A Silent Voice (manga)
A Silent Voice is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. The series was originally published as a one-shot in the February 2011 issue of Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine and later began a full serialization in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in August 2013. The manga ended its run on November 19, 2014. It was published in seven tankōbon volumes by Kodansha in Japan. The manga received a digital release by Crunchyroll Manga and was licensed by Kodansha USA for a printed English release. An anime theatrical film adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation was released on September 17, 2016.
Plot
The story revolves around Shoya Ishida, a former delinquent who bullied Shoko Nishimiya, his deaf classmate, alongside his friends back when he was in elementary school. When Nishimiya transferred, all of his friends and teachers turned against him, making him isolated well into high school to the point that he decides that he should do something good in order to remove his bad deeds. Until he suddenly reunites with Nishimiya, who is still lonely due to her shyness. Realizing that both are suffering due to his past sins, Ishida sets out on a path of redemption by trying to reconnect Nishimiya with their old classmates that Nishimiya never had the chance to befriend back then, including Ishida's former comrade, Naoka Ueno, who holds a grudge against Nishimiya for "causing" Ishida's isolation; Miki Kawai, their narcissistic former class president; and Miyoko Sahara, a kind girl who was the only one attempting to befriend Nishimiya years before. They also make new friends in Tomohiro Nagatsuka, a similarly friendless fat boy who owes Ishida when his bike was stolen; and Satoshi Mashiba, Kawai's crush.The seven begin to work together when Nagatsuka's plan to create a film for a competition, which he plans to only include Ishida and himself, attracts the attention of Ueno, Kawai, Sahara, and Mashiba, with Ishida, additionally inviting Nishimiya to join the project. Throughout the filming, the seven face their personal challenges and conflicts. They also have a falling out when Ishida tries to isolate himself again by insulting the crew, leading to Nishimiya feeling sorry for him as she tries to confess her love to Shoya this impacts the other six as they start to resolve their problems while suspending the project until he awakens. Once he recovers, Ishida reconciles with his film crew and finally completes the film, which, while a failure, has greatly helped him and his friends.
A year after their high school graduation and their subsequent parting ways, the seven reunite for the Coming of Age Day. By then, Ishida has stopped ignoring the people around him and now has a lot of friends. At the end of the Age Day, Ishida and Nishimiya are seen going into their elementary school reunion together, hand in hand, leaving the rest, including their relationship, to the reader.
Characters
;Shōya Ishida;Shōko Nishimiya
;Naoka Ueno
;Miki Kawai
;Miyoko Sahara
;Yuzuru Nishimiya
;Tomohiro Nagatsuka
;Satoshi Mashiba
;Yaeko Nishimiya
;Ito Nishimiya
;Miyako Ishida
;Kazuki Shimada
;Keisuke Hirose
;Takeuchi
;Kita
;Maria Ishida
;Shōya's sister
Media
Manga
A Silent Voice began as a manga written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima and was originally published as a one-shot in the February 2011 issue of Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine. It was later turned into a full manga series and began serialization in the combined 36-37th issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine, released on August 7, 2013, and ended its run on the 51st issue of the magazine on November 19, 2014. The series was compiled into seven tankōbon volumes which were published by Kodansha in Japan between November 15, 2013, and December 17, 2014. Kodansha USA licensed the series for an English release in North America with the first volume being released in Q2 2015 and with subsequent volumes released every two months following. Crunchyroll Manga had earlier obtained the series for a digital English release. Kodansha Comics collected all seven volumes into a box set containing a poster and a replica of Shōko's notebook from the series, and released it on December 19, 2017.Volume list
Film
The final chapter of the manga, published in the 51st issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2014, announced that an anime project for the series was in its planning stages. The seventh volume of the manga revealed that the project would be a theatrical film. It was later revealed in early October 2015 that Kyoto Animation would be producing an anime film based on the series, directed by Naoko Yamada and distributed by Shochiku. It was announced on the adaptation's official website that Reiko Yoshida is writing the film's scripts, Futoshi Nishiya is designing the characters. The film was released in Japan on September 17, 2016.The English language adaptation features a deaf voice actress named Lexi Cowden playing the lead character.
Reception
The first tankobon volume sold 31,714 copies within the first week of release, ranking number 19 on the Oricon manga chart. Its second volume ranked 12 selling 60,975 in its first week. As of March 2014, the tankobon volumes sold 700,000 copies in Japan. In France, A Silent Voice sold 131,000 copies in 2015 and 85,000 copies in 2016, adding up to 216,000 copies sold in France as of 2016.Awards and nominations
A Silent Voice received an award for "Best Rookie Manga" in 2008. The vector of the content made it difficult for publication on any manga magazine until it was picked up after months of legal dispute by the February edition of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine, where it won first place. Due to the subject matter, the serialization has been reviewed and supported by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf. It was nominated for the 8th Manga Taishō.In February 2015, Asahi Shimbun announced that A Silent Voice was one of nine nominees for the nineteenth annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The manga went on to win the New Creator Prize. In April 2016, it was announced that A Silent Voice was nominated for the Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia award in the 2016 Eisner Awards.