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[WARNING!] Contains spoilers about the story and the characters!
This review may be a bit biased as I just finished watching this masterpiece. This is also my first review on MAL. I chose to write this mainly because I saw far too many upsettingly low scores that just didn't do this movie justice, but also because I felt like sharing my honest opinion in the story and the characters. This movie has one of the most well-written characters I've ever encountered and very interesting character dynamics that could be analyzed far more and deeper than I did.

[Story] 10/10
When I started watching this I did ... not know the whole plot and thought MC was going to die and go back in time to "redeem" himself by changing the past, him not dying and dealing with the aftermath was much more interesting both psychologically and emotionally than I thought it would be. Since this approach to bullying as a subject is very risky I was quite scared to continue watching, but I'm glad I convinced myself it would be worth it in the end.

The story revolves around bullying which is a very sensitive topic, especially since it is from the bully's point of view. I think they dealt with the subject in a very realistic and good way. In the beginning, I strongly disliked the MC for his cruel actions and felt quite irritated at him, the teacher and the rest of the class. The feeling of thinking that the point of the movie was coming to like the MC, the bully, was unsettling. Thankfully, that was not the point and the movie revolved around other themes and showed how differently people can handle the same situation and same feelings.

Afterwards, I can say that the story was great, really touching and far deeper than I thought it would be. This story deals with emotions such as ignorance, loneliness, self-hatred, guilt, shame, sadness and hopelessness in a very realistic way. MC wants to become a better person but since he cannot undo his past, even though he deeply regrets it, he has a hard time believing he can and deserve to change. For the people from his past his new self seems like an act and the new friends he makes along cannot believe in how he used to be, that he seems like a completely different person shows how much people can grow if they want to. Still, he's quick to choose a lonely filled with guilt when he has the chance to, showing his lasting self-hate.

Before watching this I had the opinion that there are no excuses for bullying and that bullies honestly deserve to d*e. I still believe there are no excuses that can justify bullying someone, but watching this movie from the bully's point of view has had a great impact on me. Not because I feel sorry for the MC, but because I now understand that the situation is far more complex than I thought and that would not an easy solution. In the beginning, there were many people involved although they weren't pointed out as bullies much could've been done to prevent or deal with the situation earlier. Is the MC contacting the victim in hope of being able to deal with the shame he's feeling selfish? Yes. But that did make Shouko feel better and this is her story after all. Many people would probably have been more upset in her situation and it would have done more harm than help. But keep in mind that MC never begged for forgiveness, he only wanted to see if she was doing okay. Ishida dying for Shouko would've only caused her more pain and in no way make up for anything.

The only thing that threw me off was Shouko attempting s*icide since I thought it was a very unnecessary thing to add to the plot, but such things never make sense after all. The scene of Ishida saving her and being hurt instead reminded me that this was a movie after all and that movies aren't always 100% realistic. Ishida never attempting to make friends with his bully is something I found great because you don't have to make friends with everyone and you can still make peace with yourself without confronting someone else. Ishida and his bully are not in the same shoes and are two different characters with different approaches and minds. I still found Ishida becoming friends with Kawai and Ueno a bit unsettling, even at the end, but maybe that is the same feeling Yuzuro had towards Ishida and Shouko becoming friends at the beginning. That's something I'll keep thinking about! I also still wish they would’ve cleared up the misunderstanding about Ueno telling Shouko that it was her fault that Ishida’s friends left him and her begging him to forgive her, it annoys me a bit that he didn’t just tell her that the friendship wasn’t going to last anyway and that he’s happier with his friends now.

Overall, this is a very emotional and realistic story. People are ignorant, irritating and the world is cruel. Personally, I think it portrayed depression and social anxiety in a realistic and relatable way. The X's over people's faces symbolising loneliness although being surrounded by people and Ishida imagining everybody staring at him and judging him even though he wasn't looking at or listening to them was deeply portrayed. The X's falling down when Ishida got to know someone but being put on when he was put back in a place of self-hated and pushing away the people around him was interestingly done. The MC going from not being able to look people in the eye to looking up and facing the world and his newfound friends.

[Characters] 10/10
Starting with the MC Ishida Shouya. I personally believe that bullying is not a forgivable act I'm glad there wasn't a classic "I forgive you" moment at the end between the two MCs. Showing the audience the MCs home situation and people turning against him was a bit conflicting for me since I could not bring myself to feel bad for him. Even you have problems at home, it does not excuse how you act even if you're young. Yes, kids are immature but if a kid is old enough to be mean on purpose they are old enough to understand what they are doing, In Mc's case, I'm thinking no one has ever stood up against him (teacher, the class, his mom) and if they had maybe he would've stopped and reflected on his actions earlier. I choose to not interpret this as an excuse for his actions, but as a realistic environment for a character acting this way. To say this situation is realistic might be cruel, but so is reality.

The class turning against MC is an example of "what goes around comes around". I have seen people saying this is unrealistic, as bullies often gain popularity and are not cast out. But I think this shows an accurate picture of bystanders and that people will always blame others if they are given the chance. For the teacher, it was an easy answer and in this situation, authorities were brought in which also set fear in the other children.

