At the novel’s beginning, our protagonist, Shoya Ishida, has gone from being a rebellious and popular student to a lonely and melancholy teenager who cannot come to terms with his past or present. We quickly learned that Shoya had made it nearly impossible for a deaf classmate named Shoko Nishimiya to use her notebook for communication.
A Silent Voice‘s strength is that it tells its story from the teens’ perspective throughout, spanning both the present day at school and the past before school existed. Shoya can’t shake the guilt he feels for causing Shoko suffering and feels an obligation to make atonement. The issues of bullying, mental health, and atonement are all addressed in this film. It’s a great anime to watch, and others like A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) deal with similarly weighty, thoughtful, and analytical themes.
Top 10+ Anime Movies Similar to A Silent Voice:
1. Your Name (Kimi no Na wa – 2016)
Mitsuha is a little girl living in the rural Japanese countryside, irritated by the temple tasks in her care. Her #1 dream is to move to Tokyo. The film opens with Mitsuha having a fantastical plan about growing up in Tokyo as a young boy. In the morning, she has no recollection of her bizarre and highly male behavior the day before or of the reactions of her friends and family.
It wasn’t a dream at all, as she had previously assumed. The young man from Tokyo, Taki, and Mitsuha switched bodies. From then on, they are both aware that they are trading bodies, leaving each other messages to communicate, and observing how they proceed while this “phenomenon” occurs. Like the anime it resembles, A Silent Voice features a compelling conversation between two main characters and is recommended to watch.
2. Fireworks (2017)
Fireworks season is in full swing, and Norimichi Shimada and his pals are curious whether the exploding fireworks will take on a circular or flattened appearance. They decide to go to the Moshimo fireworks festival to find the solution. In their pursuit of answers, Norimichi and her classmate Nazuna Oikawa fall into some problems; Nazuna eventually tries to flee her house, but not before asking Norimichi to come with her. When things look hopeless for them both, a mysterious orb bearing Nazuna will bring them another shot at happiness. A dash of the otherworldly to spice up an intriguing journey of self-discovery.
3. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
America launches a deadly assault on the city of Kobe in the summer of 1945. Mother, minor sister, and Seita’s kin, Setsuko, all call that place home. The brothers miss their mother’s arrival at the refuge during the bombardment and instead see the destruction of their city for themselves.
Later, when the fighting has died and the bombs have stopped, Seita and Setsuko look for their mom. What they find, however, pushes them to grow up too soon to succeed in a world that won’t last forever. Gorgeous, fact-based anime continues where Koe no Katachi left off (A Silent Voice). Keep a box of tissues close by since you need them.
4. The Garden of Words (2013)
Takao Akazuki, a 15-year-old student, would rather spend his time designing shoes (particularly for women) than studying. On one of his morning strolls, he meets Yukari, a young woman who, like himself, frequently skips courses and drinks excessively.
Eventually, Takao learns that Yukari is an older lady who teaches at the school where he is enrolled, and the already implausible love story between them becomes even more so. Gorgeous anime shares many parallels with A Silent Voice but also has exciting twists and turns.
5. In This Corner of the World (2016)
The film follows a young woman as she married a guy she’s known since she was a kid and thus had to uproot her life and go to another city. Set in Japan during World War II, she will have to adjust to her new family and the devastating effects of the conflict. For those who enjoyed A Silent Voice, this is a superb anime film to watch because of the drama, quality screenplay, and fantastic voice acting.
6. A Whisker Away
The Japanese anime A Whisker Away, set in a fantastical world, is charming. Classmate Kento has a crush on Miyo Sasaki, a junior at her high school. When a fellow student leaks Miyo’s love letter to Kento, he is humiliated and immediately rejects her. Miyo is down in the dumps, so she agrees to wear a mask that would allow her to change into a cat so that she may talk to Kento. Her humanity begins to erode as she considers living with him a cat rather than leaving him altogether.
Tokoname, a suburb of Nagoya, serves as the backdrop for this story. Tokoname, located on the western shore of the Chita Peninsula, is well-known in Japan as a pottery production center. This area is famous for producing Tokonari-yaki ceramics, one of Japan’s oldest and most recognizable ceramic styles. Connecting the cat mask’s inspiration with Kento’s love of ceramics is the area’s fame as the home of Manekineko (a fortunate cat).
7. Flavors of Youth
The anime film Flavors of Youth, released worldwide on Netflix in 2018, is stunning visually and has intense emotional content. It’s an incredible three-part anime film. The video’s narration is superb; it’s a significant selling point. The film opens with the realization that one is getting older and the terror of forgetting one’s formative years.
Flavors of Youth hope to bring attention to the universal truth that we all must eventually grow up and leave our childhoods behind while also getting to mind the invaluable life lessons we picked up back then. These events will help us accept the truth and let go of sentiments that no longer serve us, such as guilt or regret, which could otherwise impede our development and prevent us from reaching our full potential.
8. The Anthem of Heart
In The Anthem of Heart, Jun Naruse, a little girl, dreams of going to a ball at the grand castle high on the hill. Without realizing what she was telling her mother, she went home and excitedly told her about seeing her father drive out of that palace.
Her father blames her for the breakdown of the family, and she spirals into depression until a magical egg gives her hope that she may protect herself from future heartbreak and possibly even find her prince on a hill. It would be enough to muzzle her lethal voice permanently.
9. Weathering With You
Weathering With You combines contemporary teen emotional difficulties with intricate supernatural themes to create a visually attractive, narratively complex adventure that appeals to the younger generation. The director’s secret ingredient is once again the melancholy impossibility of real love, as a 16-year-old runaway named Hokoda falls in love with Hina, a so-called Sunshine Girl, an incredibly uncommon type with the potential to pray away the black sky.
In Weathering With You, the climatic calamity has already occurred, even if it hasn’t been formally announced. It’s a story told almost entirely through the setting, as vines and plants creep inside and overtake the deserted structures. Metal surfaces rust and localized flooding occurs due to a clogged sewer system.
10. Wolf Children
The anime Wolf Children follows Hana, a hardworking first-year student, as she has an affair with a strange man who enrolls in one of her classes but isn’t enrolled in the course. Even he learns that he has some non-human qualities. Since he is the lone remaining werewolf, his transformation on a whole moon night proves his unique status. Despite this, Hana’s feelings for him haven’t wavered, and they plan to start a family together.
Like A Silent Voice, it’s a great film. After a tragedy, Hana is abandoned with her two children. The children’s father perished while hunting for food. On the other side, Hana struggles to adjust to her role as a single parent. Due to their immaturity, Ame and Yuki alternate between their human and wolf forms.
You can check more articles about Anime like Tim and Moby Dating, The Detective is Already Dead Season 2, and Fairfax Season 3 on lakecountyfloridanews.com.
