A Sign of Affection is rather trite shoujo fare that ends up suffering from many of the pitfalls the genre-demographic is known for while doing little to differentiate itself. Despite the characters being university aged, the show is still very much shoujo rather than josei with its storytelling and themes. Instead of any real examination of the characters like one would expect given they are all entering adulthood, it is still intent on idealising partners and relationships which at best leaves everything painfully shallow. The main gimmick, for lack of a more precise and polite term, of having a deaf viewpoint character does not amount to much. Although it is unreasonable to expect entertainment to have the same depth and advocacy as a non-fiction think piece, A Sign of Affection still feels inadequate since it gives only passing attention to other elements of the experience beyond sign language. Much of the show’s efforts are instead invested in appearances, mild juvenile drama and the fluff of the relationship. While this is pleasant enough to watch, there is still little in the way of connection or chemistry between the characters beyond looks and surface level gestures. It leaves little to sell this as a mature relationship or evoke a strong response in the audience. What is present quickly becomes saccharine and at times even jarring with how much of the framing appears more appropriate for early high schoolers. There are some dubious moments and dynamics between the characters, but those are more so the product of the usual idealisation of romance instead of anything genuinely egregious or distasteful. A Sign of Affection ends up lacking too much to be anything more than passable as a change of pace or first-time introduction to the genre, both of which are highly relative experiences that cannot be used to speak to its absolute quality.

While A Sign of Affection does not bill itself as a josei series, the setting and framing of the show by its text does necessarily set up the idea that it will be more mature about its approach to romance. If anything, it necessitates this since it is presenting itself as a grounded series, the believability of which then hinges even more on the relationships between characters reflecting something closer to reality. In this, the relationship the show attempts to present between Yuki and Itsuomi feels incredibly shallow, lacking the meaning or connection a more mature narrative usually strives for as the whole point of its existence. Much of the relationship between them is built upon gestures of physical affection like holding hands on being pat on the head, something that might understandably be awe-inspiring for younger teenagers but represents only a surface level attraction to older you get. Even if one does argue this is true to life, that there are many of such shallow relationships, it is simply not a compelling narrative to watch two people infatuated with each other because of their appearances while framing it as if it is something deeper. To be fair, Yuki’s naïve and sheltered outlook is believable given her disability drastically changing the experience she had growing up. Though this seems to merely be used as a justification for the very tired and poorly employed shoujo trope of having the male love interest take the initiative with everything for the benefit of a female protagonist. The attraction, even fantasy, of this dynamic is plain to see, and there is nothing necessarily wrong or off-putting about it. Yet A Sign of Affection does not do anything interesting with this or give it any additional depth or richness above what is found in most mediocre shoujo narratives.

Part of this is due to how heavily the show plays into this dynamic with a vast majority of the initiative being left with Itsuomi, which is then compounded by the narrative choosing to have him as a walking mystery box. While there is some merit to this characterisation and framing, with some other shows arguably giving too much away about their non-point of view characters too soon, it makes him almost utterly opaque to the audience. There is little understanding as to why Itsuomi has feelings for Yuki beyond her appearance, with even a grandiose declaration in the latter half of the season being ironically substanceless when one thinks about the contents of what was actually said. This is not to say there must be some “rational” justification for romantic feelings, but alternatively there is an almost complete lack of chemistry between Yuki and Itsuomi which demonstrates these feelings as some kind of innate connection. Much of this is done to play towards the fantasy of a mysterious guy swooping in to take the lead in the relationship combined with Yuki’s shy and passive character making everything feel stiff. There is a certain endearing and even sweet element to this, but it is still all surface level interactions that cannot be the convincing core of a relationship. If love is admiration, there is nothing much beyond looks until the very end where the show only then starts showing some basis of chemistry and emotional connection between them.

