Shōko Nishimiya (西宮 硝子, Nishimiya Shōko?) is the female protagonist of the Koe no Katachi series.
Born mostly deaf, Shōko often faces difficulties in communicating and connecting with others, causing her issues during her childhood. Particularly with Shōya Ishida, who became her bully during sixth grade. When Shōya comes back into her life five years later, Shōko accepts his friendship and begins experiencing the connection with others she’s wanted for so long. However, the trauma from her past causes her self-loathing and tendency to blame herself to reveal themselves. Despite this, Shōko begins to learn the value of her life with the help of Shōya, as well as helping him realize the value of his.
Who is she as a person?
In her youth, Shōko had a strong desire to connect with people around her. However, due to difficulties in communication, she was often met with misunderstanding, disinterest, or bullying. Her hope of making friends was symbolized to her by the communication notebook she brought to Takeuchi‘s class, and she temporarily gave up this wish after Shōya Ishida tossed this book into the school’s pond.
After facing isolation of both external and self-imposed varieties for many years of her life, Shōko has become a melancholic and self-loathing person in her late teens. She is plagued by guilt over what she sees as her own role in the dysfunctional situations of her past, including both her school and family life, and she has developed a tendency to blame herself when things go wrong even when she alone is negatively affected. Due to her lack of confidence in her own perceptions and desire not to be a burden, she struggles with avoidant behaviors, which ultimately exacerbate her feelings of guilt and inadequacy. However, these negative feelings are usually hidden beneath the more obvious positive parts of her personality.
At her core, Shōko is a kind and compassionate person who is rather easygoing and she is shown to be very patient and forgiving, even to her former bully Shōya, whose friendship she earnestly accepts when years later he expresses regret at mistreating and failing to understand her. She also expresses a caring and nurturing side, as seen when she tells Shōya that it makes her happy to give others what they need. Although her disability makes certain parts of her life difficult, Shōko never feels the need to be pitied or treated specially.
Being a visually focused person by necessity, Shōko has a fondness for visual metaphor and symbolism, as exemplified by her feelings toward her sixth grade notebook, her affection for Madagascar periwinkles in the language of flowers, and various other actions over the course of the story. Contrary to most people’s expectations, she is rather analytical and perceptive, and she is usually quick to discern the content and subtext of conversations even when they are not signed to her. However, she tends to lack confidence in her own judgments of social situations, which causes her to highly value others’ honesty, even when that honesty is harsh. This quality explains her sixth grade desire to be friends with the tactless but honest Shōya, and it is part of her reason for associating with Naoka Ueno in adulthood.
It is through her growing friendship with Shōya that Shōko embraces more of herself and starts to express her emotions more openly, revealing moments of anger, sadness, and genuine happiness. After being saved from her lowest point, Shōko chooses to confront her negative feelings and starts accepting the value in her own life even with its imperfections. After assuming this more realistic and proactive mindset, she finds greater success enriching the lives of the people around her, finally achieving her desire to be a source of strength for others. The culmination of her growth is shown in her choice to move to Tokyo after graduating, finally looking forward to her own dream of becoming a hairdresser, which was partly inspired by her childhood encounter with Miyako Ishida (Shōya’s mother) at her salon.
Love Interest
Shōya Ishida: Shōko first met Shōya when she joined his sixth grade class, reaching out to him several times in hopes of becoming friends, even after he became her bully. Eventually, she would transfer out of the school, encountering Shōya five years later after her sign language class. Unsure of his intentions, Shōko initially runs away before deciding to hear him out, shocked to see that he came to return her communication book and that he’s learned sign language. When he unexpectedly asks to be her friend, she accepts, beginning a bond that would change both of their lives forever.
Although whether they are or will become a couple is purposely left ambiguous at the end of the series, it can be inferred that Shōko’s feelings for Shōya didn’t disappear after the misunderstanding and more likely strengthened as they continue to grow closer. Evidence for this includes Shōko profusely blushing at Shōya’s swarm of compliments, her dreaming of Shōya and becoming deeply distraught over the thought of him passing away, and her offering to guide a nervous Shōya around his school festival before becoming flustered when he holds his hand out for her to grab. Yuzuru’s continued support of her sister and Shōya potentially becoming a couple also suggests this possibility.
“The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?”
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