First Look: Winter 2024 Anime Overview: A Sign of Affection (Patreon)

Premise: Yuki has been deaf since birth, and now she's finally able to spread her wings a little as she attends college. She meets a young man named Itsuomi, a world traveller who speaks several languages. Romantic sparks quickly fly between the two as Itsuomi learns sign language from Yuki, but the pairs childhood friends are not happy about that..

A Sign of Affection is shoujo romance at its sweetest, with soft colors, gentle blushes, tender moments, and plenty of warm fuzzies. The animation is often beautiful and it immerses you in Yuki's world.

At first I was a little worried that Yuki didn't seem to have much interiority, and that Itsuomi might end up being a pushy love interest. A comment from a HOH viewer for Anifem had some valid criticism of how Yuki's disability was presented in the first episode, pointing out how deaf people tend to be presented as sweet ingenues in anime among many more pertinent concerns. However, as the series went on, the show did try to address a few of the concerns bought up, though whether it did that well is up to you. Yuki explained why she didn't often use her voice, we see Yuki has some hoh friends from school, she discusses how her parents don't use sign, and so on. (And to be completely fair about the "sweet ingenue" thing, that is the classic shoujo protagonist).

Yuki is still a little bit of a shy, gentle enigma despite being the protagonist, but that seems to be part of the point. Itsuomi wants to "see the world through her eyes", but Yuki is slow to share those parts of herself. We learn tidbits of information about her along with Itsuomi, even though we're seeing her perspective.

Some of Itsuomi's behavior initially concerned me-- there was an infuriating moment when he intentionally covered Yuki's eyes so she couldn't see what he was saying to his "rival" for her affections, which just strikes me as a really shitty thing to do. But not only does he start to check his behavior, it becomes clear that communication in a relationship is the core theme of the show. The show is very focused on the pair learning each other's boundaries and navigating that. Itsuomi is really concerned with communication and consent, and he checks in with Yuki about what it's okay for him to do a lot, and she does that in return. He respects Yuki and her wants and needs, and often openly discusses them and comes up with ways to make her feel more comfortable. An example is how Itsuomi comes up with a handsign for when he wants to kiss her, because he doesn't want to startle her and wants to give her a chance to say no.

It's definitely refreshing to see in a romance, and honestly very interesting to see such an in-depth focus on an often overlooked aspect of a relationship. ASOF also seems to go out of it's way to avoid a lot of cliche and handle things in a mature, nuanced way. The emphasis on communication even extends to the jealous childhood friends, and the way Itsuomi figures out how to handle his "rival" is both thoughtful and funny. (By the way, said rival childhood friend infantilizes Yuki in a pretty ableist way, but the show portrays him as in the wrong for this).

Above all, a Sign of Affection immerses you in the warm feelings of a first love, and in a romance that gives one comfort and peace. Itsuomi is genuinely charming, and it's great to see Yuki discover these new feelings.

What's more, the creators did try to be careful to portray Yuki's perspective and had an hoh person on their team, and you can see the cool work the consultant Yuki Miyazaki, the animators, and mangaka put into the story here.

So if you love sweet fluffy romance, stories about communications, and/or are interested in stories that center a disabled protagonist, I'd wholeheartedly reccomend you check this out. It's soothing, it's heartwarming, and it's often beautiful.