I started this anime by recommendations praising its mature romance and thoughtful inclusivity. Sadly, I was bamboozled again by the weebs who rationalized their taste. Neither of those is true if you see through the lines. The anime is just a typical escapist romance written for teenagers transplanted into another setting, and the framing of deafness is patronizing because of the trad tropes. To explain my criticism, I will use a chapter from another manga involving a deaf main character.
Hidamari ga Kikoeru is a BL that explores the difficulties of being a hot guy with hearing difficulties, from solitude to expectations, from infantilization to romanticization. ... During the third chapter, a girl approaches one of the leads and talks about a shojo romance of a girl enamored with a guy who lost his hearing and gained his heart by purely acknowledging him. The point of this interchange was to point out how a romance portrays disabled people as lesser, as individuals with lower standards, as aliens, perpetuating harmful notions such as savior complexes and the misguided belief that deaf people can be won over by just being superficially seen. If the point isn't clear, A Sign of Affection exemplifies this narrative pitfall.
A Sign of Affection is a fantasy tailored for an audience seeking escapism through the heroine, and there is nothing wrong with that. It aims at a vicarious experience through Yuki, portraying her as a blank slate for the viewer. Her demeanor mimics one-to-one socially struggling introverts, burdened by an inability to express themselves, from the corny, flowery monologues straight from BookTok to the awkward body language. However, her deafness conveniently justifies these traits, reframing her as an empowered character rather than a social outcast. And herein lies my issue with the series. Straying from this intended illusion will quickly expose this as an ableist, dull portrayal through Yuki's archetype.
Yuki's archetype is uncomplicated-- she's shy, kawai, and deaf, embodying innocence and purity, uncontroversial and wholesome. Her primary role is entangling herself with an ikemen, as you can expect from a shojo. The problem is that her character lacks human depth. She is a sheltered girl without determination, orbiting entirely around the male lead. The absence of depth is why not projecting yourself and not fixating on the winning ikemen makes the experience miserable and dull. There is minimal substance to appreciate from an alternative viewpoint, as her life was constrained by her deafness, limiting her freedom and meaningful humanlike progression. Yuki's progression started when Itsuomi appeared because this adheres to an ongoing trad fantasy.
Don't believe me? Consider her inner monologue response to Itsuomi sharing pictures of his trip to South Asia. "Wow, I had never heard of such a place. I had no idea that this existed. Itsuomi, what is this place?." Remember, Yuki is 19 years old. She uses social media daily. She cares about opening her understanding of the world. You can write this same dialogue without the infantilization (i.e. "I always wanted to be somewhere like that. I want to explore the world like you. I want to explore the world with you"). Nonetheless, they wrote her as completely unaware of something as trivial as geography despite caring about it since she is inexperienced, pure, and innocent, which are prime trad tropes embedded in the narrative.
Going back to Hidamari ga Kikoeru, this is why I honestly believe that this anime is a piece of shit. The main character is ridiculously infantilized, and if you see this from a third perspective, the anime essentially suggests that a deaf person has the mental age of a child. She has absolutely zero agency because, if it isn't evident, the point of the fantasy is to give her as little agency as possible.
Continuing with the male lead, I think that criticizing the rapist ikemen is rapist ikemen is pointless. We sign up for this. However, as I said with Yuki, this anime is unenjoyable unless you follow the designed intent of falling for him. Why? Because his whole personality is backpacking, flirting with a girl who acts twelve, and learning sign language. There is nothing else going on. The author outlines a healthy relationship, persuades the audience that he is fulfilling so through Yuki's delulu monologues, and then expects us to follow through. Again, we are supposed to live through Yuki for the sake of caring about his background. Itsuomi is such a bland character that it needs Oushi, a villainous childhood friend, to justify his existence.
The main problem for me is simple. A Sign of Affection fails to encapsulate the essence of a compelling romance because it simply dwells on escapism. An engaging romance has a straightforward formula. It needs tension, barriers, and a longing for intimacy built over time. These factors hinge on proper human personalities. A Sign of Affection relies on a superficial approach, where the connection between characters solely leans on the premise. A character who travels wants an isolated pure girl, and an isolated pure girl wants a character who backpacks. That is the extent of the build-up. Successful romances thrive on the payoff from the characters overcoming their struggles, proving to the audience that they deserve each other because of who they are. The only conflict of this series is that the FL is deaf, and the ML is a sussy womanizer, and the only traits of the characters are their outlining.
This anime would be worth a shot for a tourist if it twists all of these tropes and makes a show where the creepy rapey guy turns out to be a creepy rapey guy who emotionally extorts Yuki, isolates her from her friends, and gets a Viper-like twist where he has a third-world sex slave in his house that he kidnapped on one of his passport bro adventures. Or maybe go through a route acknowledging that Itsuomi is a creep and reform the female lead into an independent human being, if the former sounds rough. However, as it stands, this is just a fantasy, which would be fine if it didn't pretend to be more than two dolls for the audience.
