(Average+) A Silent Voice

Movie in one sentence:  
A bully wants to force a friendship onto his victim only because, let's get real here, he got bullied over it.

Movie in more sentences:
When a deaf student gets introduced to class, the initially curious children are quick to grow tired of the attention her handicap demands from them, which motivates the class joker to start bullying her for laughs. While no objections were raised at the moment, the boy is used as a scapegoat and gets all the blame when the principal shows up to address the bullying and the expensive damages for her hearing equipment.

His own friends turn against him and the boy grows up lonely, anti-social and suicidal, but sees his chance to make right when he meets up with his old bully victim.
 

Very atmospheric and lovely animation, but the execution was less exciting than I expected from a plot like this. I really wanted this to be about the deaf girl and the bully, but she was given relatively little screen time. Even when these two went out to do something, the movie didn't use the opportunity to have them properly bond without these awkward silences dominating them, the scenes being cut to a meaningless length, or less interesting characters taking over. I mean, yes, the girl is deaf and doesn't speak much, but they don't even write or hand gesture cool stories to each other. I found the contact distant and basic.

They didn't look like friends to me, but I have the same opinion about most of the people the main character started hanging out with. Steven Universe was the only person who acted like a friend. If you can call a desperate, possessive stalker a friend.
The other "friends" were bland or just very last-minute. That red-haired guy came way out of nowhere; no reason given for why he wanted to be friends with him at all. His presence was useless.

I didn't like how easily the main character allowed his old classmates to return into his life, either. There are these two girls who have proven to be just as foul as they were years ago, pulling the same dirty tricks without hesitance, yet were welcomed back in a second and presented by the movie as legit friends. Especially the greyish blonde girl was a backstabbing wet fish of a character who immediately puts up a crying act when she gets rightly accused of something. Fuck off with that shit. Why didn't the kid send them away? That black-haired girl alone made for awkward company the moment she showed up, who even invited her to the theme park? One thing this hateful bitch said was right, though, and that's that the main character was really boring now.

Seriously, compared to his old self, there's not much going on with him.
I guess that's the point, since he hasn't had much to be excited about, but I wish he at least developed a sense of humor when he started getting new friends. Just some trait that would ensure us we're still dealing with the same kid. His personality is just so bland, he was your standard nice guy.

In any case, not a terrible movie to sit down for, but for a movie about relationships, it didn't make me feel invested.

...
Also, is it normal for Japan to send children with disabilities to regular schools?