A Silent Voice Vol. 1

聲の形 [Koe no Katachi] #1

by Yoshitoki Oima

LEARNING TO LISTEN Shoya is a bully. When Shoko, a girl who can't hear, enters his elementary school class, she becomes their favorite target, and Shoya and his friends goad each other into devising new tortures for her. But the children's cruelty goes too far. Shoko is forced to leave the school, and Shoya ends up shouldering all the blame. Six years later, the two meet again. Can Shoya make up for his past mistakes, or is it too late? Read the manga industry insiders voted their favorite of 2014!
"A very powerful story about being different and the consequences of childhood bullying... Read it." -Anime News Network
"The word heartwarming was made for manga like this." -Manga Bookshelf

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Comics, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2013

About the author

See also: 大今良時

OIMA Yoshitoki: 大今良時
Associated Names:
Yoshitoki Ohima
Yoshitoki Ooima
Yoshitoki Ōima

Even though her one-shot Koe no Katachi won critical acclaim, it took a longsome law suit to get a magazine to publish it because of its socio-critical theme. Eventually, it was featured in the February edition of Bessatsu Shounen Magazin, where it placed first, and later in the 12th edition of the 2013 Weekly Shounen Magazine.

She has also collaborated with UBUKATA Tow for the manga adaption of his novel Mardock Scramble.

Reviews

[Alienor ✘ French Frowner ✘ · Rating 4 out of 5]

► What you won't find in this review : This is the first manga I've ever read I know, I'm such a weirdo, therefore :
✘ I definitely cannot compare it to other existing mangas.
✘ I have no freaking clue if the art is better/worst than it is elsewhere. I liked it : here's the only thing I can say about it.
✘ I cannot point if other stories deal with these issues in a different/better way.

► If what you are looking for is an enlightened review which analyses this book from a knowledgeable point of view, you will might be disappointed.

Yet what I can tell you is that A Silent Voice, Vol. 1 was a real kick in the guts, and that it deals with the issue of bullying in a - though heartbreaking and maddening - realistic way.

You should know that I hate the saying "kids will be kids" as much as its best friend "boys will be boys". NO, just cut the shit already : these kinds of statements are lazy, damaging, and incredibly insulting to those they refer to.

That's all you can tell us, Anna? Oh, you want to know more? Alright.

● You'll probably hate Shoya, the main character, for most of the book.
● You'll want Shoko to react already, damn it. Maybe that's just me, but I thought that she showed way too-much kindness to appear really truthful.
● You'll despise every freaking character and the general meanness and oh, the hypocrisy.

Moreover, as a teacher, and more generally as a human being, I found myself wanting to slap the sorry excuse of a teacher in there. UGH. Bullying starts with little details, such as nicknames, unrequited 'teasing', and we adults should never find it 'amusing'. There is nothing I despise more than adults joking about or dismissing this kind of things, and yes, it's way more frequent than we realize. We are models : how can we tell children to stop if we laugh? And for Pete sake, how the fuck can adults find it funny in the first place?

► In the end, I can't deny that I would recommend this book to every teenager in a heartbeat, because to me, we need to talk about ignorance, uncomprehending and how they can lead to bullying. We need to make people realize how easy it is to give in to the sirens calls for fitting in. We need to show them that yes, their young adorable kid can become a bully or stand doing nothing about it.

Note that I can't promise that A Silent Voice, Vol. 1 delivers a great message, and it contains unrealistic sides for sure, but in my opinion, while flawed, it was fundamentally honest. Finally, after this first volume, I'm eager to see how Yoshitoki Ooima will handle the - must needed - character development. I guess we'll see^^

Ps. Sorry if this review is all over the place, but my mind is in vacations :P

For more of my reviews, please visit:

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first manga I came to know about but it took me like 4 years to pick it up and I haven't watched the movie as well coz I wanted to read the manga first. And here I am.

I really despise Shoya Ishida and it's all his selfish reasons to meet Nishimiya in the end. And speaking of Nishimiya she should give a hard smack to that Ishida guy.

