History Manga / KoeNoKatachi

[[quoteright:318:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a7ca8523a4fa6e7a4970dbf8dbf35da5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:318:How far will you go, to make up for the mistakes of youth?]]

Five years ago, Shouko Nishimiya, a girl with impaired hearing, joins a class made up of mostly normal students. Although she tries to reach out to her classmates, her disability makes her an easy target for bullying. Eventually things escalate to the point where Shouko is forced to transfer out of the school.

However the class and its homeroom teacher refuse to take responsibility for this, and instead push all the blame unto one of the bullies in question, Shouya Ishida. Because of being turned into a scapegoat, he is ostracized by his former friends, and spends the rest of his elementary and middle school alone. Although he becomes both angry and bitter at how things unfolded, his years of isolation have also given him time to realize the gravity of what he had done to Nishimiya. Quietly, in his own way, he tries to make amends, but on some level sees the futility of it. After all, how can one make it up to someone, when he has no idea just where she was after all these years?

And then, as if by sheer chance, he runs into Shouko again. Shouya now has his chance, but will whatever he do in the present really make up for what he did in the past? He wants to find out anyway, and maybe, just maybe, finally feel the shape of Shouko's voice.

Translated as ''The Shape of Voice'', Koe no Katachi (聲の形) initially started out life as a one-shot in 2008. It was later redone in the February 2011 edition of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine. While it won the 80th Weekly Shounen Magazine Newbie Best Mangaka Award, its subject matter made it difficult for publication on any manga magazine until it was picked up after months of legal dispute by the August 2013 edition of Weekly Shounen Magazine. It's also sponsored by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf.

An anime film adaptation [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-10-11/kyoto-animation-to-produce-a-silent-voice-film-with-director-naoko-yamada/.94031 was produced by]] none other than Creator/KyotoAnimation and was released to Japanese theaters on September 17, 2016. The movie was directed by Naoko Yamada and written by Reiko Yoshida, with Futoshi Nishiya serving as character designer.

The manga has been licensed by Crunchyroll and released as ''A Silent Voice''; it can be read [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/comics/manga/a-silent-voice-koe-no-katachi/volumes here]]. Kodansha USA has also licensed it for printed distribution in 2015.
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!!This manga contains examples of:

* AcademicAlphaBitch: Shouya sees Kawai as one, and he has plenty of reason to think this, considering that most of Kawai's actions are made with her academic reputation in mind.
* AdultsAreUseless: The elementary school teacher for both Shouya and Shouko is incapable of stopping the bullying, and even at points is outright encouraging of it (laughing at Shouya's jokes about Shouko's deafness, then later giving the prompt that has the rest of the class turn Shouya into a scapegoat). The other regularly appearing adults aren't much better - Shouko's mother is extremely harsh [[spoiler: although in her case, she acts that way in the hopes that it'll make Shouko a stronger person]], while Shouya's mother is busy and mostly ignorant of what her son is up to - for example, she doesn't figure out that he was suicidal until a few days after he originally planned to kill himself. It's even gone into some depth with Shouya's mother in Ueno's focus chapter - she's so overwhelmed by the situation that she doesn't know what to do, which unfortunately [[spoiler: puts Ueno in the position of locking everyone else out of Shouya's hospital room]].
* AdultFear: For both Shoya and Shouko's mothers: [[spoiler: their children's respective suicide attempts. Shoya's mother also has to later contend with her son's coma after saving Shouko.]]
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Shouko was bullied for being deaf, and the bullying would later on turn to Shouya because everyone else needed someone they can heap the blame on.
* AllLovingHero: Nishimiya Shouko, who forgives her former bully, and accepts his offer for friendship.
* AllergicToRoutine: Young Shouya is in a constant state of fighting off boredom. The biggest flaw of this is that he tries to fight it off with no concern for the consequences either to himself or the people around him.
* AmbiguousDisorder: [[spoiler: It is hinted that Kawai is pathologically Narcissist. Exaggerated sense of self-importance, strong need for admiration, apparent lack of genuine empathy. Now add a touch of martyr[=/=]victim complex.]]
* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler: There is no clear romantic resolution between Shouya and Nishimiya in the end - or, for that matter, anyone - and is more or less up for interpretation.]]
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Shouko to Ishida]]. Unfortunately, he completely misunderstood it [[spoiler:due to her SpeechImpediment]]. The result so embarrassed her that she didn't see him again for a couple weeks.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Yuzuru does cause some amount of grief for Shouko, although Shouko generally doesn't get worked up about it. There's one time she does get worked up in an {{Omake}} though - Yuzuru is the one responsible for teaching Shouko what spoken language the latter can learn, and Yuzuru makes a point to practice saying [[spoiler: "Moon" after Shouko's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove was misheard as talking about the moon]]. When Shouko realizes, they start roughhousing.
* ApologisesALot: Shouko, a depressed ExtremeDoormat who feels responsible when other people have a problem with her disability, and Shouya, who, well, has a lot to apologise for. They have some extremely awkward and apologetic conversations.
* TheAtoner: Shouya after the TimeSkip.
** Taken UpToEleven in Chapter 43. [[spoiler: He notices a scar by Nishimiya's ear, from when he ripped out her hearing aid when they were younger, and he wonders if he ever properly apologized to her for that. He does this while falling to what he recognizes might be his death, which happened because he saved Nishimiya from a suicide attempt.]]
** Chapter 50 reveals that, strangely enough, [[spoiler: Ueno is secretly this towards Ishida]]. Feeling guilty over the bullying [[spoiler: that she did towards Ishida because she felt peer pressure into doing so after Ishida became TheScapegoat]], the character in question has secretly been including [[spoiler: Hirose and Shimada, the two former friends of Ishida that became the ringleaders in bullying him,]] into also helping with the movie, with the hopes that it would [[spoiler: restore the friendship between Ishida and his old friends]]. There are hints that, because of this attitude, [[spoiler: part of Ueno does realize just how badly she treats Nishimiya and does feel guilt over that as well, but her jealousy keeps her resentful]].
