Koe no Katachi

Description

Shoya is a bully. When Shoko, a girl who can't hear, enters his elementary school class, she becomes their favorite target, and Shoya and his friends goad each other into devising new tortures for her. But the children's cruelty goes too far. Shoko is forced to leave the school, and Shoya ends up shouldering all the blame. Six years later, the two meet again. Can Shoya make up for his past mistakes, or is it too late? (Source: Kodansha)

Official English: INKR | Azuki | Kodansha

Note: Won the 19th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award New Artist Prize in 2015 and the Ogaki City Cultural Alliance Award (Lifestyle Culture Division). Nominated for the category "Best U.S. Edition of International Material" in the 2016 Eisner Awards.

Type

Manga

Associated Names

A Silent Voice

A Voz do Silêncio

Dáng Hình Thanh Âm

Koe no Kitachi

Kształt twojego głosu (Polish)

Raut Suara

Sessizliğin Sesi

The Shape of Voice

Форма голоса

Форма голосу (Ukrainian)

الصوت الصامت

รักไร้เสียง

聲の形

목소리의 형태

Groups Scanlating

/a/nonymous

abandoned kitten scans

Crunchyroll

Futari wa Pretty Anon

More...

Latest Release(s)

c.62.5 by abandoned kitten scans 9 years ago

c.62 by Crunchyroll 11 years ago

c.61 by Crunchyroll 11 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

7 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 (Movie)

Ends at Vol 7, Chap 62 (Movie)

User Reviews

Koe no Katachi by Zoro

Koe no Katachi by Salieri_Hiyajo

Forum

5 topics, 15 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.7 / 10.0 (2205 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.67 / 10.0

34%

29%

21%

Last Updated

April 15th, 2025 12:57am PDT - 3 months ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Psychological Romance School Life Shounen Slice of Life
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Categories

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Recommendations

Otoyomegatari

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Horimiya

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Author(s)

OOIMA Yoshitoki

Artist(s)

OOIMA Yoshitoki

Year

2013

Original Publisher

Kodansha

Serialized In (magazine)

Bessatsu Shounen Magazine (Kodansha)

Shuukan Shounen Magazine (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Azuki (7 Volumes - Complete; Digital)

INKR Comics (Complete)

Kodansha Comics (7 Volumes - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #616

(-55)

Monthly Pos #1198

(-204)

3 Month Pos #1551

(-288)

6 Month Pos #1766

(-104)

Year Pos #1878

(-60)

List Stats

On 2782 reading lists

On 1420 wish lists

On 4736 completed lists

On 80 unfinished lists

On 751 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

A Silent Voice Anime Project Is a Theatrical Film

11 years ago

A Silent Voice - Koe no Katachi Manga to End on November 12

11 years ago

Chapter 42

11 years ago

A Silent Voice - Koe no Katachi Manga to End in 3 More Volumes

11 years ago

Lawsuit

12 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Finally got around to reading this and...

by MangaAccount74933
3 months ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

... It's really not that great.

It's above average (anything above a 5 is above average - people on this site struggle with understanding 1-10 rating systems; a 5 is the top of the bell curve meaning most normal/average manga readers will still enjoy it even if it's not peak. Rating something a "1" just because you think the current aggregate rating is too high is ridiculous as you will have only a negligible effect on the aggregate; it's better to be honest).

It was enjoyable to read, but not to finish because it feels extremely abrupt, with your classic vague ending that Japanese authors seem to love so much. There are hidden cultural indicators such as...

the ceremony they are attending at the end is for 20 year olds in Japan, specifically people who turned 20 in the last year or people turning twenty very soon, meaning they kept in touch for several years even though they both went to different cities for post-secondary education/training).

Deaf people get pretty much zero airtime in manga or anime. This isn't really a problem because then you run the risk of putting pressure on mangaka to include character types who are highly likely to end up defined by things other than their character and behaviors, potentially becoming poorly-written stereotypes rather than independently interesting on their own merits (although, realistically, manga and anime thrive on character stereotypes, but not ones that are insulting to a disability demographic). This manga by its very nature avoids that, making Shoko's deafness key to the way the entire story plays out.

As a manga generally, it just doesn't rise above the pack of other "above average" manga. It's fine but that's it.

