A Silent Voice (2 hours of melodramatic filler that should've been a short film instead)

A Silent Voice (2 hours of melodramatic filler that should’ve been a short film instead)

A Silent Voice (2 hours of melodramatic filler that should’ve been a short film instead)

Saw this back when it dropped, never finished an Anime movie so pissed; that 2 (very slow paced, dragged on) hours were spent on what should’ve been 10–30min. of a cute, meaningful short film about redemption & acceptance.

The movie overall could’ve been a cute short film, without the time skip and unnecessary side characters. Just self indulgence on full display. People think elements being explored in films is the same thing as elements being portrayed properly, “exploration” is not the same as proper representation.

And funny how I (a detractor) am talking about the film, thus bringing it back into minor 5sec of relevance, when people who liked the film, (so far as I’ve seen) forgot it even existed.

• When pure raw emotion/ hype is your reason for liking something- when the emotions & hype fade, that’s the hill for what you liked it- dies on.
• Hype & emotions do not last forever. Same goes for relationships.

The bullying aspect was executed “OK”, very mean stuff. If the point was for it to be mean, it succeeded.

Though the entire thing was just a huge play on your emotions. Rarely have any female designs that stray from the “stock cute girl design”, no pronounced nose, heavy set, burns that don’t look like tattoos, overbite, sloped eyes, nope just 24/7 the cutest possible iteration.

Because how could you feel empathy for someone that isn’t appealing to your Darwinian biases.

Typical presentation, the “insert your tears here” moments were cringeworthy (because you can tell they really, REALLY want you to feel something); they didn’t work for me. Worst parts of the movie because it’s so extra and over the top. Kyo-Ani is obsolete in terms of storytelling, they resort to the same tired old gimmicks.

Neon Genesis Evangelion had hard to watch scenes because in context they were supposed to be actual larger than life problems. 

Same with that stair climax scene in Garden of Words aka Garden of Foot Fetish, with the crying, and leaping on him & shit, the music swell, all over a first world problem, a contrived misunderstanding. 

Just melodrama stupidity & this isn’t me not liking Slice of Boring, I actually fancy My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Tentai Senshi Sunred, both slice of life. 

But this with this movie, you’d think a fool legit died or something with how blasted telegraphed it is. ZERO Stakes in these worthless, shiny movies.

This is what most Anime (slice of nothing happens) movies are, just unintentional Rom-coms taking themselves too goddamn seriously.

Cause the easiest road to 5 stars for Otaku’s is make a fool cry, that’s all it takes. 

And what does that even amount to when recent generations are so overly emotional these days, WHO ISN’T crying nowadays.

The voice acting was good, from all the cast. (SUB) The script is shit.

The titular couple had little in common as people, let alone chemistry for a would be couple, she was a blank slate of nauseating innocence, but she was cute, since that’s all that matters.

(Per japanese obsession = cute cute cute, that’s her existence. No attitude, no allergy, no weird hobbies. Nope just Angel in incarnate. Too good for this world.)

He remembered her & kept hounding her out of curiosity, guilt, intrigue and because he’s tall & endearing and a victim as well that somehow wipes clean his sins. And she’s short & cute- we’re supposed to want him to succeed in re-entering her life.

Pure superficial aesthetic.

If she had a temper or something, an ugly laugh, sore loser, something/ anything resembling a flawed human being, that would be better.

Hell if she went through a transformation and became like a UFC or underground deaf streetfighter badass, that shit would be fucking wild, the movie just throws you the biggest curveball of the anime industry 2023 and it’d be funny given she was bullied, so that’s how she’d cope.

• It’s actually insulting how heavy they lean on her character whenever convenient for sympathy points but Shoko isn’t even the main character, she’s the object of desire & absolute standard of victimization.

And the UFC thing or anything close to it wouldn’t just be a contrived plot point, because it’d make narrative sense as to why she’d feel driven to be a fighter, to never be preyed on again.

The joke would be you’d expect exactly what you got in the movie, someone who somehow is the exact same blank slab of wood 10 years later. Someone who is conveniently ripe and ready for romantic availability.

Which is the insulting part. “Romantic availability” for the asshole that abused her.

But she ends up being the exact opposite, still feminine, but not available & has better things to do. Because why not, god forbid Shoko has any agency. 

Leagues more entertaining, because now the intrigue is: HOW TF is he going to end up with her, HOW?!

This entire movie hinges on her even wanting to deal with this guy at all, the movie hinges on her having NOTHING going on in her life, just so he could fit in the picture.

This only works if she’s frail, “cute cute cute” and vulnerable 24/7, ya know the Japanese’ peak standard for a domestic infantile pet, errr i mean a “WAIFU” guys, my bad. Got the two mixed up…

Otherwise how could the movie possibly end without some kind of contrived romantic payoff that realistically shouldn’t exist.

And all that time & she has no partner?

If they had any balls they’d made her like girls, instead of forcing some side characters being not so subtly lesbian, so bold guys, very brave.

• So him getting with her is an impossibility 
• and him making amends can be a genuine endeavor in isolation outside romantic motivations
• thus removed from the fact that he’s obviously guaranteed her hand after the bullshit drama is done wasting your time. 
• Because that’s the agenda of the events, not actual redemption but romantic reward.

Predictable.

Grown up, he was more vulnerable & apologetic due to him being bullied to balance out her innocent nature and that alone was enough to get them to develop feelings or buy sympathy from the audience. It’s so goddamn manipulative, I hate it.

Zero chemistry, just well drawn/animated/colored scenes of being in the same vicinity and being wholesome.

The movie is throwing more signals than doing the work to justify why or how these two would even work 15 years into their lives.

Spoiler Alert: Wholesome isn’t chemistry

 (*Cough My adventures with Clark-Kun and Lois-Chan *cough cough), that’s the problem with Deku and Ochako, and it took me a while to figure that out — cause it’s easy to think just being cute means that’s a recipe for success. Or just getting along is chemistry- **Wrong.

He became a victim of bullying like she was = We’re supposed to want them together. Again, more manipulation of expectations, so he didn’t have to earn her or the situation. Despite the fact that he deserved that shit, she didn’t. 

You don’t get rewarded for suffering consequences of your own actions, karma is not vindication for a reward.

Unconventional Stockholm syndrome is cute because the girl is cute: the movie.

Could’ve been better but could’ve been worse. never watched it again and will never watch it again. Not even a clip. 

But unfortunately the good animation burned it’s existence into my mind.

It was a nice/ “sweet” film for what it was. Sloppy & pretentious because people always take the bait with films like this, films that think they’re saying something because it’s longer than it should be, films that think flow symbolism is storytelling.

Not Recommended, more forgettable feels schlock.

Overly drawn out, melodramatic, way too goddamn long, so long the original premise gets long in translation and what should be about tolerance & respecting differences turns into some other bullshit; 

The entire story should’ve been wrapped up as a more concise short film. Under an hour, under 30min at best.

Just watch:

 My Sister Momoko, #1 recommendation

This little girl is a leagues better MC than Shoko & most current gen Shonen protagonists.

Spirited Away, Flavors of Youth, Out of Sight (web short, watch on YT) or the underrated Dareka no Manazashi (A good short film people forgot existed because it’s not high school Tween melodrama bait)

Gets the point across without holding you hostage for 2 hours.