A Silent Voice: The Movie · reception & legacy

2016 · Naoko Yamada

How A Silent Voice: The Movie has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

In 2016 it had the misfortune of opening in Your Name's shadow, forever cast as 'the other anime tear-jerker' of that year — but streaming turned the tables, and it's now routinely argued to be the better, braver film.

What's debated

The perennial fight: does it earn its redemption arc, or does it center the bully's guilt at the expense of the deaf girl whose story it borrows?

Its footprint

The X's drawn over classmates' faces became one of modern anime's most referenced images — instant shorthand for social anxiety — and the film itself is a byword for 'the anime that emotionally destroyed me'.

Where it stands

A Letterboxd darling and one of the highest-rated anime films on the platform — firmly in the 'you must watch this (with tissues)' modern canon, and central to the beatification of Naoko Yamada and Kyoto Animation.

★ Did you know? Yoshitoki Ōima's source manga was considered so sensitive in its depiction of a deaf character and bullying that its publication was delayed for years — it only ran after being reviewed and approved by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf.