A Sign of Affection

I am clearly not the intended audience for this anime, yet here I am, reviewing this anime. Making the female MC deaf was definitely a trick to get more people to indulge in this anime. I think it's already clear how this romance anime caters to the Shoujo demographic when you have every character having the most kissable lips, the male character's rizz game is always at its peak, meant to make the girl infinitely blush with him, all the while also having love triangles and unrequited love stories that are at play. There's a lot of things to not like about A Sign ofAffection, but what if I tell you, I did enjoy it too? If I were to name one good thing that this anime did well other than the sign language the show takes pride in, it's the handling of the worst aspect of most romance dramas, love polygons. I kid you not, it's not a romance anime if you don't have any love triangles or anyone who has unrequited love and in almost every romance show, all it has done is make virtually more interesting side characters that either don't get into a relationship with the MC despite better chemistry or make the worst side characters known to mankind, just so the main character will always get with the main one, all the while creating drama about their said backstory with MC and how they were "deeply in love" with the MC which is never returned. I know love polygons are common in fictional romance stories. Still, when it comes to doing this, rarely does anyone know how to properly execute this without overstaying its welcome or getting extremely annoying to deal with. Luckily, the anime fixed this by making every cast an adult. They don't throw tantrums like insecure babies fishing for pity towards them and talking about how they gave the MC the most attention and somehow think that will make them like them. Instead, it handles the subject maturely and calmly, which is a nice change of pace for a romance drama. Another praise I'd give to the anime is how the romance is also quite decent. I actually enjoyed it too and didn't find it a notorious fire piece of garbage. The male love interest (who naturally ticks all the boxes for your typical main love interest in every shoujo manga), doesn't exhibit any behavior that leans towards stalking psychopathic tendencies, instead, it's just cute teases I can actually see happening and in a sense, I can support the relationship going on between the two. I had a bad assumption about how the anime was going with the relationship given how the man had the recipe of an incredibly insecure and more harmful than protective character, but it was a nice change of pace unless you take into consideration the other romance that does it several degrees better than this anime. Are you still with me? Because this is where I want to delve into issues I had with A Sign of Affection. Even if it does some things right in terms of plot and romance, it still doesn't excuse the characters, who are pretty forgettable and I'm willing to say, 'bad', in a lot of ways. From my perspective, Yuki is the weakest character of them all. The only reason you can remember her is because she's deaf. Yuki's character is someone that can be generalized as a "self-insert for girls" because Yuki is like every girl's fantasy who wants to have a perfect boyfriend like Itsuomi (had to search for his name in MAL because I couldn't remember him), but let me stop you for a minute there. When you call a character "self-insert", you're referring to a character that lacks substance or any form of personality to be considered as a real character but the term "Self-Insertion" refers to the main character being as closely similar to the author's personality or his/her image to how they would react into the real world or if the same circumstances were applied to them as well, typically the correct definition of self-insert or what you would call "the author's surrogate". Here, in this situation, Yuki is the definition of being a "self-projection." How do I prove this? A lot of things only happened because the supporting characters had a role to play in which Yuki does nothing but let everyone approach her and blush because it wasn't something she intended to do, yet she indulges in it, hoping she gets this treatment without ever trying to put effort into getting what she wants until the latter half of the series, where Yuki somehow does something but reminded her how she needs to be treated like a princess because oh no, she's a deaf person who's being held like a trophy for the guy to get his hands on. I may sound like I'm yapping absolute nonsense, but the idea is that you can't have a main character who does nothing or just reacts to everything without taking any initiative to do anything, the story makes everything served to her on a silver plate. The cast is only categorized by two driven things, either driven with jealousy or acting as the loud voice just so there is a smidgen worth of comedy other than your usual poetic-esque description of having their voice heard miraculously by a random Prince Charming character. The love polygons are the only notable part where you can have some form of memory indulging in this anime, otherwise, it's another one of your run-of-the-mill romances that participates in satisfying the quota just so it passes off for every romance viewer like myself to watch. The anime definitely suffices as a romance anime, since there is chemistry between the duo, and have proper romance advances which are much appreciated to see, but I would have definitely recommended it if Yuki's character had more thought put into it. Maybe it's due to my lack of interest in these kinds of characters that are portrayed as shy, timid, and quiet all the more justified with the characteristic being deaf, but I wish Yuki had put a lot more effort into taking interest in what these characters do, maybe provide more gifts or help others more rather than being bestowed with many gifts that can't process the simple line of thought to repay debts for their deeds. In my eyes, it's just decent. Thank you for reading.