Really looking forward to next volume.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

highly recommended if you're into manga or just Sad Stuff That Makes You McFucking Cry

[Bookishrealm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know what it is about me reading emotional books these past few weeks, but I definitely didn't expect that from this manga. Sure, I knew it was about bullying BUT I did not expect it to impact me in any way whatsoever. I was completely wrong. There were points where I could actually feel my chest constrict when Shoya bullied Shoko. Regardless of every situation, Shoko was kind, caring, and understanding when she had every right to curse out every student in that class. I was even more surprised by the series of events that took place in the second half of the manga. The artwork was phenomenal and easy to follow. Things that I'm definitely interested in learning more about with the continuation of this series include: the relationship between Shoya and his mother, how Shoya plans to repair the relationship with Shoko, and what exactly happened after Shoko left the elementary school. Do not be fooled by the cover, this manga is definitely more complex than it appears and is a great look at the consequences and trauma associated with bullying.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pues vaya tomo para empezar: bullying, protagonista insufrible, estudiantes siendo idiotas, y profesores igual de cómplices en el berenjenal. Creo que ese es un resumen de lo más apropiado.

Lo que me queda claro con los pocos capítulos que he leído es lo mucho que voy a detestar a casi todos los personajes de esta historia a excepción de Nishimiya.

[Katie Colson · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️3.75

I really enjoyed this. Shoya is a bully and daredevil with shocking depth that I’m interested to see developed in later volumes. Shoko is deaf and the sweetest bean. There isn’t much about her in this installment but I can see myself caring.

Shoya decides to make Shoko his main target because she is ‘weird’, meaning different and be despises being bored/anything boring. Of course we know that really means he finds her interesting. But his little bird brain can’t compute that.

I’m awaiting the second volume from the library and am tempted to watch the movie to find out what happens, ha

[Books with Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot 😭

[Seth T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Welcome to the jungle]

I was not a bully. I mean, not really. Probably. There was that one neighbourhood kid in elementary school who I could be quietly mean to while other kids took care of the actual bullying. He was kind of a jerk and he stole stuff from me and I did pee on his bike once. And there was that one kid in high school who was definitely bullied (not by me!) and who I drew an unflattering comic of. He was also pretty much a jerk, but by then I could understand why, so I felt more complicit in his misery when he saw the cartoon in which I depicted him as ugly and obnoxious. So maybe I only contributed to the systemic abuses of these two kids or maybe I was actually bullying—just not alpha bullying.


[‘Nuff said, I guess]

I wasn’t bullied myself. I was merely Not Popular. I was vaguely smart (I actually repped my school in an academic decathalon thing), I was a reader, I liked comics, I didn’t enjoy team sports (even though I was athletic enough), I never had a girlfriend, I had non-negligible acne. I was one of those quiet kids who’s just likable enough to avoid the worst kind of attention. I never got beat up and I don’t think I was ever trash-canned. I mean sure, I got punched in the arm a bit. Lots of charlie horses. I would be kicked from behind while urinating so I’d get pee all over my hands. And shorts. And underwear. So I don’t know, maybe I was bullied. Just a bit. Just a taste.

Whatever the case, like many of the unpopular, I grew up to become a full-blown passive-aggressive bastard once I was a young adult. I didn’t talk bad about people behind their backs and I was never violent or physically destructive, but I did make people around me feel like crap. I was tired of not having power but too timid to get it legitimately. So I abused people with off-hand comments and cutting cynicism. I hate the me that was, but that was the me that I was at the time. And struggling to lay that aside after a decade of behaving badly wasn’t easy. So while I wasn’t either mercilessly bullied or a merciless bully, I had enough of a taste of the whole thing to be fully invested in the dilemma presented in A Silent Voice.


