A Silent Voice

Story:

This story is so bad in every way possible. First off, it doesn't make any sense. We're supposed to believe that this deaf girl gets bullied endlessly by Ishida during grade school, even to the point where he is throwing out her expensive hearing aids for no reason and hold no ill will towards him at all. Then through a couple of lucky coincidences our main character is able to have a great relationship with this girl... Worthless cliché after worthless cliché is thrown at the viewer which eventually culminates in our main girl, seemingly emotionally on the same level with an AI, falling for Ishida. What exactly is the message here? I guess it would be "People who do horrible things should be instantly forgiven because sometimes they have it hard too!" Completely senseless and heartless. I'm guessing the writer had to try to alleviate some guilt from his mind from being a horrible person in his past, and unfortunately the success of this movie probably made him succeed in that endeavor.... but hey it has pretty art so the story doesn't matter I guess!

Characters:

The characters are like robots. They aren't real human beings. Ishida doesn't learn on his own why what he did was wrong. He literally just gets upset that he got punished. This guy just straight up has no soul. How did people root for this guy to succeed? Every time he does something it seems like he is doing it just for the reward, not because he became a good person.

I don't know if you can make a character more flat and soulless than Shouko Nishimiya. None of her actions seem real. Would a real person easily go from having their life ruined by their tormenter to loving them in a few weeks? Possibly, but not in a "feel good" movie, more likely it would show up if a film had a theme of Stockholm Syndrome. Not much to analyze here because she's one of the most basic and seemingly least thought out characters I've ever seen.

The rest of the characters aren't worth mentioning. The soullessness of our two main characters extends to the whole cast. None of them seem to have any traits that would make them feel human. Unfortunately, this fact just made every interaction with these characters cringy and forgettable.

Art:

It's good, but not the best art ever by any means. I'm tired of these art styles that always look the same in these "feel good" anime movies. We need some innovation, people. The animation is decent. Just decent. Disappointing for a feature length film.

Conclusion:

Please do not watch this movie. Please spend your two hours watching something that has a message that isn't completely garbage. Garbage with pretty colors is still garbage. Overall, I give this a 10/100. I hate this movie.