Local movie distributor Pioneer Films has announced on Tuesday that the much-anticipated premiere of the anime movie “A Silent Voice” has now been re-scheduled to Wednesday, May 10.
The distributor previously scheduled the film’s release on April 15, which coincides with the “Black Saturday” holiday, but was postponed due to “unavailability of theaters”.
The distributor also says that the list of cinemas that will screen the film will be announced a day before the premiere, which is Next Tuesday, May 9.
The story revolves around Nishimiya Shoko, a grade school student who has impaired hearing. She transfers into a new school, where she is bullied by her classmates, especially Ishida Shouya. It gets to the point where she transfers to another school and as a result, Shouya is ostracized and bullied himself, with no friends to speak to and no plans for the future. Years later, he sets himself on a path to redemption. (Synopsis from SM Cinema)
A Silent Voice is an anime film adaptation of a seven-chapter manga series by Yoshitoki Oima, which was published in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine from August 2013 to November 2014.
Naoko Yamada, who worked on anime titles like K-ON! and Sound! Euphonium, directed the anime film, while the scripts was handled by Yowamushi Pedal scriptwriter Reiko Yoshida. Character designs were made by Futoshi Nishiya, which was produced by anime studio Kyoto Animation.
The Japanese voice cast are lead by Miyu Irino as “Shoya Ishida” and Saori Hayami as “Shoko Nishimiya”. Both voice actors previously worked together in the highly-popular drama anime anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day as Jinta “Jintan” Yadomi and Chiriko “Tsuruko” Tsurumi respectively.
A Silent Voice was released in Japanese theaters on September 2016, which earned about JP¥2.3 billion (about PHP1.03 billion) in gross sales. The movie was tied with Death Note: Light Up the New World live-action movie, which was recently released in the Philippines, as 19th highest grossing film in Japan.
The film was also recognized by several award-giving bodies in Japan, including Excellent Animation of the Year in the 40th Japan Academy Prize and Grand Prize for Anime of the Year (Film Category) in Tokyo Anime Award Festival.
1 PHP = 2.24 JPY as of May 2, 2017
