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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's a good start to the concept, and really interesting exploration of the way ableism is pervasive and ignored until it becomes inconvenient for the perpetrators- but those who were part of the problem won't necessarily change.
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the first few chapters are always so hard to get through.
challenging
emotional
Shoya is constantly on the run from boredom. He's a risk taker and a daredevil. He's also a bully. When Shoko, a girl who can't hear, enters his elementary school class, she becomes his new favorite target for keeping boredom at bay. He and his friends torture her for months, until Shoya goes too far and Shoko is forced to leave the school. Six years later, their paths cross again, but can Shoya make up for his past mistakes?
This is a pretty powerful manga about the consequences of childhood bullying. Volume 1 starts with Shoya and Shoko meeting again for the first time in six years. Shoko running away from Shoya segues into a flashback of elementary school, which is what makes up the rest of this first installment. It will be interesting to see how this manga progresses. As it stands, this would make a great conversation starter about bullying, the bystander effect, and disabilities.
This is a pretty powerful manga about the consequences of childhood bullying. Volume 1 starts with Shoya and Shoko meeting again for the first time in six years. Shoko running away from Shoya segues into a flashback of elementary school, which is what makes up the rest of this first installment. It will be interesting to see how this manga progresses. As it stands, this would make a great conversation starter about bullying, the bystander effect, and disabilities.
This manga tells the story of an elementary school boy called Shoya who starts bullying the new girl, Shoko, for being deaf. And my thoughts are: This book touched my soul.
I loved that the bullying wasn’t romanticized like it normally is in bully stories and I loved how they didn’t excuse his bullying because no matter what there is no excuse to bully someone.
Spoilers Ahead for Volume 1 :
I hated Shoya so much and I wanted to punch him so many times I lost count. This volume is written from his perspective which, while frustrating was also nice. I mean I liked seeing his thoughts and how he slowly turned from being a jerk to being an outright bully.
His reasoning for bulling Shoko was because he was ‘bored’ which is a stupid reason but also a realistic one. A thing I loved about this manga is how realistic it was and how human the characters felt. Also noting the art style, which was beautiful, I noticed that the art style felt more realistic and it took me a minute to gather why I felt so. The characters’ eyes were drawn normally which I found to be a very nice touch.
We see Shoya constantly refer to Shoko as an “intruder’ or an “alien” and I think that may be his reason for his lake of empathy, that in his mind he doesn’t think of her as a human but as something other and as a result it is okay to treat her however he likes. (Maybe I am just reading way into it)
I think another reason for him to keep on bulling her is the lake of any consequences or reproach, his mother is lax with him and while his teacher did reproach him about it at first, he later sees the same teacher laughing at their jokes about her and all his friends encouraged his behavior and seemed to be amused by it.
And just to make sure. I am not excusing his behavior, what he did was AWFUL and I am by no means justifying his actions, I am just trying to analyze it.
As for the teacher, I despised him. Honestly, he is the worst. As a teacher and as an adult he should have seen the signs and helped her but on the other hand he laughed at her expense and did nothing to stop the other kids from bullying her.
When Shoko’s mother finally complained to the school about the missing earpieces (which the other kids used to destroy or toss out of the window), and the principal came into their class to ask who did that and who bulled her, everyone threw the blame at Shoya saying that they didn’t do anything more than just laugh at what Shoya was doing and in the end Shoya took all the blame.
Now I hated this as well, because yeah, maybe Shoya bullied her the most but that doesn’t make the other people any less guilty about it. They bad mouthed her and made fun of her, they blamed her and insulted her for asking for help or asking them to write what they are saying in the notebook and whenever they did, they just wrote insults. Being a bystander is as bad as being a bully if not even worse and I hated how the rest of them got off so easily.
When the table turned and all of Shoya’s friends started bullying him, I think it was done beautifully, the way he slowly came to realize that is just a small taste of what Shoko has been experiencing and yet he still hated her and blamed her for everything.
Now let’s speak of Shoko for a bit, since this volume is from Shoya’s perspective, we don’t get to see much of her thoughts but I must admit that I loved her and throughout the manga I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her that it’s not her fault.
