A Silent Voice is not a romance anime movie

A Silent Voice is often mistaken for a romance anime movie because Shoko confesses her feelings to Shoya and his continuous efforts to include her in his activities. The movie also ends with them promising each other they will remain friends.

The movie helped me realize that Shoya’s feelings for Shoko were not romantic. He simply wanted to be her friend and make amends for bullying her in elementary school. He is making every effort to convey his deep remorse for his past actions to Shoko.

• The only tense moment in the movie is when Shoko confesses her feelings to Shoya. Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand her due to her unclear speech. Part of me hoped that he would later realize her confession, but he never did. This made me realize that Shoya never had feelings for Shoko.
• The movie lacked any romantic scenes and instead, most of the scenes will prompt you to contemplate some serious and somber questions.