8.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Ishida Shouya bullies a deaf girl, Nishimiya Shouko, to the point that she transfers to another school. As a result, he is ostracized and bullied himself with no friends to speak of and no plans for the future. This is the story of his path to redemption.
Starring: Miyu Irino, Saori Hayami, Aoi Yûki, Kenshô Ono, Yûki KanekoForeign | 100% |
Anime | 96% |
Comic book | 25% |
Romance | 15% |
Teen | 14% |
Coming of age | 7% |
Drama | 2% |
Melodrama | 1% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Director Naoko Yamada is one of the rising stars at Kyoto Animation, with Liz and the Blue Bird (2018) as well as the K-On! and Tamako Market series and movie adaptations to her credit. In adapting Yoshitoki Oima's seven-volume manga, Koe No Katachi (The Shape of the Voice), her multi-storied A Silent Voice tackles the themes of bullying, sympathy, forgiveness, and compassion with startling beauty. At an elementary school in the small city of Ōgaki, Shoko Nishimiya (voiced by Saori Hayami), a deaf girl, doesn't have trouble making new friends but the popular Ishida Shoya (voiced first by Miyu Irino, and later Mayu Matsuoka), stands in her way as the class bully. Shoya finds Shoko's personality peculiar and the fact that she can't hear strange to him. So he begins teasing her even though she tries to be nice to him. Shoya then throws Shoko's expensive hearing aids away and tosses her notebook (so crucial to communicating with others who aren't proficient in JSL) into the pond. While Shoya's friends more or less condone his antics, they eventually ostracize him from the group. Shoya sinks into a depression and nearly takes his own life.
Naoko flashes forward over five years when Shoko has changed schools. Shoya tries to redeem himself by visiting her after school but Shoko's tomboyish sister Yuzuru (Aoi Yuki) either tells him she's not available or doesn't want to see him. When he finally gets to see her, Shoya displays kindness by bringing her bread that he's bought and holding his umbrella over Shoko during a rainstorm. But Shoko reminds him that's he going to have to work harder in order to demonstrate full repentance and earn her forgiveness. It doesn't help Shoko's cause that he's befriended by Tomohiro (Kensho Ono), a corpulent and loud guy who interferes in Shoko and Yuzuru sibling affairs as well as Shoko's business. Also detrimental is Shoko's association with Shoko's foe, Naoka Ueno (Yuki Kaneko).
Shout! Studios has released A Silent Voice as a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack that comes with a slipcover. The film appears in its originally composited ratio of 1.85:1 on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. I noticed very few flaws in the source print as this is a near reference-quality anime transfer. The picture has an almost 3D look to it. The use of dappled light is exquisite and the lens flares are equally impressive. Shout! has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 35000 kbps.
The two-hour, ten-minute feature receives the usual twelve scene selections.
Shout! supplies the original Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3316 kbps, 24-bit) and a dubbed English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (3564 kbps, 24-bit). I concentrated primarily on the Japanese language track which sometimes goes a wee-bit too fast in order to read all the English subtitles. Composer Kensuke Ushio utilizes piano in soft and subtle ways but also raises it to crescendos, which bring the surround channels to life. The alternate track uses a cast of English voice actors, including a deaf person to add to the realism of Shoko's character.
The optional white English subtitles are clear and legible.
A Silent Voice is a beautifully composed anime that never gets overly sentimental or schmaltzy. The kids and later teens are complexly portrayed and well-developed, although the movie tries to fit in too many characters. I didn't see any black crush or digital macroblocking that plagued UK-based All the Anime's Blu-ray release compared to Shout! Studio's clean transfer. Supplements are limited to only music videos and trailers so if you want English-subtitled interviews with the filmmakers, you'll want to buy the British edition. Japan's Pony Canyon Limited Edition also contains an audio commentary and making-of doc that aren't subtitled. Despite not having bells and whistles, the Shout! package comes STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
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