How A Silent Voice's Anime Adaptation Fails as an Adaptation - From Manga to Movie

Koe no Katachi's (聲の形) (The Shape of the Voice) recent anime movie is pretty interesting. In this video, I analyze some of the ways it falls short of its source material, and a couple ways it may have improved in its adaptation.

[Lowart]

Hello there, people! For those who didn't know, part two of this video is up, and you can find it linked at the end of this video. I also wanted to apologize briefly: I think many people have felt manipulated by my original title. That was never my intent, although intent doesn't matter all that much I suppose. So anyway, I've changed the title to something a little less provocative and eye-catching, but a bit more honest. It's a slight change, but some of you saw the title and read it as being a bit rude to the movie and its creators, I think, which is something I never want to be: the people who made this movie are fantastic at what they do and pour themselves into their work.

Anyway, I hope that the new title seems better. Thank you for the feedback. I'm always taking it into consideration.

[suppertimesims]

They hired a deaf person for the dub version of Shoko and the way she spoke honestly got to me

[kirikakirikakirika]

But the movie didn't present Shouya as a jerk for no reason. It showed him as a young boy who wanted to fit in with the other bullies. He thought it was okay because everyone did it and laughed. That's definitely relatable for a lot of people.

[xianchen]

I really hated that blonde haired girl, who always pretended to be nice, but used her faked innocence as a girl to trick everyone...
In the movie she even pretended that nothing ever happened between Nishimiya and her and she was all like "you're popular right now so because now I'm so pretty we're friends now!" That blonde girl is so fake and I just loved it when Shoya shouted his mind towards her and that friend of him too
Of course that blonde girl would say something like "You're so cruel/mean/whatev" and then starts crying always playing to be the victim of the case GAH!

[blueqint]

To be honest I dislike the teacher. He too, KNOWS very well that Ishida is bullying Nishimiya but nothing to stop it from getting any worse. You're telling me eight of her hearing aids are lost/broken, and the teacher did not see any suggestive behavior? Man he is as bad as the bullies. Shouting Ishida's name at the top of his voice doesn't immediately make him a good person. He also did not try to help Ishida when he was going through bullying, which is another horrible mistake. Sure he deserved it, but bullying is still bullying. It is wrong no matter who do it, what situation.

Sadly, this character is quite realistic. Just many other teachers in real life, they fail to do the duties of being a teacher, other than teaching the students. As a teacher, you need to teach them emotionally too, guide the students who are at the wrong path. A teacher is not just a teaching robot for students, a teacher is also a parent, a guardian, a friend, a counsellor for the students.

[JGFurgie]

As someone with Social Anxiety, I felt the film's representation of it was at least very strong. I haven't read the manga yet, so I can't comment on that, but it definitely hit some major notes, and I'll likely begin citing this film when I explain it. The biggest thing was hearing what Shoya "heard" his classmates saying. It was super subtle the first go-around, but I noticed it much more clearly when I got to thinking about it later. It's perfect because that's how it is. You don't hear them talking about school or home, you hear them talking about you, and even when they aren't, you still hear it. It's part of the reason large crowds can become so daunting, because suddenly you imagine that all those people have heard about your worse mistakes and are talking about you and laughing at you.
It may fall short to the manga, but I think the film was a great story of redemption and growth, beautifully done to convey the idea that you can move on.

[jonson]

I would speak in defense of the movie that it at least conveyed the essence of the story. But in the end yeah, I wished it was more like a 3 hour movie haha. But I still love the film

[spuddy]

Meh, don't care. Manga and Movie were both awesome regardless of how they went about it.

[somritmittra]

I think Shoya's suicide attempt at the beginning was handled perfectly, cause it got me into the movie within those few minutes with the question of "why?" And the next few minutes I was like but he was such a jolly jerk and when the reason got to me it hit me harder than the manga, I agree with everything you said other than this one. And I think the manga and movie can't be compared, like compressing 62 chapters into 2 hours isn't possible. Just because it was kyoani we got a masterpiece, others wouldn't have rolled out movies where expressions talk.

[grim]

I could relate to a silent voice, I cried so much when watching the movie.

[KayleLang]

The character that frustrated me the most was the teacher. It reminded me so much about why many teachers fail at addressing bullying and how some unwittingly actually contribute to it.