4 out of 10 because this has some good directional decisions but dreadful writing and characters with the personality of a rock. I guess 8 out of 10 if you are part of the target audience.
As a footnote, for anyone who thinks that I'm bullshitting through. When you see someone react to this anime, the most probable reaction will be, "You go girl" or "She is so cute, innit?." The audience infantilizes her condition. Shouko from A Silent Voice shows ten times more maturity, and she is a traumatized high school student.
Alternative Titles Japanese: ゆびさきと恋々 Information Type: TV Episodes: 12 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Jan 6, 2024 to Mar 23, 2024 Premiered: Winter 2024 Broadcast: Saturdays at 22:30 (JST) Producers: Mainichi Broadcasting System, Kodansha, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan, Tokyo MX, Crunchyroll, TO Books, Myrica Music, NetEase Licensors: None found, add some Studios: Ajia-do Source: Manga Genre: Romance Theme: Adult Cast Demographic: Shoujo Duration: 23 min. per ep. Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older Statistics Score: 8.271 (scored by 75,049 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #2902 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #1206 Members: 198,857 Favorites: 2,375 Available AtResources | ReviewsJan 20, 2024 I started this anime by recommendations praising its mature romance and thoughtful inclusivity. Sadly, I was bamboozled again by the weebs who rationalized their taste. Neither of those is true if you see through the lines. The anime is just a typical escapist romance written for teenagers transplanted into another setting, and the framing of deafness is patronizing because of the trad tropes. To explain my criticism, I will use a chapter from another manga involving a deaf main character. Hidamari ga Kikoeru is a BL that explores the difficulties of being a hot guy with hearing difficulties, from solitude to expectations, from infantilization to romanticization. ... Jan 29, 2024 TL;DR: Wasted Premise, Disability used just to attract viewers, lack of research from the author's side, cheap/old Shoujo plot with Blue Eyed ML and normie Childhood Friend/Loser guy, boring MC who is 19 but acts like a teenager. Well, I guess the problem with me was that I expected too much from the show after reading the synopsis. I thought that this is going to be like "A Silent Voice" but a mature version (as the protagonists are college students), but what I got was an adult girl acting like a 11 year old who got her first crush. Well where do we start, let's go ... Jan 20, 2024 So, to start this review. I have never written a review so far but i just had to write one for "A sign of affection" i sit infront of my screen n smile like a lil girl every episode. I am so deeply in love with the characters and obsessed with them to a point where i had to instantly buy the manga. I literally cant comprehend the amount of love n thought thats put into it. The emotions are so well portraid and also Yukis world n how it changes when its focused on others. Its super cute and also funny. I have to ... Jan 28, 2024 Let’s get it out of the way: Itsuomi is a creep. There I said it. Yes the guy who tells a deaf girl “let me in your world” after merely meeting a few times briefly. If this isn’t the definition of a sleazebag or some sort of swindling scheme then I don’t know what is. In fact this anime would be more interesting if Itsuomi actually turns out to be a predator as a warning shot for naive girls falling prey to some random douche they met on the train. Nothing about their encounter smells organic. This is the problem with shoujo in general, where the ... Feb 23, 2024 The people who are complaining about this anime just like to destroy good things for other people. It's an adorable slice of life/ romance amine. Not everything needs to be politically correct, insightful or educational. Slice of life is exactly that, it's life. So a girl crushing over a guy is relatable and realistic. It's a cute story and we don't need a detailed back story about her overcoming diversity or teaching us an indepth course on sign language to enjoy. Let people enjoy the little things in life. If it's not for you, thats fine. But don't try to break it down by over ... Mar 23, 2024 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 of ... Mar 23, 2024 Fans of the anime A Silent Voice, which also explores deaf themes frequently draw comparisons between this show and it. I have to admit that these two shows are very different even though. While A Silent Voice delves into the depths of depression and the journey towards appreciating lifes beauty, A Sign of Affection focuses primarily on the experience of being deaf albeit with less thematic complexity A Sign of Affection stands out from the shoujo anime genre which is hard to find these days by straying from the clichés. This series adopts a novel approach by emphasizing the value of authentic communication especially through ... Feb 12, 2024 I'm in love with the anime. The direction makes a difference, and if there's an anime where you can notice that, it's this one. The animation is beautiful; Yuki's purity calls for pastel tones, brightness, calmness, and lightness, and all of this the anime's environment conveys in a sublime way. But it's not in the character design, photography, or even animation that captures my enthusiasm; it's in the direction and sound design. The scene on the subway/train was so delicate and careful in depicting, by comparison, the world of listeners and non-listeners that leaves anyone moved. In a story where small gestures are of immense ... Mar 3, 2024 What even is this anime? A story about a deaf girl who, out of nowhere, falls in love with some random hot guy she met at