Voice shape

The story unfolds around Shoya Isis, a school bully. While in elementary school, he and his friends scoffed at deaf classmate Shoko Nishimiya. When adults found out about this, the children blamed all the blame on the hero. In the end, Isis becomes another object of bullying, which he guessed only after transferring Nishimiya to another school (she constantly erased unpleasant inscriptions from his desk). The boy becomes an outcast in his class and decides that there is no point in friends. In high school, he learned about his bullying of a deaf girl almost immediately, which leads him to complete detachment from the outside world. With no friends, no plans for the future, he thought about suicide. Before his execution, he sold all his things in order to return the money spent on his antics to his mother, and decided to correct the main mistake of his childhood. Ishida searched for Nishimiya and even studied Japanese sign language at a basic level to apologize. It was a meeting with her that made the protagonist reconsider his decision. To atone for his sin, he decided to find Nishimii friends who would accept her as she is. Over time, he makes new friends and he increasingly meets after school on the bridge with Nishimiya.

Shoya Ishida ( Jap. 石田 将 也 Ishida Shoh: me ) is the main character of the story, a bully, mocking a deaf classmate. Soon he became an outcast and stopped paying attention to people around him (representing them all with a huge cross on their faces). This loneliness drove him to the decision to commit suicide, but a meeting with Nishimiya made him change his mind. Trying to correct the mistakes of childhood, more and more often spends time with Nishimiya. Isis feels that he was not punished enough for mocking Nishimiya and often wanted to kill himself young. He resigned himself to the fact that he could never again find friends, however, he wanted to find them for Nishimiya. In the end, Isis considers himself an unreliable storyteller, since he fabricated most of his memories of other people scoffing at Nishimiya in order to ease his torment and convince himself that he was not the only culprit, but in fact other children turned Isis into a goat absolution so as not to take responsibility. As the series progresses, Isis helps Nishimii find friends. He also saves her from a jump from the roof, while injuring himself. At the end of the manga, he changes his mind about others and removes crosses from all.

Seiyu : Miyu Irino , Mayu Matsuoka (in childhood).

Shoko Nishimiya ( 西宮 硝 子 Nishimiya Shё : ko ) is the main character of the story, a deaf girl who was mocked by the main character with her friends. In elementary school, due to bullying, she was forced to leave to study at another school. Five years later, Isis found her to apologize. She tried to hide from him, but realized that he had changed when he spoke to her in sign language. He lives with his mother and sister, since his father left the family when Nishimiya was still very young, learning about her deafness. He does not hold a grudge against his abusers and even smiles at them in return, which makes others think about the falsity of her feelings. Decides to commit suicide after learning that Isis lost all his friends because of her. In the end, he was saved by him and understands how selfish her decision was. In love with Isis, but because of the language barrier, he constantly does not understand her when Nishimiya tries to talk about her feelings.

Seiyu: Saori Hayami .

Yuzuru Nishimiya ( 西宮 結 絃 Nishimiya Yuzuru ) is Shoko’s younger sister and a high school student. He is engaged in photography, mainly photographing dead animals, which leads to conflicts with his mother. As it turned out, these photographs were needed so that Nishimia understood how terrible death was and did not try to commit suicide. As a child, she cut her hair so that her mother allowed Nishimii to grow her own. Since then, she has kept a short haircut, which is why she is often confused with a boy. She has great hatred for all the offenders of Nishimiya, but she changed her mind about Isis and soon even began to encourage his desire to be friends with his older sister.

Seiyu: Aoi Yuki .

Naoka Ueno ( 植 野 直 花 Ueno Naoka ) is a former classmate of Isis and Nishimiya. In elementary school, along with Shoya, she scoffed at Shoko in every possible way. It is recognized by the protagonist that he was always not indifferent to her. He believes that Nishimiya uses his disability to attract the attention of Isis. He also believes that Isis became an outcast and hates everyone precisely because of Nishimiya. Ueno also annoys the heroine's helplessness in front of the offenders. The only one in the film crew that Isis represents with a cross on her face, showing her great aversion to her, although she was the closest to him in elementary school. Works in a cafe. In the final, he changes his attitude towards Nishimiya and puts up with it.

Seiyu: Yuki Kaneko .

