A Silent Voice was (and is) my favorite film of all time, so when I went and read the source material, I wasn't surprised to find a truly outstanding manga. In A Silent Voice, Yoshitaki Oima creates the most complex group of broken, confused, and beautiful characters that I've ever had the chance to read. The character writing is truly unbelievable Each character reflects each other in a different way. They all struggle from the same issues, but react in different ways. The issues that this story focuses on are some of the most difficult and heavy topics in the world, but Oima manages to weave them into a truly beautiful story of regret, desperation, forgiveness, and happiness. What responsibility to we have to ourselves and what responsibility do we have for others? How should we understand the world around us? The genius of A Silent Voice is that all of us, not just Shoko, are deaf to the world around us. We constantly make assumptions and interpret things in ways that are convenient to us. Each character in A Silent Voice does exactly the same, and their struggle to understand others around them as well as themselves is one of the most powerful stories in all of manga. So, in short, A Silent Voice isn't just a story about bullying and its consequences. It's not just about the disabled. And it's not just about romance. At its heart, A Silent Voice is a story about listening. About communicating. Nobody is really who you think they are at a glance.

Ok I'm done with my sappy monologue now. Let's talk about the art. To put it simply, the art is beautiful. The designs aren't eye popping, but they all speak volumes about each character's perception of themselves/ how they want to be perceived. The art in general is fantastic, with great uses of positioning and shading to give the reader non-verbal insights on the condition of each character and the mood of each scene.

Each character is incredibly complex, but at the same time, they're so believable. You get a sense of their pain, their delusion, their desperation. At times, the story can be hard to read because the writing so heavily emphasizes the deep emotional pain of the main characters: Shoko Nishimiya and Shoya Ishida. But trust me when I say that the payoff is beautiful. The story is filled with pain, but resounds with hope.

In conclusion, A Silent Voice is an emotional rollercoaster with some of the most complex and well written characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The art is fantastic and the designs are thoughtful. This, in my opinion, is the greatest manga of all time, and while I don't expect everyone to agree, I do hope that you can come away from this story feeling like you've learned a lesson that can truly change your life in some way.