* ArtEvolution: The 2011 oneshot is far more polished than the 2008 one. Most designs are intact completely but teen!Shouya had something of a mullet.
* BerserkButton: For Mashiba, bullies. When he sees bullying happening in front of him, he seems compelled to throw something. Though he does at least only throw things on the ground when he sees younger bullies. [[spoiler: A teacher that's fondly reminiscing about bullying, though, can take it in the face.]]
* {{Bifauxnen}}: Yuzuru, Shouko's little sister, makes such a convincing boy that Shouya actually believed her when she claims to be Shouko's boyfriend.
* BitchInSheepsClothing:
** Post-TimeSkip Ueno is seen working at a cat cafe and seems a whole lot nicer than before. The next few chapters brutally destroy that assumption as she tears into Nagatsuka for misinterpreting the love letter to Ishida and then proceeds to try and resume bullying Nishimiya. Ironically, Chapter 50 revealed that five years ago Ueno started seeing ''Nishimiya'' as this, believing she's using her disability to get Ishida's attention.
** Let's not forget Kawai. Not only do we have the WoundedGazelleGambit below, but [[spoiler: when Nagatsuka tries to intervene in a shouting match between her and Ueno, she calls him fat and disgusting.]] Not coincidentally, Nagatsuka in the official translation [[ConversationalTroping even uses the trope name]] in talking about how some people hide their bad attitudes under false niceness, with images of both Ueno and Kawai in the background.
* BlatantLies: Nagatsuka is a habitual liar, and it's noted that he has a reputation for it. His lies are comparatively benign; he seems to lie solely to bolster reputations (his own and Ishida's). It finally backfires on him in Chapter 48 - [[spoiler: he's completely honest about how Shouya's coma came about, which probably would bolster Shouya's reputation; however, nobody believes him.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Shouko Nishimiya, a CuteMute deaf girl spent her first year in school being constantly mocked, bullied and harassed, with her every effort to make friends rejected and destroyed without fail. [[spoiler:Is a subversion , ''she's'' not the Cutie broken by it, one of her tormenters is. Ishida Shouya, ends up as the scapegoat for his entire class, taking all the blame for Shouko's torment and spends the next few years suffering treatment almost worse then Shouko at the hands of students and teachers, well also bearing horrible guilt over what he did to Shouko before she left school. He completely shuns his class and foresees nothing but a life of endless suffering ahead for him, which eventually makes him [[DrivenToSuicide plan to kill himself]] early in the series.]]
** [[spoiler:Played straight later on when, on a ferris wheel, Ueno tries to put things behind them by saying that she hates Shouko, Shouko hates her, so they should shake on it and declare peace. Shouko responds that she hates herself.]]
** [[spoiler:Shouko's self-hatred takes a turn for the worse after Ishida ends up fighting with the group and consequently loses all of his friendships. She believes that nothing good will come of Ishida spending time with her, and eventually tries to commit suicide after spending her mother's birthday with him and her family.]]
* BreakingTheFellowship: [[spoiler: The film crew dissolves after Ishida tears into each of its members. The later chapter set during the festival shows what each of the kids are doing during the fireworks display, and most of them are shown to be alone]].
** [[spoiler:PuttingTheBandBackTogether: What Shouko resolves to do.]]
* BrokenBird: Ishida and Shouko. But specially Shouko.
** Shouko's mother as well. With her ex-husband putting all the blame for Shouko's disability on her - as well as divorcing her for having a deaf daughter - Ms. Nishimiya has had the responsibility of raising two daughters, one with special needs, with only the assistance of her mother to get by while having to become a breadwinner.
* BrutalHonesty:
** When the topic turns to himself, Ishida does not mince words about his past errors and failures - this is made perfectly clear post-[[TimeSkip Time Skip]], when he's completely up front with Nishimiya, including the fact that he hates himself.
** Ueno seems to believe that this is the best way to go about things compared to bottling up your true feelings.
* TheBully: A whole group of them, and boy were they nasty. What happens to them ''after'' Shouko leaves the school due to the bullying though sets each of them apart however. Five years on, Ishida had turned into TheAtoner due to the guilt he felt for the nasty things had done to Nishimiya, and for a time was actually actively suicidal due to said guilt; Ueno has remained mostly unrepentant but now has GreenEyedMonster on top of her already ''massive'' issues with Nishimiya; Kawai seems to have moved on, and doesn't think much of what she did during elementary; Shimada sees Ishida as a complete eyesore and does everything to completely disassociate himself from him.
* TheBusCameBack: So, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse what ever happened to Pedro]], the man who knocked up Shouya's sister? The last chapter finally explains: [[spoiler: he's still with Shouya's sister; he's just been out job hunting, and the two are expecting their second child]].
* ButtMonkey: Nagatsuka, who sits behind Ishida in class. He's introduced as [[FriendlessBackground eating alone]], and Ishida becomes properly introduced to him when defending Nagatsuka from some social bullying. Most others are outright dismissive of pretty much everything he says and still outright insult him to his face; he later confides that Ishida is his first friend.
* TheChampion: Ishida is this for Nagatsuka. His idea for a movie is based on how the two of them first met, with him imagining Ishida as tall, athletic and heroic?
* ClingyJealousGirl: Ueno. Not played for laughs, and actually borders on {{Yandere}} and RemovingTheRival / a non-lethal variant of MurderTheHypotenuse. She is actually aware that her personality and her conflicts with Shouko just pushes Ishida further away, but doesn't know any other way to handle things.
* CommonalityConnection: Apparently, awful ex-husbands in the past for the mothers of both Ishida and Nishimiya. It allows their mothers to finally move past the awkward issues that have been between the two for years.
* ContrivedCoincidence: One coincidence was subverted. [[spoiler: It seems contrived that Shouya is pulled from the water immediately after falling from Shouko's apartment, but in fact he was rescued by Shimada and Keisuke, who followed him from the festival ForTheEvulz. That's ''also'' contrived, but less so.]]
* CoolOldLady: Shouko and Yuzuru's maternal grandmother. She's kind, patient, loving, wise, and practically raised the two girls while their mother worked to provide for the family. Speaking of which, she was the only person who stayed by Shouko's mother's side after her husband and in-laws abandoned her and Shouko. [[spoiler: Her death]] profoundly influences all three Nishiyama women.
