A Silent Voice Manga Volumes: All 7 Books Explained

A Silent Voice Manga Volumes: All 7 Books in the Complete Set

The bottom line: A Silent Voice is 7 volumes long, all published in English by Kodansha Comics, and the series is fully complete. There’s nothing left to wait for, no upcoming releases to track, no ambiguity about whether it’s finished. It’s done.

Across those 7 volumes and 62 chapters (chapters are the individual installments collected into each volume — think of them like episodes grouped into seasons), Yoshitoki Oima tells a compact, self-contained story about bullying, deafness, isolation, and the messy process of trying to become a better person. Shoya Ishida tormented his deaf classmate Shoko Nishimiya in elementary school. Years later, as a teenager drowning in guilt and loneliness, he sets out to find her again. What follows is one of the most emotionally honest stories in manga.

Every volume is currently available through major retailers — meaning none of the books have gone out of production, so you won’t need to hunt down scarce copies or pay inflated prices. Walk into a bookstore, check a major online retailer, or grab the digital editions. All 7 volumes are right there waiting.

Worth noting: A Silent Voice was also adapted into a 2016 anime film by Kyoto Animation, a Japanese studio known for high-quality animation work. The movie is gorgeous, but the manga covers substantially more ground. We’ll get into that later.

The Easiest Way to Collect All 7 Volumes

You’ve got three solid options for building your complete set. Each one works — it just depends on how you like to read.

Option 1: The Box Set

Kodansha Comics released a box set that collects all 7 volumes in one package. If you’re starting from scratch and want the whole series at once, this is the way to go. You get all 7 paperback volumes in a single box, and the combined retail price typically works out cheaper than buying each volume separately at its individual cover price.

For new collectors especially, the box set is the cleanest path to a complete shelf. One purchase, one delivery, done.

Option 2: Individual Paperback Volumes

If you’d rather test the waters with Volume 1 before committing — totally reasonable — individual volumes from Kodansha Comics are widely stocked at major retailers.

One thing to know if you’ve never read manga before: manga reads right-to-left. That means you open the book from what would be the “back” of a Western book, and you read each page from the right side to the left. It sounds strange, but it becomes natural within about 10 pages.

At only 7 volumes, even buying them one at a time won’t take long. And since everything is readily available, you shouldn’t run into gaps where Volume 4 is mysteriously out of stock while the rest are easy to find.

Option 3: Digital Editions

If shelf space isn’t your thing or you just want to start reading immediately, digital editions are available through platforms like Kindle, Kobo, and BookWalker. Buying digitally gives you an instant complete collection with no waiting for shipping and no storage concerns.

Digital editions sometimes see reduced pricing during seasonal sales on these platforms, which can make the full 7-volume set even more affordable. Just keep in mind that digital purchases can’t be resold or lent out the way physical books can.

A Quick Note on Format

As of now, the English release is available in three distinct formats. The standard 7-volume paperback set is the most widely stocked option — available individually or as a complete series box set. Digital editions are available on platforms like Kindle, Kobo, and BookWalker. And for collectors who want a premium version, Kodansha Comics released a Complete Collector’s Edition in 2022 — a 2-volume deluxe hardcover that bundles all 7 volumes into two oversized books (roughly 700 pages each), printed on premium paper and including over fifty pages of bonus content never previously published in English.

If you just want to read the story, the standard paperbacks or digital editions are the straightforward choice. If you want a premium shelf piece with bonus material, the Collector’s Edition is the upgrade.

Volume-by-Volume Breakdown

Here’s what you’re getting in each book. These summaries stay spoiler-light — enough to give you the shape of the story without ruining the emotional beats.

Volume 1: Where It All Goes Wrong

Volume 1 introduces Shoya Ishida and Shoko Nishimiya as elementary school students. Shoko transfers into Shoya’s class, and her deafness makes her an easy target. What starts as casual cruelty escalates into sustained bullying — and when the school finally intervenes, Shoya takes all the blame. The volume establishes the foundation of guilt, consequences, and social dynamics that drives everything after it.

This is a tough read. Oima doesn’t soften what happens. But that honesty is exactly what makes the rest of the series land so hard.

Volume 2: Years Later

Flash forward to high school. Shoya is isolated, friendless, and consumed by self-loathing. He’s spent years as a social outcast after being branded as the bully. Volume 2 follows his decision to track down Shoko and attempt to communicate with her again — this time learning sign language on his own. Their reunion is tentative, awkward, and painfully real.

This is where the series shifts from “story about bullying” to “story about what comes after.” The tone changes dramatically, and you start to see what Oima is really building toward.

Volume 3: New Faces, Old Wounds

The cast expands significantly in Volume 3. New friendships start forming — some genuine, some complicated. Shoya begins interacting with people again for the first time in years, and the manga explores how hard it is to trust others (and yourself) when your social world collapsed once before.

