Summary
The A Silent Voice manga delves deeper into Shoya and Shoko's childhoods and motivations than the film adaptation. The manga offers a more in-depth look at the cast, including first-person narration from multiple characters, allowing for richer character portrayals. The manga extends beyond the film's ending, offering glimpses into Shoya and Shoko's futures, allowing readers to see how their stories continue.
Highly rated A silent voice is one of the most popular anime films of the past decade. A redemption story following Shoko Nishimiya, a deaf girl, and Shoya Ishida, her childhood bully, it has won numerous awards, including Best Animation of 2016 by Japanese Film Critics. However, Yoshitoki Oima's comics The film it was adapted from has never received such widespread attention, even though it is the best way to experience such a heartwarming story.
Like many film adaptations of long-running manga, a lot was lost in the transition between taking A Silent Voice from the pages of the manga and bringing it to the big screen. Thanks to the reading experience that can span multiple hours across seven episodes, readers are able to get close to characters like Shoya and Shoko, and deeply observe their subtle mannerisms or traits that ultimately shape them and serve as a springboard for the story to progress. While 2016's A Silent Voice is a good adaptation that captures the spirit of the manga, It doesn't really convey everything that made the original special..
The manga depicts Shoya and Shoko's childhoods in different ways.
Shoya's motives for treating Shoko differ between the Anime and Manga
The first volume of A Silent Voice, which tells the story of both Shoya and Shoko's childhood experiences in the classroom, is nearly 200 pages long. Meanwhile, The film only devotes about 15 minutes of its total 2+ hour running time to this part of the story.includes many montages to quickly move through events. The manga, by taking the liberty of expanding the childhood portion of the story, allows for a closer look at both Shoya and Shoko. The first montage, in which Shoya and his friends engage in innocent childhood activities, actually explains some of his behavior towards Shoko in the manga.
Shoya's account throughout his childhood shows the elementary school boy going through an existential crisis early on, realizing that life is more than just fun and games. In his declared 'war against boredom', he and his friends seek thrills and engage in reckless competitions, until some time later, when Shoya notices his friends gradually abandoning childish games.
Feeling insecure, he begins to target Shoko by bullying her. as a way to cling to the infantile belief that life is nothing more than chasing away boredom, hoping that friends will join in the fun, and eventually they all do.
Like Shoya, Shoko's childhood is explored more thoroughly in the manga's opening volume and later chapters, not just from Shoya's perspective. It shows the audience that Shoko had suffered similar treatment at her previous school.has moved on several times. Her mother, shown as stern and unflinching in the film, becomes furious when Shoko refuses to cut her hair to match the image of a male model in a magazine. Her domineering and overprotective nature is evident, claiming that a boy's haircut will make Shoko more stubborn.
Unlike the movie, the manga A Silent Voice portrays how everyone treats Shoko in a much harsher light. Even their teacher, who is supposed to scold the children for their behavior, sympathizes with them instead of explaining why what they did was wrong. Shoko's eventual departure is unceremonious and sad: there one day and gone the next day.
A Silent Voice Manga Gives a Better Look at the Cast
Unlike the 2016 film, which primarily follows Shoya from a third-person perspective, the A Silent Voice manga offers more first person narration not only from Shoya but also from many other characters. This allows for a closer, more intimate look at how characters feel or react to certain experiences. Shoya is often seen over-analyzing people's words or actions, seemingly letting his depression and guilt seep into every thought or action he makes. This constant critical anxiety does more harm than good to himself and those around him, and hinders Shoya's ability to truly understand Shoko.
This extra time in the manga adds more to Shoko's character than anyone else in A Silent Voice. The deaf high school student is often relegated to the role of an observed character, primarily by Shoya, throughout the series. However, the manga sees Shoko often recounting her experiences from her own perspective, including frustrations and difficulties often come from her shortcomings.
This culminates in a heartbreaking chapter near the end of the story, in which Shoko imagines how her life could have been different. if she reacted differently to the bullying she endured, or if she had never been disabled in the first place. Supporting characters such as Yuzuru, Nagatsuka, Naoko, Miki, Miyoko, and Satoshi all have chapters dedicated to their backstories, the most important of which focuses on Shoko's mother. In the film, the Nishimiya family background is never mentioned, while the manga recounts Shoko's father divorcing her mother upon discovering that she was deaf.
Manga continues after the movie ends
The audience gets to see the future of Shoya and Shoko.
The biggest omission from the film version of A Silent Voice is the side plot where the main group of friends make a movie. Instead of the film's ending where the characters become closer after Shoya is hospitalized, the manga uses the movie they make together as the ending. The main motivation behind group reunionsAlthough their film is ultimately criticized by judges at a competition, Shoya, Shoko, and the group remain united in the belief that they have learned to share each other's abilities.
While the ending of The Silent Voice is a touching, emotional moment as Shoya finally learns to forgive himself and others, The manga gives readers a more direct look at the future after the school festival.. Shoko expresses her desire to go to Tokyo to learn hairdressing from a deaf teacher, while Shoya wants to stay in their unnamed town to learn hairdressing in order to one day take over his mother's hair salon. It is up to the reader to infer whether he will follow Shoko to Tokyo or stay.
The final chapter cuts to an unspecified point in the future, where the main cast reunites for a “Coming of Age” ceremony in their hometown. Shoya and Shoko, standing outside the building where the events are taking place, both confess that they felt nervous about entering. Finally, Shoya takes her hand and the two of them walk into the future together..
It's hard to argue against the fact that the 2016 film adaptation of A Silent Voice is a great film, featuring signature, high-quality visuals from the legendary Kyoto Animation, along with one of the best soundtracks in modern anime. However, to fully enjoy Shoya Ishida and Shoko Nishimiya's story, manga is definitely the most complete versionWith 7 short stories, a rare length among famous series, there's no reason not to check it out. A silent voiceOriginal manga by.
