The Normanic Vault: Unboxing [UK]: A Silent Voice

Kyoto Animation's movie adaptation of the well-received manga is available in English first for the United Kingdom thanks to Anime Limited, even on Blu-ray with an English dub!

A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) is a 2016 movie adaptation based on the 2011 manga of the same name written by Yoshitoki Ōima. The anime film was adapted by Kyoto Animation, directed by Naoko Yamada and published by ABC Animation. The film was among Your Name and In This Corner of the World to be one of the most popular anime films released during 2016 & 2017, and was even given a UK theatrical release by Anime Limited in March 2017.

A Silent Voice currently does not have a US distributor for home video, so Anime Limited will be the first to release the film for English territories. Madman also have the rights for the Australian zone but they got theirs out just after the UK release. Like Your Name, Anime Limited commissioned an English dub from NYAV Post for A Silent Voice and NYAV Post's ADR director even managed to include a deaf actress to voice the main heroine for the film.

I watched the film when it was part of a festival back in February 2017, and I enjoyed it but my expectations were rather mixed which is primarily because I read the manga first. This is a minor spoiler, but there's a specific side-story in the manga that is not present in the anime adaptation and I was expecting that to happen (and to be honest it works better without it), so I'll need to re-watch the film at some point to have a better impression.

The UK collector's edition release includes the film on Blu-ray & DVD in both English & Japanese audio with English subtitles. There are also Hard of Hearing subtitles from the Japanese translation also included for this release (though a lot of folks felt it would have been better had they used the English script instead). The regions are locked to B & 2 NTSC only and the subtitles are unlockable. The UK release was authored by Justin Sevakis & Anime Limited this time around compared to how Your Name was treated.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages: Japanese, English

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1, LPCM 2.0 [Japanese, English]

Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9

Region: B

Subtitles: English, English for Deaf & Hard of Hearing

Subtitles Locked: No

Discs: 1

DVD Specs:

Languages: Japanese, English

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 [Japanese, English]

Video: SD NTSC 16:9

Region: 2

Subtitles: English

Subtitles Locked: No

Discs: 1

Plot Synopsis (via Anime Limited):

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?

On-Disc Extra Content:

Music Video: "Koi wo Shita no wa" by AIKO

Music Video: "Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)" by Speed of Youth

Trailer

TV Spots

UK TV Spot

Real-Life Locations

Interview with Director Naoka Yamada

Interview with Character Designer Futoshi Nishiya

Interview with Art Director Mutsuo Shinohara

Interview with Music Composer Kensuke Ushio

Collector's Edition Extras: