Its a really great manga to read with elements of friendship,humanity,comedy mixed in.I don't usually read love stories but this one hooked me in.Definitely one of the best manga i have read and enjoyed.art is also great.MUST READ!!

This work is fantastic, but I won't exactly give it a full 10/10 because I'm judging this based in two different ways. After reading a few of the ratings, I want to voice my opinion on this work as to why its an important read and how it should be thought of as you read it.

As a manga its wonderful, the character growth and developments are fantastic. The plot development and ending is a little lackluster for a manga which is why I don't exactly give this a full score, but that doesn't mean it isn't an amazing work! Ooima chose to use manga as her medium for this work and I think its an appropriate choice based on the way the message being conveyed. Its tough to get the same emotions coming out if you publish this as a novel with just text, however if it was published as a movie I feel that the time constrictions it cannot do the character growth any justice. The length and pacing for this was perfect, nothing too drawn out or unnecessary and all of the changes happen naturally for the story's progression.

As a form of literature, this work deserves a full points. The message and theme the work has is powerful and it really reaches out to you. One of my English teachers in high school told me that literature is something that has a message or comment on society, and tells that through the work. Koe no Katachi is a comment on society much in the way novels like "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Grapes of Wrath" are, which is why I truly believe this should be considered a work of literature, and should be read as such. What this series does that I love the most is the way Ooima portrays her characters.The characters all have their flaws which allows us to be more empathetic with them. Everyone's personalities and circumstances aren't believable, no doubt, but I think the author made the characters that way intentionally as a way to strengthen the effect of each character's actions. Take Nishino and Ueno as an example. Nishino is the perfect sweethart, very innocent and super caring, all of the bullying done to her by Ueno, unsympathetic at all towards Nishino's plight, is magnified in our eyes forcing us to feel for Nishino. Its this type of characterization that makes the work as powerful as it is, but further amplified by the developments each relevant character has.

I love this work, easily one of my top series.

... Last updated on January 7th, 2015, 1:25pm

... I am unsatisfied with the ending (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω° ̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀) That's all.
I love the rest of it, despite some irritating parts (which manga is perfect that it has no flaws?)
I love the ending, totally not what I expected but it was nice just left me wanting more!!! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

Ignore the low vote to balance the too many high votes based off the feels after reading the manga.

After awhile the manga stops being about being about Ishida's redemption for Nishimiya and is just focused on Ishida fixing his social life after ruining it with all the bullying. Random events were triggered just for the drama and to move plot forward.

Like others have said don't be too excited for the ending. General spoiler of what didn't occur: you don't even see Ishida reconciling with his two old friends and by the end of the manga forget going out, his and Nishimiya's feelings are not even declared to each other. Definitely could have covered their relationship a bit longer.

Still recommend this as a great manga, but it was hard to relate since where I'm from and likely in other Western places the system is not messed up like the one presented in the manga. The high school I attended was also the provincial school for the deaf and they had their own section of the school and there were many adjustments already in place. And no, you wouldn't find pretty girls like Nishimiya.

... Last updated on December 5th, 2014, 10:50pm

Touching manga revolving around people, young impressionable teenagers who are trying to grow up with a few stumbles along the way. The one-shot was good enough so at first I wasn't sure why it should be expanded upon but now that it's finished I can say that having KnK serialized brought a lot of depth to the story. You learn to love the characters who each have their ugly & beautiful sides. The main characters (Ishida & Shouko) definitely make you want to root for them. It touches upon serious subject matters delicately and professionally, such as bullying & attempted suicide.

The ending might have been a bit lacking romantically but it was always about the characters & them moving beyond their past, learning from their mistakes and growing into a better person. Either way I'll be looking forward to Ooima's next work.

... Last updated on December 24th, 2014, 4:52pm

this will make you cry. ALOT. i cried from first chapter to the last, nearly unending. i feels so painful looking at people hurting each other.

i cant say much about this manga, because you need to read this to FEEL ALL THE FEELS.

I first of all wonder what the lawsuit that nearly prevented the series was about. The superior oneshot and the ongoing manga aren´t that sociocritical or risqe. GTO and company pulled crazier stunts with its deranged rapist teachers and this isn´t the first youth manga about out of control bullying (by far) or disability. I started to follow the manga early on and had and have mixed feeling about it. The art is fine, has some neat direction and all the characters look their age but the perspectives are slightly off sometime. No big problems here. The 2 leads are good overall and the way Shouya changes after the timeskip is a nice twist. The way the series handles the way too shallow side characters though isn´t but the 2 mothers are very good on the other hand. Way too much drama (more like angst) is also about a stupid love polygon that shouldn´t have been in the first place and i have the same opinion about the other internet darling Ano Hana. I also have a bit problem with the in your face way the bullying is portrayed. Shoko is just too perfect an angel to be pulled through the mud by everyone (even her extended family) like she is for her entire life. Maybe it is because i went to a school that had bullying like you wouldn´t believe or because my teachers made sure that at least my disabled friends had it light but i found Yoshitoki´s take on it nearly Stephen King dumb and why did any of the "friends" try to stay as such after the kicking orgy in chapter 44 or even before? That would have snapped at least my neck and this is Japan right? Why is the way our hero wake up from his later plot "coma" to rescue his princes from her frankly dumb suicidal tendencies (i also got to know way too many people with these) so dumb and the take on hospital life and recovery so good and realistic? How come the outcome of the film festival is believable but the modeling show outcome isn´t. The way Shouya stops filtering out people (great idea itself) at the end is finally way too naive a conclusion. The manga shouldn´t have been a romance from the start if you ask me because that leads to a big problem down the line. Namely how it all ends. Or not...
I had the series sitting on a symbolic 6,5 because a 7 is usually the far end of my drop list and i nearly axed the manga twice. The walking through the door into the future while holding hands is a rather "conclusive" take on or lovebird´s final end but most were disappointed by the complete lack of a real resolution to nearly everything and everyone else besides the lack of a hug/kiss that most readers complained about so i settled on a 6/10. Give me a real epilogue and i may move it up by 1. At least i am glad that we (well maybe not me) are getting an anime film adaptation as the hand sign gestures and voice acting could turn out great and could lead to more diversity it the field. This is a good takeaway in the end and this second work is better than her messy Mardock Scramble adaptation she didn´t write and her next series may be more wholeheartedly positive. She is still young after all.
Manga with a better take on bullying are Mars (10/10) and Oboreru Knife (8/10) while Real (10/10) is the king of manga about (but not exclusively) living with a disability.

... Last updated on August 28th, 2015, 8:48am

this was very good.. a rare shounen genre tht gets a higher than a 6... but was good enough to even almost make it to 10 for me.. and then the last 7 chapters happened.. which weren bad.. they were ok.. but quite a change in quality of content and development....

anyway rare stuff in many many accounts and rare in a VERY good way.. there were really little to no gimmicks in this

The was a pretty good read through out, although the ending chapters did feel rushed for me. This is not just your typical shounen. The main character literally hates himself and truly wants his opposite to be happy. A rare type of protagonist indeed.


... Last updated on November 19th, 2014, 9:03am

When I first started reading, it made me cringe to death as I am also deaf but I am glad I stuck with it, my favourite manga of all time. Can't wait for the author's next work or I hope she continues it as well with Shoya as an adult.