Tomohiro Nagatsuka ( Japanese 永 京 友 宏 Nagatsuka Tomohiro ) is Shoya's classmate. He became his first friend in high school after Isis saved him from a bully, considering it an act of kindness and a good start for an indestructible friendship. The first one the hero began to notice from the people around him (not counting the family and Nishimii). Has a rather specific appearance and often lies. Becomes the self-proclaimed best friend of Isis and begins to idolize him. Ueno and Kawaii find Nagatsuka a repulsive person, and Ishida begins to annoy the guy's desire to take the side of the hero, although they are barely familiar. Dreams of becoming a director.

Seiyu: Kensho Ono .

Miki Kawai ( 川 井 み き Kawai Miki ) is a classmate of Isis from elementary to high school. It plays the role of a catalyst for manga, since it was her accusations that caused him to be isolated among classmates, and her words became the reason for his alienation from the film crew. He has a rather narcissistic personality, since he believes that all the people around her should love her. It is popular with both classmates and teachers. Isis paid little attention to her, so he believed that she also scoffed at Nishimiya, however, Miki never did this, but did not stop the offenders. After the proposal to make paper cranes, as the desire for the speedy recovery of Isis, disgusted classmates. Having experienced alienation for the first time, it is revising its attitude towards others, deciding to become more sensitive. In love with Satoshi Masibu.

Seiyu: Megumi Khan .

Miyoko Sahara ( Japanese 佐 原 み よ こ Sahara Miyoko ) is Ueno's classmate. Former classmate of Isis and Nishimii. She was the only one who spoke well with Shoko, and for this she studied sign language . Because of her friendship with Nishimiya, she became an object of bullying. Soon she moved and moved to another school, without ceasing to learn sign language. Sahara spends most of her time with Nishimiya and boldly declares that they are best friends, since after years they still remained fairly close. It has an extraordinary taste, which is why in high school, some do not like it, but Miyoko has changed a lot with age, so she does not pay attention to it and even protects Nishimiya from Ueno. Sugar is high enough, which is especially noticeable because of her high-heeled shoes.

Seiyu: Yui Ishikawa .

Satoshi Masiba ( 真 柴 智 Masiba Satoshi ) is a classmate of Isis and Miki. He was lonely in childhood and was often subjected to violence by classmates, therefore he firmly perceives absolutely any act of violence. Balanced and calm. He did not notice Mika's feelings until Isis pointed them out. He considered Ishida more antisocial than he is, and wanted to seem normal against his background, which makes Satoshi feel like the most insignificant hero of the film. Also for this reason, without a doubt, Isis struck at his request. The first reconciled with Isis in the hospital.

Seiyu: Toshiyuki Toyonaga .

Yaeko Nishimiya ( 西宮 八 重 子 Nishimiya Yaeko ) is the mother of Shoko and Yuzuru. A cold woman and a single mother who wants only the best for her children. With the upbringing of two daughters, her own mother helped her, which affected her relationship with Yuzuru. Forced Shoko to go to elementary school, despite bullying, because she believed that this would prepare her daughter for the future. She wanted to cut Shoko's hair to make her look more resistant, but Yuzuru was categorically against it. Hates Isis, believing that it was he who deprived her daughter of a happy school life. However, after the death of his mother, he softens and even thanks the young man for his friendship with Yuzuru. After a suicide attempt, Shoko gets closer with Ishida and his mother.

Seiyu: Akiko Hiramatsu .

Ito Nishimiya ( 西宮 い と Nishimiya Ito ) is the grandmother of Shoko and Yuzuru. A wise and caring woman who helped her daughter with raising her children. Since she spent most of her time with Yuzuru and it was she who bought the first camera for Yuzuru, she loved her very very much and was most worried about her death. In his last letter, he tries for the last time to convince Yuzura to make peace with his mother.

Seiyu: Ikuko Tani .

Miyako Ishida ( Japanese 石田 美 也 子 Ishida Miyako ) is a kind and loving single mother who owns her own hairdresser, on the second floor of which the family lives. I was disappointed in my son, learning about his abuse of a deaf girl, and paid the full cost of hearing aids. She guessed that her son wanted to take her own life and threatened to burn the money left to her from him (as a result, she accidentally burned it). Very kind to Yuzur and allows her to stay at their home. Looks after her granddaughter, Maria. She had mixed feelings for Shoko after Ishida got to the hospital, although she remained polite with her. After awakening her son, she reconciled with her again and made very good friends with her mother.

Seiyu: Satsuki Yukino .

