Inclusive media mix: Shaping communication through A Silent Voice

Kaminishi, Yuta

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121868 Copy

Description

Title

Inclusive media mix: Shaping communication through A Silent Voice

Author(s)

Kaminishi, Yuta

Issue Date

2023-12

Keyword(s)

• A Silent Voice
• Disability
• Inclusivity
• Media Mix
• Sign Language

Abstract

A Silent Voice (Koe no katachi, dir. Yamada Naoko, 2016) is an anime film based on the critically acclaimed manga of the same name by Ôima Yoshitoki. A Silent Voice follows the experiences of a deaf character, Nishimiya Shôko, and her classmates, particularly as they deal with school bullying and rebuilding friendships afterwards. A Silent Voice not only won various awards such as Best Animated Feature Film at the Japanese Movie Critics Award, but also collaborated with actors across the public sector such as schools, local governments, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), to enhance inclusive education in Japan. This article shifts the typical focus on media mix as a marketing strategy to consider media mix strategies as potential tools for civic and educational causes. Specifically, it explores A Silent Voice’s media mix in relation to improving inclusivity in Japanese education and society. To that end, this project begins with a brief elucidation of the three versions of the original manga, which serve as starting points of this inclusivity-focused media mix. The project then moves to analysis of how the anime problematizes school bullying as systemic exclusion and explores how sign language is presented as one key to forming an inclusive society. Finally, by introducing cases in which collaboration with the public sector distributes this anime’s characters, induces various audience desires, and mobilizes audiences to participate in social change, I argue that A Silent Voice provides an example of inclusive media mix.

Series/Report Name or Number

Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, vol. 4

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v4.1128

Copyright and License Information

• Copyright 2023 Yuta Kaminishi
• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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