A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) is a 2016 theatrical anime film based on the manga of the same name written by Yoshitoki Ōima. It was adapted by studio Kyoto Animation with director Naoko Yamada and writer Reiko Yoshida. The film was theatrically released in September 2016 for Japan and published by ABC Animation.
Brief Unboxing Redux Note:
I first acquired A Silent Voice in December 2017. This was unboxed over on my Normanic Vault blog via Blogger. This post is a remaster of that unboxing with better photos, updated information and any added extras. Enjoy!
Background:
“After moving to a new school, Shoko is taunted because of her hearing impairment, particularly by Shoya, who leads the class in teasing her. When Shoko is eventually forced to transfer to another school, Shoya’s classmates in turn ostracise him for his cruel behaviour.
Years later, as a young adult, Shoya is riddled with guilt over his humiliation of Shoko. Living an aimless life with no friends, he determines to find her and try to atone. But is it too late, and what might her reaction be?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, October 2016.
2016 was an interesting year for anime films. There was the box office hit Your Name, the cult classic In This Corner of the World and then we have a Kyoto Animation anime that touches on some serious topics with A Silent Voice.
While it did not gather as much of a box office hit as Your Name, A Silent Voice was still considered to be one of the best anime films released in the past decade. I had the opportunity to watch the film during Japan Foundation Programme in Sheffield in February 2017 and I enjoyed it a lot, however while many individuals were crying their eyes out I was more confused by the fact that the anime adaptation cut out a fair bit of content from the manga source material. To be fair, the anime does work better than what the manga had but it was a weird experience to have.
Anime Limited was the first English distributor to release A Silent Voice in English, even commissioning an English dub with the folks at NYAV Post and include a voice actress who is deaf in real life to voice the main female lead, which is a unique experience to see. Years later, Eleven Arts picked up the US rights and were able to get it on Blu-ray via Shout! Factory and Nozomi (the latter of which was for a special limited edition set).
In addition, Pony Canyon helped Anime Limited with the inclusion of The Who’s My Generation to remain with the film for the English release so that’s a nice bonus.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited tweaked their collector’s edition design for A Silent Voice. The general idea of using their traditional collector’s packaging with clean artwork all around, a digipack to house the discs and an additional physical item included remains, but they also included a transparent slipcover for the box which gives you the choice to have the rest of the cast on the front if you wanted. It’s a neat idea, however thanks to production it was done the wrong way round so that annoyed everyone including the distributor.
The physical item included is a 76-page booklet that covers character artwork, storyboards, and a couple of essays from Andrew Osmond and Jonathan Clements.
The SRP for this release was £49.99 with over 1000 units total (it was supposed to be 1000, but the batch of copies accidently went to Amazon which forced AL to run another batch to cover the orders from their online store). I acquired the title as part of the AllTheAnime Early Bird offer.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Digipack packaging and clean artwork
- Transparent slipcover with additional artwork
- Info Sheet for BBFC details, Desc. & Specs
- 76-page Booklet
- 2 Shop Exclusive A2 sized Posters
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 30th October 2017
A Silent Voice is presented across a single Blu-ray and DVD disc each and the option to watch the film in Japanese audio with English subtitles and the NYAV Post English dub. The encode and authoring was done by Discotek & MediaOCD’s Justin Sevakis.
The white subtitles are not locked during Blu-ray playback with an option to also view the film with Hard of Hearing subtitles. The discs are region restricted to B for Blu-ray and 2 for DVD.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, English Hard of Hearing |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 English Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, English Hard of Hearing |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Music Video: “Koi wo Shita no wa” by AIKO
- Music Video: “Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)” by Speed of Youth
- Trailer
- TV Spot
- UK TV Spot
- Real-Life Locations
- Interview with Director Naoko Yamada
- Interview with Character Designer Futoshi Nishiya
- Interview with Art Director Mutsuo Shinohara
- Interview with Music Composer Kensuke Ushio
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Music Video: “Koi wo Shita no wa” by AIKO
- Music Video: “Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)” by Speed of Youth
- Trailer
- TV Spot
- UK TV Spot
- Real-Life Locations
- Interview with Director Naoko Yamada
- Interview with Character Designer Futoshi Nishiya
- Interview with Art Director Mutsuo Shinohara
- Interview with Music Composer Kensuke Ushio
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
A Silent Voice is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition set is out of print and the 2020 variation is almost out of print as well. You can still acquire the standard edition Blu-ray on Amazon UK.
The Normanic Vault 