By the end of this year, Gempak Starz will have another huge title to add to their roster. The Malaysian publishing company recently announced their acquisition of the license for A Silence Voice, also known as Koe no Katachi, which will be released sometime this year for Malaysian viewing and owning pleasure.
If you aren’t familiar with A Silent Voice, the series by Yoshito Oima is a tale that speaks of bullying, forgiveness, and finding oneself. Its main character, Shoya Ishida, is a young boy who spearheaded a series of bullying and other threats towards Shoko Nishimiya, a deaf transfer student. After the excessive bullying caused Nishimiya to transfer schools again, the group of bullies around him shifted the blame to Ishida, who became scapegoat for everyone’s actions and ostracised as a result. Years later, Ishida and Nishimiya meet once again and their journey towards closure, friendship, and perhaps even love, begins.
This series began as a one-shot published in Kodansha’s Bessatsu Shonen Magazine before it was made into a full story spanning 7 volumes. Since its first publication in 2013, it has since been adapted into a movie by Kyoto Animation that aired just last year. Both critics and fans alike have spoken nothing but praise for the series’ astute commentary on bullying in schools and the effects that has on a person’s psyche.
