High school student Shoya Ishida intends to kill himself, but he changes his mind at the last minute and decides to wrap up loose ends. A flashback reveals Shoya as a sixth grade student in elementary school, during which a new student named Shoko Nishimiya joins Shoya's class and is revealed to be deaf. She tries to integrate with the class but ends up being an easy target for Shoya and his friends to bully. When word of the bullying reaches the principal, Shoya is singled out as the culprit by his teacher resulting in the class's bullying becoming directed toward him. Shoya blames Shoko, and the two get into a physical altercation. Shoko is subsequently transferred to another school and Shoya later finds a notebook Shoko left behind and keeps it.
Being outcast throughout middle school for his reputation as a bully, Shoya, now in high school, is a depressed loner who is unable to look others in the eyes and envisions an "X" mark over people's faces. To wrap up his loose ends, Shoya goes to return Shoko's notebook at the sign language center and apologize, but then panics and asks to be friends instead. Shoko accepts his offer, leading Shoya to endeavor to make up for his bullying of Shoko. Tomohiro Nagatsuka, another loner, also befriends Shoya after he protects him from a bully.
One day, Shoya accidentally drops Shoko's notebook into a river; he then jumps in to retrieve it, which is prohibited. Yuzuru, Shoko's younger sister, takes a photo of Shoya jumping in and posts it online to get revenge on him, eventually leading to Shoya getting suspended. Shoya finds Yuzuru, who ran away from home, and brings her to stay at his house. When she leaves in the middle of the night, Shoya follows, and the two make up and become friends.
Shoya and Shoko reunite with Miyoko Sahara, a classmate from elementary school who was friendly to Shoko. Shoko later gives Shoya a gift and confesses her feelings for him, but because she tries to speak her affections rather than signing them out, Shoya mishears her.
Shoya invites Shoko to an amusement park with Tomohiro, Miyoko, Miki Kawai (another classmate from elementary school) and Satoshi Mashiba (Miki's friend). There, they are joined by another classmate from elementary school, Naoka Ueno (who had also bullied Shoko alongside Shoya then), who drags Shoko into a ferris wheel. Naoka voices her feelings of hatred for Shoko, blaming her for creating a rift between her and Shoya, with whom she is infatuated. Yuzuru, who had been secretly recording the encounter, shows the video of this to Shoya. Desperate to remain blameless for her part in bullying Shoko following the leak, Miki exposes Shoya's past to the students who were oblivious to it. Later, she attempts to apologize to the group, but Shoya blows everyone off after Naoka remains dismissive.
Shoya learns Shoko and Yuzuru's grandmother died recently. To cheer them up, Shoya takes them to the countryside and sees that Shoko blames herself for everything that has happened to him. Shoya decides to devote his entire social life to the sisters.
During a fireworks festival, Shoko goes home under the guise of finishing homework. Shoya follows when Yuzuru asks him to get her camera. When he arrives, he finds Shoko standing on the balcony, about to commit suicide. Shoya succeeds in grabbing her and pulls her back up, but falls into the river below. He is rescued by his former best friends in elementary school but slips into a coma. Hoping to help Shoya, Shoko meets with each of the group members to explain her and Shoya's situations.
One night, Shoko dreams about receiving a farewell visit from Shoya. Horrified, she runs to the bridge and collapses in tears. Shoya, awakening from his coma, stumbles to the bridge and finds her there. He apologizes for the way he treated her, asking her to stop blaming herself and admits that, while he once considered ending his own life, he has since decided against it. Shoya then asks her to help him continue to live, to which she agrees.
When Shoya returns to school, he is reunited with his friends and comes to understand how much they still care for him. The friends go to the school festival together and Shoya finds he is finally able to look people in the eye again as he envisions the "X" marks falling away. Looking around at his family and all the new friends he has made, Shoya tears up, knowing he has finally redeemed himself.
☝This is the story of an animated movie "A silent voice".....It is A heart whelming story........which gives relief at the end with a happy ending......It is worth watching......The film covers elements of coming of ageand psychological drama that deals with themes of bullying, disability, forgiveness, mental health, suicide, and platonic love where it follows the story with compassion and understanding involves the former bully turned social outcast, who decides to reconnect and befriend the deaf girl he had victimized years prior.
A Silent Voice 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 highly positive reviews from critics, with praise going to the direction, animation, and the psychological complexity of the characters. It has grossed over $31.6 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.
A Silent Voice (Japanese: 聲の形, Hepburn:Koe no Katachi, lit. 'The Shape of Voice') is a 2016 Japanese animated drama film produced by Kyoto Animation, directed byNaoko Yamada and written by Reiko Yoshida, featuring character designs by Futoshi Nishiya and music by Kensuke Ushio. It is based on the manga of the same namewritten and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. Plans for an animated film adaptation were announced back in November 2014, Kyoto Animation was confirmed to produce the film in November 2016. 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.