[Sometimes the voice isn’t all *that* silent]

Some time ago, I ran into a scanlation of Yoshitoki Oima’s one-shot version of A Silent Voice. It was well-done, touching, sentimental, brutal, and warming. It struck a chord with me through the hazy recollection of my own history with bullies and bullying. Though it was just one of those short comics that you’ll see linked on Reddit or wherever, Oima’s story of the deaf girl and the bully stayed with me—well enough that when I saw a series-long repurposement of the original on Crunchyroll Manga (it is also currently being released in paperback by Kodansha and the translation is better there), I was immediately drawn in. An expansion on the original story seemed too delicious to pass up.

Oima’s original ended suddenly and happily, a moment of apology and repentance wiping away all scars. It was sweet and even powerful, but too pat. Like all short stories, it avoided the struggles that longer fiction has the opportunity to explore. With a series, the author would have the space to move beyond the pat answers and trite solutions. And so as a series, A Silent Voice crawls toward restoration with baby steps and miscommunications. And I am loving watching this story unfold. While it hasn’t been published yet, the finale is not in question. This thing is going to end happily. We can chart that from miles away, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t care that the end will be predictable. I’m loving the ride and I’m loving the characters.


[BIF POW BAM! Hey kids, comics!]

A Silent Voice begins with the story of two kids in elementary school—Shoya the reckless, popular kid and Nishimiya the new girl, who is deaf and communicates through writing in a notebook (since nobody knows sign language). Nishimiya’s inability to hear and the problems that crop up as a result are too strange for Shoya and so, leading by example, he creates an environment in which Nishimiya is bullied daily and with extreme prejudice. She is scorned, mocked, and has her hearing aids repeatedly torn from her ears and destroyed. When it eventually becomes too much, the girl’s mother complains and all blame is pushed onto Shoya’s shoulders. From that point forward, he is systematically bullied by his former friends in a manner far more vicious than that with which he instigated against Nishimiya. His resentment against her swells, and he gets into a fistfight with the girl, prompting her mother to remove her from the school. Six years pass and Shoya endures trouble all through elementary school and junior high. Through hindsight and reflection, he finds himself reevaluating those early days, and now as a highschooler, Shoya seeks to have one final, repentant conversation with Nishimiya.

And the story moves on from there.


[When Shoya is older, this is how Oima represents his disassociation with other students.]

A Silent Voice is concerned with the transition from sociopathy[1] 1]Non-clinical.]] to empathy. Just as I had to evolve from my early-twenties experience of passive aggression, so does Shoya seek to learn how to melt from his seclusion and inability to relate to others. While the details of his path are different from my own, it’s comforting to see the generalities are not unique to myself. I don’t usually look for representations of myself in the literature I take in, but for whatever reason I appreciate it in this case. Perhaps because I know that Shoya’s story will end happily, it provokes hope for the conclusion to my own story.

As a storyteller, Oima is perfectly suited to her task of unveiling A Silent Voice‘s trajectory. Her art is lovely and her framing and perspective dynamic. Her drawings convey a wealth of emotional information. Her elementary school kids look rather like children[2]2]Sadly, artists drawing believable children is a distinct rarity.]] and her highschool-aged versions of the same mature predictably, giving the reading a certain place to hang their hat. I love her art and that will probably be enough to interest me in any other projects she pursues.


[Voice and communication are overshadowing themes in Oima’s book]

If there is one issue with A Silent Voice, it’s in a very particular aspect of the book’s writing. On the main, Oima does a pretty great job managing words and pictures to keep things moving well. The sole piece that causes me a small aggravation is that A Silent Voice‘s characters suffer from the same inability to communicate that plagues the protagonists of so many of the Korean dramas I love so much. Yards of storytelling would be tightened up if only characters would say what they were thinking instead of remaining muzzled or outright lying about their thoughts. Still, at the same time, one of the book’s themes is how Shoya attempts to overcome the communication gulf that Nishimiya’s deafness caused in their elementary school days. So it rather makes sense that even after conquering the sign language gap, the story should continue to explore different barriers to communication.

