Shouko Nishimiya

Shouko Nishimiya is the female protagonist of Koe no Katachi (literally "The Shape of Voice"), a manga created by Yoshitoki Ooima and adapted into a 2017 anime film by Kyoto Animation. Nishimiya is a clinically deaf student who was a victim of bullying in her elementary school years, especially from the other protagonist Ishida.

While the character is portrayed by a famous voice actress in the original Japanese version, in the English dub she is portrayed by an actual deaf person.

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Contest profile
Thanks to the Kyoto-produced film adaptation, Shouko has become one of the most popular waifus from the 2010's. Her characterization and story arc has endeared many watchers, not to mention her disability makes her stand out from most anime girls. These traits lend to her strength in anime character popularity contests. In ISML and r/anime, she generally performs just a tier below the outright favorites; consistently good but lacking the winning X-factor that other contenders possess. Shouko entered the 2017 edition of Bilibili Moe where she finished in the round of 32, losing to fellow KyoAni girl Kobayashi-san from Dragon Maid.

In ISML
A representative of the KyoAni faction, Nishimiya competed in ISML's Spring seasonal tournament in 2017, placing runner-up behind SukaSuka's Chtholly. This result was enough to secure automatic entry into the 2018 main tournament.

Shouko's main debut was fairly successful, having appeared in five out of seven necklace rounds (including a 2nd place result in Topaz), and easily reaching the playoffs as a #6 seed. However, she failed to become a tiara contender after losing to ISML veteran Shiro in the round of 16. In 2019, Shouko maintained her place in the tournament's hierarchy by advancing into the playoffs for the second time, where she was eliminated by the eventual champion Violet Evergarden.

Nishimiya's campaign in ISML 2020 was highlighted by an upset win against last year's runner-up Rin Tohsaka in the final Aquamarine group round, thereby topping her group and getting another shot at the necklace. Shouko would later win her first ISML award at the second group stage by winning the topaz bracelet -- an exhibition gem / "secondary" equivalent to the necklace -- and only lost to top dogs Kurumi, Yukino and Emilia to secure 4th place in her group. However, Nishimiya's standing took a nosedive in the third group stage after suffering three straight defeats in Ruby and four more in Diamond, eliminating her from playoff contention with a 10th place result. She finished 26th overall after losing two more consolation matches.

In Anime Trending
Nishimiya holds a special place as the most successful contestant in tournaments organized by AnimeTrending, a website about anime popularity charts. After winning the "Girl of the Year" title in the 4th annual AT Awards (for 2017 anime), Shouko became eligible for the website's Character Champions League contest. The deaf girl finished 2nd in her group, and eventually won the tournament on a playoff run that included victories against top-rated waifus Mai-san and Kaguya.

A few years later, Shouko competed in the website's Girl of the Decade tournament as an invited participant from her 2017 ATA title. Her bracket run saw her defeat multi-champions Senjougahara, Rem, and finally Misaka in that order to claim the championship.

In r/anime
Shouko made her first major appearance in Best Character 3 (2017 Fall), where she kicked out #10 seed Rem in the fourth round before being kicked out herself by Holo.

The deaf girl debuted in 2018's Best Girl 5 as a #23 seed, initially losing to Konosuba's Yunyun in the fourth round. However, that round was found to have been manipulated by artificial accounts, causing the matchday to be reset with Shouko winning the rematch. She then made it all the way to the quarter-finals where she heavily lost to eventual champion Rem. Later that year, Shouko performed an impressive run in Best Character 4 as she overcame a string of titular characters, and Shouya Ishida, to appear in another quarter-finals stage, where she narrowly lost by 6* votes against Megumin. In 2019, Shouko repeated her previous Best Girl feat in its sixth edition when she notably defeated Iroha and Emilia to reach the quarter-finals as a #23 seed, before losing against Aqua.

The Koe no Katachi movie has been compared by users to blockbuster hit Your Name, which was released only less than a year ago. Although the latter film is by far the higher-grossing and more-watched anime, Koe no Katachi is commonly cited as the better film in terms of characterization and plot. In r/anime's character contests however, the Kyoto Animation-produced movie is indisuptably the more successful one as its main representatives Shouko and Shouya have won the fifth couples / ships contest held in 2019, while Taki and Mitsuha have fallen short in the final rounds multiple times.

2020 was a fairly mediocre year for Shouko's standards, as she only finished at the fifth round in Best Girl 7 due to a loss against a season 2-boosted Emilia, while in Best Character 5 she was eliminated by Mai Sakurajima at the same stage.

Best Girl 8 Run In Best Girl 8 Shouko's chances were initially cast in doubt as her bracket was largely predicted to be contested by Kaguya-sama leads Chika Fujiwara and Ai Hayasaka, with the latter even being pegged as a likely finalist. However, the deaf girl would pull off a textbook dark horse run that will be remembered by the subreddit for years to come. She defeated Mikasa Ackerman in round 4, and then busted everyone's brackets by upsetting Hayasaka in round 5 by a margin of 21 votes; only one user predicted Nishimiya to win that match. After easily dispatching Miku Nakano in the last 16, Shouko eliminated Chika by 57 votes in the quarter-finals, and ended Kaguya-sama's hopes of extending their championship streak. Riding on this momentum, she then drained Aqua to reach her first-ever Best Girl final, where her run finally ended in the hands of odds-on favourite Mai Sakurajima.

Main tournament
Overall record (as of ISML 2021 regular season)

Match history

Gem Record
Necklace Appearances: 7
 * 2018: Aquamarine (5th), Topaz (2nd), Sapphire (7th), Emerald (8th), Diamond (6th)
 * 2019: Diamond (6th)
 * 2020: Aquamarine (6th)

Jewelry exhibitions
 * Win: 2020 Topaz bracelet
 * Appearances: 1

r/anime record
Best Girl

Best Character

Anime Trending
Anime Trending Character Champions League

Group Stage:

Bracket Stage:
 * Win vs. Mai Sakurajima,
 * Win vs. Juliet Persia,
 * Win vs. Kaguya Shinomiya, 4880 - 4779

Anime Trending: Girl of the Decade

Bracket Stage (seed 2)
 * Win vs. (7) Hitagi Senjougahara, 8038 - 6514
 * Win vs. (3) Rem, 7825 - 7446
 * Win vs. (8) Mikoto Misaka, 17,993 - 15,417

Honours

 * 1) AnimeTrending Character Champions League (2019)
 * 2) r/anime's Salty Sea V (Best Couples/Ships, 2019)
 * 3) AnimeTrending Decade Awards: Girl of the Decade (2020)