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Shoya Ishida hates himself.

When he was a kid, he was bullying a deaf girl named Shoko. He was not alone in tormenting her, pretty much the entire class was teasing her, especially because they feel that she was slowing them down during classes. But eventually, the children’s cruelty went too far. Shoko was forced to leave the school. And, just to make it worse, Ishida ended up shouldering all the blame. All his classmates turned on him, claiming that it was him and only him who bullied Shoko, making him the target of bullying, not only by his fellow students, but his teacher as well. Six years later, Ishida now lives in a zombie-like state, ignoring the world around him. As he feels his existence is meaningless, both for himself and the rest of the world, he decides to end his pathetic life. But not before he can apologize to Shoko. He learns how to speak sign language, tracks her down...

... And he realizes that he can't kill himself. He has a dept to pay to his former victim.

Dear LORD, this was sad and depressing!

But it had a sort-of happy ending, though.

This story was actually not as preachy as I thought it would be. It's not about bullying being wrong(well, that too), but about two people, both suffering of lack of self-respect as a result of all the crap they had to face in their very young life. Ishida feels that it is his fault that Shoko's life suck, and he does all he can to make up for the damage he believe he alone caused her. Not because he expect to be forgiven, but simply because its the only decent and right thing to do. He doesn't pity himself. He blames himself. But Shoko, surprisingly enough, does not hold a grudge. She forgives him. Maybe Ishida has to learn how to forgive himself?

I'm surprised by the lack of sucker-coated story telling, but I shouldn't really be by now. Manga comics has always been better at telling a serious and bittersweet story than European and American comics. But A Silent Voice is something special. I haven't been this moved since I read Bitter Virgin(which I also recommend, link HERE). Not a single chapter is wasted, not a single line of dialog is unimportant, every element serves to make a powerful impact on the readers perception of not only Shoko and Ishida, but also the other characters in this series. I have to rearrange my top nine list of favorite mangas, cause this one deserves a spot on that list.

That's one down, 27 to go.

I'm Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.