[Review XN] Film 25: A SILENT VOICE (KOE NO KATACHI)
Based on the slice of life manga genre spiced by Yoshitoki Oima's fictional romance, A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) sells itself as a romance film for the young adult segment. First in my mind, this film might be as sweet and blue as Your Name, which has contributed to setting high standards for Japanese anime films. Considering the promotional material gave rise to such an impression, of course the expectations of the general public were not to blame. One thing needs to be straightened out, A Silent Voice composed by female director Naoko Yamada (K-On!) Does not merely promote the love story of a pair of teenagers as its main selling point. In fact, romance is not the main ingredient for kidnapping. The discussion topics put forward by A Silent Voice are actually quite sensitive covering harassment, social anxiety, to suicide set in the school world. Yes, rather than Your Name, A Silent Voice is actually closer to the 2010 release film, Colorful, which floats more or less the same material only without immersing fantasy elements and is more realistic in speaking.
The core character of the film is a teenage boy named Shoya Ishida (Miyu Irino). While in elementary school, Ishida practiced bullying against a new deaf student, Shoko Nishimiya (Saori Hayami). Although oppressed every day, Nishimiya was reluctant to fight and instead often threw a smile while saying "sorry". Knowing that the victim did not give a strong response, Ishida and her friends were even more keen to oppress Nishimiya until then their actions exceeded the limits and Nishimiya's mother decided to move her daughter to another school. Since Nishimiya's departure, the situation reversed was marked by the status of Ishida who was degraded: from oppressor to oppressed. Feeling as a victim of abuse, Ishida regretted her actions and chose to become an outsider at the next school level. Ishida's life, which is closely related to 'loneliness' and 'regret', slowly began to change when she entered the high school. Destiny reunited with Nishimiya. Ishida realizes that her encounter with Nishimiya is the best opportunity for her to make peace with a past that has been haunting.
In line with the peeled material, A Silent Voice chatted seriously. That said, approaching depressive. It was not easy to see Nishimiya facing harassment at his school without even a friend on his side - although lately he had a good friend named Miyoko Sahara (Yui Ishikawa) who was willing to learn sign language. When Nishimiya disappeared, then the target moved to Ishida, the tone of the story became even more somber. As a result of the interference he received, Ishida chose the antisocial path. Following the source material, the filmmaker also placed a large cross resembling the letter X on the faces of Ishida's school friends who indicated the distrust or unwillingness of the main character to interact more intensively with them. The gloom then melted slightly following the appearance of Tomohiro Nagatsuka (Kensho Ono) who proclaimed himself as Ishida's friend after being given help. Nagatsuka holds two important roles in the film; first, to provide humor, and secondly, to encourage Ishida to socialize and open herself to the friendship she has been cynical about. Up to this point, although the mood is often tossed around, true movies are still delicious to savor.
Problems in the film began to emerge when a number of new characters began pacing back and forth to the arena of storytelling as Ishida became more open. Besides Ishida, the other characters in A Silent Voice never get enough time to introduce themselves. The audience only knows Sahara, Nagatsuka, then there are also Kawai (Megumi Han), Yuzuru (Aoi Yuki), Mashiba (Toshiyuki Toyonaga), and Ueno (Yuki Kaneko) casually. In fact, Nishimiya actually received similar treatment. These figures are constructed in only one dimension which makes it feel empty. Nishimiya's figure was too pure white, while Ueno was on the opposite side in an extreme degree as well. Because of being unable to connect to this line of characters, the series of conflicts that accompanied it was difficult to ensnare and the duration that stretched up to 129 minutes only made it increasingly tiring. What then avoids A Silent Voice from joining the 'easy to forget film' is the important message of his stretcher that is still able to be conveyed well and the sweet, warm cover that is at least able to treat a little fatigue due to protracted speech is less binding.
Acceptable ( 3.5 / 5 )
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