* CuteMute: Nishimiya Shouko is deaf and as such communicates, or at least tries to, with a notebook. This failed early on, because her fellow students saw her muteness and the notebook as reasons to mock and torment her. She is able to speak, but her deafness leads to her words being extremely strained and extremely hard to understand.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Several members of Ishida's social circle get spotlight chapters after [[spoiler: Ishida is hospitalized with a coma]]. This includes Nagatsuka, Sahara, Kawai, Mashiba, Ueno, and Shouko.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Shouko and Yuzuru's mother. Slowly, but surely after her mother's death, becoming a little nicer towards Yuzuru and Shouya.
* DespairEventHorizon: Shouya crosses this after being abandoned by his old friends, and being bullied himself for five years. [[spoiler: He has sunk so low that he contemplates on killing himself.]]
* TheDeterminator: In the finale, Nagatsuka. He affirms that his personality isn't going to change, nor is he going to stop making films about his favorite subject, friendship.
* DistantFinale: Not too distant, but the last chapter takes place at the Coming of Age Ceremony when everyone's twenty.
* TheDogBitesBack:
** When Shouya bullied Shouko several days before her transfer, she snapped and fought him back so relentlessly that the teachers had to break up their ensuing brawl.
** Mashiba sees some girls picking on another kid at a park by forcing the kid to hold their backpacks while they play. [[spoiler:He responds to this by chucking their backpacks at them before telling Shouya that when he was younger he was in the same position as the picked on kid.]]
* DramaBomb: While the entire manga can be very depressing, chapter 38 is where everything goes FromBadToWorse. [[spoiler:To summarize everything up to chapter 44, Kawai exposes Shouya as the one who bullied Shouko when they were in elementary school which eventually leads to a heated argument that ends with Shouya disowning all his friends. Shouya tries his best so that he and Shouko can enjoy their summer together, but she is driven into a DespairEventHorizon, seeing herself as the cause for all of Shoya's misfortune. Then, despite HopeSpot in which he joins the Nishimiya family for a fireworks show, Shouko attempts suicide. Shouya is able to save her, but he ends up falling off the balcony and is rushed to the hospital. And while Shouya remains comatose at a hospital, Ueno beats up Shouko, and [[MamaBear Shouko's mother beats up Ueno]].]]
* DrivenToSuicide:
** After being pushed deep into despair, [[spoiler: Shouya attempts to do this, but after meeting Nishimiya again]] it becomes HappilyFailedSuicide.
** [[spoiler:Nishimiya]] attempts this by jumping off a balcony after [[spoiler:Ishida loses all his friends again,]] and she feels responsible over it. [[spoiler:[[InterruptedSuicide Ishida saves her]] [[HeroicSacrifice at a great cost]]]].
** [[spoiler:The reveal in chapter 45 is that Ishida had pretty much driven her to suicide in elementary school due to all the bullying.]]
* DudeHesLikeInAComa: [[spoiler: Ueno kisses Ishida while he's in a coma at the start of her spotlight chapter.]]
* DysfunctionJunction: Most, if not all, of the main characters seem to have some form of mental issues. We have the protagonist Ishida, who has an almost suicidally massive guilt-complex and whose life is dedicated to make the girl he used to bully happy. Said girl, Nishimiya, is a disabled ExtremeDoormat who hates herself because she thinks her presence makes things worse for everyone else. Their "friends" include a resident loudmouth who likes to show-off to hide his own lack of self-respect (Nagatsuka), a delusional narcissist who seems incapable of believing that she could do any wrong (Kawai), a seemingly normal but actually very bitter BullyHunter who himself is a former victim of bullying (Mashiba), and a violently self-entitled {{Yandere}} who wishes to monopolize the protagonist's attention but is ultimately too passive to do anything to make the protagonist like her more (Ueno).
* EarlyBirdCameo: Mashiba appears, unnamed, trying to talk to Shouya after his suspension long before he becomes an important character. He also appears as early as chapter 6, as one of the few people who would make an effort the engage Shouya at his most misanthropic and suicidal (at the time, Shouya merely dismisses his hair).
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The one-shot pilot chapter is difficult to read (and had trouble getting the series published,) because everyone except Shouko and the main character at the ''very'' end is such an unrepentant rectal orifice. The main series rebalanced everyone's personalities, although a reader will still probably be rooting for several characters to burn in hell (at first, anyway.)
* EasilyForgiven:
** When Shouya meets Shouko again after five years, she ''forgives'' him and even wants to be his friend. The problem is the girl's mother, sister and Ishida himself aren't so forgiving of his actions.
** Despite being one of the main people who caused his bullying back in elementary school, Shouya decides after talking to her a few times in high school that Kawai seems to be pretty nice person. Later on she joins his group of friends. However, after the DramaBomb, he's far less forgiving of Kawai.
** While he wasn't nearly as harsh to Nagatsuka, Shouya still insulted him and pushed him away during the DramaBomb. Nagatsuka's response was to say that Shouya just had a bad day, and he was the one who tried to get everyone back together first [[spoiler: after Shouya's coma]].
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Of all that characters who were bullies, [[spoiler: Kawai doesn't understand why she should feel remorse for the bullying and wonders why the others felt remorse.]]
* EnvironmentalSymbolism: In Shouko's spotlight chapter, all communication is shown as she hears it, and almost everything is in the same garbled speech that her own attempts at speaking come out as (Nagatsuka, at least, makes an effort to also write what he's trying to say to make it easier on her). Even the characters (like Yuzuru and Sahara) who can sign as well. The one exception? [[spoiler: When she dreams of Shouya, she can understand him perfectly. Right down to the fact that she had figured out that he didn't care about his own life anymore; just that he wanted to make her happy. Just as she always wanted someone to understand her voice, she finally understands someone else's.]]
* EtTuBrute: Shouya's old friends turn on him, the moment he becomes a scapegoat.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: [[spoiler: On the chapters following her attempted suicide,Shouko wears her hair in an unkempt fashion, reflecting her current demeanor.]]
* ExtremeDoormat: What Ueno and most others see Sahara as. [[spoiler:Which makes her throwing herself inbetween Ueno and Shouko to stop the former's attack on the latter and standing her ground despite Ueno's threats that much more surprising and [[MomentOfAwesome awesome]].]]
* TheFaceless:
** A lot of characters in the manga are depicted with "X"'s covering their faces, used to depict Shouya's disgust with and isolation from them. He sees them fall away one by one as they start to open up. [[spoiler: In some cases, they come back, such as when Ishida sees Ueno attempt to bully Nishimiya again.]]
** In a much less symbolic version, the two times that Ishida's older sister appeared, she was shown from the shoulders down.
* FashionModel: When Sahara meets Shouya again post-elementary, she is shown to be quite lanky. In the final chapter she is shown being hired to be a model.
* FourIsDeath:
** [[spoiler: Ishida]] planned on killing himself in April. It looks like he planned specifically for April 15th, so that he'd be discovered the next day - four times four.
** [[spoiler:Shouko's]] suicide attempt happens shortly after [[spoiler:her mother's]] 44th birthday.
* {{Frameup}}: Shouko's sister takes a picture of Shouya jumping off a bridge and a news story portrays him as a reckless delinquent, getting him suspended as a result. In reality, Shouya was jumping off to recover Shouko's notebook, but nobody is willing to listen since he ''did'' regularly jump off bridges for fun in his childhood. Plus, as Shouya notes, regardless of his reason for jumping off the bridge, doing so would result in a suspension.
** {{Foreshadowing}}: Early in the series, one of friends comments on how his habit of jumping off the bridge was going to come back and bite him in the butt someday. [[spoiler: Although the frame-up is a LighterAndSofter take on the foreshadowing - Shouya's planned suicide was to be a jump off a bridge.]] Further, it takes a darker turn in [[spoiler: Chapter 43, when Shouya's attempt to prevent Shouko's suicide succeeds, but the effort carries Shouya over a balcony's edge into water.]]
* AFriendInNeed: Nagatsuka proves himself this in chapter 44. [[spoiler: Despite the falling out described under BreakingTheFellowship, in which Ishida laid into nearly everyone, not only does he make the effort to visit Ishida when the hospital allows visitors, but he calls up everyone to get them to visit as well.]] Carried further in chapter 46, his spotlight chapter; he's the first one to reach out to Nishimiya and support her [[spoiler: after Ishida's coma.]]
* FriendlessBackground: Shouya grows up with no friends once they turn their back on him. Nagatsuka similarly has no friends before Shouya sticks up for him. [[spoiler: Mashiba reveals in Chapter 34 that he suffered from this in middle school; it leaves him intolerant of bullies to the present day.]]
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Once Ishida's social circle comes together, it's clear that almost nobody has any respect for Nagatsuka. Ishida is the only exception at first, though it becomes clear as time goes on that the others do warm up to him.
* {{Gaslighting}}: Kawai pulls this on Shouya. Her insistence on her innocence makes him doubt his own memories of her bullying. [[ShowTheirWork This is very close to how real life gaslighting works.]]
* TheGhost: Ishida's older sister. She is never named, and two of her lovers [[spoiler: and the daughter she had with the second one]] get more screen time than she has.
* GreenEyedMonster:
** Ueno, full force. Showcased spectacularly during the group trip to the theme park, where she not only lays it on Shouko, but explodes on Ishida as well because ''of'' his concern for Shouko.
--> '''Ishida:''' It matters to ''me''!
--> '''Ueno:''' Why does it matter to you?!?
** PlayedForLaughs with Nagatsuka, who starts acting like a jealous lover whenever Ishida talks with anyone besides him.
** Downplayed but present for Shouko as well. When she sees Ueno with Shouya (when the former's attraction is so obvious that [[EveryoneCanSeeIt even Yuzuru figures it out almost instantly]]), she changes her hairstyle and [[spoiler: tries confessing her love to Shouya]]. Shouya completely [[ObliviousToLove misses it]], though his attitude towards Ueno makes it obvious soon enough that Shouko has nothing to be jealous over.
** There are strong hints that Kawai is this regarding Mashiba. She decides to become involved with Shouya again almost immediately after he accepts talking with Mashiba. She makes an effort to be sure that no other girl gets paired with Mashiba (not too hard as the others, if they care about guys romantically, seem interested in Shouya). And when she sees that the girls in her class think little of her, she thinks it's because they're interested in Mashiba as well.
* HairColorDissonance: Shouko's hair is a medium brown but quite a few official colors give her a red, almost pink, tone.
* HateSink: Ueno and Kawai steadily became this, especially in the events leading to and in the aftermath of [[spoiler:Shouko's suicide attempt]]. However, [[spoiler:Kawai is the one who received the biggest HateSink due to her near-pathological attitude, because, while Ueno recognizes the fact that she did so many wrongs on Nishimiya... Kawai didn't recognize that she was also one to blame for back when Shouko was being bullied in Elementary School]].
* HatesSmallTalk: Shouya has this opinion towards other students before he meets with Shouko again, being disgusted with the things they discuss. Even as he starts gaining friends again, he doesn't initiate it.
* HeelRealization: For Ishida, when Nishimiya transferred out of his school. That's when he realized that her daily ritual of cleaning abusive graffiti from the classroom wasn't her attempt at dealing with bullying against her - it was her trying to prevent, as much as she could, bullying against ''him''. And yet, he kept trying to bully her right up until her departure.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Ishida manages to save Nishimiya as she's [[DrivenToSuicide jumping off her balcony]], but ends up falling off that same balcony and is gravely injured in the process]].
* HoldingHands:
** During the school festival, because Ishida doesn't feel confident appearing in front of his classmates, Nishimiya offers to guide him while holding his hand. Since Ishida is ObliviousToLove to a rather extreme degree, he just feels embarrassed for imposing on her. Nishimiya, however, is obviously well aware of the romantic implications and blushes over the prospect.