the bus? The whole plot is a mess. By episode 2, she's already declaring love. Where's the buildup? And her love interest? He's a weirdo. "Let me into your world"? Seriously? It feels like this anime just throws romance in without any rhyme or reason. I'd call it unhinged, the way they drop romance out of thin air. Why exactly does she love this dude, and why does he love her? Confidence is one thing, but the main love ... Feb 12, 2024 Im not a big fan of shoujo anime's, but I did enjoy all the ones I watched like maid sama. But this show is one I didn’t enjoy. The fact that there was no character development between the mc and blue eye guy was a huge factor on my negative score. Shes 19, pretty and has never had a crush before. Show me some backstory on why she has never been in love. But….. after meeting the main guy at a bus. She falls for him. Then in a blink of an eye they both fall in love with eachother without explaining why. I know ... Mar 24, 2024 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 is ... Mar 6, 2024 A Sign of Affection is an authentic, realistic, slice of life love story. If you’re looking for classic shojo tropes or big fanfare like gestures, this anime is not for you. This anime is a story of a fairly ordinary girl falling in love with a fairly ordinary boy. They meet in an ordinary way. They flirt, they develop crushes, they date. All in all, a pretty standard story. And that is what makes it so good: it’s an ordinary story done fantastically and realistically well. The story is relatable, it’s cute, and it will have you kicking your feet and smiling over every day ... Feb 27, 2024 This show is written by 16 year olds for 13 year olds. All the characters have the depth of a puddle. A young naive deaf girl meets a 6'2" guy who is bold and makes moves that would be considered harassment if he wasn't a hot 6'2" guy. The girls mental age is that of a 6 year old. Her dialogue is best summed up by,"Is the world really big?" The only things that come out her mouth are that of a naive and ignorant child, not that of a university student who has completed basic grade school. The setting is in a university and the ... Mar 3, 2024 I don't know why I keep doing this. I don't know why I keep doing this. I don't know why I keep fucking doing this but every single damn time I still fucking put up with this shit even though I know I'm gonna hate it. I knew it would suck, I knew I would be wasting hours of my life I could spend watching something I actually enjoy, I knew that I have so many better shows both on in my backlog. Ok, biggest issue, main problem that really pissed me off with every damn MINUTE that passes is Yuki, she is so generic. I ... Feb 17, 2024 So, I have been watching this anime and waiting for the time the last episode Aires then i could write a review about it. But i can't wait anymore... Every single episode made me smile like I did back when i was a child. I would write everything in detail but i realized that there is not much to explain in detail. I just want to be simple: the best aspect is having your weekly serotonin. I don't know if I just felt like this. But I can't wait for the next episode to come every week... I definitely recommend this anime. Mar 24, 2024 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 interesting ... Feb 3, 2024 everything happened so quickly for me while watching the first episode. we are dragged into the plot before we even get to know the characters. first of all, yuki is a college student who was born deaf. i wanted to see a better reflection of someone who has been deaf since a child and has had to live in a ableist society... like it would've been nice to see who yuki was, her individuality, and her struggles growing up. very difficult to understand that yuki is a university student if they had not shown the university at times,i would have thought that yuki was in ... Feb 6, 2024 From its endearing little details to heartwarming moments, this anime captures beauty in simplicity. Each scene is a visual delight, tempting you to immortalize it as your wallpaper. While some critics argue that the art is exceptional but the story progresses too swiftly, I find the pacing just right. It's essential to note that this adaptation stems from a mostly JOSEI Manga, presenting a slice-of-life narrative with a focus on genuine romance. The limited 12 episodes align with this intent, avoiding unnecessary drama or meandering plotlines. Currently at episode 5, I remain steadfast in my appreciation for this anime, having anticipated its release long before it ... Jan 20, 2024 This anime stands out as a truly romantic piece, skillfully capturing the perspective of its deaf protagonist through a lovely combination of visual elements and sound. I think there is such a masterful use of color, turning it into a language that speaks volumes on its own. Conveying emotions, moods, and nuances, which essentially transcends the need for spoken words. Very fitting. Whilst the main character is deaf - I like how this story is not focused on that aspect. It's considered but it does not make it the sole point. We do witness Yuki's story through her lens, and I appreciate the intricate details of ... Jan 27, 2024 The main pairing lacks substance. Dare I say the 'B' word? Itsuomi bores me. He doesn't really have a personality other than the linguistic thing he has going on. He treats Yuki like she's a kid, which is evident in the scene in episode four where he covers her eyes so she can't see what Oushi is saying. In my opinion (I'm going to get shat on for this because people hate him), there is more potential between Oushi and Yuki. They have the whole childhood friends thing down, and I would prefer for that to be explored over Yuki and Itsuomi. When I think ... |