So I just finished volume 1 of A Silent Voice





I don't know I just found this all sickening and wanted to hear if anyone else had any opinions on it

Psychological reasons. Bullies are going to target the most target-able looking target. Nishimiya was targeted because of her disabilities, but after her parents made a fuss, it was fairly clear she wasn't an "acceptable" target anymore. But upon being singled out as the main aggressor, Ishida was made out as an "acceptable target" for "retribution". Since "everyone" or nearly everyone was bullying her, that wasn't percieved as being as big a deal, and they pushed the blame for what happened on Ishida for leading them.

From what I've read on Japanese society, handicapped people are treated incredibly poorly so sadly its likely some people have had to go through some of this bullying. The manga even had to be defended against a lawsuit because of it showing that. Personally this and Japanese views on same-sex relationships are what dropped a lot of my admiration for Japan, because its so pathetic and disgusting for anyone to allow to go on.

I'm Japanese (/American) & I totatlly agree.
There are some things in Japan that I really cannot stand like its inability to adapt or progress to things like same-sex relationships.

There's something about Japan that really scares me. Like it has this image of being clean, nice, and safe, but in reality I think it's because a majority of the people ignore the "dirty" "untraditional" "errors" or basically anything that may change the "norm". They're really good at being bystanders too. (This i've gotten after reading countless news articles on crimes that could have easily been stopped had anyone stepped out & defended the victim rather than ignore the problem.) But I guess this is a basic flaw in any human.

I always looked to Japan and thought how progressive/ahead of the curve it seemed, because of anime and games. Things like A Silent Voice, same-sex genre and the things I read up on about how same-sex is treated, and ReLife have all shown the falsity of that image. I still respect and hold highly the 'ideal' of Japan but have realized its not the reality, its pretty much just like everywhere else with both good and bad aspects.

I manage to find an English adaptation of this manga in an American library. I read the first volume and I can say that this manga may actually be a subtle attempts to degrade the disabled; the counter-bullying give a false reason on why the society support the disabled. The story’s solution in dealing with stigma against deafness is unrealistic and childish.
In the story, Ishida change his negative attitude toward Nishimiya after he get bullied and isolated; he even learns sign language fluently in the end of the story. In my experience of real life, such bullying cannot remove attitude toward deaf people and it cause the bullies to take their anger on their victims. This idea of just desert is often used by the teachers in real life to avoid the root causes of bullying without losing reputation.

The manga enforce the traditional portrayal of deaf people as useless people who put a burden on society. It provides a vivid description on the hardships of deaf people but it attribute this hardships to the disability itself; It does not explain how the social environment cause this hardship by giving accessibility only to those with normal hearing capacity. It does give value toward traditional women with hearing loss by using the vulnerability as a form of feminine beauty.

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