** In the last chapter, they hold hands when going into their class reunion, suggesting there's been some progress.
* HugeSchoolgirl: Sahara, a girl back in elementary school who transferred out after suffering constant teasing due to helping Shouko, became one by the time Shouko and Shouya [[spoiler:reconnect with her in high school]]. The fact that she wears boots with what looks like three-inch heels to school just makes her even ''taller''.
* {{Hypocrite}}: "Please, don't fabricate memories! Face the truth!" So says Kawai, who, unlike Shouya, refuses to accept her role in Shouko's bullying. Almost immediately after, at the bridge, she shouts that she never insulted anyone. When Nagatsuka tries to calm everyone down, Kawai immediately calls him a disgusting blob.
* IHatePastMe: Shouya has heavy issues about this, to the extent that he imagines himself stabbing his kid self at one point.
* IceQueen: Shouko and Yuzuru's mother, who is very authoritarian, very emotionally detached, and shows complete disdain for Shouya [[spoiler:at first]].
* IfICantHaveYou: A mildly tamer and non-villian version of this. In Chapter 50, Ueno claims that she [[spoiler: would rather have Shouya never wake up from his coma,]] than have him pick Shouko over her.
* IJustWantToBeNormal:
** Mashiba; his spotlight chapter reveals that he just wants to be treated like just another guy, and that he started hanging around Ishida because he thought it would make him look normal by comparison.
** Unstated, but it's very strongly suggested that Shouko goes through feeling this way when Ueno re-enters Shouya's life, [[GreenEyedMonster jealous that he might instead fall for the girl with normal hearing]]. She completely changes her hairstyle, and she insists on trying to communicate with Shouya via speech instead of signing, much to Shouya's confusion. As for how well this worked, see AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: As to be expected, Shouko. Chapter 51 is her spotlight chapter, and she has an extended sequence where she imagines what she wished middle school had been - everyone friendly to her, Ishida only playfully teasing her, and smiles all around.
* ImportantHaircut: In Chapter 31, it's shown that after Shouko got her hair cut by Shouya's mom, her mom was going to cut her hair that way she saw fit, believing that boy-length hair would make Shouko look stronger. In retaliation [[spoiler:Yuzuru cut her own long hair right in front of her family, giving herself the boyish hairstyle her mom wanted Shouko to have and she's kept it ever since.]]
* ImagineSpot: In Chapter 51, Shouko has one about [[spoiler: what life could have been like if she wasn't bullied and if her father never abandoned the family.]] It's a downright TearJerker.
* ImplausibleDeniability: When Ishida calls out Kawai on having bullied and tormented Nishimiya, Kawai denies everything and claims she was completely innocent of any wrongdoing (which is complete bull, she was the primary instigator of most of Nishimiya's and Ishida's torments.) Furthermore, her point of view shows she actually believes with 100% conviction what she's saying. Her mind has retconed the entire incident to make her the heroine and Ishida the sole villain.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: [[spoiler:Kawai. She starts to break when she starts reading posts where other students talk bad about her.]]
* InsaneTrollLogic:
** How Ueno interprets the situation with Nishimiya: it's Nishimiya's fault that Ueno and her cohort weren't able to understand her during elementary, which was why (Ueno) was fully justified in bullying her, and all the problems that came afterward for Ishida and herself were also Nishimiya's fault. Oh, and Ishida being close to Nishimiya and hating Ueno in the present? ''Her fault too!''
** So why is Shouko without a father? [[spoiler:Because her father was urged by his parents to divorce her mother because she gave birth to the deaf Shouko. What's more, they say the blame for Shouko's deafness lies either with Shouko's mother or Shouko herself in a past life.]] What is worse is that [[spoiler:the reason Shouko's deaf is because of an illness her mom caught while she was pregnant. And the illness came from ''him''.]]
* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler:Ishida walks in just as Nishimiya is [[DrivenToSuicide jumping off her balcony]], he manages to grab her and save her, but is [[HeroicSacrifice gravely injured in the process]].]]
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Shimada and Hirose would always jump off bridges with Ishida when they were friends. When Ishida became the scapegoat, they started just throwing him off bridges. In the present, they were the ones who saved Ishida's life by pulling him out when he fell off a balcony into the water, although they don't want their role known.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Kawai. [[spoiler: To the point that she manages to make Shouya's accident and Shouko's suffering be about her instead]]. Her comments towards Nagatsuka in the finale suggest that she may be moving past it.
* ItsAllMyFault: Both Ishida and Nishimiya blame themselves (not each other, though) for all of the difficulties in the lives around them. Ishida arguably is right about at least some of it (at least, the parts that stem from the results of his bullying years ago), although he actively blames his actions to the present if they're not perfect.
* {{Jerkass}}: ''Oh, aren't there a plenty.'' First, there was Ishida and his friends as kids. After he was bullied for several years, he grew out of it. His friend Ueno, did ''not''. [[spoiler: However, even worse than them is Shouko's father and paternal grandparents, who divorce her mother when they find out their grandaughter is deaf, blaming her mother the whole time.]]
** [[spoiler: The judge who watches Nagatsuka's film. He not only insults him, he insults everyone's else involvement with the film, says they all are just amateurs who think too highly of themselves, and doesn't even let Nagatsuka defend himself.]]
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** For all of his shallowness, Takeuchi-sensei is right about one thing -- everything that happened in the past did change Shouya for the better.
** Ueno's beating on Shouko [[spoiler:for being the reason why Shouya became comatose]] was uncalled for, and is considered the primary moment that solidified most of the fans' hate for her. But one of the things she said to Shouko during the attack did hold some ground. [[spoiler:By trying to commit suicide]], Shouko was making a selfish decision, and never considered the feelings of Shouya, her family, or even the rest of the movie crew.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Ueno - pretty much all of her actions (even the seemingly benevolent ones) stem from simply wanting Ishida for herself.
* KarmaHoudini: After the major DramaBomb in chapter 38, many characters end up suffering in their own way. Everyone except Kawai, the one who ''instigated'' the DramaBomb to begin with!
** Shimada and Hirose suffer absolutely no consequences for bullying Shouko and later Shouya, especially when they go out of their way to make Shouya as friendless as possible.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: Ueno lays a severe beating on Nishimiya after she finds out Ishida is in a coma. Nishimiya does not even bother to defend herself.]]
