A Silent Voice is a film by Naoko Yamada and Kyoto Animations. It is about a young deaf girl named Shoko who was bullied by Shoya, a popular kid. Shoya didn’t understand that Shoko just wanted to be friends, and he made fun of her for her speech impediment. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko the students slowly turn their back on Shoya. Eventually in high school Shoya became an outcast at school and Shoko transfers schools. Alone and depressed Shoya seeks out Shoko to make amends. 

In this movie it goes over the effects of bullying at a young age, the struggles of people with disabilities, and mental health struggles. Those mental health struggles are for both Shoya and Shoko with Shoya struggling with depression and disassociation and Shoko dealing with self-hatred, depression, and feeling suicidal after being bullied for years.  It also emphasizes how the path to forgiveness can be more difficult than it seems. They go through many struggles throughout the movie and rocky paths.  

This film does a good job of showing how these things can affect people throughout aging and that when people are struggling it’s not always easy to tell. A big message behind this is to check up on your loved ones and that things can get better in the end.