Character Analysis: Shouya From A Silent Voice

Character Analysis: Shouya from A Silent Voice

(Spoilers for A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi)

Shouya Ishida is one of my favorite anime/manga characters ever, and I’ve been meaning to make a post about him. In my opinion, he is the poster child for the perfect redemption arc. I want to talk about some of the reasons why his change of heart was foreshadowed/under the surface right at the beginning, and why we as an audience are rooting for him, despite the horrible things he did to Shouko.

A Silent Voice is currently one of the top anime movies of all time, and while I do really love the movie (KyoAni is amazing) I am a much bigger fan of the manga; it has more time to expand on the characters and introduces some smaller important plot lines. In this post I will be quoting some moments that were in the manga and not the anime, aka, Shouya’s internal monologue. Anyway, let’s get into it. I want to start with why I think Shouya went down the bullying path in the first place.

Environment and Role Models

One of the biggest factors that influenced Shouya’s class’s toxic environment and led him to be a bully was having an uncaring ableist teacher. In the manga, the phrases “something we just have to deal with” and “this is your responsibility”, things that the teacher said to him regarding Shouko, repeatedly echo in Shouya’s mind whenever he interacts with her. At some points, the teacher actually laughs when the other students make fun of Shouko, letting Shouya (as well as the others) believe that it’s an ok thing to do. If Shouya had an adult figure in the classroom with a stronger sense of morality, he might have changed his tune earlier.

Shouya was also highly influenced by his peers (which makes sense because he was literally 11 years old). When another teacher comes into the classroom to explain what sign language is, there’s a very small panel before anyone else says anything, where Shouya thinks “that sounds fun”. At first, he’s interested in sign language and may have been willing to give it a shot. But then, Ueno suddenly starts complaining about how it’s much easier for them to use the notebook than sign language, and Shouya absorbs this and immediately goes back to thinking about how much of an inconvenience Shouko is to him.

Another influence on Shouya’s behavior is his home environment. I do not want to shade Shouya’s mom completely because overall I think she is a loving parent, but unfortunately she was not able to fully be there for her son because she is a single mom with a full time job. Even though he was in a caring home, he was not necessarily in one that gave him enough attention, and by the time Miyako realized what her son was up to it was too late. If she had given him more guidance earlier on in his involvement with Shouko, they may have been able to avoid disaster.

But all of these reasons aren’t excuses, they’re explanations. Regardless of why, Shouya contributed to Shouko’s severe trauma and did unforgivable things. So why do I think he’s the best case for redemption in anime?

Recognition/Guilt

Shouya is repeatedly shown as having actual remorse for his past actions. This is why other bully characters like Ueno and Kawai are seen as far less likable than Shouya. Other people on here might have actual analyses about those two characters, but as for this post all I’m going to say is that I believe they are much more widely hated than Shouya because of their initial denial of having done anything wrong.

It’s also important to remember that Shouya changed his tune as soon as Shouko left. It wasn’t years after she left his school that he realized he was wrong, it was days. He as an 11 year old realized he was wrong for hurting her; he figured it out as soon as he noticed how she was protecting him from being bullied. And once he himself started to be harassed by his peers, he finally recognized the full weight of what he had done to her.

Some might criticize this moment, saying “Shouya only realized bullying was bad because he got bullied himself”, but frankly, what’s so wrong about that? Many kids who bully don’t realize the full extent of the emotional damage they’re doing until it happens to them. Through this experience Shouya was able to realize, “this is how much pain she felt from the things I did to her”. And that unfortunate shared experience is what drives him to have so much guilt and a desire to change.

Change of Behavior

After his realization of the severe damage he had done to Shouko, Shouya started actively being more kind and thoughtful to others. He learned sign language in order to properly apologize to Shouko. He started helping out strangers and not judging people who are different (Tomohiro, Yuzuru). He acknowledged the severe financial strain he put on his mother and worked hard to pay her back.

And the whole point of the ending of the story is that him feeling sorry for himself and hating himself for the rest of his life isn’t going to undo his past behavior. All he can do now is operate with a better mindset going forward and make a positive difference instead.

Obviously, no one should be forced to or feel obligated to forgive their bully/abuser. But the story isn’t about whether Shouko should forgive Shouya, it’s about whether Shouya can change into a better person. I think it’s a very harmful ideology to believe that people who were bullies as children will be the same person forever. The world isn’t divided into ‘good people’ and ‘bad people’, it’s made up entirely of people who are capable of doing both good and bad things. And I really like how the protagonist of A Silent Voice is someone who had done bad things but is now choosing to be different.

Anyway, this was super long so thank you if you read all of it. Please let me know your thoughts on Shouya or any other characters from this movie/manga.

Thanks for reading!

-threecheersforinking