Yubisaki to Renren is a very cute story that I really liked and will please most people who like romance, but my personal experience with deaf people and my expectations for it being a college love story made me like it a little less than I could have. The protagonist of this story is Itose Yuki, a young deaf woman who after a brief interaction on the subway falls in love with Nagi Itsuomi who she later discovers is studying at the same college and the story develops following these two characters getting to know each other and discovering love. The love story between the protagonists isvery cute and it's nice to see the two interacting, but it required me to overcome the feeling that everything started too quickly or that something was missing. The scene in which the protagonists meet exemplifies this: Yuki is on the subway, receives help from Itsuomi with a boy who was asking her for directions without realizing that she is deaf and suddenly he puts his hand on her head and Kaboom, we have a Yuki is in love and for some reason the anime tries to sell this scene as ultra romantic when it seemed strange to me. One point that is again sweet, but left me conflicted about how to feel, is the apparent lack of emotional maturity of some characters. It's very cute to see Yuki melting thinking about Itsuomi but at a certain point I caught myself thinking that especially the way the female characters in this story act is no different from the kawaii and shy way these characters have in high school stories. It's not something that really bothered me, but I see it as a missed opportunity since the characters being young adults didn't seem to make much of a difference. Now talking about deafness issues, I will talk about things that for most people won't make the slightest difference and didn't ruin my experience but caught my attention. I would have liked to have seen more people around Yuki and how most of them don't even know the basics of sign language, because in my experience I learned a lot just by being around deaf people before even attending some classes to learn properly. I really found it strange how almost no one knows how to talk to Yuki and that apparently even her parents only talk to her by reading their lips, because how were they able to have more complex conversations when she still didn't know how to do that? Maybe the source material will explain this later, but it's something that caught my attention. I could point out things I was taught that are very rude to do to someone who is deaf and that happen sometimes in this anime, like holding hands and covering a deaf person's vision, as it would be the equivalent of putting your hand over your mouth from someone, but the only big complaint I have is how unintentionally the script seems to validate the speech of Oushi, Yuki's childhood friend. Having our protagonist practically forgetting how to walk down the street and needing to be guided by the hand to avoid being run over because she's so excited to be walking with Itsuomi is a little frustrating, as is what happens when Oushi needs to intervene in a certain situation because Yuki apparently can't communicate to the salesperson that she is deaf and cannot understand what he is saying because he is wearing a mask. Deaf people, even by necessity, tend to be great at taking care of themselves and communicating even with people who don't know sign language and I honestly would have liked to have seen Yuki showing this even to counter Oushi's thoughts. Having said all that, I still liked what I saw and will recommend it to friends who like romance, I am fully aware that many of my complaints will not be noticed by the majority of the public but it left me with the slight impression that some opportunities were missed because the fact that I was following young adults didn't seem to make a difference and the plot felt much more like a story with a deaf character and not a story about a deaf person.

It was fine. Being involved in the deaf community and working as an interpreter I appreciate that more shows are bringing deaf awareness. However, I’m also a fan of good anime so I’m going to be a little critical. This anime is an ok romance. I did find the lead characters had a lack of chemistry. Their attraction to one another felt forced, they like each other because they do. It lacked depth. I did like the chemistry between the supporting characters though. I often found myself wanting to skip past the main characters and just watch the supporting characters. There are so many sappy lines. Ipersonally can appreciate them, but when anything is saturated with them it can start making me cringe. And though I feel the lead male was supposed to come off as manly, he often felt like he was just being completely insensitive and disrespectful. Maybe that is what she likes about him? I found myself often feeling like he needs to get lost whenever he made advances. I guess it goes to show that the main difference between a creep and being “sweet” is how handsome the guy is. Overall, I liked parts of the anime and some episodes the lead characters were enjoyable. But I feel like this anime was carried by the support characters. It is great that it is raising deaf awareness and it was fun seeing and learning some Japanese Sign Language, I just wish it would have been done better.