As a final note to how much I enjoy this series, I should say that the final couple paragraphs were written three weeks after the first several. I was in a motorcycle accident the day I intended to post this review and injured my arm. I have been unable to type more than a couple sentences at a time since then. I’m still having a lot of trouble but didn’t want to let the review to languish any longer than necessary. In any case, A Silent Voice was no longer fresh in mind, so I needed to glance at the first chapter to solidify some of the story details for the review. Within a few pages I had the information I needed, but before I noticed, I was already nine chapters in. I find Oima’s story that absorbing.


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[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad.]
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Footnotes
1) Non-clinical.

2) Sadly, artists drawing believable children is a distinct rarity.

[pato]

first thing i’ve ever read in japanese 🥲 im really proud

[sarah سارة ꫂ᭪ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love how more in depth the manga goes in comparison to the anime. with this, there's more backstory into every single character, and more backstory into why shoya bullied shoko so badly. very interesting!

4/5 stars!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a little heavy since it's the backstory, but I'm super excited to continue!!

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manga about Shoya, a boy in an elementary school who bullies new student Shoko, who also happens to be deaf. So you kinda hate him all through this first volume, he's a complete jerk, though you know this will not continue, of course. Shoko is also aggravatingly passive about his and others' bullying, at least at first. Doesn't seem angry, nor humiliated, so thus not quite real. Disappointing. But this is just the first volume, and you can see where this is going. Another book for young people about deaf kids is El Deafo by Cece Bell. I am liking it a lot, actually.

[Sara Bow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Anfang bzw der Aufbau des Mangas war etwas konfus für mich - konnte mich aber relativ schnell daran gewöhnen. Mir scheint es, als wäre der erste Band nur die Einführung. Ich bin einfach mal gespannt, was der zweite Teil zu bieten hat =)

[Iryna *Book and Sword* · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5stars

*Read for the #moremangaplease book club hosted by Ashleyoutpaged.

The praise for this manga says "heartwarming". They must be talking about later volumes, because Volume 1 was as far from heartwarming as North Pole.

Bullying and disabilities is a theme for this manga, and it gets pretty heavy. Literally everybody in this story is a GIANT ASSHOLE. Kids, teachers, even parents, even Nishimiya's mother. Everyone, except Nishimiya herself. She's an angel. A poor, poor angel. My heart broke so many times for her.

The worst part was how easy it was for everyone to blame just one person. Because it was convenient. Because nobody expected any better of that person. People are two faced creatures, and it's very ugly. I am thankful for books that show that ugliness, so we can read it and reflect - and strive never to be like that in real life.

The art style is not one of my favorites (I'm more into overly detailed and way too beautiful for this world style of manga), but it goes very well with this story. Jumping into Volume 2 immediately.

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[linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Re-read for THE MORE MANGA BOOK CLUB hosted by Ashley (@ashleyoutpaged) for the month of February

A heart-breaking story about a bully who changes, a girl who smiles but should get angry and a first friendship. ♡ The art style is amazing and the characters realistic.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bah! The first volume of A Silent Voice definitely rubbed me up the wrong way; I was seething throughout! We follow two characters who are 11-12 years old: Shoya Ishida and Shoko Nishimiya, the latter is a deaf girl who recently transferred schools where Ishida is a student. From the beginning we quickly find out that Ishida is NOT a nice boy - he is rude, spoilt, disrespectful, cruel and full of shit. Now, we could say that because his mother has her own business she cannot afford to spend as much time with him and maybe this is why Ishida is the way he is but I don't believe that - I think he is just a nasty boy who doesn't give a toss about anybody's feelings, and annoyingly, gets away with it.

On the other hand, Shoko is a quiet girl who uses her notebook as a way of communicating with her fellow classmates and teachers but this becomes defaced later on by Ishida who is incredibly ignorant of her hearing loss. He sits behind her in class and yells in her ears much to the amusement of the other kids, he throws her notebook into a puddle and seems disgusted when she goes in the water to retrieve it and he breaks all of her hearing aids while the teachers DO NOTHING!!! The fact that these adults who have a duty of care to the children they are looking after and are clearly very aware that Ishida is bullying Shoko and still turn a blind eye to it drove me insane. If that was my child who was being bullied I would want the culprit expelled!

