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I didn't think I was gonna like this.

I thought the main dude was going to be your run-of-the-mill mary-sue-ass protag-kun, the wife was going to be your run-of-the-mill big tiddy waifu, and the kid was going to be the subject of deranged pedophilic punchlines. I didn't trust the hype. Or I guess I trusted enough to try it, and BOY am I glad I did.

And, well, here I am, slapping a big fat juicy 8 on this show, with a 9 still holstered but ready to draw at any moment. In short, SxF is absolutely charming, hilarious, clever, quirky and subtle, and it knows exactly ... how seriously to take itself.


----This Shit is Actually Funny----

As a based and Nezuko-pilled European, I'm just gonna say it: anime humor is largely trash. If you've ever touched grass, you know it is. But this show actually gets it.
- Jokes aren't delivered incessently, they're paced and well placed
- No goofy reactions from other characters that make it feel like a desperate sitcom
- No overemphasis on the punchline (which will often have you snorting milk through your nose)
- Universal humor. You don't have to be a degenerate weeb to laugh
- kawaii


----Unnecessarily Great Characters----

I REALLY didn't excpect this one. The character archetypes seem to be ones you've seen a million times before: the mythically powerful, ridiculously cool, deep-voiced male lead, and the super mega UwU kawaiiiii big tiddy waifu with crazy on the side. And honestly - I didn't even need them to be more! I was already having fun! But they went above and beyond.
None of the characters feel stereotypical. The lead IS pretty cool and powerful, but he's also kind of a dork. He doesn't have some overexaggerated weakness to give him "character" - he's a fairly rounded person who misjudges, misremembers, gets his ass kicked, but still eminates an aura of badassery. He's *actually* likeable.
The wife isn't quite on that level, and she does have big tiddies, but sometimes, I just don't mind.

Then, we have Anya, Daughteru of the century. This tiny animated butterfly of an angel is so unfathomably cute, I will fucking die. I have never seen anime do children right. Never. But Anya is so real, I feel like I've personally chaperoned her at summer camp. She is dumb as fuck, exactly like real children, but she's also so adorable and clever, and of course, annoying. It's clear to me the author of SxF has experience with children and put a lot of effort into portraying them correctly, and knows how kids can make mundane situations wonderfully amusing.


----Animation as Communication----

Most animes treat their viewers like -5 IQ degenerates. If something important happens, you will see it, you will hear it, the characters will shout it, they will hold an internal monologue about it, they will reference it multiple times further on, they will experience it as a flashback for the next 10 episodes. I would say it's the opposite of Show don't Tell, but really it's too much of both.
So you can guess where I'm going with this. SxF is excellent at body language and facial expression. They even give side characters, or ones who are out of focus, microexpressions that elevate them from cardboard cutouts to actual humans. In combination with the incredibly witty dialougue, it makes for rich social dynamics.

I really need to go to sleep now cuz I need to wake up at 6, so I will abruptly end this review by wholeheartedly recommending this show to you. Watch it with your family, with your friends, your nonexistent girlfriend, or watch it alone, it's great for everything.

First, I have 12 hours to write this. Second, I must follow the guidelines. And third, I cannot change the past. Ok my analogy breaks down, but you guys get it...

These are the rules for time traveling imposed by Lu Guang on his partner, Cheng Xiaoshi. Cheng enters a person inside a photo and does stuff in the past. It's not a particularly new premise, in fact, the show isn't too different from many others in it's category when it comes to turning back the clock. If you have seen a plethora of time-travel shows and are interested in the sci-fi aspect, you will not ... be impressed. However, Shiguang Dailiren is great in many different ways, and highly enjoyable to watch. I'll be giving a structured review with some delirious rambling at the end.

--- Plot ---
The story is structured so that it mainly focuses on subplots in the beginning, then slowly converges into the main plotline, namely catching a murderer. If that makes you think the beginning is boring, then you are gravely mistaken. The subplots are every bit as interesting as the main one, if not more so, because the show excels at establishing characters efficiently and immediately getting you emotionally invested. Aside from that, these stories are essential to setting the stakes and even turn out to be relevant to the murders. They also made me shed a tear or two, but I do try to keep emotions outside the plot section, like a professional.
Ahem... the pacing. Some people find it a little meandering and inconsistent, which I can't entirely disagree with, however: I like it. I really do. It's fast, but definitely not too fast. It doesn't detract from the insane tension that's present in every episode, and the show balances emotional scenes with more action-y and move-plot-along-y scenes marvellously. In conclusion, the plot is solid and reeeelatively novel, but it's not the show's biggest strength.

--- Characters ---
So this is kinda a mixed bag. We have Lu Guang, the solemn sigma male guide. We have his boisterous partner, the grab-the-bull-by-the-horns Cheng Xiaoshi. And then we have responsible Qiao Ling, their manager/childhood friend, and then we have my criticism.
The female characters are a bit weak. Not physically, probably (this show has taught me that rural chinese parents make their children eat a lot) but concerning the development of the story. All of their contributions to the plot are entirely overshadowed by those of their male counterparts. Their characterization is also sparser, which is forgiveable however, as the show takes a lot of time to develop and paint all its main characters. That doesn't mean the female characters themselves are bad in any way - they're awesome, actually, and have a LOT of potential. This is definitely not one of your run-of-the-mill mysoginistic anime, but that potential needs to be actualized. I'm expecting more in future seasons, especially from Qiao Ling.
Now that we have the negative out of the way, we can move on to the shining beacon that is Cheng Xiaoshi, who the majority of the show's character work is focused on.
Cheng is a fantastic protagonist. He's funny, playful, emotional, brave, and displays some admirable civil courage. He stays consistent, but he's not a stereotype, either. Throughout the story, Cheng progresses as a person, learning from his experience but staying relatable all the while.
Chef's kiss on that one :<(-_-)
All in all, the show gets you quickly and strongly invested in its characters, who are distinct, lively and realistic.

