I watched a movie, “A Silent Voice”, and thought about cultural comparisons when watching it. The movie was an anime, so it was much different than movies I had seen before. It was animated but it dealt with some heavy topics. The movie touched on bullying, discrimination, and suicide, which are unfortunately also issues that occur in the U.S.  Many of the students in this movie seemed like they had never met any other deaf people. They were shocked to find out she was deaf and treated her very poorly because of it.

When watching this movie, I realized a few aspects about the scenery. The views were beautiful. There were many open fields, a large bridge with a clear blue river filled with koi fish, and lots of cherry blossoms. The weather was always very pleasant. It was not too cold. It never snowed or rained. In New Jersey, we have days where the weather is miserable, along with nice days. 

Something different about this school than the ones that I went to when I was growing up was that they had required school uniforms. It was also different that the two girls lived in the same house as their grandmother. I do not know many people that live with their grandparents. Most of the students walked to school and to other places. Most people in my town would drive around town. Parents or bus drivers would drive students to school. Rice was a common food that many of the kids and families ate. This is also a staple here. For fun, the children would go to the river and feed the fish, go to the movies, watch the fireworks, and go to the festival. I do not know too many people my age that go to feed fish bread, but these other activities are also quite common here. In this movie, students learn to treat others with kindness, to value family and friendships, and apologies and forgiveness. These are all things that we are taught to value in school, as well. 

This is the movie poster for the movie, “A Silent Voice”.