Kazuki Shimada (島田 一旗, Shimada Kazuki?) is a supporting character, he is featured as a minor antagonist in the Koe no Katachi series.
He is Shōya Ishida’s former friend who went to elementary school with him where Kazuki participated in the bullying of Shōko Nishimiya, but never admitted to being involved and actively began bullying Shōya after helping pin the blame entirely on him. After graduating high school, Kazuki moves to France to study music production.
Personality[]
Although Kazuki's face makes him appear zoned out or uninterested, he is actually quite the opposite. As a child, Kazuki almost always involved himself in Shōya Ishida's antics, as his daredevil mindset complimented Kazuki’s carefree yet enthusiastic attitude. Unlike his friend, Kazuki appeared to be a more responsible and hard working student, attending cram school so he could succeed in middle school and beyond. He may also have been a member of the Boy Scouts, indicated by the text on the flag he carried around.
After helping pin Shōya as the sole bully of Shōko Nishimiya, the cold and condescending side of Kazuki began to show itself as he became Shōya’s primary bully, purposely doing things that he knew would make him miserable and feel isolated. This attitude would continue into middle school, where Kazuki went out of his way to tell people about Shōya’s actions.
In his late teens, Kazuki’s personality and opinion on Shōya appears to remain largely unchanged, not willing to even humor that anything he did was wrong. Despite this, he and Keisuke Hirose saved Shōya after he fell into the river from Shōko’s balcony and helped explain the situation to the police.
Physical appearance[]
Kazuki is a pale-skinned boy with short messy blonde hair and emotionless blue eyes.
As a child, he is always seen in a t-shirt with an unbuttoned dress shirt over top and pants, which is a style he seems to maintain as a teenager as well. He is briefly seen in an all-black uniform in middle school during Chapter 05.
Hobbies[]
- Piano
- Music Production
List of appearances[]
Volume 01[]
- Chapter 01 — "Shōya Ishida"
- Chapter 02 — "Just One of Those Things"
- Chapter 03 — "Hahahahaha"
- Chapter 04 — "Nishimiya, You Piece of Shit"
Volume 02[]
- Chapter 09 — "The Right To Be Here" (cameo)
- Chapter 14 — "Yuzuru Nishimiya" (cameo)
Volume 05[]
- Chapter 25 — "Just My Imagination"
- Chapter 26 — "Birds of a Feather"
Volume 06[]
- Chapter 50 — “Naoka Ueno” (cameo)
- Chapter 51 — "Shōko Nishimiya" (cameo)
Volume 07[]
- Chapter 58 — "Results"
- Chapter 61 — "Graduation" (referenced)
- Chapter 62 — "A Silent Voice" (cameo)
Relationships[]
Friends[]
Keisuke Hirose: From what is shown, Keisuke and Kazuki have maintained their friendship up until their senior year of high school and seemingly beyond. Due to scarce appearances from both, their dynamic is largely unknown aside from the fact that they’ve remained friends for so long, even without Shōya Ishida.
Naoka Ueno: Naoka and Kazuki have been friends since elementary school, remaining in contact even after graduating sixth grade. When Kazuki began bullying Shōya Ishida, he convinced Naoka to help him write on Shōya’s desk despite her reluctance. Years later, Naoka feels a strong desire to bring the former friends together and sets up an encounter between the two that immediately backfires. Kazuki reacts less severely by simply telling Naoka to mind her business. Naoka continues attempting to bring her friends together, but isn’t met with any better results, being reminded by Kazuki to mind her business.
Shōya Ishida (Former Friend): Shōya was once Kazuki’s close friend, the two getting along really well until Kazuki expressed a desire to stop the childish antics they would frequently get into. The two continued to be on good terms until Takeuchi blamed Shōya entirely for bullying Shōko Nishimiya, failing to acknowledge everyone else’s involvement. Kazuki feigned ignorance and decided to retaliate against Shōya for attempting to pin any blame on him or their peers, quickly becoming his primary bully. Kazuki actively helps cultivate Shōya’s feeling of isolation and continues to torment him until reaching middle school where he tells people about Shōya’s actions and prevents him from making friends. When he sees Shōya again years later, Kazuki’s opinion of him remains mostly unchanged, though he chooses to avoid him rather than actively antagonize him. Despite his resentment, Kazuki chooses to help save an unconscious Shōya from the river next to Shōko’s apartment and get him medical attention, though he doesn’t want Shōya to know anything about it. Kazuki and Shōya interact once more in Chapter 58, where Kazuki teases Shōya for his anger at the judges of the film contest, appearing to acknowledge Shōya with a bit more tolerance than before. How their relationship evolves after this is unknown, though Shōya gets Kazuki’s email from Tomohiro Nagatsuka so he can ask if he’ll be at the coming-of-age ceremony.
Etymology[]
- The name Kazuki means "one" (一) (kazu) and "flag" (旗) (ki).
- Kazuki's surname Shimada means "island" (島) (shima) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).