--- Art and Music and Whatnot ---
AMAZING. The artstyle is beautiful. As a non-Chinese person, the voice acting sounds pretty good to me. The animation ranges from (thankfully rare) awkward, janky movements to cream of the crop, fluid manipulation of space. Cursory scenes are kept low-budget, but the sequences that really matter receive all the technical love they deserve. There's a basketball game in episode two that I rewound twice, because it looked so stunning. I have no qualms.
The music is another HUGE plus. There's some great emotional piano with strings, for which I immediately sat down at my E-board after finishing the show to transcribe. And of course the ending, which FRI. KING. SLAPS! How is it possible for me to dislike western rap but love Chinese one??

--- Incoherent, Uncontrolled Rambling ---
Whew, finally we have reached the most anticipated section. First, I want to highlight something I really liked in Shiguang Dailiren.
Since the dawn of my show-watching career, I have been giving the same advice to time travel shows that focus mostly on drama: Stop overexplaining. Stop it. Pls pls pls stop. But they never listen, no matter how much I imagine them listening. They always get tangled in a spaghetti mess of timelines seasoned with cans and cans of plotholes, because they focus really hard on rules that end up broken, and because they try to insert some bullshit pseudo-scientific explanation for how everything works. No, no amount of Quantum-jibberjabber will save you, so for the love of sudoku, spare me.
Well, someone finally listened. This show does not trouble itself with the details of its magic system, and IT WORKS. You are given a basic premise you have to accept, and that premise is never undermined later on, because it was never fully fleshed out. This is how it's done. Of course, you should expect more technical rigour from a sci-fi show, but that's not what this is. Maybe it all gets trashed in later seasons, but until now, I applaud you.

Next, I love that they're taking their time with establishing the main cast. It demonstrates a lot of confidence in the story to captivate the viewer, and it helps develop a stronger bond between you and the characters.

Something I didn't like at all were the mega weird "Anime emotion" inserts. Very rarely, like maybe 3 times in total, the art changes to a very simplistic style during a conversational punchline. The characters' faces become sorta like >o<... you know what I mean. It's common in many animes and I've never been a fan, but it's especially off-putting in this show. It clashes horrendously with the usual artstyle and doesn't fit with the show's vibe at all, which is more serious and gritty. Thankfully it's extremely rare, like I've said, so I can overlook it.

Lastly, the emotions... wow. I've definitely been more emotional watching anime, but in my case, that's saying nothing. Feelings and their consequences are handled superbly, and with lots of maturity. Cheng Xiaoshi's reaction to the tragedies around him feel incredibly real and relatable, and it's so satisfying to see him grow from them. Sometimes, the show walks a fine line between hitting the emotional G-spot and overdramatizing a bit, but it walks it well.

Anyway, those have been my thoughts. Overall, I can easily recommend this show to a general audience. I had an absolute blast watching it and hopefully you will too. Bye Bye

After watching this movie with my family, I asked them: what was the *central* theme?
Dad: romance
Mom: bullying
lil bro: being deaf
and me: mental health & communication

Koe no Katachi is pure art, in the sense that it opens itself up to numerous interpretations, which will inevitably vary based on personal experiences. It's overflowing with ambiguity, minute details, and subtle characterizations. Yet these don't just serve as embellishment - they are absolutely vital to understanding the characters. A single flick of the eyes from Ueno betrays her motivation. One extra second of pause from Nishimiya is a window into her internal turmoil. A simple "thank you" instead of ... the expected "see you later" creates a sense of foreboding. None of these elements come across as artificial, rather they let you know this movie was directed by someone with exceptional observation skills in real life.
Naoko Yamada will reward you handedly for paying attention, and punish you accordingly if you don't. For example, the first time I watched this, I missed how Kawai was moving her lips during a certain scene. Upon rewatching, this little detail blew my mind and flipped my perception of Kawai on it's head.

Next, I would like to comment on the characters. Soooo much work is put in to lend them complexity: subtle facial expressions, revealing body language, contradictory behaviour and much more. All of this is done in the space of a few seconds, so none of it feels pretentious or melodramatic.

Finally, let's talk about being deaf.
A lot of media fails terribly in portraying disabled characters, by falling into one of two opposite traps: basing the character's entire personality on their disability or saying that it doesn't really affect them too much. It's a fine line to walk, but Koe no Katachi walks it perfectly. Deafness is the catalyst for Shoko's ills, it forms the very foundation upon which her suffering is based on. But she is so much more than that. She is also the victim of bullying, in much the same way non-deaf people are. She struggles with her romantic feelings, a problem that is exacurbated by her deafness but in no way intrinsic to it... I could go on. And all of these aspects aren't even necessary to establish her as a believable person - she's just a teenager, for christ's sake.
And her sister... what an amazing character. And fucking hilarious.

I have so much more to say, from the beautiful animation to the insanely creative soundtrack, but here's where I'll cut it. This one of the only movies I will recommend to absolutely anyone.