, you just apologized straight away. That’s why I changed how I did things. I ignored you and talked about you behind your back. That was a sign telling you not to come near me anymore. But you didn’t get it, and you just got back at me by telling the adults. As a result, that’s how Ishida lost friends. So many things got ruined around us. I don’t even want you to apologize. We were both desperate back then. Looking back now, I don’t thing we could have done anything about it. But I don’t mean to say that we should be friends after all this time. I still hate you and you hate me, too. So why don’t we coexist peacefully? Between people who hate each other…let’s shake on it. What was that? What is that! Now what? Are you going to say sorry again? Just like five years ago, you have no intention of talking to me!”
What Naoka said is wrong, Shoko doesn’t hate her, she just hates herself. And what she said is unforgivable. And I should know that because I was bullied at school. Sometime harsh words hurt even more than a physical punch. What happened on the ferris wheel made me feel sick. Most of Shoya’s friends have been having the hard time thinking that Shoya has changed. Miki wanted to apologise but Naoka couldn’t help but be selfish and drag everyone else to her level. This has been making Shoya mad.
One day while school was finished for the summer Shoya went to place where he’s been meeting Shoko to feed the ducks but she never turned up. Because Shoko and Yuzuru’s granny has sadly passed away. After the funeral Shoya and Shoko went on a day out together and it seems that they’re enjoying each others company. One day Shoko insisted on Shoya assisting on baking their mother’s birthday cake in order to get their mother to see and convince her that Shoya has changed. One night during a firework display Shoko nearly jumped off the balcony of her flat. And if wasn’t for Yuzuru asking Shoya to go to their flat to fetch their camera he wouldn’t of caught her and saved her life. But that rescue didn’t go well for Shoya. Before he fell off the balcony and landed in the water feature below he made a silent promise:
“Please god, give me one more ounce of strength. I won’t run from things I don’t like anymore. Starting tomorrow, I’ll look everyone in their face properly. Starting tomorrow, I’ll listen to everyone’s voice properly. Starting tomorrow, I’ll do things right.”
Right about now I have some good news and some bad news about Shoya. The good news is that he didn’t die. But the bad news is that he slipped into a coma. But he does eventually wake up from it. Naoka blames Shoko for Shoya’s accident and furthered her bullying on Shoko:
“Who do you think you are? Nishimiya, you’re a blight! People like you who only think in their head p**s me off the most!”
And just before Naoka slapped Shoko in the face, Shoko’s mother showed up and slapped Naoka on the head. Only because I think that she understood what has been happening with her daughter and who’s behind it. If Shoya’s mother didn’t tear them two apart they would of ended up in a catfight. I believe that Shoko shouldn’t really blame herself for Shoya’s accident because it’s not her fault that he fell off the balcony whilst saving her. One night whilst Shoko was asleep in bed and Shoya woke up from his coma, both Shoya and Shoko both dreamt that either of them is going to commit suicide on a Tuesday. But that never happened as it was just a dream. Shoya apologised for what happened in the past but Shoko still blames herself for all the trouble she’s caused. But that’s not true. But when Shoya explained that they were both talking a little while ago and in his dream he was ready to just give up on everything. But he was wrong because when he thought about ending the same thing as Shoko he realised something: even though things can make life difficult sometimes, say this pandemic or my autism for example, it doesn’t mean they’re worth dying for. Shoya is willing to apologise to everyone and he wants to do it right. But he’s going to need some help from Shoko. So he asked her to teach her how to live. Through sign language he said something that he thought was creepy. But I don’t think it was creepy.
When Shoya returned to school things were hard at first for him because he never fit in. So he most of the time stared at the floor and never looked at anyone right in the eye. I know it’ll be hard at first as I do sometimes find it difficult to look at someone in the eye or giving someone eye contact. But it does get easier. Everyone apologised to Shoya and he apologised to them for what they were in the past. And Shoya was no longer afraid to look at someone directly in the eye. And it was overwhelmingly emotional for Shoya.
The events that take place in A Silent Voice depict a true, vivid image of how much our mental well-being can affect us. Whether it's Ishida battling anxiety and depression, or Nishimiya struggling with the scars of bullying, their mental health plays an important part through the duration of this story. This movie received praise from fans and critics because of its amazing visuals and plot. It also depicts what suffering from depression, isolation, miscommunication and having suicidal thoughts can be like. Sometimes I feel isolated because of my autism. But I most of the time I break that barrier either with friends or by myself with some encouragement along the way. So if you know someone who is experiencing this or if you’re experiencing this I really do strongly advise you to talk to someone like a friend, relative or your doctor for help. Trust me I received loads of help throughout my life.
My dance for this week is:
Us, Again!
I am so obsessed with this music, let alone the short film on Disney+.
This music will get you on your feet and dancing like there's no tomorrow.