Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?
A Silent Voice is an emotionally devastating coming-of-age drama that handles bullying, deafness, guilt, and redemption with rare psychological depth. The plot is genuinely exceptional — it subverts expectations by centering the bully's perspective and exploring how social cruelty ripples outward, affecting everyone involved rather than offering easy catharsis. The cinematography by Kyoto Animation is stunning, with expressive character animation, inventive visual metaphors (the faces blurred out as social anxiety), and lush color work that rivals their best theatrical work. Its novelty is high — few anime films tackle this subject matter with such unflinching emotional honesty or structural boldness. Acting (voice performance) is strong but slightly uneven in places. The ending, while emotionally satisfying, leans toward conventional resolution after the raw complexity of the middle act, softening some of the harder edges the film had built up.