Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)
So it's a been a long time since I sat down a read a manga at all, and even longer since I experience a series binge, but this popped up for me and I powered through this shit faster than I expected.
Let's just say, this hit me like a ton of bricks. Yoshitoki Ōima (
Mardock Scramble artist) just simply nailed those feelings of my childhood, hell, even the feelings that still haunt me. The isolation, heartache, the pain of being bullied, the silence we all put up to hide who we are, the weaknesses we try to hide, self-hate, self-pity, depression, loss, physical and emotional abuse, inadequacy, assuming the worst in people, not being able to say what you want to say, forgiveness, and the light that comes as you pick up the pieces and find a way to grow a rebuild. All through the eyes of a story that, on its surface seems rather cliche in romance manga, but done so powerfully through the mechanism of having a deaf female protagonist (Shōko Nishimiya).
But I most connected with the male protagonist (Shōya Ishida), a lonely bully-turned-bullied trying to make amends for his ways, grappling with his demons, and trying his best to change. He doesn't always succeed, but that's fine. He's not perfect, none of the characters are, and Ōima goes out of their way to express that; it's not about always having smiles. It's about hearing (with and without your ears) the good and the bad, and growing as a person. It's an area I still struggle with, but a cause I know. I also quite admire her to write amazingly believable characters, each with fairly deep traumas and faults, though some can get somewhat more shallow than others.
I also just adore Ōima's sense of framing. While parts of her art style can be kinda of messy and some characters have kinda limited emotional palettes facially, sometimes they art is just absurdly gorgeous. Her ability to show the sign language in such a clear way, distortions in words and images, and her love of the first-person perspective really drive the emotional aspect of Ishida's character. The Xs that block the faces of those he's walled away, the almost stop-motion-like wordless action sequences, and I particularly enjoyed her love of rapid page-after-page repetition and returning to motifs and locations to emphasize Ishida's childishness and his putting away of childish things.
Y'all have probably already read this, and I know an anime film adaption is coming out later this year, but goddamn. I'm still trying to digest it, honestly. Anyways. Just had to get that off my chest.
