A Silent Voice (聲の形, Koe no Katachi and also translated as The Shape of Voice) is a KyoAni movie by director Yamada Naoko. Touching on themes of bullying, disabilities, depression and suicide, it is a movie with a message about the challenges of life and how suicide is not the way out.
As someone who suffers from bouts of depression and not foreign to the idea of suicide, this movie keeps reminding me that while ending one's own life is a way to escape from problems, it does not solve them. When a person ends his or her own life, there are others who are left behind that have to deal with that fact. No matter how much we feel we are bringing unhappiness to the people around us, and how those around us would be happier if we are not around... we won't be around to deal with whatever impact our suicide causes.
Suicide is the easy way out for me, but it leaves my problems for others to solve. For those who are dealing with depression and the idea of suicide, I strongly suggesting watching this movie from time to time. Just to serve as a reminder that suicide is not the solution to our problems.
It is amazing how anime is able to deal with this serious topic. Many people who do not watch anime think of anime as cartoon targeting kids, but unlike Western comics and cartoons, Japan's manga and anime cover a broad range of genres and topics targeting different audiences, most of whom are adults. It also means they usually deal with topics which are much more serious, like bullying, depression, exploitative work conditions, sex abuse and many other themes which cartoons and comics rarely touch on. Anime and manga are the medium; it is the underlying theme, the message of each story, that deserves our attention. We should not be distracted by the medium and allow our misconceptions to hinder us from engaging in these stories and themes.
Here is a good analysis about the movie found on YouTube.
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