I hated how everyone where blaming her and calling her selfish for coming to school and asking them to repeat what the teacher said and trying to become their friend to the extent that she started blaming herself too and apologizing whenever they insulted her. Honestly, my heart broke each time she said she was sorry when someone insulted her or shouted at her. It’s not her fault and she shouldn’t feel that way.
And the school, the school handled everything terribly, they did not for one second think that maybe due to her disability she should be excused from certain activities, like making her read out load or perform in the chorus song competition; that was just down right cruel and uncalled for.
Now after all those years, Shoya wants to apologize to Shoko and reconcile with her. He has lived in guilt as an outsider for the past years and wants to make up for everything that he has done. I am looking forward to what comes next.
I loved that the bullying wasn’t romanticized like it normally is in bully stories and I loved how they didn’t excuse his bullying because no matter what there is no excuse to bully someone.
Spoilers Ahead for Volume 1 :
I hated Shoya so much and I wanted to punch him so many times I lost count. This volume is written from his perspective which, while frustrating was also nice. I mean I liked seeing his thoughts and how he slowly turned from being a jerk to being an outright bully.
His reasoning for bulling Shoko was because he was ‘bored’ which is a stupid reason but also a realistic one. A thing I loved about this manga is how realistic it was and how human the characters felt. Also noting the art style, which was beautiful, I noticed that the art style felt more realistic and it took me a minute to gather why I felt so. The characters’ eyes were drawn normally which I found to be a very nice touch.
We see Shoya constantly refer to Shoko as an “intruder’ or an “alien” and I think that may be his reason for his lake of empathy, that in his mind he doesn’t think of her as a human but as something other and as a result it is okay to treat her however he likes. (Maybe I am just reading way into it)
I think another reason for him to keep on bulling her is the lake of any consequences or reproach, his mother is lax with him and while his teacher did reproach him about it at first, he later sees the same teacher laughing at their jokes about her and all his friends encouraged his behavior and seemed to be amused by it.
And just to make sure. I am not excusing his behavior, what he did was AWFUL and I am by no means justifying his actions, I am just trying to analyze it.
As for the teacher, I despised him. Honestly, he is the worst. As a teacher and as an adult he should have seen the signs and helped her but on the other hand he laughed at her expense and did nothing to stop the other kids from bullying her.
When Shoko’s mother finally complained to the school about the missing earpieces (which the other kids used to destroy or toss out of the window), and the principal came into their class to ask who did that and who bulled her, everyone threw the blame at Shoya saying that they didn’t do anything more than just laugh at what Shoya was doing and in the end Shoya took all the blame.
Now I hated this as well, because yeah, maybe Shoya bullied her the most but that doesn’t make the other people any less guilty about it. They bad mouthed her and made fun of her, they blamed her and insulted her for asking for help or asking them to write what they are saying in the notebook and whenever they did, they just wrote insults. Being a bystander is as bad as being a bully if not even worse and I hated how the rest of them got off so easily.
When the table turned and all of Shoya’s friends started bullying him, I think it was done beautifully, the way he slowly came to realize that is just a small taste of what Shoko has been experiencing and yet he still hated her and blamed her for everything.
Now let’s speak of Shoko for a bit, since this volume is from Shoya’s perspective, we don’t get to see much of her thoughts but I must admit that I loved her and throughout the manga I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her that it’s not her fault.
I hated how everyone where blaming her and calling her selfish for coming to school and asking them to repeat what the teacher said and trying to become their friend to the extent that she started blaming herself too and apologizing whenever they insulted her. Honestly, my heart broke each time she said she was sorry when someone insulted her or shouted at her. It’s not her fault and she shouldn’t feel that way.
And the school, the school handled everything terribly, they did not for one second think that maybe due to her disability she should be excused from certain activities, like making her read out load or perform in the chorus song competition; that was just down right cruel and uncalled for.
Now after all those years, Shoya wants to apologize to Shoko and reconcile with her. He has lived in guilt as an outsider for the past years and wants to make up for everything that he has done. I am looking forward to what comes next.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying