[Manga] Koe no Katachi - A silent voice

Recently, I've been asked to recommend anime/manga to friends based on the genre they like... while I may not be as good as the manga Sommelier (from Denki-gai no Honya-san), I found tremendous joy in helping people find manga they enjoy!

So, I've decided to introduce some awesome anime/manga that people may have overlooked. The first one would be this: Koe no Katachi.

The plot revolves around two people - Nishimiya, a hearing imparied girl and Ishida, the classmate who bullies her. Ishida, being the typical insensitive elementary school kid - finds various ways to make fun Nishimiya to alleviate his boredom. Until one day, Nishimiya decided to transfer out and Ishida finds himself (ironically) the new target of bullying. Years later, he finally realized what a jerk he was and decided to find her in order to apologize.

(I know what you guys are thinking - doesn't this sound like a typical romance manga with some extra elements thrown in? Well, not really) Later on the in the story, other characters, such as Nishimiya's family members, as well as their former classmates would be introduced. At first, it's easy to hate some characters, but eventually you'll realize why they behave the way they did - everyone had their own struggles.

While the ending feels a bit rushed (there were lots of potential for the story to expand on! :< ) the character development of this manga makes up for it.

This manga was also reviewed and supported by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf; so I suppose the sign language used is pretty accurate! 

It's definitely not a typical manga, in fact I'm not even sure how you would categorize it. (Slice of life, maybe? ) 

Anyway, do check the manga out! ^___^