I know some people have commented on Shoko's passivity and whilst this is very true, I think it shows just how long she has had to endure this sort of behaviour which is extremely sad. In a way I do like the fact that she doesn't rise to the "bait" so to speak as it only frustrates Ishida further (I think he actually wants her to lose her shit and the fact that she doesn't both infuriates and unsettles him). I must say that there was one scene in this volume that I found to be sickening (it involves the two main characters belting the shit out of one another - again, where the hell are the teachers in all of this?!)

BUT...there does come a slight turning point. Shoko transfers to yet another school to get away from Ishida's bullying behaviour and the other kids turn on him - they deface his desk with insults and threatening words, and Ishida finally comes to realise that he is alone and doesn't have any friends.

This series has received a lot of high praise and I have been told that Ishida does come to change his ways and so I am interested to see how he develops as a character and whether he is successful in redeeming himself.

The final couple of pages of this volume spoke to me and (annoyingly) made me want to continue with the series so damn it...I’ll be picking up volume 2. A Silent Voice is not a bad book, it has a good story and I do like the artwork, it just bugs me that I really don't like Ishida; although I'm hoping that by continuing on with this series I will be rewarded by his transformation into a much nicer individual.

[Phoenix2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

What was I doing this whole time??!! This manga is sooooooo good I can't stop reading it!! Usually, I don't got for mangas that aren't shoujo, but I pikced this one because of the upcoming movie. The theme is very thrilling and interesting, as it deals with bullying and being different. The characters are represented with all their flaws, and not as those perfect creatures the shoujo manga usually include in their stories. The guy goes from the bully to the victim to someone who changes completely to the point that he actually all he needs is to be forgiven for what he had done. The story is sweet but deep at the same time and the writing is quick, clever and fast paced. Actually, you feel like you and the writer are friends and he is telling you the story. The drawings are nice as well. Mister Yoshitoki Ooima, concider me a fan!!

[Sanaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5 Stars] This was a good start, but I admit I have a hint of trouble loving the main character.

[Fátima Linhares · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este Shoya Ishida é um rapazinho que só à chapada. Tem a "desculpa" da idade da parvalheira, mas mesmo assim...

[Angigames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Era da tempo che non mi concedevo un manga. Questo però non è la solita storia, tutta sguardi, batticuore e amore. Questo affronta una tematica molto più reale e concreta, una tematica dolorosa e spinosa: il bullismo.
Shoya è un bambino vivace e senza regole, sempre pronto a nuove avventure, a superare il limite. Cerca sempre nuove sfide per caricarsi di adrenalina e colmare il “vuoto” che sente dentro se stesso, un vuoto che il lettore deve tenere ben presente durate la lettura di questo primo volume. Shoya non è un ragazzo tranquillo ma neanche un bulletto fatto e finito ma lo diventa quando nella sua classe arriva Shoko, una bambina sorda. Per l’intera classe l’arrivo di Shoya è come un terremoto. Nessuno si sa relazionare con lei. Shoya ne è così tanto incuriosito da tentare nuovi e bizzarri approcci di contatto che però sfoceranno in veri e propri atti di bullismo.
Il primo volume di A Silent Voice ha la capacità di scuotere il lettore dal profondo. È una denuncia senza troppi fronzoli inutili sulle dinamiche che ogni giorno si creano nelle classi. Il bello è che l’autrice fa si che il carnefice diventi poi vittima e che capisca cosa significa essere bullizzato a sua volta. Per Shoya la soluzione è solo una: isolarsi completamente dagli altri e covare odio nei loro confronti. Il ragazzo ormai sa perfettamente cosa ne sarà della sua vita, l’unica cosa che rimane è farsi perdonare prima che sia troppo tardi.
Bello, intenso, cattivo, ingiusto. Dove ci vengono presentate tutte le emozioni umani, senza filtri, con un linguaggio diretto, questo primo volume mi è piaciuto per la sua durezza e per la realtà dei fatti. Ho ammirato il coraggio dell’autrice.
Il finale mi ha lasciato a bocca aperta… non resta che fiondarmi sul secondo volume!

