The reason "A Silent Voice" works so well is that at no point does the story try to justfiy the fact that Ishida Shouya bullied Nishimiya Shouko.
No excuse about him having a hard home life.
No trying to say that he bullied her as a child because he had a crush on her at the time.
When he himself is bullied later on, the story doesn't use this as a way to nullify the fact that he bullied his classmate in the past.
His remorse is realistic and he starts to feel regret soon after Nishimiya has to switch schools. He feels responsible even though he wasn't the only student who bullied her, even though the teacher was probably the most responsible of all, as he purposefully turned a blind eye to his students' behavior.
Ishida goes out of his way to learn sign language in order to make amends. The story doesn't tell us how long he had spent on learning the language before he found her again. It could have been months, maybe years.
He doesn't feel deserving of Nishimiya's friendship, but she's the one who decides to forgive him, no one pressures her into doing so. And you agree with her decision because of how well Ishida and his redemption is written.
He focuses on making her life better, probably out of a mixture of gratitude and a desire to assuage his guilt.
Nishimiya also feels guilty despite being innocent. She thinks Ishida would be better off without her friendship, believing he's being stigmatized because of her disability. All the while Ishida wants to spend more time with her to make up for his past, and to make her realize she's not at fault.
The story also treats the characters' depression with respect and doesn't really romanticize it. You want these characters to be at peace with themselves, with each other, and with the other people in their lives.
TL;DR
"A Silent Voice" works because it doesn't try to justify the former bully's actions, shows that he feels genuine remorse and is willing to change his behavior of his own accord in order to make ammends, thus making his redemption and his friendship with Nishimiya all the more believable.
Did you know that your interests are really cool?? The stuff that you find fascinating and the little facts you know aren’t lame. They’re what make you passionate and that’s a really cool thing
just in case you for some reason wanna find out which of my favourite anime boys you are lmao
https://uquiz.com/XNpOEU
Honestly wish I wasn’t so sensitive and such an overthinker all the time, that shit makes me so insecure
Body language is completely unique to every single individual person and the science of body language is almost if not completely unreliable and if I have to listen to one more person claim they can “read” me by my body language I’m gonna flip.
MULTIPLE people in my life have told me they can “tell” I’m “self conscious” because I look at my feet when I walk and they say it like they want me to open up about some social insecurities, like I have some wall they’re about to break down and we’ll have a moment
And I tell them the same truth every single time:
As a kid we had two MASSIVE Holly trees in the backyard and my dad and my uncle, both well meaning but perhaps poor planners, said “yes a great place for a swing set is directly beneath those.”
So they built it there and the issue is that entire section of yard was a Minefield of dried Holly leaves with one final mission before they became dirt which was to Stab themselves into a child’s foot
And being that my siblings and I had some feral rage aversion to wearing shoes, we took to running to the swings on our tiptoes, staring at the ground for the leaves
And to this DAY I still look at the ground when I walk out of habit formed by a decade of that
And NO body language guide and NO BBC Sherlock wannabe would EVER source that
when i was 15, i felt like… really deeply DEEPLY uncomfortable with the fact that there were cameras everywhere at my highschool. the sensation of not being able to walk to class without being monitored somehow really fucked with me for some reason.
this only worsened after seeing this segment on the school news that featured various stupid stuff caught on the hallway cameras, like people falling down or readjusting their underwear when they thought the hallways were empty.
but they werent. there was someone watching, and they forgot to police their behavior and ended up getting embarrassed for it. everyone laughed at this segment. i remember the classroom being filled with snickers as someone fell flat on their face. i wasn’t a “superwoke” kid or anything, but i didnt think this was funny. i thought it was scary. what if that was me? what if i got caught fixing a wedgie on camera without even knowing it?
i remember these cameras being used for everything – spotting dress code violations, catching students skipping class, etc. you can argue that they shouldnt have broken the rules, sure, but that doesnt excuse the concept of Being Constantly Watched.
and what about the times when they weren’t doing something wrong? like when they were walking back from the bathroom or tripping over their own feet? did that warrant embarrassment and shame from their watchful spectators? does existing in a school hallway warrant surveillance?
this brings me to the concept of anti-shooter architecture. there is a rising interest in school layouts that prepare for the possibility of a shooter roaming the halls. these improvements include bulletproof glass, concrete cover, and…. something scary.
many of these highschool floor plans include some type of circular or central “watch tower” feature, and the designers actively boast about it being a panopticon. a panopticon. the same thing they use in prisons to enforce the idea that the prisoners are always being watched, though they can never really know when.
what kind of effect will “anti-shooter architecture” have on kid’s minds? the constant threat of violence is already taking its toll on teenagers who have undergone active shooter drills, and this concept of air-tight security (clear backpacks, metal detectors, camera surveillance, constantly locked doors, etc) is not really an environment you would want to raise a child in, so why are we sticking kids in schools like that for 7-8 hours a day?
which leads into the next thing. many people’s solution to this is more guns, which equates to police presence in schools. ive already seen videos coming out of school cops beating black kids and ordering muslim girls to take off their hijabs. but beyond the racism and xenophobia, it’s another (now living) reminder of the unsafe environment these kids find themselves in. another reminder that theyre being watched and their behavior is being judged according to the law, or whatever the cop or teachers find inappropriate. that standing up for themselves or arguing can be taken as hostile and warrant physical intervention.
police presence on campus grounds is DIRECTLY used to suppress student activism. you know that.i know that. we know that. you remember that photo of the cop spraying a line of peaceful protesters? you remember that cop that tackled a student for holding a sign? you remember the fucking car fuls of kids that were arrested for protesting?
police are our enemy, but they can be found in plenty of highschools and colleges now. even in elementary schools, where young children are being taught to obey and trust cops. the conditioning is being started young, and if you don’t conform to it, you become a watched enemy on your own campus.
what kind of affect will this militarization and surveillance in schools and campuses have on future generations? it’s impossible to deny that environment has an effect on development, so what kind of behavior are we encouraging when we educate children & young adults in schools that not only prepare them for violence, but instill them with the idea that they are constantly being watched, monitored, and judged? that they could be victims of gun violence at any time, or that protests are an excuse for police brutality?
these are small things you can add to your day to be 10% more productive with the estimated time it’ll take! these are things i do (or try to do) most days. they’re small enough to feel manageable, and i for sure don’t use all of them but i find that when i use at least 2-3 in a day i feel a lot better about the material.
retype notes in google docs (10-15 min/1 hour lecture)
Utilize pomodoro technique for at least one subject (25 min work/5 min break. total 30 min)
Look over notes before class (5 min)
Look over notes after class (5 min)
Make notecard summary after class (i find this one especially useful for calculus!) (10 min/notecard)
Explain short concept to a friend (10 min max)
write down to-do list of tasks (5 min)
Go over concepts in your head on your walk to class (absolute FAVORITE because of my daily calculus quizzes within the first 10 minutes of class) (as long as your walk is!)
i hope these are helpful, i need to learn more small tips myself too 😊
nothing's better than private life
Do you think soulmates are real?
Yes…….. and it’s not the bitch who’s hurting you
Cutest snow boots
hell yeah/ randomness and witchcraft beach/ they,them / 22/ virgo 🌻
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