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Archive for February 2018
Hey guys, kanna here. Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day (or Singles Awareness Day) in advance! Yay!
Now that that's done, let's move on to what you all visited my little cafe for. I was originally going to save this review for Anime Monday #50, but this is one that I have been dying to review (especially considering that the Oscars coming up). So I decided to make this one #49 and make #50 a surprise (you'll just have to wait and see).
This week, we're taking a look at something that hits a little close to home for me. As you saw from the Anime for Humanity post I made in January, I am a big advocate for disability and mental health rights. Why? Well...I'm about to disclose something that might make a few readers leave my blog and never come back. However, it's time I said something: I'm on the autism spectrum.
*insert shouts of "OMG" and other things here*
Yeah...you weren't expecting that, were you? Whenever I tell people, I get a variety of responses; from "retard(ed)" to "but you don't look autistic" to "I don't believe you" and my personal favorite, "you can't be autistic, you act like just like everyone else" and others. I've gotten used to it over the years, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't test my patience by seeing what else I can deal with.
I'll address my autism further in another post (or a video). For now, let's talk about an anime that deals with disability in Japan. This is...A Silent Voice.
This movie was based off of a manga of the same name, written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. The movie was produced by Kyoto Animation (who also produced both seasons of Clannad), directed by Naoko Yamada, and written by Reiko Oshida. The characters were designed by Futoshi Nishiya, and Kensuke Ushio did the music.
So, this doesn't specifically deal with disability culture in Japan. It's just about a girl with a disability and a boy trying to seek redemption for the way he treated her in the past.
The story is told primarily through flashback. Our flashback starts by introducing us to Shoya Ishida, an indifferent boy in elementary school who views his classmates as a way to keep boredom away. One day, a new girl comes into the class and piques Shoya's interest.
When the teacher taps the girl on the shoulder, she jolts and realizes she should introduce herself. However, instead of speaking, she looks through her backpack, before ultimately getting out a notebook that says "For Conversations" on the front. She goes through the pages one by one. She introduces herself as Shoko Nishimiya and explains that she wants to become friends through the notebook she uses to communicate, before finally revealing that she is deaf.
The entire class is shocked at this reveal, but try to go about their lives as normal. Unfortunately for the class, this proves to be quite difficult. Shoko can't sing (as evidenced in the class's music class) and doesn't have the best speaking skills (as evidenced when she is called on to read in front of the class). Despite her disability, Shoko tries to live normally and mesh with the rest of the class.
It's too bad for her that Shoya gets a little too curious about her deafness, as he begins to bully her in some of the worst ways you can bully a deaf person. This goes on without end as none of Shoko and Shoya's classmates do nothing to intervene. Some of them join in on the bullying. Even the teacher doesn't do anything. It's pretty emotionally hard to watch. I almost started crying.
Shoko is absent one day, and the school principal (at least, I think it's the principal...I don't know how Japanese school administration works) comes in and explains that in the past few months, five of Shoko's hearing aids broke or went missing, and that her mother believed Shoko was being bullied. The teacher singles Shoya out (about time the teacher did something), and Shoya truthfully names some of his classmates as accomplices, but they all turn on him and deny their involvement. Shoya is then subjected to the same torment he put Shoko through. Shoya comes to blame Shoko for everything that has happened, and when he finds her doing something to his desk, the two fight as Shoko says that she's doing the best she can. Soon after the fight, Shoko transfers to another school.
Like I said before, the story is about a girl with a disability and a boy trying to seek redemption for the way he treated her in the past. Shoya struggles with his past throughout the movie, which fast forwards from when Shoya was in elementary school to when Shoya is in high school. In high school, he blocks out the world and X's are drawn on everyone's faces. His past is continuously brought up by his former friends, and he figures it's his punishment. He is unable to look anyone in the eye.
While in high school, he starts visiting the sign language center, where he comes to the realization that the hand gestures Shoko was making to him while Shoya was tormenting her was just her way of saying that she wanted to be his friend. Shoya learns sign language in the hopes of returning her notebook from elementary school to her.
I'm not going to continue this; I'm already turning into an emotional wreck from writing about it. Let's just get to the rating.
Rating: *sob* 10/10
Why: I read the manga before watching the movie, so I had a general idea of what I was getting into. I LOVED the manga. It was so moving, the characters were drawn really well, and the writing was pretty good. I hoped the movie would stay true to the manga with as few changes as possible, and sure enough, it stayed true to the manga. This was an adaptation that definitely carried over well.
