Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)

[larethian]

Originally Posted by Stark700

Also, I think the movie did a fair job with the character expressionism with the crossed out faces. It symbolizes the people that still cares about him and those that don't.

The crossed-out faces are those whom Ishida can't "look straight at/face/am blocking out".

[crazyidiot78]

The movie does an excellent job potraying deafness and the struggles people with it face. The question then becomes what is the cause of Shoko's deafness, and can gene therapy possibly help some of those struggling with hearing loss?

http://www.animescience101.com/silent-voice/

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by crazyidiot78

The movie does an excellent job potraying deafness and the struggles people with it face.

I would disagree with that, actually. The way it portrays the whole thing is too melodramatic and generally used to have the MC play knight in shining armor. It feels more like an otaku fantasy than a genuine portrayal of the sort of situations someone with a disability has to deal with.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I would disagree with that, actually. The way it portrays the whole thing is too melodramatic and generally used to have the MC play knight in shining armor. It feels more like an otaku fantasy than a genuine portrayal of the sort of situations someone with a disability has to deal with.

I think it does a good job of making the average person who normally wouldn't give a cr*p be more sympathetic to someone with that problem. Especially the average person in Japanese society who likes to be mean to anyone unusual. At the very least, it probably helps otaku's be nicer on average.

[Akito Kinomoto]

They graciously avoided turning A Silent Voice into a romance even with Shouko's feelings coming out in the film, and with the infrequency of the fact Shouya is trying to redeem himself it's a level of awkwardness avoided. By the end though it's more than just making it up to a young woman but the capacity to face others head-on. Wikipedia's entry callin' this teen drama don't do it right; it's a story about redemption, change, and self-discovery

There was a scene in the hospital and I think one in Shouko's bedroom (she's older in both scenes) where I thought there was some other medical condition she had or something was getting worse, but it seems like it was for the grandmother and maybe they could've communicated that better. Oh and the final scene where all of Shouya's friends involved in this were flashing through his mind, I would've taken out the uh, slanted eye guy and the other guy since they weren't part of the "healing" process

KyoAni managed to make Shouko's deafness feel like a medical condition instead of a moé point, a herculean feat of direction that absolutely needed to be treated seriously for the story to have the deft hand it did. Nope, the endearing part of her character comes from her communication with everyone else

Best thing about the film though is how meticulously it goes through Shouya's thought process. Not a lot to say because he walks us through it. Final note, I can point to the balcony scene as the film's climax looking back, but when watching it's like the movie has no 3rd act. There's the flashback to when Shouya and Shouko were in elementary school, and then...that's it. The film never has an indication for where you can start expecting it to end except for the final scenes themselves. It implores the viewer to never mentally disengage, pushing audiences to always watch the signs and listen to the silence

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by Akuma Kousaka

There was a scene in the hospital and I think one in Shouko's bedroom (she's older in both scenes) where I thought there was some other medical condition she had or something was getting worse, but it seems like it was for the grandmother and maybe they could've communicated that better

No, I'm pretty sure what was going on there was her learning that the hearing in her right ear is completely gone. It's made clear early on in the movie that she can still hear a little bit at least, and the scene in question is shown to take place at the hearing clinic, and is followed first by a shot of her lying in bed, holding her right ear while one of her hearing aids is just lying there next to her, and later on when Ueno shows up they point out that she only has one hearing aid now.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Akuma Kousaka

They graciously avoided turning A Silent Voice into a romance even with Shouko's feelings coming out in the film, and with the infrequency of the fact Shouya is trying to redeem himself it's a level of awkwardness avoided. By the end though it's more than just making it up to a young woman but the capacity to face others head-on. Wikipedia's entry callin' this teen drama don't do it right; it's a story about redemption, change, and self-discovery

It didn't avoid presenting the MC as some sort of white knight though. Heck, we even had the dramatic scene in which he saves her life and all. These kind of scenes really bring the whole movie down for me.

Another problem is that the movie was ultimately more about the guy than the girl even thought the struggle the girl was going through was much more severe and it would have been more interesting to focus more on her than the guy.

All in all, it was as good movie, but far from the master piece some people think it is. I think Your Name and Maquia are better movies overall.

[blakstealth]

Looks like it's doing another round of screenings for Late January in US and some parts of Canada.

[ArrowSmith]

A wonder film, lots of feels! I like that the bully got redeemed at the end.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by ArrowSmith

A wonder film, lots of feels! I like that the bully got redeemed at the end.

Ueno? She got scot free rather than being redeemed. She was constantly blaming Shoko for everything without assuming any responsibility for the shit pulled off herself, and she didn't do anything to atone for that. This is why I can't rate this movie as high as other people do.

[Akito Kinomoto]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

It didn't avoid presenting the MC as some sort of white knight though. Heck, we even had the dramatic scene in which he saves her life and all. These kind of scenes really bring the whole movie down for me.

Another problem is that the movie was ultimately more about the guy than the girl even thought the struggle the girl was going through was much more severe and it would have been more interesting to focus more on her than the guy.

All in all, it was as good movie, but far from the master piece some people think it is. I think Your Name and Maquia are better movies overall.

Self-realizing the extent of past mistakes and actively awkwardly avoiding them colors the armor beyond being white, the resulting focus creating a unique perspective. The film also lacks the disparity of Your Name, although that has already been brought up in its proper thread

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Akuma Kousaka

Self-realizing the extent of past mistakes and actively awkwardly avoiding them colors the armor beyond being white, the resulting focus creating a unique perspective.

That could have been depicted just fine without turning him into a literal hero who saved her life from suicide. Add the fact the hottest chick around was lusting after him and this movie comes across a little more as otaku wish-fulfilment than the serious character piece it tries to be.

[Akito Kinomoto]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

That could have been depicted just fine without turning him into a literal hero who saved her life from suicide. Add the fact the hottest chick around was lusting after him and this movie comes across a little more as otaku wish-fulfilment than the serious character piece it tries to be.

whose fault is it when a viewer finds a character hot?

[dniv]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

That could have been depicted just fine without turning him into a literal hero who saved her life from suicide. Add the fact the hottest chick around was lusting after him and this movie comes across a little more as otaku wish-fulfilment than the serious character piece it tries to be.

No, no, you've got it backwards. That was to show how Ishida HAD everything. And then he lost it. (Who cares if she's hot if she betrayed him when it really mattered? Even if she likes him, does that even matter??? It just complicates things and makes it awkward for him. It wasn't a good thing.) And then he was the bullied one. And then this was HIS redemption story. It also managed to intertwine his story with Shouko's.

As a manga reader, I would say that you very strongly overinterpret how much otaku wish-fulfillment is in here. As far as the white knight thing goes, I think you're wrong. Nishimiya saved Ishida's life by accepting him. She helped him as much as he helped her. And he *had* to do something like saving her life, that was probably the only plausible way for him to let go of his guilt for what he had once done to her in the past so that their relationship could become healthier.

Also, the movie focused way less than the manga on a lot of the side-characters including Ueno. If you were to ever read the manga, you'd understand why certain characters get redeemed and you'd understand why many of the unimportant seeming side-characters are actually interesting and important with their own flaws. The movie was a lot less detailed than the manga.