Naoko Yamada’s animation A Silent Voice is a lovely coming-of-age story, a tale of redemption and romance, based on a manga series by 27-year-old Yoshitoki Ōima. It’s enriched by a plangent musical score and moody ambient sound design. The original title is Koe No Katachi, translated in the opening and closing credits as “The Shape of Voice”, which comes mysteriously closer to the film’s meaning.
Miyu Irino voices Shoya, a nasty kid in primary school who bullies a hearing-impaired girl, Shoko, voiced by Saori Hayami. After he is finally caught and punished, Shoya is ostracised, an experience represented by crosses in front of everyone’s faces. Later, as a teenager in middle school, the penitent Shoya attempts to re-befriend Shoko and reconstruct his circle of friends from that time – all the kids who ignored, deplored or enabled his behaviour – to put things back together somehow. Within this new web of friendship, a complex, delicate relationship between Shoko and Shoya begins to grow. For some reason, I found myself thinking of the classic TV drama My So-Called Life. It’s a beguiling film: subtle, sensuous and delicate.