Claiming that the teacher's actions are unrealistic because he should've seen and heard what was going on is very ignorant. Speaking for experience and how common bullying is, this is how most teachers would act and acts. However, I do not think this is a character flaw as it makes the story more realistic. It takes good writing to write a character that irritating I would say.

Although I don't have any experience with deafness, I do have experience with disability and bullying. People claiming this is taking advantage of deaf people/disabled people as a plot device only proves how sensitive this topic is and how it has resulted in a lack of content. This story is about a character, Nishimiya Shouko, being bullied because she's deaf and that is okay (not action-wise of course), because disabled people exist and people can be and are being bullied because of that. Some people might be offended and some might feel like they recognize themselves because everyone has different experiences. To believe that Shouko represents all deaf people and their experiences just because she's deaf is very ignorant, this is simply her story. Yes, in many moments she is a damsel in distress, and that's okay. It's okay to feel human emotions such as guilt, shame and hopelessness. Although she didn't go through much character development, she ended up in a better place mentally, which she was much deserved.

I have heard that some people think that Ishida is a flat character, despite him constantly trying and wanting to change, Ueno is proof that he's not. I interpreted Ishida and Ueno's characters as polar opposites. Ishida feels sorry for what he has done and wants to change as a person, both because of his past actions and of how he has become. Meanwhile, Ueno still feels angry at Shouko and does not believe there's any reason she should change. Ueno wants to go back to how things were because she was happier then and Ishida wants to move forward because he wants to be happy now.

Yuzuru, Nishimiya Shouko's little sister, is a character I really appreciate and think is too forgotten. Yuzuru's life and happiness revolve around her sister because all she wants is for her sister to be happy. Only if her sister is happy she can find peace to try to be happy herself. In the beginning, Yuzuro stands in between the two MCs and also brings them closer. She goes from protecting her sister from Ishida to making them meet and spend time together. People claiming her to be a one-dimensional character whose only trait is photography is cruel. Especially since we get to know that the reason behind it is because she started taking photos because she hoped it would make her sister stop thinking about committing su*cide. Their mother is not very affectionate or caring with Yuzuru so she doesn't really have anyone to rely on, her whole world only consists of this setup.

Ishida's mother is a character I feel very conflicted about. Her threatening Ishida to make him promise to not commit su*side is probably the consequence of panic and worry, but still a very extreme action. Afterwards, their relationship does not seem affected at all and they don't talk about it. Ishida was obviously at a very low point in life at that time but his mom did not offer any support, quite to opposite. Yes, she does take care of Ishida and his sister and isn't physically violent (such as Shouko's mother) but this should be considered bare minimum and is proof that most parents aren't really ready to raise kids. I'm sure both Ishida and Shouko's mothers are doing the best that they can at the moment, but children suffering from their parent's unsolved issues is a cruel reality check.

There aren't much to write about the other characters as they were a bit more one dimensional, but such characters are needed too. Something that did bother me was Mashiba just being there for no reason and Kawai being part of the friend group even though she didn't seem to like anyone in it. The rest of the group's relationship with them was also quite vague. Ishida's little sister's dad showing up out of nowhere towards the end felt very random. As these are quite a few characters, this affects the whole character scoring.

[Art, sound] 10/10
Anyone who has watched this could hopefully tell that the animation, directing, scenery and sound is amazing. Personally, I think there was nothing out of place and everything was well put together.

[Enjoyment] 10/10
As someone who has not read the manga, which I've heard is even better, I can only speak for the movie but I did enjoy this to the fullest. Although I was a bit conflicted in the beginning as I feared this would be a movie justifying bullies actions, I never felt bored or like I wanted to turn it off. I always anticipated what was yet to come and eventually I could not stop watching and didn't want it to end (even though the ending was beautiful).

I honestly cannot comprehend how some people can give out these terrible low scores. That this wasn't considered a masterpiece for everyone I can understand but scores between 1-5 (5 being average)?! This movie is NOT AVERAGE. Just the fact that it deals with bad mental health/mental illness in an acceptable and even realistic and not disrespectful way makes it far more than average.

I have seen manga readers rating it 3 ('Very bad' in MAL terms) in the disappointment of story and characters' backgrounds being left out but comparing a 2h movie to a full manga and expecting everything to be the same is not realistic. It is sad to see people so hung up on this that they cannot enjoy this movie. Also, giving out a 3 to such a movie because of these reasons is disrespectful in my opinion. Although I do not know the original author's opinion on the movie I do not think it can be that bad considering there doesn't seem to be any dramatically big changes in the story or characters and considering the amazing animation, sound and all the people who were involved in the process and have been working on it. For this to be considered "very bad", the story itself would have needed to be much worse, like a 1. I understand if it was unsettling in the beginning, but seeing how the story progressed, how beautifully they finished it and the eye-opening after taste was psychological art. That people can watch the whole movie and not find any enjoyment or good points at all blow my mind.

[Overall] 10/10
This movie was simply outstanding and the best stand-alone movie I have ever seen. Since I'm usually into more fantasy/sci-fi/dark psychology I thought this might not be my taste and that I might drop it mid-way, but it was far too captivating for that. Seeing sensitive subjects being dealt with in a realistic and relatable way and not be left with an unsettling feeling after finishing the movie was a nice experience.