Anime has come a long way over the decades, and the media has spread so much that anime movies now make a significant amount of money. With profits just coming in, most franchises are looking to release movies. One of the most underrated and fantastic anime movies of all time is A Silent Voice.
The film, produced by Kyoto Animation, directed by Naoko Yamada, and written by Reiko Yoshida, received backlash from a portion of the audience for the poor representation of the female lead character, Shōko Nishimiya. Still, fans were quick to voice their opinion in support of the movie via Twitter, now known as X.
Fans defend A Silent Voice after it receives backlash for poor representation
A Silent Voice is a visual adaptation of Yoshitoki Oima’s manga, which captures Ishida Shoya’s story and his past actions. Shōko Nishimiya is the female lead character in the story who is deaf and was bullied by Shōya Ishida in the past.
Kyoto Production animated the movie, and it was a major commercial success. It received global attention for depicting the manga very accurately.
However, certain audience groups felt that the representation of Shōko Nishimiya could have been much better than what was given to the viewers.
Although the visual representation could have been a bit better, the movie still highlighted significant aspects of high school, according to fans who voiced their opinion and defended the movie via X.
oh while im on the topic of deaf representation in anime this movie sucked ass and i hate it pic.twitter.com/wAWBH8GKuv
— plazy ☾*✲⋆. (@plazynoodles) January 14, 2024
It's supposed to touch on way deeper things and it's a lot more than "just a girl with a disability who got bullied" idk if anyone ever realized what the movie and manga actually tackles…..
— Q 💎 (@Soupofluv1) January 15, 2024
I have seen nothing but praise from this movie. But it’s always that one person on Twitter that gotta be different and complain about literally nothing. 😭
— A Lawyer you can trust (@Zero18414130) January 15, 2024
I can understand the annoyance of another disabled character being a flat plot device for someone else and I won't argue that, that said tho it doesn't undermine all the other themes the movie has
— zayd.chr ( Monster Hunter Phase ) (@solgacier) January 14, 2024
The day you all realize silent voice is a story about a bully trying to redeem himself instead whatever the fuck you wanted it to be is the day you will see how awesome it was
If you want a story about a deaf girl there are plenty of them
— Tan 🙁 (@4Tanji) January 14, 2024
A Silent Voice explores various aspects and tackles real-life problems such as bullying, harassment, depression, loneliness, su**ide, growing up and becoming better, and others while also shedding light on how complex the life of a person who gets bullied is.
What’s A Silent Voice about?
The story primarily focuses on Shōya Ishida and Shōko Nishimiya and depicts the fantastic journey of both characters, who overcome many hurdles and take a step toward becoming better people.
Shōko Nishimiya is a deaf girl who used to get constantly bullied by Shōya Ishida in elementary school, and it went to extreme ends most of the time.
However, when the authorities learned about this, all the blame was put on Shōya Ishida’s shoulders alone, and his friends, who were also with him, bailed out and abandoned him.
Years later, they are reunited in high school, where, due to abuse, Shōya Ishida doesn’t make any friends and tries to reconcile with Shōko Nishimiya and asks for forgiveness for the mistakes that he made when he was a kid.
But this is not easy for both of them, as their past keeps haunting them, and they face tremendous difficulties.
The movie is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
