The Shape of Voice

Konbanwa~

On this fine Sunday evening I’ll be reviewing a shounen oneshot called Koe no Kitachi by Ooima Yoshitoki. Soon after being published it won the 80^th Weekly Shounen Magazine Newbie Best Mangaka Award and has been on my reading list for quite some time. Today I finally read it and I can see why it won. Its an impressive slice of life, dramatic but still down to earth, and the art is rough but realistic, I think it really brings out the ugliness of many of the characters. Lets begin with the summary:

Shouya Ishida is the primary protagonist in this story and Shouko Nishimiya has just transferred into his class. When asked to introduce herself, she pulls out a notebook and begins writing. She explains that she’s deaf and that they can use this notebook to communicate with her. Though most of the class tries to get a long with her, Shouya straight out hates her, finding her creepy and annoyed by how she “slows everyone down”. Soon the rest of the class starts to feel the same and he leads them as they terrorize her day after day, the teacher turning a blind eye because he’s of his choleric attitude towards her. The optimistic Shouko who had been eager to make friends now constantly apologizes for her disability, and eventually Shouya learns this.

For some reason I found this scene really
beautiful

The story is very serious and it’s heartbreaking watch a group of brats torment this young girl, a young girl who just wanted to make friends and have fun like everyone else. They’re bullying is quite vicious and you know its not that exaggerated. Students and teachers bullies are cruel and much too common in the United States (mainly in the middle states, its not too common in the coastal states). Its also pitiful, but also karma, when Shouya realizes how bad and worthless his "friends" were.But its also heartwarming watching Shouya mature, watching him repent for his cruelty. 

Apparently this oneshot is going to be serialized, chapter one of it has already been scanlated. I hope that it'll give more on Shouko's perspective, I really liked her. Despite being bullied, she always tried to be kind, she always treated others the way she wanted to be treated. I’ll review it after the first volume comes out. That’s all for now, bye-bye

~Nadeshiko-chan