is a 2016 Japanese animated psychological drama film based on the manga of the same name by Yoshitoki à Âima. The film was produced by Kyoto Animation, directed by Naoko Yamada, and written by Reiko Yoshida, featuring character designs by Futoshi Nishiya and music by Kensuke Ushio. Plans for an animated film adaptation were announced back in November 2014, Kyoto Animation was confirmed to produce the film in November 2015. Miyu Irino and Saori Hayami signed on as voice casting in May 2016 and the theatrical release poster and official trailer were released in July 2016.
The film covers elements of coming-of-age and psychological drama, dealing with themes of bullying, disability, forgiveness, mental health, suicide, and friendship of opposite sexes. It follows the story of a former bully turned social outcast, who decides to reconnect with and befriend the deaf girl he had bullied years prior.
The film premiered at Tokyo on August 24, 2016. It was released in Japan on September 17, 2016, and worldwide between February and June 2017. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise going to the direction, animation, voice acting, musical score, and the psychological complexity of the characters. It has grossed $30.8 million worldwide. The film won the Japanese Movie Critics Awards for Best Animated Feature Film. While nominated for the Japan Academy Film Prize for Excellent Animation of the Year, as well the Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation Film, it lost to In This Corner of the World and Your Name, respectively.
Shà Âya Ishida and his friends bully Shà Âko Nishimiya, a transfer student who was born deaf. When the principal learns of the bullying, not wanting to face consequences, Shà Âya's friends frame him as the sole perpetrator to save face. Shà Âya blames Shà Âko when she tries to help him, and having had enough of the abuse, Shà Âko finally snaps and physically attacks him as revenge. The latter is subsequently transferred to another school, with Shà Âya keeping her notebook.
With his reputation as a bully following him through middle school, Shà Âya becomes a depressed loner in high school who believes suicide is his only absolution. However, he makes amends with those he has wronged before ending his life. Shà Âya reconciles with Shà Âko when returning her notebook at the sign language center she attends, realizing she is still lonely due to her shyness. Shà Âya is also befriended by Tomohiro Nagatsuka, a similarly friendless classmate who feels indebted to Shà Âya for saving him from a bully.
Shà Âya tries to meet up with Shà Âko to help her feed the koi in the river, much to the ire of her younger sister, Yuzuru. When Shà Âya illegally jumps into the river to retrieve Shà Âko's notebook, Yuzuru takes a photo of the incident and posts it online to have him suspended from school. Yuzuru runs away from home after an argument with Shà Âko over the incident. Shà Âya offers to let Yuzuru stay at his house, and the two begin to bond.
Shà Âya helps Shà Âko reconnect with Miyoko Sahara, a kind classmate who genuinely befriended Shà Âko and is currently in the same school as Naoka Ueno, who also bullied Shà Âko and weasels back into Shà Âya's life. Shà Âko also meets Miki Kawai, her elementary school class president, who now attends the same school as Shà Âya and is in a relationship with Satoshi Mashiba. Shà Âko later gives Shà Âya a gift and verbally confesses her feelings for him, but runs off upset when Shà Âya mishears her. Shà Âya invites Shà Âko to an amusement park with Tomohiro, Miyoko, Miki, and Satoshi. They are joined by Naoka, who is infatuated with Shà Âya while trying to reconnect him with their old friends.
Naoka also grudges Shà Âko for Shà Âya's misfortune before slapping her, which Yuzuru secretly records for Shà Âya to see. This leads to the group falling out the following day when Miki desperately exposes Shà Âya's past to the others to remain blameless in Shà Âko's bullying. Shà Âya isolates himself from everyone but the Nishimiyas. After Shà Âko and Yuzuru's grandmother passes away, Shà Âya takes them to the countryside to cheer them up, where he realizes that Shà Âko blames herself for everything that has happened to him. Shà Âya decides to devote his entire social life to the sisters.
During a fireworks festival, Shà Âko leaves early, ostensibly to finish her homework. Shà Âya follows her to retrieve Yuzuru's camera, finding Shà Âko preparing to jump from her balcony. Shà Âya manages to stop her, only to fall into the river below. He is rescued by his former friends Kazuki Shimada and Keisuke Hirose, but his injuries render him comatose. An enraged Naoka physically assaults Shà Âko and her mother, blaming them for Shà Âya's coma, and Shà Âko experiences an emotional breakdown at Miyako's feet, blaming herself for everything.