* KidsAreCruel: The plot was jump-started due to this.
* LatinoIsBrown: Averted with Pedro and Maria, who are both visibly black (half-black in Maria's case). Brazil has a significant black population, but it is rarely reflected in most media.
* LoveLetterLunacy: Played more for drama than usual. [[spoiler: Ueno tries to slip a love letter to Ishida in a pouch given out by the cat cafe where she works. It gets mixed up with the pouch that Nagatsuka got, which resulted in him briefly thinking that Ueno liked him. He ended up on the end of a fairly brutal verbal beatdown from Ueno for that. Plus, Ueno discovered that Ishida planned on giving the pouch to Nishimiya anyhow, which meant that her love note wouldn't have gotten to him anyhow, likely fueling her GreenEyedMonster tendencies more.]]
* MamaBear: Ms. Nishimiya in the last panel of chapter 44 and the beginning of chapter 45. [[spoiler: After everything Ueno has done to Shouko, it's more than gratifying to see the elder Nishimiya fight in her daughter's defense.]] Also serves as CharacterDevelopment; after asserting for so long that Shouko needs to stand up for herself and not accept help, she's finally aiding her daughter when Shouko is outmatched.
* MeaningfulEcho: Chapter 1 begins with a brief scene in the present - Ishida seeing Nishimiya and noting how he hated her. In Chapter 6, the manga returns to the scene and briefly goes to Yuzuru Nishimiya's view... where she notes that she hates Ishida. [[spoiler: Another echo happens when Nishimiya tells Ueno, who outright says that she hates Nishimiya, that Nishimiya hates herself - just as Ishida admitted to Nishimiya when he found her again that he hated himself a few pages after she mentally notes that she hates him.]]
** A more pleasant example is that Nishimiya tries to make a particular sign to everyone, including Ishida, during the flashback. In the present day, it's finally explained which sign it was - asking to be friends - when Ishida uses it to Nishimiya. It's the first indication that he does understand Nishimiya's "voice" and is able to see things from her view.
** The first meeting between Ishida's mother and Nishimiya's mother involved the former forced to bow in apology to the latter, after Shouya had destroyed several of Shouko's hearing aids (to the tune of 1,700,000 yen of damages). Years later, Nishimiya's mother fully takes the PoseOfSupplication to Ishida's mother, after [[spoiler: Shouya saves Shouko from a suicide attempt, but the effort causes him to fall and slip into a coma]].
** The dream that Nishimiya has about Ishida in Chapter 51. [[spoiler: She imagines Ishida communicating with her clearly - the first time anyone does in the whole chapter - and his words mirror much of what she had been saying in the last couple of chapters. Namely, that he didn't care so much about what happened to him, that he just wanted to build things up so that [[IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy she could be happy]], just as she was hoping to bring the movie crew back together to make him happy when he wakes up from the coma.]]
** One more with dreams. Shouya thinks about one dream he had [[spoiler: while he was in a coma]], and the scenes in it match up perfectly with similar scenes from Shouko's ImagineSpot of how she wished her elementary school days had gone.
* MementoMacGuffin: Shouko's notebook from elementary school serves to represent her experience and memories from that time. While Shouko's mother interprets the notebook as being full of pain and suffering (she's not far from the truth), Shouya and Shouko think otherwise.
* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: A mundane example - in Shouko's spotlight chapter, her first appearance is her looking at her own reflection. Since she's in a kimono, it looks like the right flap of her kimono is on top, which is traditionally only done for corpses. [[spoiler: She just had failed to commit suicide and watched Shouya fall to what could have been his death to stop her - she had felt her whole life was shattered, and the one person outside her family that she felt close to might have killed himself to save her.]]
* MixedAncestry: Maria, Shouya's niece post-timeskip, is half-Japanese, half-Afro-Brazillian.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In chapter 45, in the aftermath of the fighting, Ueno breaks down in tears and admits that all the things she's done just push Ishida away from her, and that her most recent move (attacking Shouko when the latter has a sprained or broken arm) might be final impetus for him to push her away for good.
** Similarly, Mashiba openly questions himself in his own spotlight chapter, upset that the last time he had seen Ishida [[spoiler: before his coma]], he had punched him upon learning of Ishida's previous treatment of Nishimiya. It shows he's finally fully aware of not just what Ishida was, but what Ishida has become.
* {{Mukokuseki}}: Averted.
* NamesTheSame: InUniverse, nicknames, actually - Ishida and Nishimiya are nicknamed "Sho-chan" by their mothers. In the present, it serves to underline the similarities between the two. In the past, it seemed to serve as one of the reasons that Ishida decided to bully Nishimiya.
* {{Narcissist}}: Kawai is basically a textbook example and comes off far closer to the real life version, an actual personality disorder, than the more common fictional version of simply being in love with oneself.
** Mashiba's spotlight chapter has him confront his own narcissistic tendencies; his desire to feel normal is what he felt pushed him towards Ishida, and he wrestles with guilt over how shallow his relationship with Ishida was.
* NightmareFace: [[https://33.media.tumblr.com/29b6b1a0bf652e9bcd3adda2ee404ab0/tumblr_n9t4crd01o1tb0a2lo2_500.jpg Kawai's reaction]] when she overlooks a student's text criticizing her isn't pretty...
* NeverMyFault:
** Ueno is utterly unrepentant of what she did during elementary, and what's more, ''blames Shouko for everything''. Also, as shown in flashback, [[spoiler: Shouko's father - when it's pointed out that Shouko's deafness was due to an illness that her mother caught from him, he says that she should have been vaccinated rather than take any responsibility]].
** Most of the key players in Shouko's bullying definitely suffers from this, but none more so than Kawai. While Kawai didn't instigate the bullying like Shouya and Ueno, Kawai did nothing to help Shouko and laughed along with them, but refused to acknowledge she had any part in the bullying and it's even her crying when Shouya points it out that gets him labeled as the class' scapegoat. Years later, she still refuses to believe she had any part in Shouko's bullying. Chapter 48 shows that it's practically pathological.
