Very few anime characters learn from their past mistakes and fix them, as Shoya Ishida from A Silent Voice. His life completely turned around when his bullying made a deaf girl transfer school. Further, his mother has to pay heavily for the damages he did to Shoko’s hearing aids. This incident taught him not only some valuable lessons but also the importance of being generous to others.
A Silent Voice is one of the best romance comedy anime and probably one of the few that beautifully explores society’s problems. Shoya Ishida, a carefree boy who wants nothing but to live a bore-free life, met Shoko Nishimiya, a deaf transferred to his school.
Shoya and Shoko are classmates, but they are not friends. Every day, Shoya bullies Shoko to make her upset. However, his plan never works because Shoko always responds with kindness. This is how one of anime’s best friendships was formed.
Written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima, based on the manga series of the same name, A Silent Voice is a beautiful anime that explores serious themes like bullying, social anxiety, suicide, and revenge. The show features many well-known characters, with Shoya Ishida’s character development being the highlight of the series.
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Who Is Shoya Ishida In A Silent Voice?
Fans of A Silent Voice will recognize Shoya Ishida’s impact in the film. He was one of the most popular kids in school, with whom everyone wanted to become his friends and play with him.
Shoko Nishimiya was one of them who wanted to be friends with him. Since she was born deaf, Shoko Nishimiya struggled to express her feelings to him, causing him to think of her as a freak.
Because Shoya was a kid and struggled to understand Shoko’s feelings, he often pulled innocent pranks to make her mad so she could fight him. But she never gets mad at him and always puts on a big smile while talking to him. It only made him angry and forced him to prank her.
One time, he pulled her hearing aids, which caused her to suffer bleeding from her ears. As a result, Shoya faces punishment, while Shoko changes school.
Although everyone at school bullied Shoko, the one person who suffered the most for bullying her was Shoya Ishida. His life changed completely, with him being left alone with no friends.
How Shoya Become Friends With Shoko Years After School?
Shoya’s friendship with Shoko is one of the most beautiful parts of the movie. It started with Ishida putting a little effort into bringing people back into Shoko’s life. They were Naoka Ueno, Miki Kawai, and Miki Kawai. Fans following A Silent Voice will understand Shoya’s relationship with them but still decide to help his new form friend by bringing back the people she lost a long ago because of him.
As the story progresses, fans start understanding the nature behind the protagonist’s decision. He wants to give Shoko everything she lost at school because of him. While fulfilling Shoko’s wish, Shoya regains his friend and will to live.
A Silent Voice is one of the best anime films that teaches fans the meaning of friendship.
The film highlights Shoya Ishida’s struggle with anxiety after his behaviour brought trouble to his mother. She had to pay a heavy price to Shoko’s mother after her son bullied her daughter and lost her hearing aids. This incident caused Shoya to went depression, deciding to end his life after paying all the money he owes to his mother.
As he went to end his life, Shoya decided to meet Shoko and ask her for forgiveness. This decision of Shoya turns out to be a golden opportunity for him as he gives up the idea of ending his life and decides to live for Shoko.
Afterwards, they became good friends, spending plenty of time together where they tried to listen to each other’s voices. After hearing each other voices, Shoya and Shoko share their deepest secrets and build a relationship, which is the highlight of the movie.
A Silent Voice film starts with Shoya and Shoko as bitter enemies but ends up becoming their best friends. This is also the focus part of the film, where the author teaches audiences the real meaning of life.
Who Is Shoya Ishida’s Best Friend In A Silent Voice?
Back in school, Shoya Ishida was friends with Naoka Ueno, Miki Kawai, Kazuki Shimada, Miyoko Sahara and Keisuke Hirose. They were best friends and spent their time together. But when Shoya’s bullying is exposed, and he is held responsible for Shoko’s missing hearing aids, everyone turns their back on him. They did not even support him during the investigation and blamed him.
This incident caused Shoya’s self-confidence as he had difficulties trusting others. Therefore, he had zero friends at the high school before he met Tomohiro Nagatsuka. Tomohiro Nagatsuka is the only person Shoya opens freely and shares his deepest secret with him.
Tomohiro Nagatsuka was the only person Shoya opened freely and shared his secret with him. They became friends after he saved Tomohiro from getting bullied and instead gave his bike to the bully. But he later realizes his mistake and starts blaming him for giving his bike to the bike, until Mr. Nagatsuka returns with Shoya’s bike.
Tomohiro Nagatsuka was the first friend Shoya had, but not last, as he became friends with Shoko Nishimiya. They know each other from school but never have pleasant conversations until years later when Shoya decide to go to Shoko to ask her forgiveness. They soon became friends after learning about each other, and from Shoko, Shoya became friends with her sister, Yuzuru Nishimiya.