One night, Shà Âko dreams about receiving a farewell visit from Shà Âya. Shà Âya awakens from his coma and makes his way to the bridge, where he finds Shà Âko weeping. He apologizes for bullying her and tells her not to blame herself for how his life has turned out. He also admits his original plan to commit suicide but has decided against it while asking Shà Âko to help him keep living, to which she agrees.
When Shà Âya returns to school, he reunites with his friends and realizes how much they still care for him. As they all go to the school festival together, Shà Âya tears up, realizing he has finally redeemed himself.
The anime adaptation of the manga was announced in the manga's final chapter that released on November 19, 2014, later specifying that the adaptation will be an anime theatrical film on December 17, 2014. In the Weekly Shà Ânen Magazine 46th issue of 2015 that released on October 14, 2015, Kyoto Animation and Naoko Yamada were announced to be the animation studio and director of the film adaptation, respectively. The film's distributor, Shochiku, listed the adaptation releasing in Q4 2016. On April 8, 2016, the film adaptation's official website opened, announcing that Reiko Yoshida would write the script for the film, Futoshi Nishiya would design the characters and the film was scheduled for release in Japanese theaters on September 17, 2016. Kensuke Ushio and Pony Canyon composed and produced the music, respectively. The film's theme song, titled Koi wo Shita no wa (æÂÂãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂã®ã¯), was performed by Aiko, while "My Generation" by The Who was used during the opening credit.
For the English dub, deaf actress Lexi Cowden was cast as Shà Âko.
The cinematic adaptation, based on the manga of the same name by Yoshitoki à Âima, covers a large part of the original plot. Some segments have been shortened for runtime reasons. Individual scenes were weighted differently so that the manga can be considered supplementary literature, for example, of the characters' backgrounds.
The more obvious themes covered by the film are school bullying and the integration of disabled people in society. The film then tackles handling guilt within a community (although this aspect is explored more in-depth in the manga), redemption for mistakes of the past, forgiveness and self-respect. Director Naoko Yamada explains that bullying should not be considered as the central theme of the film but rather a means to explore Shà Âya's personality as he gets older. The course of bullying is presented precisely and intuitively, in rapid sequences. It is depicted as a collective failure, starting from school managers and overwhelmed teachers to the class community itself.
The film, lastly, deals with the theme of suicide. Yamada said she was "determined to confront the topic with integrity and treat it gracefully", stressing that it "is by any means not the right decision".
The narration of Shà Âya's story, starting from his past to present, describes how he slips to the lower end of the hierarchy that he established at the beginning. From his perspective, it is shown how bullying can affect an adolescent's psyche and prove his resilience. Shà Âya faces many challenges: the rejection of Shà Âko's mother or the avoidance of former classmates, who don't want to confront their past behaviour when he and Shà Âko work through their past.
Shà Âya's alienation and inability to look at his peers was symbolised by crosses (âÂÂï¸Â) on their faces. This behaviour is often emphasised by camera framing, which avoids the faces of people around him as Shà Âya shies away from eye contact, often focusing on body language instead. In some face-to-face conversations, Shà Âya's interlocutor's face is cut out of the frame; the empty space left behind him achieves an unsettling effect for the viewer.
The film relies on subtle and sensuous motifs. Yamada uses flower language to reflect feelings and personality of the characters. Shà Âko is juxtaposed with white daisies, symbolising purity, and blue or red cyclamen, which can represent resignation, leave-taking, but also deep affection. Cherry blossoms often enclose Shà Âko and Shà Âya: they appear when the two first reconcile and when Shà Âya befriends Tomohiro Nagatsuka.
The koi, a symbol of luck and perseverance in Japan, represent Shà Âya, Shà Âko, and the rest of the group overcoming their shortcomings and rebuilding their lives. Fireworks are a metaphor of the transience of each single moment of life: both scenes with the fireworks anticipate the suicide attempts of the two protagonists, reminding them of their hopelessness towards life.