The music is great, which you might expect from the guy who did the music for Devilman: Crybaby, a semi-recent Netflix-exclusive anime series. That music is freaking awesome. In this movie, I keep wanting to hear more of the music. It's that amazing.
The designs and animation are wonderful. It's not a Miyazaki film or a Studio Ponoc (they did Mary and the Witch's Flower) film, but it's still a work of art. It's so colorful. You can tell the animators and the design department went all out on this film.
My only complaint lies surprisingly with the Japanese version of the film, and not the English dub. And even then, it has more to do with the cast than it does the actual movie. What's my complaint?
Well, in the original Japanese, voice actress Saori Hayami, a voice actress who is not deaf, hard of hearing, and does not have Ménière's disease, voiced Shoko. This is a bit of a bad choice in my opinion. While I admire Saori Hayami for taking on a role like Shoko, it's a little hard to fully appreciate the original because she's using an accent to sound deaf. I'm not even sure if the deaf/hard of hearing/Ménière's disease community in Japan, who probably watched this with subtitles, was ok with this.
In the English dub of the movie, they didn't have to worry about using an accent. Why? Because they actually used a deaf voice actress. Her name is Lexi Cowden (that's what she's credited as, even though her real name is Lexi Marman). She was AMAZING as Shoko and didn't even have to do an accent.
As far as I know (I'm not that involved with the deaf community...not because I choose not to be, but because I know very few deaf people), most deaf people don't speak. But Lexi decided to give Shoko a chance and did an incredible job. It really is incredible to discover deaf voice actors and actresses. Now...where's Marlee Matlin in that list (first deaf woman to win an Oscar)? I don't think she has done any voice acting. Surprising, considering she would be pretty good at it.
I freaking cried through most of the movie. It's so emotional and truly a tale of redemption. The lessons learned throughout the movie are great, and it's not trying to shove a romantic relationship down your throat (although it would have been nice if they hinted at it). I loved every second of character development.
So you're probably wondering, "kanna, why did you review this?". Well, because the Oscars are coming up, I'd like to address something. This tearjerking tale of redemption was glossed over in the nominations in favor of...Boss Baby. G-d I am freaking PISSED that the Hollywood Foreign Press decided that Boss Baby was the better movie over this incredible, tearjerking tale of redemption. I...I don't get it. It's the Hollywood FOREIGN Press! You would think they'd pick an actual FOREIGN ANIMATED FILM! I just...ugh! Hollywood, you make no sense sometimes.
Well, that's my review! See you next time for Anime Monday #50, which is going to be a surprise! ~k
Now that that's done, let's move on to what you all visited my little cafe for. I was originally going to save this review for Anime Monday #50, but this is one that I have been dying to review (especially considering that the Oscars coming up). So I decided to make this one #49 and make #50 a surprise (you'll just have to wait and see).
This week, we're taking a look at something that hits a little close to home for me. As you saw from the Anime for Humanity post I made in January, I am a big advocate for disability and mental health rights. Why? Well...I'm about to disclose something that might make a few readers leave my blog and never come back. However, it's time I said something: I'm on the autism spectrum.
*insert shouts of "OMG" and other things here*
Yeah...you weren't expecting that, were you? Whenever I tell people, I get a variety of responses; from "retard(ed)" to "but you don't look autistic" to "I don't believe you" and my personal favorite, "you can't be autistic, you act like just like everyone else" and others. I've gotten used to it over the years, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't test my patience by seeing what else I can deal with.
I'll address my autism further in another post (or a video). For now, let's talk about an anime that deals with disability in Japan. This is...A Silent Voice.
So, this doesn't specifically deal with disability culture in Japan. It's just about a girl with a disability and a boy trying to seek redemption for the way he treated her in the past.
The story is told primarily through flashback. Our flashback starts by introducing us to Shoya Ishida, an indifferent boy in elementary school who views his classmates as a way to keep boredom away. One day, a new girl comes into the class and piques Shoya's interest.
When the teacher taps the girl on the shoulder, she jolts and realizes she should introduce herself. However, instead of speaking, she looks through her backpack, before ultimately getting out a notebook that says "For Conversations" on the front. She goes through the pages one by one. She introduces herself as Shoko Nishimiya and explains that she wants to become friends through the notebook she uses to communicate, before finally revealing that she is deaf.
The entire class is shocked at this reveal, but try to go about their lives as normal. Unfortunately for the class, this proves to be quite difficult. Shoko can't sing (as evidenced in the class's music class) and doesn't have the best speaking skills (as evidenced when she is called on to read in front of the class). Despite her disability, Shoko tries to live normally and mesh with the rest of the class.