... Last updated 3 months ago

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This is an okay manga

by modnar
8 months ago

Rating: 1.0 / 10.0

I'm giving it 1 only because I think 8.7 is a little bit too high. I think it's more like a 7 or 7.5 perhaps. The end is a little bit too unconclusive. It doesn't really show much of the female protagonist's feelings, only a bit later on perhaps. Also lemme be honest, if this was a Shoujo manga, and the heroin was "physically taken advantage of" like that while in a coma, I think male readers, at least me, wouldn't be too pleased about it. But I guess as it is in Koe no Katachi it fits with our patriarchal society or whatever, and probably appeals to the male audience and ego, which is probably the goal in Shounen. Perhaps because of that too the story feels a little bit unnatural and forced, wonder if that has to do with the author being female. Also, everybody keep hating themselves and 2 nearly comitted suicide, then in the end all's good and happy? Yeah... a little out of touch to be honest. But well I'm a male and I dont mind, had just finished a Shoujo manga (they are usually a lot tougher for boy's ego lol) too so a bit of delusion is ok. It's just not satisfying though. But I guess it hardly ever is. For example, if this was a Shoujo manga I highly doubt that there would have been no competition to Shouya for Shouko, and I also doubt Ueno would have been given that much emphasis. But who knows. Too bad there only Shounen/Seinen and Shoujo/Josei and not something inbetween, I would very much rather read something "impartial" that's not just trying to appeal to whichever "side" just to sell more. Ah, and people also dont just burn money like that, like ever. Literally never seen or heard of, not in our reality dimension at least.

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Great read

by Ponkos
1 year ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

Nice manga about moving forward

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needs a serious rewrite/rethink

by Kichido
2 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

Pretty much the same as the anime but with more char. development for the side chars, like some reviewers have said, it kinda stagnates half way,

Shoko confesses her love very early on, but Shoya misunderstands her because she can't pronounce it properly and then she never confesses again, even when given the opportunity to hold hands causally she goes for his sleeve instead, they only hold hands in the very last frame, which is far from clear if their romance is going anywhere or not.
(Not to mention that she tries to kill herself later on, after watching the fireworks, which seemed like a good event, but it is a complex-thoughts-and-feelings kinda manga)

Shoya never says it, even internally, if he likes her or not, not to mention love her, he's just very protective of her, but that could be just guilt for bullying her 5 years earlier.

And they decide to go to universities in different cities, so chances for their romance to bloom is very slim, and them holding hands (not even in a romantic way) is the only hint they give, which is really frustrating. It is supposedly when they are 20 years old though, so I guess they kept in touch.

There are a lot of complex emotions and surplus drama, very frustrating at times, and some choices are not based in reality, they are just there as plot devices, like his

best friends not only ignoring him but turning on him (very brutally) and the reason ? because he mentioned that a few girls in class badmouthed Shoko, which was true, one of which was and is in love with Shoya, he didn't say anything bad about his male friends, so them turning on him because he tried to take a few rando girls down with him (to share the blame), well none of that is believable, and these are max 12 year old kids.

Overall I did enjoy it, even after seeing the anime, but the unrealistic plot devices, annoying characters (Naoka & Miki), stagnating middle and romances, plus no real ending all ended up hurting the end result.

This needs a serious rewrite/rethink, because it could have been so much better.
Thank god we have copyright laws, can you image what would happen is someone fixed the story ?

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I would have liked to see more about Shouko

by Idonotcare
3 years ago

Rating: N/A

The story was cool. I like how it portrayed bullying in the first chapters and the different types of bullies (like the active and passive ones). As for the main character, I like him too. It was an interesting twist that the bully ended up as a victim, and seing how he tried to make amends for his mistakes, making a contrast with the other bullies who never got to learn their lesson (the protagonist's friends), or never felt remorse for what they did (Nao), or never assumed that they were part of the problem (Kawai, the teacher).
Nonetheless, something I didn't like about this story was the LACK of participation of Shouko, I mean, the story is called "A silent voice", so why we couldn't see more about HER version of the story? Everything we learn about her is through other character's perspectives: her sister, her mom, the MC. We never get to hear what she truly feels, what is she like, what heppened to her before changing schools, and after graduating (middle school and high school). This way, we don't know anything about her, her likes, dislikes, aspirations, her deeper thoughts, how are things going in her current school (is she being bullied? Does she have friends? Does she feel alone?). And the MC doesn't know anything either, and this is because the author decided to put the attention on the other characters and their irrelevant lives, thus making the two "protagonists" (Shoya & Shouko) less interesting and irrelevant to their own story.
I would have LOVED to see more meaningfull interactions between Shoya and Shouko beacuse that was the whole idea, that they could start again as friends, and this could have opened new oportunities to explore Shouko's psique (I mean, she went through bullying all her elementary school life, technically. That can't go unnoticed in her current behaviour), and maybe we could have learn more about her new school life as a high schooler, learn more about her personality, the other bullies of her past (thus, making Shoya not feel SO guilty about putting ALL the blame on himself).
As for Shoya, we could have seen him express his inner thoughts and all the excesive guilt he feels. This way Shouko could have talked about it with him, easing the pain that haunted him for so many years. After all, why the heck did he learned sign language if they barely use it?
It's frustrating to see the other characters take the spot light and see their lives coming together, while the protagonists take a back seat on their own goddamn story.
Shoya could easily have chosen to have a career as something related to awareness and information of deaf people in education, or bullying, such as a Minister of Education (since he's so obsessed with making amends for what he did), instead of choosing to be a hairdresser just because.
As for Shouko, I was dissapointed that we never got to see what she wanted to be until the very end (because of the reasons I mentioned before), and the author just threw it in our faces that she wanted to be a hairdresser with no clues along the way.
Consequently, the story eneded up quite mediocrely for both of them, all because it prioritized the secondary characters.

