2016 was the year of the Anime movies, with Kimi no Na Wa and Koe no Katachi, gracing the Anime community with such beautifully designed movies. I wasn’t able to watch Koe no Katachi when it first hit theatres, which in itself was a bummer. But when I was able to finally see it, I really, really enjoyed it.
Today is another Movie Review! Something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile but never got around to doing. For those who haven’t seen the movie, I do suggest you go and watch it, I think it’ll be worth your time. The movie is made by Kyoto Animation, is classed as a Romance, School, and Shounen; and is currently rocking a nice 9.05 rating on myAnimeList.
Story: 9/10
The story starts off with a young girl named Nishimiya Shouko, who walks into a classroom and introduced herself in pieces of paper she wrote before coming in, then “I am deaf.” was written. Ishida Shouya and a few of his friends bullied her as her time in school goes by to the point where she had to be transferred out because they have been damaging her hearing aids -which is very expensive- and the teachers were suspicious of a potential bully in class. Shouya’s actions then turned to him and he has to suffer almost the same fade of bullying as what he did to Shouko. Many years later, both of them meet again. Regretting his actions, Shouya tries to make friends with her in hopes of trying to reconcile.
This is a rather interesting story to me as not many manga/anime generally does not focus a story about a deaf character. It’s fairly genuine in the Anime community and I really applaud the setting and effort being put into the movie.
Art: 10/10
As expected from Kyoto Animation, it has one of the most vibrant and smoothest animation one could get. Comparing this to Tamako Love Story, the quality is about the same, if not better.
Sound: 7/10
First of all, I must say that the ending song “Koi wo Shita no wa” by aiko is flawless. However, there are instances where the sound does not seem to fit with its current scene/setting. Some of which threw me off in the cinema that I’d just prefer to watch it raw and without sound. Overall, there is still some music which really fits its current scene/setting, but it’s just that one or two sounds which were really unfit to be in there.
The voice acting is spot-on; especially the Nishimiya sisters, which was actually the main reason why I watched the movie. Saori Hayami did a perfect-close-to-flawless job in performing as Shouko and Aoi Yuuki’s tone as Yuzuru is completely different from the other roles she took before this, which bewildered me because I almost thought that it’s a completely different person. Miyu Irino’s performance is great as well.
Character: 8/10
The only thing that left me a good impression while I was sitting in the cinema was Shouya’s development throughout the movie. He makes a major change to himself in order to reconcile with Shouko. I really love his change and one can really relate (especially people who regret bullying their victims) to how he’s doing his best to show his regret for his actions.
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2 responses to “Koe no Katachi | A Beautiful Movie”
Have you read the manga as well?
I’m still half-way through, but I’m enjoying the finer details that it offers aside from the movie 🙂
I really love this movie. Its a must watch. I cried hard for this one again and again. Its one of my fave anime movie.