* [[NiceGuy Nice Girl]]: Sahara is far and away the nicest, most understanding character in the series.
* NoDialogueEpisode: Chapter 52, when Shouko goes by herself close to midnight to the bridge where she would regularly meet Shouya, in the hopes that she could hold to their routine [[spoiler: even though Shouya was comatose]]. The only speech in the entire chapter is at the very end: [[spoiler: Shouya has a mental image of Shouko, and he awakes from his coma, [[SayMyName calling for Nishimiya]].]]
* NoPlaceForMeThere: Ishida wants to do right by Nishimiya, but he questions whether he truly has the right to be happy as well, due to the fact that he feels responsible that she didn't have such good times in the first place.
* ObliviousToLove: Ishida has consistently been ignorant of female attraction. When he was in sixth grade, he was likely just too immature to realize that Ueno was crushing on him. [[spoiler: In the present day, Ueno and Nishimiya both have feelings for him. While the fact that Ishida can't stand Ueno anymore likely greatly contributes to his ignorance of her attraction, his obliviousness about Nishimiya likely stems from his own self-loathing.]]
* OddFriendship: Seriously, did ''anyone'' expect that Sahara and Ueno would become friends come high school, ''especially'' since both are on opposite sides of the equation with regards to Nishimiya?
* OhCrap: Heard but not shown, it's pretty obvious that Ueno was not even remotely prepared for [[spoiler: Ishida to wake from his coma, and thus for her to face the consequences of what happened when he was out]].
* ParentalAbandonment: You never see Shouko and Yuzuru's father. [[spoiler:And when you do see him in a flashback in chapter 32, you find out that it's because he was urged by his parents to divorce Shouko's mother for giving birth to a deaf daughter.]] Ishida's father is similarly never seen, though we lack specifics about what happened. Mrs. Ishida is briefly shown talking about how he walked out and was vain about his hair (the latter possibly related to the former), but not much is known beyond that.
* ParentsAsPeople:
** Shouko's mother has well-meaning intentions but by being overly harsh towards her daughters to toughen them up, she only caused friction between them, especially her younger daughter.
** Shouya's mother was too busy with work and oblivious that her son wanted to commit suicide. And when [[spoiler: Shouya fell into a coma]], she was so overwhelmed by the situation, she didn't know what to do.
* PetTheDog: A brief moment comes up when Ishida is bullying Nishimiya. About partway through he tries to tell her that people are starting to resent her for standing out and inconveniencing the class. Nishimiya of course doesn't understand him (and it's still a cruel thing to say). And it doesn't stop him from leading the bullying against her.
* PillarsOfMoralCharacter: Much of the interaction with Ishida's and Nishimiya's mothers are fraught with the interplay of how each views what others are required under this. In particular, [[spoiler: there's no small amount of awkwardness between the two after Ishida's coma. Ishida's mother still feels indebted to Nishimiya's mother due to the fact that she was responsible for her son's bullying and destruction of Nishimiya's hearing aids. Meanwhile, Nishimiya's mother feels indebted to Ishida's mother because, despite the cold treatment she had given Ishida, he saved Nishimiya's life.]]
* RunningGag: Character's will have [[TheFaceless their faces crossed out with an X]] depending on Shouya's level of disgust with them. This is meant to represent him literally blocking them out from his view. While this is normally PlayedForDrama, ''Ueno's'' face will frequently bounce back and forth throughout the chapters she appears in.
* SayMyName: After [[LastNameBasis only calling her "Nishimiya"]] for the entire story, when Ishida [[spoiler:finds her about to commit suicide]] he calls out her last name several times before finally screaming ''"SHOUKO!"''
* SchoolBullyingIsHarmless: Averted. The manga goes to great lengths to show the brutally realistic depiction of bullying, not only focusing on the students but also on everybody that participates in it, [[BystanderSyndrome including teachers that acknowledge the situation but do nothing to resolve it.]] In fact, the reason why it took so long to be serialized was because a group attempted to raise a legal dispute on the grounds that it showed a negative side of Japan's society.
* SelfServingMemory: Nagatsuka's first script draft plays out like one of these, with the pivotal meeting that led to his friendship with Ishida turning from the latter meekly trying to deflect a bully's attention and scorn from the former into an action-filled sequence, complete with a TakeThat against Ueno for scorning Nagatsuka's feelings. It even turns Ishida's meek distraction, "Uh... you can borrow my bike," into a PreAsskickingOneLiner (albeit about a car). Played with in that it primarily tries to make Ishida look better instead, although Nagatsuka does look cooler in the story.
** A version that isn't PlayedForLaughs like the above example is Kawai in Chapter 48 - her memories of past events include her being completely supportive of Nishimiya, trying to stop the bullying against her, being bullied by Ishida herself, later being bullied by Ueno, and in general being the perfect child. Even if you accept that she wasn't actively bullying Nishimiya in middle school, she did laugh along with the bullying, has been a complete {{Jerkass}} to Nagatsuka (including refusing to back him up when he asserted Ishida's bravery and both hitting and belittling him when he tried to prevent a fight involving her), and slaps Nishimiya when the latter is trying to think of a way to make things better.
* ShadowArchetype: Shouya has changed, Ueno hasn't. She now represents a lot of what Shouya hates about his past.
** NotSoDifferent: Shouya realizes that Ueno trying to [[spoiler:get him to make up with a former friend of his, Shimada]], is exactly what he did [[spoiler:when he helped Sahara and Shouko meet up after years and become friends again]]. This realization doesn't please him.
* ShipperOnDeck:
** Easy to miss, but Kawai seems to be actively pushing Ishida and Ueno back together. Which is... disturbing, when one remembers what they did as a group several years before to Nishimiya, and ''especially'' now when Ishida and Nishimiya are getting closer.
--> '''Kawai:''' (after Ueno runs off in anger from the theme park) Geez! I went to the trouble of taking her here on purpose!
** Yuzuru makes her attempts at trying to get Shouko and Shouya together not at all subtle. [[spoiler: This inadvertently saves Shouko's life; Shouya was only there to save her because Yuzuru had sent Shouya to get a camera, blatantly trying to get the two alone during a fireworks display.]]