Oima’s character writing really shines here. Every new person who enters the story has their own baggage, their own perspective on what happened in elementary school. Nobody is simply good or bad.

Volume 4: The Past Comes Back

Old classmates re-enter the picture in Volume 4, and things get messy. People who were involved in — or stood by during — the bullying now have to reckon with their roles. Some have changed. Some haven’t. Some think they’ve changed but really haven’t.

This volume hits some major emotional turning points. The group dynamics become more strained as buried resentments surface. Oima handles the complexity of accountability beautifully — there are no easy answers about who owes what to whom.

Volume 5: The Breaking Point

Volume 5 contains some of the most intense sequences in the entire series. Without spoiling specifics, the consequences of unresolved pain come crashing down, and the fallout reshapes every relationship in the cast.

This is the volume where readers tend to describe the experience as physically affecting — the kind of reading where you have to set the book down for a minute.

Volume 6: Aftermath

After the events of Volume 5, the characters face the deepest consequences of the story. Volume 6 is about recovery — not the neat, cinematic kind, but the slow, uncertain kind where progress isn’t linear and setbacks feel devastating.

Oima treats this section with remarkable patience. The manga doesn’t rush toward a resolution. It sits with the characters in their most vulnerable moments and earns every bit of the emotional payoff that’s coming.

Volume 7: Resolution

The final volume brings A Silent Voice to a definitive, earned ending. Without spoiling how things resolve, the conclusion addresses the series’ central themes head-on: Can people truly change? Is forgiveness something that’s given or something that’s built? What does it mean to finally face the world instead of hiding from it?

Volume 7 doesn’t tie everything into a perfect bow — and that’s exactly why it works. The ending feels honest, hopeful, and complete. When you close this book, the story is done.

No Filler, No Padding

At only 7 volumes, every single volume is essential. There are no stretches where the story stalls out or wanders away from its main threads just to fill pages. The story moves with purpose from beginning to end. You read all 7 or you haven’t read it.

A Finished Set That Will Never Grow on You

One of the best things about A Silent Voice as a collected series: it’s done, and it’s staying done.

The final volume was published in Japan in December 2014. The English edition was completed by May 2016. In the years since, there has been no sequel, no spin-off, no continuation, and no announcement of any future additions. Yoshitoki Oima has moved on to other projects. A Silent Voice is a closed book — literally.

That matters for collectors. A 7-volume set stays neat on a shelf. It doesn’t grow into 15 volumes while you’re not paying attention. You buy 7 books, you put them on your shelf, and they stay exactly as they are.

Manga vs. Anime Film

The 2016 anime film by Kyoto Animation is a beautiful adaptation and absolutely worth watching. But it’s a companion piece, not a replacement for the manga. The movie necessarily condenses a 62-chapter story into roughly two hours, which means entire character arcs and subplots are trimmed or removed.

If you watched the film and loved it, the manga will give you significantly more of what you loved — more depth for every character, more time with the group dynamics, and several storylines the movie couldn’t fit. If you watched the film and thought certain characters felt underdeveloped, the manga is where they get their full treatment.

The two versions complement each other well, but the manga is the complete version of the story.

Who Should Read A Silent Voice

Emotional Depth Without a Huge Commitment

At 7 volumes, A Silent Voice delivers one of the most emotionally powerful stories in manga within a commitment you can finish in a weekend. If you’ve been intimidated by series that run 20, 40, or 70+ volumes, this is a strong antidote. Short, finished, and every page matters.

A Strong Entry Point for Manga Beginners

If you’re new to manga entirely, A Silent Voice is one of the best starting points available. It’s short enough to not feel overwhelming, it’s complete so you won’t get stranded mid-story, and it’s widely available at virtually any bookstore or online retailer.

Age Rating and Content Awareness

A Silent Voice is rated Teen (ages 13+) by Kodansha Comics. It handles heavy themes with genuine nuance, but it does handle them directly. The series depicts bullying, disability, depression, social isolation, and suicidal ideation. These elements are core to the story and are treated with care rather than sensationalism, but they may be difficult for some readers.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm or suicide, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988 in the U.S.) and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) are available around the clock.

Oima’s handling of these themes stands out for its sensitivity and honesty. The story doesn’t exploit its characters’ pain for shock value — it uses that pain as the foundation for a story about growth and connection. Parents considering this for younger teen readers should be aware of these themes and may want to read alongside them.

The Closing Case for Volume 1

If any of this sounds like your kind of story, Volume 1 is the place to start. It’s a heavy opening — the bullying depicted is unflinching — but that honesty is what gives the rest of the series its emotional weight. For most readers, the first volume makes it clear that something special is happening on the page.