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Frustrating

by Kamugin
4 years ago

Rating: 5.5 / 10.0

I read or watch stories about bulling with angst and rage in my heart because I was a victim of bulling myself, however the bulling part of this manga doesn't go beyond the first volume, after that it drags on around some dumb film the annoying protagonist's friend is set on making to celebrate their friendship. The protagonist evolves from a complete asshole to a dumb pushover unable to put his shit together. A little more romance could have saved the story albeit a victim falling in love to her bully is very unlikely, however this is fiction, no resemblance to actual facts or living people, but as I said before, the protagonist is very dull. His only accomplishment was to learn sign language. We are compelled to root for him, but he is ok being mediocre. Again the ending is shitty, the Japanese doesn't know how to end a romantic story in a satisfactory and fulfilling way. I was so pissed off that I felt the impulse to threw the book off my window, but doing that to my PC would be troublesome.

... Last updated 4 years ago

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Very well crafted, possibly a bit overrated, probably better as a movie

by MatrixM
4 years ago

Rating: 8.5 / 10.0

So I remember reading this waaay back but then stopped reading cos it was taken over by crunchyroll and I think I didn't realise that their manga was for free.
Now I've come back over 7 years later, it has a anime film adaptation that is critically acclaimed as one of the best films made in the industry, and I figure hey I should go back to this.
So I did. And This is really good.
As an art-piece I'd give it 9/10, I think. Maybe higher, if I presume to say that I understood the author's intent.
Manga enjoyment-wise I'd be more comfortable giving it a 8.5/10. i.e. for my personal enjoyment.

Where I think it lost a point or half a point is in the story seeming to drag for a few chapters around chapter 15 (I think). There were a couple of chapters where I felt 'This doesn't seem to really be here for a purpose, or at least could have been done more concisely'. That said it does recover, and overall is very well put-together.

This is not a romance.
This is a coming-of-age manga. Or perhaps half that, half drama manga.
A traumatised boy is trying to make amends and later it's about his recovery. It shares a theme or two with Onani master kurosawa and also with the anime AnoHana, two pieces of work I'd also rate 10/10 and perhaps 9/10 respectively.

Interestingly....All this time when I looked back at this manga (back when I'd only read up to ch28 and the 32.5 omake) I misremembered one part of the story
Unrelated to my review but I had thought that when

Shouko confessed to Shouya, he had only pretended to misunderstood her as saying 'Tsuki' (moon) instead of 'suki' (like/love). In my head, the way it went was she shouts at him as he's leaving "I like you" and turns around and lies "Oh, you're talking about the moon, right? Yeah, it's good" and then rides away, thinking to himself that he doesn't deserved to be loved by her after all he did. Turns out that's not what happened at all....huh. I kind of like my memory better. But then it'd completely change what the manga ended up being about so, eh. Just thought that was interesting.

Maybe after another 7 years I'll watch the movie. I think that one fault, a lack of conciseness for a small handful of chapters, would of course not be there so I expect a 10/10....although I would be surprised if all the necessary parts are covered in 2 hours..

... Last updated 4 years ago

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Maaaaaaan🤘

by MASTER GUYVER
4 years ago

Rating: 8.7 / 10.0

I have a history with this series. I watched the movie then read the manga, years later read the manga, watched the movie right after and then right after that started reading the manga again. A month later and I'm about to read the manga now. It's not the story itself that is amazing but the feeling of realism you get from reading it it's bone chilling. Like the author really payed attention to giving characters authentic emotions and isn't afraid to push characters bad side or deals with social fears and mental health and is the one manga I can read while stomaching the bullying.

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Koe no Katachi

by [deleted member]
5 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Story: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Quality Polish Edition: 8/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 8.8/10

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Both movie and manga could have been a bit better

by panos
6 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

I feel both movie and manga could have been a bit better...

Movie needed about 20-30 more additional minutes since it skipped a lot of things such as Ueno's feelings on almost every single instance of it, the film arc and the ending. Even Nishimiya's chapter where she was dreaming was confusing in the movie. But movie depends on production studio, budget etc...

On the other hand the manga had many irrelevant chapters by the end of it such as the film arc and the kinda lousy timeskip-ending where not much is told or shown and characters seem same. The film chapters could be narrowed down so as to provide a better ending imo.

I think BSzili did a good job summarizing it on some extent.

... Last updated 6 years ago

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