I remember a girl in my class in 5th grade. This girl was really assertive, uncooperative, and if things didn't go her way, she would use cry bully tactics. She was grouped up with me many times and I dreaded it. She really didn't know how to work with others and was completely unaware of how she was hurting them. The thing was, she treated everybody in the class poorly so everybody turned on her. She started to actually get bullied herself. I admit that I've said things that I regret even though it was backlash from how she treated me. I was the type of kid who would even help my bullies if they are in need but I never extended that help to her. She was far from being my worst bully and it's one of my biggest regrets that I didn't help her out.

With the whole class against her, she had it really rough. If I had the mind as I do now, I would have tried to be her friend. That's all she really needed and it may of help her social skills to the point where people were no longer hostile to her.

Looking back at it, the only people I am angry with are the teachers, principals, and guidance counsellors. They didn't help, and if anything, they made things worse. When kids have a problem with other kids, teachers shouldn't be saying something equivalent to "get over it." I had teachers who literally said, "don't be a tattletale." Many times, the problem is bigger than the teachers realise, but they cut the students off way too quick. They just let problems get worse and worse.

As for the girl in my 5th-grade class, when the teachers and principal finally stepped in, they came in way too late. It got to the point where the bathroom wasn't even a safe place for this girl. I think it was closer to the end of the school year before they really got involved. They also confronted in the worst way possible. They had the entire class in a circle and asked us why we were treating this girl the way we were. They were talking to us in a threating voice so how the hell are 5th graders going to talk honestly about what's been happening? Most of us, like me, were scared into silence. Afterwards, the entire class had to stand in a line on the schoolyard during recess. What teacher in the world thought that this was going to stop the bullying? All it did was made us resent the girl even more.

With how bad the bullying was, the principal should have talked to students one on one to figure out what's happening. The punishment should not have been humiliation but group building.

The teacher in A Silent Voice epitomizes all those problems I had with teachers and how they deal with bullies.

[KairiIEB]

I agree with you. Also I really hate that they focused mostly on Shoya and not on Shoko. The audience wasn't shown how much she loaths her disability. All they know is that she hated herself so much she wanted to die, the end. Nothing was said about her father which sucks because that is a big part of her character.

[dextersarchives]

It's nice to see someone blame the teacher once in awhile. tbh the teacher should have been blamed for all the bullying and lack of empathy, if he'd stepped in and assess the situation properly like he should have none of this would've gone too far... Fucking failure of a sensei imo

[artstyle]

2:26 - "I heard if you jump into water from fifty feet, it's as hard as concrete!"
That foreshadowing...

[Joenah]

I completely disagree with your point. Subtlety is much more important than in your face information. The movie did not fail as an adaptation, it does the opposite.

[n]

I think this is most likely my favorite movie of all time all the things that apparently was explained in the manga was well conveyed through the movie to the point that it didnt need to be explained and it was shown rather than told. I was wary about watching this video when it appeared in my recommendations because stating that the "Anime Adaptation Fails" is a pretty bold statement, but from the video you explained your point of view well enough that I'd like to read the manga and see for myself the difference. Well done analysis, but misleading title.

[gregai]

I agree with you completely, but unfortunately you drive away majority of the audience that enjoyed the movie, meaning they will not watch your video with the title, but immediately hate comment, downvote, or just not watch it.

I think the movie supplements the manga well. There are obvious flaws in the manga due to it being a running series, editorial/fan feedback decisions, and lengthening of the story. The movie helped condense it by highlighting important parts, which you can only do in post-production.

Imo, neither of the mediums stand alone, but they both supplement each other to form a masterpiece. The movie's symbolism and imagery is only noticeable when you truly understand the characters and backstory.

[Lowart]

Hello, kind people. I haven't checked back here for a while, so thanks for all the comments! I really appreciate it :) Also, I just wanted you to know that I am working on the second part, but it's probably going to be 40 minutes long or something ridiculous like that, so, yeah, hopefully it'll be worth the wait for those of you who were looking forward to it! ^_^

[MrDj]

It doesn't sound like a bad adaptation from what you've described so far. Seems like the changes have just been about abbreviating content and making Ishida a more relatable and sympathetic character. The manga character you've described is actively cruel to distract from his own problems, whereas the film character doesn't realize he's being cruel because he's swept up by the crowd. The former is a stereotypical bully and, frankly, not a character I'd root for. The latter is a fairly normal kid which also helps emphasize his regret when he sees how his behavior hurt others. Maybe the manga makes him sympathetic eventually but the film has a lot less time to do so which makes this shortcut a good adaptation decision.

[miadatenshi]

It's kind of upsetting how you would call a perfectly-crafted movie a bad adaptation when it's made with so much love and it's certainly a stand-out in a billion of romance anime movies