A beautiful light-hearted cozy feel-good romance anime with a warm atmosphere and relatable characters. Story 8/10 The story itself isn’t anything crazy or out of the ordinary. It’s rather simple yet beautiful which really proves a good story doesn’t always need to be extraordinary or anything special but it’s a story with a heart. It follows university student Yuki who has a hearing disability since birth and then she meets another student Itsuomi and they fall in love. I’m not sure if it’s a hundred percent accurate when it comes to representation of those with a hearing disability but for me personally I found it interestingto see Yuki’s world (from her POV) and the people around her interacting with her. Both main characters have a very different perspective of the world but as they meet and get to know each others lives and world better, it really proves it’s not necessarily a bad thing to explore a new perspective. The story didn’t have many unnecessary misunderstandings or communication difficulties (despite the premise, which is an interesting take but just goes to show you can write a romance without adding unnecessary drama). And the parts where they maybe lacked communication were made up by both main characters trying their best to do better and improve together in their relationship. It was very relaxing without getting boring or repetitive (which is usually the case with many slice of life animes). It was really refreshing to watch. This anime always managed to make me feel warm and calm. The only things that I kind of wish would have been handled better was the fact that Yuki’s family didn’t use sign language with her which seems not unrealistic but very unlikely to me (even though I guess it’s hard to animate, the few times they interacted with another made it feel more strange to me) and the fact they focused so much on one character I didn’t particularly like and I wish they would have spend more time on the main couple or some of the supporting characters instead. This story could survived well without this in my opinion. Other than that it’s well-written. Characters 8.5/10 Same as with the plot the characters weren’t too out of the ordinary. Yuki has a very sweet and kind personality. She maybe come off as naive sometimes but I feel like it’s due to her environment and many people worrying about her. Which in itself isn’t wrong but I like the fact Itsuomi helps her to see there’s more to explore in this world and that she also starts to develop her own dreams. She might be a common female main character regarding her personality but I personally don’t mind. She’s very positive despite her difficulties and she doesn’t let them stop her from enjoying life, making new friends and experiences (which is refreshing and motivating). Especially once she meets Itsuomi. In the beginning I was skeptical about him but once you get to know him a little better you start to realize it’s simply because he grew up in a different environment and was more exposed to other cultures compared to Yuki or even some of his friends. He likes to travel and to learn other languages (I liked that aspect too. Sometimes the bits of German they threw in came out of nowhere but I liked it). Both of these characters work so well together because they are different yet they complement and bring out the best in each other. Once you know Itsuomi better you see that he is such a green flag and he and Yuki are a perfect match who can bring out the best in each other. I’m also very fond of most of the supporting characters which have also interesting backgrounds and interactions. For example I absolutely adore Yuki’s best friend Rin who supports her and her relationship with Itsu from the very beginning. I also shipped her very hard with Kyoya (Itsu’s cousin) and I would have loved to see more of them. And while I get to see why they even showed the perspective of Itsu’s childhood friends Shin and Ema I’m not particularly fond of Ema but it looks like overall she seems to have some kind of character development (which I always appreciate). The one character I just can’t bring myself to like is Oushi – Yuki’s childhood friend. Not necessarily because he is a tsundere or I can’t understand his feelings (I kind of understand him better than most other characters) but it’s the exact reason why I can’t bring myself to like him or any of his actions. He’s just immature. I get that he did many things out of concern for Yuki. But it doesn’t make it right or justifies how he is overprotective and even overbearing when it comes to Yuki. Like he is too afraid of Yuki getting out into the world that I feel like if it was up to him he wouldn’t let her and I feel like that’s the huge difference between Itsu and him who is way more mature and even tried to become friends with him. In my opinion the focus was a little too much on Oushi at times and it seemed like they tried so hard to force us to like him that I ended up disliking him even more (because I don’t like when writers to that in either direction). Of course I still hope he can grow up and become more mature. But sorry, until the every end I don’t like him. Animation 10/10 Honestly as much as I’ve heard criticism about the animation of this series I have to disagree because for me it’s among the most beautiful aspects of this beautiful anime. The simple story mixed with enjoyable characters is nice but combine it with a cozy atmosphere and nice animation and the results will be truly beautiful. Just add some feel-good music and it’s perfect. To me the aesthetics is what makes this anime so unique and I wish we had more of this kind. The love for detail in animation, background – even during important scenes - is truly an aspect fit for a masterpiece. Overall 9/10 Since I had never heard of this anime before I went in with zero expectations, thinking I would get bored quickly or it would be something nice for in-between. But I was positively surprised about how much I really enjoyed every single episode and the journey of these characters – which was simple yet beautifully depicted. Unfortunately I doubt there will be another season although I would wish to see more – how the story continues. Because this unique animation just makes you feel warm and cozy (and I know, I said this like 10 times in my review already). Don’t expect it to be a story that has never been told. It’s very simple but for me that’s where the beauty of it lies. I can recommend this anime to everyone who enjoys romance that make you feel good and even makes you feel invested.