Killiam :
The author really wrote a masterpiece, so many layers. Shoya started bullying her because he heard kids gossip about her, and with a desire to be liked by everyone he ramped up the bullying after getting good reactions. Of course this caused others to bully her, even the teacher was complicit, but once actual authority gets involved they all pin it on Shoya, and when he tries to out everyone else they all start to bully him and at complicit in his bullying. He starts to feel guilt at this moment specifically and starts to suffer from extreme guilt when Shoko transfers because of him. When he was ostracized in middle school he develops his extreme social anxiety and self loathing. I don’t actually think Shoya is depressed at any point, he genuinely thinks he’s disgusting and doesn’t deserve to live, I think this is why he conquers his want to die so easily, when presented with the reality of dying he gets scared and visits Shoko as a subconscious last ditch effort at not having to die, and when confronted by his mother he realizes that his own perception of himself isn’t what should dictate him living or not. Shoko is the character who represents depression best, because she never actually conquers her want to die, she went through with it in the end and was only saved by Shoya at the last second, through this she makes progress but it is a stark difference from Shoya. Shoya’s way of atoning for his wrong doings is through actions, and Shoko who has done nothing wrong but believes she has, her only way of atonement is to disappear from their lives (Shoko isn’t depressed just from the bullying, she actually blames herself for Shoya being bullied and ostracized, and she believe she is a burden on her family due to her disability, she can tell that Shoya was stress and full of anxiety and she blames herself for it, that becomes her last straw).
2026-01-21 00:07:22