* ShonenHair: Shouya.
* SpeechImpededLoveInterest: Shouko is deaf. Most of the time she uses sign language or writes in a notepad, however when she does speak she has a very pronounced speech impediment. [[spoiler:Her LoveConfession to Shouya is ruined by him misunderstanding her]].
* StatuesqueStunner: Sahara considering that as of Chapter 59 [[spoiler:she seems to have a burgeoning career as a runway model]].
* StepfordSmiler: Shouko. [[spoiler: Chapter 44 reveals she was this between her bullying by Ishida and her actual suicide attempt. [[ItMakesSenseInContext She might not be this anymore]].]]
* SwitchingPOV: The majority of the story is told from Ishida's perspective, but after [[spoiler: he ends up in a coma]], it changes into a series of rotating chapters told from the perspectives of each of the other kids.
* SymbolicMutilation: Shouko's right arm is in a sling after the events of Chapter 43. Since she normally uses sign language to communicate, plus that's her writing hand, it renders her communication even more difficult mechanically, representing how she had quickly grown cut off from everyone else.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: As mentioned under DysfunctionJunction, most of the main characters are suffering from mental issues, but they do not receive the support they need. [[AdultsAreUseless It doesn't help that the majority of the adults are useless]].
* TimeSkip: The series starts in Elementary School and skips to five years later in High School in Chapter 5.
** The final chapter is two years in the future, when the gang is twenty.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler:In a manga where a character is either a JerkAss or TheWoobie, Shouko and Yuzuru's grandmother is one of the few truly good characters in the manga who lends moral support to her granddaughters, especially Yuzuru. Sadly, the last time she's seen is in a framed picture on top of her coffin one chapter after she's introduced.]]
* TranquilFury: When [[spoiler: Nishimiya's mother assaults Ueno after Ueno attacks Shouko]], her face seems frozen in an almost sad expression. She barely even registers when struck, and she's silent the whole time. This does not detract from the sheer fury of the assault. [[spoiler: This is in stark contrast to when she struck Ishida earlier in the series for talking to Shouko, when she was quite visibly angry and ready to viciously put him down verbally as well.]]
* {{Tsundere}}: Ms. Nishimiya is a non-romantic version towards Ishida after he helps track down Shouko during a rainstorm. She treats him brusquely, clearly not quite forgiving what he did in the past, but she's willing to tolerate him for the sake of her daughters. [[spoiler: She starts showing him some warmth after her own mother's death, and she drops it completely after Shouko's suicide attempt.]]
** Ueno is an extremely messed up (bordering on {{Deconstruction}}) version. She likes Ishida but her attempts to win him over either fall flat or backfire completely, her CantSpitItOut tendency confuses him and her abrasive attitude pushes him away. Her failure makes her frustrated and angry which she channels into lashing out at the world in general and bullying Nishimiya in particular - which pushes Ishida away further. It's a vicious cycle.
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Ueno. Five years on, Ishida can't stand the sight of her, and what's more, is clearly attracted and openly defending the girl whose life she utterly wrecked years before.
* UnstoppableRage: [[spoiler:When Ueno finds out that Shouya was sent to the hospital for trying to save Shouko for an attempted suicide, Ueno lets out all her rage on Shouko both physically and verbally and doesn't stop despite pleas from Sahara, even taunting her after she fails to move aside. It takes a slap from Shouko's mom to get her to stop.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Shouya in the one-shot pilot, until his HeelRealization at the end. In the main series he's less malicious, although still rather amoral at the beginning.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Ueno and Sahara of the "it's mainly one spewing the vitriol" type.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Virtually every relationship is either this or an inverted "We Used To Be ''Enemies''."
* WhamEpisode: Chapter 43. Ishida has just caught Nishimiya, [[spoiler:who had attempted suicide]]. He questions the foolishness of his own actions, and whether he truly ever benefited anyone. And he resolves to listen to everyone's voices, if he's given the chance. [[spoiler: And just as he finally gets Nishimiya up to hold onto the railing, the force of the effort sends him over. He sees Nishimiya's panicked and tear-stained face reach for him as he falls, while he stares at a scar he gave her years ago and wonders if he's done enough for her. The chapter ends with Ishida's mother at the hospital, crying on her knees.]]
* WhamLine: In chapter 6, "I wanted to give this to you." The wham isn't from Shouya's words, it's from the fact that [[SignLanguage he signed it]] - it's the moment where it's made clear that Shouya's [[TheAtoner desire to make up for his misdeeds]] is more than passing fancy. Shouko is so shocked that she ends up bringing Ishida with her to hear him out more, despite affirming just a few pages prior that she hates him, possibly more than anyone else in the world.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Sahara struggles with this question in her spotlight chapter. For all that she is unquestionably the nicest peer Shouko had in middle school, Sahara was hurt so bad by being taunted by classmates that she just hid in the nurse's office for much of the year, as opposed to standing up for Shouko. She also feels guilty that she never sought out Shouko after the latter transferred or asked Shouko how she was holding up. She explicitly compares herself to Shouya, who she felt made that effort in the present day despite what he had done. [[spoiler: She also questions herself as to what would have happened if she had been there instead of Shouya when Shouko attempted suicide. She doesn't have a satisfying answer to that.]]
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Kawai's main tactic. When everyone turned on Ishida in elementary school, she immediately turned on the tears when he tried to bring up how she let the bullying happen. [[spoiler: In a later chapter, when Ishida again brings up how she was just as bad as him, she turns on the tears and announces to the entire class that Ishisa was the one who bullied Nishimaya.]]
** Ueno suspects that Nishimiya's been attempting to perform this ever since middle school. While she initially started teasing Nishimiya because it got Ishida's attention, the fact that he didn't notice her affection while focusing on Nishimiya made her think that Nishimiya was playing for pity and that Ishida was teasing her because he couldn't express love towards her otherwise. This was the core cause of Ueno's GreenEyedMonster attitude. Keep in mind that she was remarkably wrong about all of that; however, the way things have progressed make her think that she was completely correct.
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