Social anxiety, acceptance, self-pity, desire to change, suicide, and friendship. Koe no Katachi is an emotional roller-coaster that makes you delve into a journey of young teenagers dealing with complex human emotions. It is a sad story that can definitely teach you a lesson about life itself as it leaves the viewer with many questions but no easy conclusions.

The story follows Shoya Ishida, someone who used to be social as a kid but as a high schooler he became a social reject due to some traumatizing incidents that happened in his childhood. Shoko Nishimiya, his elementary school classmate has a hearing disability and was bullied constantly by Ishida and his friends. As they grew older, Ishida was feeling huge remorse over the things he had done to Shoko as a kid so he tries to set things straight by befriending her.

Although Koe no Katachi is a film with intense drama and sensitive messages, it complements them with astonishing animation, environments, romance, and cute characters. With all that in mind, MANGA.TOKYO has come up with a list of 10 anime that will certainly get you emotional and that you will hopefully enjoy.  

A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) Movie Review

Kimi no Na wa (Your Name.)

Summer 2016

Kimi no Na wa is probably the most popular anime film of the past few years. Both movies have great and touching stories, tragic romance, involve high school life, and have amazing animation and OSTs. Kimi no Na wa can be described as more supernatural with a theme that revolves around finding oneself while Koe no Katachi is more about forgiveness and overcoming existential problems.

Mitsuha and Taki are two highs schoolers that live completely different lives. When Mitsuka makes a wish to leave her town, the two characters become connected, albeit in a weird way. Taki dreams that he is a girl in a rural town and Mitsuka dreams that she is a young boy living in Tokyo. What exactly is this bizarre connection and can it really bring them together?

Makoto Shinkai: The History of the Director of ‘Your Name’ (Kimi no Na wa)

The Anthem of the Heart

Fall 2015

These two films share many similarities as they portray high school kids dealing with feelings of guilt, alienation and disabilities (one heroine mute and the other one is deaf) as well as friendship and love. The stories are moving and emotional and focus on main characters that have trouble communicating with the people around them and how they feel like a burden to others.

Jun was once a very happy girl but because of something she said, her whole family was torn apart. After that incident, an egg fairy appeared to her and took her ability to speak so she wouldn’t hurt anyone else with her words. As she carries on living in the shadows of her past, everything changes when she is nominated to become a member of the ‘community outreach council’ along with playing the main lead in the musical that her class will be organizing.

The Anthem of the Heart Review: Did the Live Action Adaptation Ruin the Anime?

Colorful

Summer 2010

The two movies feature stories that share the same theme and address heavily the issues of suicide and bullying. They both show characters growing up and making mistakes but they also show how these mistakes don’t define who they are and how making friends and communicating with those around you can have a positive impact in your life.

After dying, a boy arrives in purgatory where he is informed that he committed a great sin and that he cannot be reincarnated until he finds out what it was. He is then placed in the body of a middle school student named Makoto who committed suicide some days ago and whose life situation is a terrible mess. He doesn’t have any friends, his family is in a bad state, and he makes everyone around him nervous. But he doesn’t give up and tries to adjust to Makoto’s life in order to find out what happened in the past.

5 Centimeters per Second

Spring 2007

Although these two films are very different thematically since Koe no Katachi focuses more on the heavy realism of suicide and self-hate, their overall vibe feels quite similar. They both show female characters transferring into another school, meeting up people whom they knew in the past, and developing relationships. In general they have interesting messages about life. It is also worth mentioning that 5 Centimeters per Second was made by Makoto Shinkai, who is also the creator of Kimi no Na wa.

Takaki Toono and Akari Shinohara are friends that are torn apart when Akari’s family has to move out of the city. They manage to still keep in touch through mailing but after Tataki’s family has to move out as well, he decides to meet Akari one more time. As they get older and follow their own paths, they start to lose contact but they remember the times they had together and wonder if they will ever have the chance to meet again.

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Movie

Summer 2013

Even though the movie just retells the main events of the original story in the perspective of each character, I think you should definitely watch the anime first and then the actual film. Anohana and Koe no Katachi are very dramatic, emotional, and share similar characters and scenarios. The stories talk about friends that haven’t been in contact due to something that happened in their childhood and are brought together again. It’s a very sad story of friends falling apart. Watching this will definitely give you the same feeling as Koe no Katachi and you will not be able to hold your tears from the intense drama.

