A Silent Voice 2 Review

Another great addition to the manga series that takes place five years after the elementary school bullying incident. Here’s a deeper look into what happens next in Shoya’s story.

A Silent Voice 2 (Kodansha Comics)

In the beginning, we finally get more of Shoko’s point of view and how she felt about the past events; being mistreated because of her disability of not being able to hear. She’s only human after all and even if she never gets mad there’s just some things that take time to get past. Like a guy who has made your childhood life miserable. Go figure, some things you can’t let go. Yet, she amazes me by forgiving him and even befriending him when he asks.

I think it was him actually learning sign language that did it in for her. He said it was so he could “take things out on her” because she was so difficult to talk to…that was just to macho things up a bit. There’s really only one reason he would have gone through the trouble and that’s because she made such a big impact on his life. He doesn’t like the person he used to be; in fact, he believes that he should die for what happened. Die, like literally–he sold all of his things and gave his mom all the money he “owed” and was about to cut his life short. Date planned and all.

There’s some teenage angst for ya. It only delves into that territory for a little bit, because he realizes he has more to live for. Plus, his mom finds out and threatens to burn all the money. I mean $17,000 is a lot to threaten with, so he pretty much gets over that suicidal phase. Then, he meets Tomohiro after lending his bike to him. They become friends and Shoya questions the idea of friendship and how one goes about starting one. He’s never had any REAL friends and I really liked all the questioning, because some people aren’t naturally inclined to make friends.

We get introduced to a new character who’ss been overly protective of Shoko due to past bullying. There are lots more funny bits in this one. I did laugh a lot more than the first, so kudos for that. Shoya is slowly changing for the better–he still doesn’t care for a lot people and ignores all of his classmates, but he’s trying to make amends with Shoko. The main problem is her mother’s disapproval and his fear of getting bitchslapped multiple times.

Conclusion

Still keeping up with the greatness! There’s lots more dialogue between Shoko and Shoya which I always like seeing. I loved the funny bits too. The added characters along with the dynamic older ones really make this volume shine.