A Silent Voice just continues to be intimate and painful and heartfelt and all that juicy feely-weely stuff that kills me every time. This sixth volume actually pulled one of my favorite dramatic tricks, something I maybe first fell in love with while watching Evangelion – drawing back from the overt narrative momentum in order to spend some time exploring each individual character, and giving their own internal world the time and respect it deserves. Shoya’s fall is a perfect moment to cut the drama short, and the results are as consistently enlightening as they are heartbreaking. A Silent Voice is the best manga I’m reading, and dear lord does the upcoming movie ever have a high ceiling.
You can check out my in-depth review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
Chapter 1
Shoya panicking and blaming himself in the heat of the moment
Man, this climax is done well
“That’s what you get for wearing heels when you’re not used to them.” “I’m wearing them so I get used to them.” What a perfect, perfect line for this series
Chapter 2
Jeez. This resolves into an actual, legitimate fight
The art can’t quite handle these dramatic slap-fight panels. The artist is much better at smaller movements, while these look stiff and exaggerated
“We’re not friends anymore.” “Yes we are.”
“Am I the kind of person who can’t feel satisfied until I’ve hit someone?”
“Should I have put it into words? If I’d just told her ‘don’t die,’ would she have changed her mind?”
The utter loneliness of this situation, and the effect on those around her. Piercing stuff
“Shoya, what would you have done?” Every single person is just muddling through
Chapter 3
“Everyone has their faults! So hold your head up high!”
Shoko blames herself for destroying the friend group. But it was inherently fragile in the first place, and Shoya was already sure it would fail
Chapter 4
“Shoya changed. But what about me?” Even Nao is insecure
People being completely incapable of seeing their own good qualities. Needing external approval, and then falling down when they get external criticism from people they know are jerks. It’s tough!
So we’re covering each character in sequence, and how they’ve affected each other. Each one helps the next a little bit
Chapter 5
Miki’s feelings are great. She’s largely disconnected from the true struggle, but her resentment is real
And yet she expresses herself through wholly fake, self-aggrandizing nonsense
This manga’s empathy for everyone is pretty great
Chapter 6
Shoya’s mom doesn’t know how to deal with Shoko. This confession here feels a little unconvincing
Satoshi’s definitely a weird one himself. There’s such an anger in him
Chapter 7
Naoka can’t see Shoko’s actions as genuine. She must be a trickster, an aggressor
“If he’s not going to choose me, him never waking up is way better”
Naoka is legitimately a toxic person. An understandable one, but hey, some people are toxic
Chapter 8
My god, this chapter from Shoko’s perspective is incredible. These lengthy, claustrophobic perspective sequences. The various tricks with language. The sequence of awful dreams
Chapter 9
And one more flight from herself
Glad you like it. I’ve been thinking just what makes this volume not satisfying for me, and there are various things I can think of:
– I may be relying too much on Shoya as an emotional anchor to the story. Once he’s out of the picture, I felt disoriented.
– I still don’t feel I connect very much to Nishimiya. Her chapter in this volume is downright amazing, but I feel like we learn her too much through her family’s perspective and not hers.
– I still don’t get a feel to Miki and Satoshi’s circumstances. I feel like one chapter for each of them isn’t enough to explore their full psyche.
– I I found the actions of Shoya and Nishimiya’s mother… unconvincing? I still can’t quite put my finger why on this one.
Anyway, this doesn’t make me think the series is bad by any stretch, but it makes it feels a bit rough in a way that I’m really, really excited for the movie that I’m optimistic will sand off the rough edges.