Meiko Honma has tragically died and her group of friends drifted apart. She comes back as a ghost that only Jinta can see and asks him to fulfill her final wish so she can move on to the afterlife. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember what her wish was so Jinta gathers his former friends and discover what will allow his friend to rest in peace.

Tamako Love Story

Spring 2014

The reason this movie is here is because both Tamako Love Story and Koe no Katachi are directed by Naoko Yamada and produced by Kyoto Animation. You will definitely find similarities in the directing style as well as the overall movie experience, plus Ueno is voiced by the same voice actress who played Midori. Tamako Love Story is a straightforward romance tale that has a different kind of drama to it and is definitely less dark than Koe no Katachi.

Everyone is excited about high school coming to an end except Tamako who realizes that getting older might make her drift apart from her friends. Mochizou Ooji, one of Tamako’s best friends, intends to study at a university in Tokyo, leaving behind his family, friends, and most importantly, his first and only love, Tamako. Will he be able to confess and make them walk the same path? Tamako Love Story is also a sequel of Tamako Market, so I definitely recommend watching it if you like a nice slice-of-life, comedy story.

3-gatsu no Lion

2016 – 2018
Fall 2016
44 Episodes

Both are dramatic stories that deal with isolation, bullying, and depression. They can be emotional roller coasters since they constantly play between heavy and uplifting atmospheres. They give you the opportunity to focus on the inner turmoil of the main characters and you experience their attempts of dealing with it.

Rei Kiriyama is a 17-year-old professional shogi player who suffers from anxiety and depression. After losing his family in an accident, he is taken in by a family that he ends up resenting and decides to get his own apartment. Soon after arriving to Tokyo, he meets the Kawamoto family: three sisters and their grandfather who run a traditional Japanese pastry shop. As they have also recently dealt with pain and loss, they try to support Rei in a kind and heartwarming way.

Orange

Summer 2016
13 Episodes

This is another story that involves a character with a serious mental illness who is able to overcome it. Despite the addressed issues of depression and suicide, both show the meaning of friendship and have positive messages about life. Orange has a more romantic feel to it, but it also plays with the element of past – present and a group of friends that try to change the situation for the better.

Takamiya Naho receives a mysterious letter, claiming to be from her twenty-seven-year-old self. The letter tells her that a new transfer student by the name of Naruse Kakeru will be joining her class and that she needs to keep an eye and take care of him. As she is trying to explain the mystery behind the letter she realizes that the letter is a warning not only for her future, but for Kakeru’s as well.

Orange (Summer 2016) Series Review

Welcome to the N.H.K

Summer 2006
24 Episodes

Although this is more of a slice-of-life dark comedy drama, the male characters share great similarities as they are both unable to connect with other people and they are being regretful of their actions towards a vulnerable female character. Both of them deal with the issues of social anxiety, suicide, and isolation and even though Welcome to the N.H.K is a bit more realistic and somewhat satiric, they are both equally depressing.

Tatsuhiro Sato is a university dropout and a ‘hikikomori’ (someone who suffers from social withdrawal). His life situation drastically changes when a mysterious girl knocks on his door and decides to help him get over his problems. Will he be able to overcome his past way of living or will the imaginary N.H.K conspiracy keep forcing him to remain a hikikomori forever?

Grave of the Fireflies

Spring 1988

A Studio Ghibli classic and honestly a movie that will make you feel so bad that it will actually haunt you for days after seeing it. Grave of the Fireflies is in this list because it is probably the saddest movie you will ever see. A movie about war, real catastrophes, the provoked damages, the victims, and the ruined lives of the people who survive the conflict. If Koe no Katachi managed to make you cry, get yourself prepared for this one because it can’t get heavier than this.

During World War II, Seita and his younger sister Setsuko lives’ are turned upside down when their mother suffers fatal wounds from a bombing in the city and are forced to go live with their cruel aunt. As she keeps maltreating them, they decide to leave and go to live in an abandoned bomb shelter. Having no adult to rely on and with food becoming scarcer than ever before, life is becoming very hard for them. Then, when Setsuko falls ill, Seita begins to realize just how fragile life is…

Be prepared for a lot of tears and feels

Koe no Katachi is a very thought-provoking film that makes you realize how shitty and wonderful the world is. It deals with real serious problems that we tend to overlook and mock in our daily lives until they actually happen to someone close to us or even ourselves, but at the same time, it shows how healing it can be to have good friends as well as people who care for you. Whatever it was that you enjoyed about this film, I hope that the titles on this list will positively be up to your liking.