The staff of Kyoto Animation's anime film adaptation of Yoshitoki Ōima's A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) manga revealed on Wednesday that singer aiko will perform the film's theme song.

aiko's last theme song performance for an anime film was for 2005's Arashi no Yoru ni . She is a fan of Ōima's original manga.

The anime will star:

Miyu Irino (Mr. Osomatsu's Todomatsu, Seraph of the End's Yuichiro Hyakuya) as Shōya Ishida



Saori Hayami (Snow White with the Red Hair's Shirayuki, Bakuman.'s Miho Azuki) as Shōko Nishimiya



Naoko Yamada (Tamako Market, Tamako Love Story, K-ON's two anime seasons and anime film) is directing the film at Kyoto Animation. Reiko Yoshida (Non Non Biyori, K-ON!, Yowamushi Pedal) is writing the script, and Futoshi Nishiya (Free!, Hyōka, Nichijō) is designing the characters for animation. Shochiku will distribute the film.

Additional staff members include:

Art Director: Mutsuo Shinohara (Sound! Euphonium, Clannad)

Color Key: Naomi Ishida (Hyōka, Nichijō)

Setting: Seiichi Akitake (Tamako Market, Tamako Love Story)

Director of Photography: Kazuya Takao (Free!, Sound! Euphonium)

Sound Director: Yota Tsuruoka (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Music: Kensuke Ushio (Space Dandy, Ping Pong)

Music Production: Pony Canyon

The film will open in Japan on September 17. Advanced tickets will go on sale on June 4, and will include a clear file drawn by Nishiya.

Crunchyroll describes the original manga's story:

I wish we had never met. I wish we could meet once again.

A boy who can hear, Shoya Ishida, and a transfer student who can't, Shoko Nishimiya. One fateful day, the two meet, and Shoya leads the class in bullying Shoko. But before long, the class shifts its target from Shoko to Shoya. Years later, Shoya feels strongly that he must see Shoko once again.

Ōima began the manga as a one-shot in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shonen Magazine in 2011, and then turned the story into a full series in the main Shonen Magazine in August 2013. Kodansha published the manga's final chapter in November 2014. Kodansha Comics published the seven-volume manga in print in North America. Crunchyroll released the series in English simultaneously as Kodansha published new chapters in Japan.

Source: Comic Natalie