Kazuki Shimada ( 島 田 一 旗 Shimada Kazuki ) is Ishida's best friend in elementary school, as well as his future offenders. Having established contact with Shoya, Ueno decided that it would be nice to return to the old days, and for this you need to reconcile the guy from Kazuki. The girl takes the hero to an amusement park where Simada works, but Isis has a different opinion on this. He no longer wants to have anything to do with Kazuki. When Shoya falls from the roof, it is Kazuki who saves him, but the hero does not know this, since he was in a coma, and the only witness, Nishimiya, Kazuki himself asks not to talk about it. However, leaving no attempt to reconcile friends, Ueno talks about what happened.

Seiyu: Ryo Nishitani , Sachiko Kojima (as a child).

Keise Hirose ( Japanese 広 瀬 啓 祐 Hirose Keishuke ) is Ishida's other best friend since elementary school. After the transfer, Nishimiya mocked him along with the rest. He helped save Isis from the river.

Seiyu: Takuya Masumoto , Han Takeda (as a child).

Takeuchi ( 竹 内 Takeuchi ) is the class teacher of the main characters in elementary school. A sufficiently small person who considers the presence of Nishimiya at school an unfair decision in relation to ordinary children. Although he was disappointed in Ishid because of his bullying, he often laughed at jokes in the direction of Shoko. After Isis announced this to the director, he began to encourage the children to turn Shoy into a scapegoat and refused to believe him when he talked about bullying him. Years later, Ishida says that he turned into a wonderful young man thanks to the bad things that happened to him, but he did not change his attitude towards Shoko, which angered the hero. Isis pours his drink on the teacher, and he forbids shooting on the school grounds. Changed his mind after hospitalizing Isis.

Seiyu: Fuminori Komatsu .

Kita ( 喜 多 Kita ) is a music teacher in an elementary school where the characters studied. Kita was the only one from the teaching staff who decided to establish contact with Shoko. She even suggested that the class learn sign language, but since she herself did not know it, her offer was rejected. Then she decided to include Shoko in the school choir, because of which they lost the competition, which made the children dislike the girl even more.

Maria Isis ( 石田 マ リ ア Isis Maria ) is the niece of Isis, half Japanese and half Brazilian. She is constantly looking for the difference between the dead and the living after the fall of Isis, as she feared that he died. Yuzuru became her mentor in this matter.

Seiyu: Eren Kamat .

Sister Shoya ( Japanese. 也 の 姉 Sh 姉 : I am no ane ) is the only character whose face is not shown to the very end, constantly hiding with some objects. She is much older than Shoya. I met a huge number of guys. Isis moved away from her, as the younger brother of one of her boyfriends mocked him. She married a Brazilian, from whom, by the end of the manga, she is expecting a second child.

Seiyu: Ayano Hamaguchi .

Isis Pedro ( Jap. い し だ ペ ド П Ishida Pedoro ) is the husband of Sister Shoya and the father of Mary. After marriage, he took the name of his wife. She and her sister started dating before Shoko was transferred to the hero class.

Seiyu: Ryunosuke Watanuki .

Yoshitoki Oima began publishing the series in Weekly Shonen Magazine in August 2013. The first volume of the manga was published on November 15, 2013. The final, seventh volume was published on December 17, 2014. As of October 2016, the total sales of manga volumes amounted to more than three million five hundred thousand copies ^[2] .

In Russia, the manga was released by Istari Comics .

The last chapter of the manga announced plans to release anime for the series.

On September 17, 2016, a full-length animated film Koe no Katachi was released in Japanese rental. The film was produced by Kyoto Animation .

Music

The opening song is a song by the British band The Who - My Generation ^[3] .

The closing song is the song "Koi wo Shita no wa" (Loving Is) performed by singer AIKO ^[3] .

Awards and nominations

• 2017 - nomination for the Mainity Award for the best animated film.
• 2017 - Japanese Academy Award nomination for the best animated film of the year ^[4] .
• 2017 - Tokyo Anime Award for Feature Films.
• 2017 - Japanese Film Critics Award in the category best animated film of the year ^[5] .
• 2017 - Nomination for the festival award in Annecy for the best full-length animated film ^[6] .

• Official manga website (jap.)
• Official Anime Website (Japanese)

In databases

• Voice Shape Manga in the Anime News Network Encyclopedia

• Anime “Voice Form” in the encyclopedia of Anime News Network
• Anime “Voice Form” in the AniDB Database