[Minne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My very first manga! And it was awesome(I just love Nishimiya, the heroine), a little weird to read though but I'm on project: "Expand Your Horizons" and i'm trying all things new soo... Vol. 2

[Shaghayegh · Rating 3 out of 5]

اولین تجربه‌ی مانگا خوندنم بود و دوستش داشتم...

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb is fairly accurate, but I guess must look ahead to further volumes. Although we do know that the two are about to meet again after six year, 98% of this volume is Shoya bullying Shoko* and also getting in trouble in other ways. Or rather, causing trouble. If there is any explanation for his misbehavior I guess it is that his mother is lax -- otherwise she seemed pretty kind and although maybe we're supposed to think it is a "bad" home because there's no father and the sister dates a lot, no one seems mean to Shoya. There's no over-simple cop-out excuse for his bullying as there often is in these stories, where the bully acts that way because of pressure or domestic abuse or even vast entitlement. Shoya is apparently just a jerk who does bad things because he is bored and has no empathy. He only in any sense is "sorry" when he gets the whole class in trouble and they all turn on him.

This is all from the bully's point of view. Shoko, the victim, is fairly opaque. She is deaf. She seems nice. We don't know how she feels or how much she understands. Hopefully this will be developed in book 2.


*Yes, the name similarity is confusing. Why, author?

[✶Rachelle✶ · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first ever manga! I chose this one because 1) I was bullied as a kid, and 2) I am hearing impaired. So yeah, I can relate.

Also there is a movie?? But I can’t find it in the US 😭

[Julia Sapphire · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kadi P · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what they say: what goes around comes around. But my goodness, I wish it had never gone around to begin with.

The whole situation was a horrible one. Shoko was cruelly bullied simply for being deaf and Shouya was horrible for doing what he did, there’s no denying that. But the way he was the only one who got the blame lit me up on fire, it enraged me that much. Everyone else who laughed and teased and didn’t stand up for Shoko was a bully too and Shouya wasn’t the only one who did it.

The true villain of this vol was the teacher. What a terrible teacher. He tried to teach Shouya about morals but he did a rubbish job at it. He laughed at the bullying remarks made about Shoko and even bullied Shouya himself. Awful, just awful! He helped create the discrimination against Shoko and built up the unawareness and lack of acceptance the children exhibited. It was no wonder they never learnt to be better than just bullies when the role model they had was an awful teacher with extremely loose morals.

The thing I want to see now in A Silent Voice, Vol. 2 is whether Shouya is really sorry because he realised what he did was wrong or if he’s only sorry because of all the bad things that have happened to him because of it. There’s a distinct difference between the two and I hope it’s the former and not the latter.

[Phils Osophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein ultra-wichtiges Thema, Mobbing, spannend verpackt. Band 1 hat noch etwas viel Backstory, hat aber auf jeden Fall Potenzial und setzt den Grundstein für die Folgebände. Der bisher beste Manga für mich!

[Kate♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5stars

I get the hype and I’m totally hooked

[Rusty Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn. This one made me cry. But so satisfying. First 5 star of 2020. 😊

[First Second Books]

This graphic novel series takes on a subject that's big in the educational community in the US today: bullying.

The protagonist of our graphic novel is a former bully who wants to make amends with the girl he bullied in middle school -- a situation exacerbated because he was insecure and she was deaf. It's a really interesting and sensitive examination of both sides of the bullying conflict, with a lot of interesting guest characters who get involved in the situation.

Also, the former middle school teacher is the worst! Seriously.

(This book was recommended by the amazing Faith Erin Hicks!)