Yubisaki to Renren

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.

Communication is one of the most important skills we can develop in life. Being able to convey our feelings to others and truly understand where they’re coming from is crucial. That requires a mutual language, though. So when a series like Yubisaki to Renren comes around and deals with the issue of a deaf person handling every day life and going outside her comfort zone to communicate with a love interest, it’s a no brainer I’m going to be interested. While it’s not without its flaws, it’s definitely peak shoujo and does handle adult relationships well. Like I said, Yubiren isn’t perfect. If you’re expecting thebest possible deaf representation, this probably isn’t for you. It does play heavily into shoujo tropes. I.e loner girl meets extremely hot and popular guy, falls in love instantly and gets together, etc. I also don’t think Yuuki’s disability is explored enough, at least not in this one season introduction to the story. Like most adaptations, I’m sure it’s touched on later in the manga, but for what we got here I found it a little weak. Bullying isn’t an issue like Koe no Katachi either, so Yuuki’s main conflict is really the fact she hasn’t gone outside of her comfort zone and been forced to develop at all. She’s sort of sheltered by her friends and family who view her as this little girl needing to be protected still. That’s where Itsuomi, the male MC comes into play. In usual shoujo fashion, nice looking guy who has seemingly everything going for him, including a penchant for learning languages. As a polyglot and linguistics degree holder myself, I did love this bit of the story as it felt relatable. Itsuomi has a wide range of friends from various countries who he’s able to communicate with due to his multiple languages. When he meets Yuuki, someone who can’t hear, and who’s in a proverbial “world” that’s not been explored by him yet, he can’t help but want to challenge himself by learning sign language and connecting with her. Now for me, I thought this was really cute and cool use of language in an anime. The sense of community that is created by sharing a mutual language and being able to express yourself can’t be overstated. However, from an objective standpoint, the author kind of brushed through this segment. Like within 2 episodes Yuuki and Itsuomi are communicating effortlessly and her deafness is never really stressed. Like, yea she can’t hear, but with the way they communicate in the anime with texting and lip reading, it’s almost as if there’s no barrier at all. When your main selling point is a deaf girl finding love and growing.. yea, probably a good idea to focus on it more. Like I said, we do see a few struggles Yuuki faces. When going for a job interview for example, or how overprotective her family and friends can be whenever she goes outside alone, her extremely toxic and annoying childhood best friend. But for the most part it’s just a really cute and wholesome romance with two characters from different “worlds” it’s great in that capacity. The romance while progressing at breakneck speed, is satisfying and Itsuomi isn’t your typical anime love interest who’s flustered around girls. He says what he’s thinking and doesn’t hold back. He also treats Yuuki as an equal, enabling her independence and growth. While she’s been kept in a cage of sorts by her loved ones to this point, her relationship with Itsuomi is a coming out point for her and you can’t help but root for her. The other characters in the story have their own romantic connections and those ships are nice as well, in particular I loved the story behind Itsuomi’s high school friends. One other really cool thing is how real some of the dates feel. Like characters going on cotsco run dates together or camping trips instead of your usual anime teenage stuff felt a lot more relatable for me. The series really has a lot of potential, these types of shoujo manga don’t usually get second seasons, so I’ll just read the manga. But I can see the characters in this one going in interesting directions later down the line. It’s still been a relatively short period of time that the show takes place in, so who knows where it could go long term. But I’m optimistic! Production wise the show looks great. Ajia-do did honzuki so I had no doubts they’d do a nice job here and they really knocked it out of the park. The characters are so beautiful, the use of water colour painting to illustrate characters’ moods is cool as well! Just a solid job all around. This isn’t a show that’s going to make you like shoujo if you don’t already. It’s very much a shoujo series with extremely high production values, cute and likeable characters(except Oushi) and just a wholesome watch. If you’re a fan of Shoujosei romance already you’ll have a blast with this one. I know I did and I’m sad to see it end. Yubiren gets 9, out of 10.

People often compare this to A Silent Voice because both feature deaf characters. But honestly, they’re quite different. A Silent Voice is a heavy, emotional story about guilt, depression, and learning to appreciate life. A Sign of Affection is more about the day-to-day experiences of being deaf and how that affects relationships. It’s lighter and more focused on romance. What really makes A Sign of Affection stand out, especially in today’s shoujo anime, is how it avoids the usual clichés. Instead of having a cold, perfect male lead or a bunch of guys fighting over the girl, it focuses on real communication, especially through sign language.And yes, the character designs, especially those big lips, are hard to miss. The main story is a sweet romance. Yuki, who is deaf, meets a guy and slowly starts falling for him. Her hearing loss creates some challenges, but he genuinely tries to understand her. Their relationship grows naturally, not through love at first sight, but through real effort and honest feelings. Yuki also talks to her friends about her emotions, which makes her feel more real. The author, Suu Morishita-sensei, clearly put a lot of thought into showing deaf culture in a respectful way. The direction is also really smart, for example, the sound fading out in some scenes helps viewers feel what Yuki experiences. All in all, A Sign of Affection is a heartwarming and genuine love story. It’s great for anyone who wants to learn more about deafness or just wants a sweet romance. It’s already one of the best anime of the year and brings something fresh to the shoujo genre.

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.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Студия

Продюсеры

Темы