![]() ✘ I cannot point if other stories deal with these issues in a different/better way. I liked it : here's the only thing I can say about it. ✘ I have no freaking clue if the art is better/worst than it is elsewhere. ✘ I definitely cannot compare it to other existing mangas. I don’t identify with Shoya, but I can certainly connect with those other students.► What you won't find in this review : This is the first manga I've ever read I know, I'm such a weirdo, therefore : I just want this person to go away and quit bothering me. I’m a patient person up to a point, but there are times when I’m trying to help someone and he just… isn’t… getting it. This is where the book got into my head, because I could relate. Shoya is the most relentless bully of the bunch, but the whole class makes life harder for her. It’s not just the personal communication she slows the whole class down as her teachers struggle to help her understand. ![]() But as time goes on, the students grow less patient with the process and begin to resent Shoko. Her need to communicate through written notes is like a game. At first, the rest of the class is into helping Shoko. But as the situation between them escalates, there’s something else going on in the school that I found fascinating. Eventually, he’s just challenged by her refusal to react the way he wants her to. ![]() She takes attention off himself and he thinks it’s entertaining to pick on her. But when a deaf girl named Shoko comes to Shoya’s school, that’s when things get out of control. His narcissistic need to be constantly entertained makes him a bully to his friends. But they are exactly the building blocks that Shoya’s bullying is created from. It was disappointing to see it in a book that I had hopes for.īut as I kept reading, I began to see Shoya’s hatred of boredom as a mask for a deeper problem: impatience combined with self-centeredness. That kind of shallow characterization is something I’ve encountered in enough manga that it keeps me from being a fan of the form. His stated motivation for his bad behavior was no more complicated than a never-ending battle against boredom. For a while, I was worried about what Shoya meant for A Silent Voice. ![]() Picking fights, jumping off bridges into water, that kind of thing. The book tells the story of Shoya, a rough, mean-spirited kid who rules his circle of friends and often pressures them into activities that they otherwise wouldn’t do. What I didn’t dream of – but what it delivers so well – was a look at bullying so balanced that I not only understood why people bully but was able to identify at least the potential for bullying even in myself. It wasn’t a confident hope, but I figured that even if it wasn’t very good, A Silent Voice would eventually have to find something new to say if only to fill its page count. My greatest hope for the book was some insight about bullies that went deeper than the usual revelation that they themselves have been bullied and are just passing on the pain. Manga, on the other hand, with its long-form structure and emphasis on emotion, suggested a deeper look at the subject, perhaps with perspectives from both the bullied and the bully. Had it been any other kind of comic, I would have been mildly curious – probably expecting a personal narrative about how the author had been bullied and what effect that had on her or his life – but I wouldn’t have been eager. And though I appreciate manga more than I am a fan of it, I was eager to read A Silent Voice and see how it approached the topic. There’s a manga about everything, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that someone had created one to discuss bullying.
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