Yuzuru had a different opinion of Shoya since he was the one responsible for Shoko’s terrible time at school. But as the story progresses, she learns the other side of Shoya, where he paid heavily for his mistakes. She believes that Shoya does everything to make her sister happy, which she loves.
Later in the film, Shoya became friends with Naoka Ueno, Miki Kawai, and Toshi Mashibasa. Their friendship wasn’t like the one he had with Shoko and her sister, but still, they spent time together. The group became big and later created a film together.
Why He Hates Kazuki Shimada And Keisuke Hirose?
Shoya Ishida’s friendship with Kazuki Shimada and Keisuke Hirose was the talk of the entire film. They were his best friends at the start, spending time and playing dangerous games together. Kazuki Shimada and Keisuke Hirose were seen at Shoya’s house, eating snacks and playing video games. But after Shoya’s bullying incident breaks and he is found guilty of Shoko’s missing hearing aids, they decide to part him. It is a moment that put him in a mindset where he thought who was his friend.
There’s no doubt that Shoya did wrong with Shoko and got punished for that as well. But Kazuki Shimada and Keisuke Hirose are also equally responsible for bullying her. Still, they don’t get punished, and all goes to Shoya because he bullies her in front of everyone. Therefore, Shoya hates them from the bottom of his heart.
Not only did they end their friendship with Shoya, but bullied him after he pulled their names in front of the principal. However, when Shoya discover what they did for him, he forgives them. This decision of his is the film highlight showcases Shoya’s character development. Finally, Shoya decided to leave everything behind and start listening to the voices.
Shoya’s friendship with Kazuki Shimada and Keisuke Hirose is highlighted throughout the film. They were his best friends and one of the closest persons to him. But due to a wrong decision, they got separated and never talked.
This gives fans the lesson that no one is permanent in life. Therefore, you should be careful while picking a person in life.
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Did Shoya Ishida Overcome His Fears?
Many believe that A Silent Voice is a romantic comedy anime film that explores the topics of friendship, love, and dreams. But the reality is the total opposite. A Silent Voice is not a romance comedy film but more than that. The film explores topics of suicide, bullying, anxiety, depression and many more.
The film’s main character, Shoya Ishida, with whom it revolves, was the victim of all these issues. He suffered from heavy anxiety from an early age because of the crime he never committed. Shoya lost his friends, will to live, and self-confidence after his bullying incident caused a girl to transfer from school. Not only that, but his mother had to pay heavily for her son’s mistakes.
For the entire school year, Shoya was kept away from others as no one wanted to have something with him. After meeting Shoko again after many years, he feels that he cannot end his life yet re-found his life purpose.
From that moment, Shoko and Shoya’s friendship grows stronger as they share their secret. He understands Shoko’s wish and decides to bring her old friends back.
As the story progresses, Shoya’s character development takes place, from loner to being surrounded by friends. He had many friends like Shouko Nishimiya, Naoka Ueno, Yuzuru Nishimiya, Miki Kawai, Tomohiro Nagatsuka, Miyoko Sahara, and Toshi Mashibasa. Shoya Ishida had a bitter relationship with some of them, and still, he decided to hang out to showcase that he moved from his past.
The film Silent Voice ends with Shoya Ishida eventually overcoming his fear and starting to hear voices. It is the most beautiful film one could watch.
Animeking: Summary
Written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima, A Silent Voice is one of the best romance comedy anime that follows the life of Shoya Ishida. First appeared at the start, a young boy dealing with anxiety and depression after a girl transferred from school because of him.
He was one of the most popular kids in school, the one everyone wanted to be friends with. Shoko Nishimiya wanted to be friends with Shoya, but because of her hearing disability, she struggled to convey her message. Shoya takes her message wrongly and starts bullying her, thinking she is making fun of him. But in reality, Shoko was the only person helping Shoya with the bullying everyone did to him.
However, she left after her mother pulled her name out of the school. This incident makes everyone believe that Shoya’s bullying forced Shoko to leave, causing him to become a culprit and receive punishment for his actions.
Later, he became the prime target of all the bullying and remained so until the end of school. This incident changed Shoya Ishida’s personality as he separated himself from others in the high school and other places. He didn’t have a friend and wanted to end his life after paying all the money he owed to his mother.
He rediscovers his will to live after meeting Shoko. The two became good friends and spent time together.
As the story progresses, Shoya discovers new friends in the form of Shoko’s sister, Yuzuru Nishimiya. She was the only person after Shoko who kept with him all the time and helped Shoya overcome his loneliness.
He became friends with Naoka Ueno, Miki Kawai, Tomohiro Nagatsuka, Miyoko Sahara, and Toshi Mashibasa. From no friends to a friends group where he called anytime.
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