It's too bad for her that Shoya gets a little too curious about her deafness, as he begins to bully her in some of the worst ways you can bully a deaf person. This goes on without end as none of Shoko and Shoya's classmates do nothing to intervene. Some of them join in on the bullying. Even the teacher doesn't do anything. It's pretty emotionally hard to watch. I almost started crying.
Shoko is absent one day, and the school principal (at least, I think it's the principal...I don't know how Japanese school administration works) comes in and explains that in the past few months, five of Shoko's hearing aids broke or went missing, and that her mother believed Shoko was being bullied. The teacher singles Shoya out (about time the teacher did something), and Shoya truthfully names some of his classmates as accomplices, but they all turn on him and deny their involvement. Shoya is then subjected to the same torment he put Shoko through. Shoya comes to blame Shoko for everything that has happened, and when he finds her doing something to his desk, the two fight as Shoko says that she's doing the best she can. Soon after the fight, Shoko transfers to another school.
Like I said before, the story is about a girl with a disability and a boy trying to seek redemption for the way he treated her in the past. Shoya struggles with his past throughout the movie, which fast forwards from when Shoya was in elementary school to when Shoya is in high school. In high school, he blocks out the world and X's are drawn on everyone's faces. His past is continuously brought up by his former friends, and he figures it's his punishment. He is unable to look anyone in the eye.
While in high school, he starts visiting the sign language center, where he comes to the realization that the hand gestures Shoko was making to him while Shoya was tormenting her was just her way of saying that she wanted to be his friend. Shoya learns sign language in the hopes of returning her notebook from elementary school to her.
I'm not going to continue this; I'm already turning into an emotional wreck from writing about it. Let's just get to the rating.
Rating: *sob* 10/10
Why: I read the manga before watching the movie, so I had a general idea of what I was getting into. I LOVED the manga. It was so moving, the characters were drawn really well, and the writing was pretty good. I hoped the movie would stay true to the manga with as few changes as possible, and sure enough, it stayed true to the manga. This was an adaptation that definitely carried over well.
The music is great, which you might expect from the guy who did the music for Devilman: Crybaby, a semi-recent Netflix-exclusive anime series. That music is freaking awesome. In this movie, I keep wanting to hear more of the music. It's that amazing.
The designs and animation are wonderful. It's not a Miyazaki film or a Studio Ponoc (they did Mary and the Witch's Flower) film, but it's still a work of art. It's so colorful. You can tell the animators and the design department went all out on this film.
My only complaint lies surprisingly with the Japanese version of the film, and not the English dub. And even then, it has more to do with the cast than it does the actual movie. What's my complaint?
Well, in the original Japanese, voice actress Saori Hayami, a voice actress who is not deaf, hard of hearing, and does not have Ménière's disease, voiced Shoko. This is a bit of a bad choice in my opinion. While I admire Saori Hayami for taking on a role like Shoko, it's a little hard to fully appreciate the original because she's using an accent to sound deaf. I'm not even sure if the deaf/hard of hearing/Ménière's disease community in Japan, who probably watched this with subtitles, was ok with this.
In the English dub of the movie, they didn't have to worry about using an accent. Why? Because they actually used a deaf voice actress. Her name is Lexi Cowden (that's what she's credited as, even though her real name is Lexi Marman). She was AMAZING as Shoko and didn't even have to do an accent.
As far as I know (I'm not that involved with the deaf community...not because I choose not to be, but because I know very few deaf people), most deaf people don't speak. But Lexi decided to give Shoko a chance and did an incredible job. It really is incredible to discover deaf voice actors and actresses. Now...where's Marlee Matlin in that list (first deaf woman to win an Oscar)? I don't think she has done any voice acting. Surprising, considering she would be pretty good at it.
I freaking cried through most of the movie. It's so emotional and truly a tale of redemption. The lessons learned throughout the movie are great, and it's not trying to shove a romantic relationship down your throat (although it would have been nice if they hinted at it). I loved every second of character development.
So you're probably wondering, "kanna, why did you review this?". Well, because the Oscars are coming up, I'd like to address something. This tearjerking tale of redemption was glossed over in the nominations in favor of...Boss Baby. G-d I am freaking PISSED that the Hollywood Foreign Press decided that Boss Baby was the better movie over this incredible, tearjerking tale of redemption. I...I don't get it. It's the Hollywood FOREIGN Press! You would think they'd pick an actual FOREIGN ANIMATED FILM! I just...ugh! Hollywood, you make no sense sometimes.
Well, that's my review! See you next time for Anime Monday #50, which is going to be a surprise! ~k
