This anime film from Kyoto Animation is centred on Ishida Shouya. As the film opens he is a high school student contemplating suicide; he stops at the last moment and we learn how he came to this point. When he was in elementary school a deaf girl named Shoko Nishimiya joins his class; she is bullied by several of her new classmates; Ishida being the worst. Eventually he goes too far; the class is asked about the bullying and they put all the blame on Ishida. Soon afterwards Shoko transfers. The years pass and Ishida has become isolated from his class. He learns sign language and finds Shoko so he can apologise and try to make amends. It won't be easy though; there are those who believe he is just doing it to make himself feel better and Shoko has her own feelings of guilt.
If you come into this expecting the laughs that most school based anime provide you will be in for a shock; there may be plenty joyous moments and some laughs but there are a lot of down beat elements. This includes a very real depiction of the bullying of Shoko; Ishida's treatment of her is cruel but we see others pushing him on, laughing at what he does or just failing to say anything... and the fact that the others fail to see what they did wrong after Ishida is called out and eventually sees that he was wrong. As the story develops it is impossible not to sympathise with Ishida; his early behaviour may have been despicable but his attempts to make amends are genuine and he has improved more as a person than others involved. The characters are all very believable, even the twist involving Shoko's new 'boyfriend' is believable and rather fun. The animation is of a high quality with good character designs and impressive backgrounds. Overall I'd definitely recommend this film to anybody who enjoys an issue based drama... just be prepared to shed a few tears; of both sadness and joy.
These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.
If you come into this expecting the laughs that most school based anime provide you will be in for a shock; there may be plenty joyous moments and some laughs but there are a lot of down beat elements. This includes a very real depiction of the bullying of Shoko; Ishida's treatment of her is cruel but we see others pushing him on, laughing at what he does or just failing to say anything... and the fact that the others fail to see what they did wrong after Ishida is called out and eventually sees that he was wrong. As the story develops it is impossible not to sympathise with Ishida; his early behaviour may have been despicable but his attempts to make amends are genuine and he has improved more as a person than others involved. The characters are all very believable, even the twist involving Shoko's new 'boyfriend' is believable and rather fun. The animation is of a high quality with good character designs and impressive backgrounds. Overall I'd definitely recommend this film to anybody who enjoys an issue based drama... just be prepared to shed a few tears; of both sadness and joy.
These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.