The film occasionally shows short dream sequences. The architecture seen in the background describes the protagonists' inner life, recalling Michelangelo Antonioni's work. In other scenes, the lack of harmony of the characters is depicted by oversized pictures in the room. The characters are stylized, recalling the caricatural style of My Neighbors the Yamadas.
"My Generation" by the Who is used at the beginning of the film to express teenage rebellion and angst. The song rides the excitement and amusement of the kids gathering before school, ending with Shà Âko's entrance into the classroom. Yamada said that, for this scene, she wanted to use an evergreen that everyone could identify.
Composer Kensuke Ushio, recognizing the central role of sound in the film, gave importance to musical and non-musical elements, including silence. The song "lvs", played when Shà Âko is excluded from the class community, was recorded by putting a microphone inside a piano, obtaining a muffled sound in which the piano mechanics' noises are emphasized. This technique recreates for the viewer an effect that resembles Shà Âko's perception.
The film premiered in 120 theaters across Japan on September 17, 2016. It was screened at the 2016 Scotland Loves Animation festival on October 22, 2016, and at the ICA in London on February 5, 2017. Anime Limited distributed and released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 15, 2017. Purple Plan released the film in Singapore and Malaysia on March 9, 2017. Madman Entertainment released the film for a limited duration in Australia and New Zealand from April 9, 2017, and April 16, 2017, respectively. Viz Media Europe acquired the film for distribution in Europe (excluding the UK and Ireland), Russia, Turkey, and French-speaking Africa in 2017. In 2017, Konnichiwa Festival released the movie in theaters in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Peru for a limited time in May, while in countries like Argentina and Uruguay, Anifest had a theatrical release in June. Pioneer Films released the movie in the Philippines on May 10, 2017. Eleven Arts screened the film at Anime Expo on July 3, 2017, with a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on October 20, 2017, and a second screening in January 2019. On November 14, 2024, it was announced that GKIDS picked up the distribution rights to the film and the film was released in theaters on December 15, 2024.
Pony Canyon released the film in Japan on May 17, 2017, on standard edition DVD, standard edition Blu-ray, and a limited edition Blu-ray. The limited edition Blu-ray contains two animated videos of the film's theme song and "Speed of Youth", one of the original soundtracks by composer Kensuke Ushio. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Anime Limited released the film on standard edition DVD and Blu-ray, and a collector's edition combo set on October 30, 2017. Madman Entertainment released the film on standard edition DVD and Blu-ray, and a limited edition combo set on December 6, 2017. Shout! Factory released the film on a standard edition DVD and Blu-ray combo set in North America on April 2, 2019, and Right Stuf released the film on a limited edition combo set on November 26, 2019.
Madman Entertainment streamed the film on AnimeLab for limited durations between February 14, 2018, to February 20, 2018, and June 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020. Netflix released the film on the website from June 5, 2019, to February 15, 2022.
In Japan, the film received a terrestrial television premiere on August 25, 2018, at 9:00 PM through NHK Educational TV and it received an audience rating of 2.5%, according to the video statistics. It was aired on July 31, 2020, at 9:00 PM through Nippon TV's Friday Night Roadshow amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, along with the 2017 anime film Fireworks.
The film opened at No. 2 at the Japanese box office behind Makoto Shinkai's Your Name, and grossed a total of from 200,000 admissions within two days of its premiere across 120 theaters. , the film has grossed a total of over from 1.7 million admissions. It ranked at No. 16 on Nikkei Hit Ranking for 2016 from East division. It was the 19th highest-grossing film in Japan in 2016 and also the 10th highest-grossing Japanese film of the year in the country (tied with '), with ().
In China, the film grossed (). It also grossed $310,407 in the United States and Canada, $110,552 in the United Kingdom, $437,577 in Bolivia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Spain and Thailand, and $5,471,482 in other territories, bringing the film's worldwide total to approximately .
Makoto Shinkai, director of Your Name, called the film a "fantastic piece of work" and a "polished and grand production" which even he is unable to replicate. It won Best Animation of the Year in the 26th Japan Movie Critics Awards, where director Naoko Yamada also received praise for her work on the film. At the 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the film was selected as one of the nine feature films in competition.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 36 reviews, and an average rating of 7.61/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As beautifully crafted as it is powerfully written, A Silent Voice looks at teen bullying from a soberingly hard-hitting perspective that's uncommon for the animated medium." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".