There is the incredibly nebulous implication that Itsuomi’s connection with language is what draws him to Yuki and that there is something more expressive and genuine about her precisely because she has to communicate so much non-verbally. Though this is frankly a viewer trying to assume a plausible and logical theme instead of a strong inference that A Sign of Affection sets up for itself. To the show’s credit, there is some intelligent use of cinematography and diegetic sound, or in this case the lack there of, to demonstrate how different her perspective is. But most of these are the obvious means of trying to convey deafness to a viewer instead of any truly striking moments. The narrative elements are also not particularly graceful with Itsuomi polyglot talents feeling more like character trivia to make him more appealing and a justification for him being able to pick up sign language quickly. This is part of a larger pattern of frequently mentioning pieces of character information that could amount to something more complex but is then never tying any of it together. It leaves a lot of these instances feeling like they are one note attempts at characterisation that clumsily serve no additional or deeper purposes. There is little that intentionally hints towards Itsuomi’s love or affinity for language stemming from his desire to communicate or understand someone, and correspondingly there is little indication that Yuki yearns to be understood. The show is ripe for these connections, but for most of it feels like the viewer filling in massive blanks using genre expectations for the benefit of the show instead of being provided the means to see some kind of deeper depth or potential. The show eventually does present a surface level summary of this idea, but it is treated as a capstone of sorts that is literally told to the viewer instead of demonstrated these past twelve episodes. This ends up feeling much more like a retroactive justification than something that can be seen prior to this in smaller actions that built up to the moment. It is convincing enough when paired with the eventual semblance of chemistry at the very end of the season, but it feels more engineered than expressed by the writers.

In fact, all this even prompts this bizarre idea in the viewer to view Itsuomi with suspicion given how little is known about him and how surface level his attraction seems to be. While no show should reveal everything about their characters the moment they are introduced, the extent of mystery and opaqueness around Itsuomi feels inappropriate since it is normally used as a tool to build and highlight tension around the unknowns of the character. With the only thing known about Itsuomi being that he is a polyglot globetrotter, an astute viewer wonders if he is just using Yuki as a means to learn sign language given the show mentions how difficult it is to retain proficiency in a language without someone to speak to. The tone and framing of the show as a feel-good, idealistic shoujo romance end up clashing heavily with the what the actual text relays to the audience. Again, this could ironically be something the show might have unwittingly set up with how many of its more thematic ideas just exist in isolation from each other. Yet it still raises the issue how suspect a lot of this would appear if the viewer were not privy to Yuki’s perspective and thoughts.

This mismatch is unfortunately common in a lot of media, shoujo in particular, that idealises relationships while trying to extract drama from a conflict. Many of these dramatic gestures, and occasional petty antagonism when the love triangle is involved, often end up coming off as rather dubious when the framing and veneer of the show is peeled back. This is most apparent in episode 4 where Itsuomi and Oushi have their first confrontation. Much can be said about the trite and somewhat petulant characterisation of Oushi, which does not do the show any favours either since it is a transparent attempt to set up an obvious loser in the love triangle. However, despite the show framing him as the immature, inferior choice who has squandered his relationship with Yuki, it also tells the viewer directly that he is a known quantity who is familiar with her and does care about her wellbeing. While Oushi’s behaviour and suspicions about Itsuomi are framed as prejudice, petty jealousy or at worst being a tiny bit possessive, the actual text shows him to have rather justified suspicions. In their first confrontation of sorts, Itsuomi prevents Yuki from reading Oushi’s lips during their brief argument. Although we are told she is not alarmed by this and is internally comfortable around Itsuomi’s presence despite her stiff outward appearance, one cannot help but be astounded by how this would look from anyone else’s perspective. Itsuomi would appear as if he is attempting to isolate Yuki from someone she knows in a rather sinister manner by using his physical presence. It’s certainly not the same as strong arming someone, but it is still depriving her of the knowledge of Oushi’s points and letting her decide for herself. This is somehow worse than having a trite and juvenile argument breakout over Yuki since at least that cheap display of drama would have her aware of what was happening. Though it was not as if the rest of the show lends much importance to her agency either, framing talking like she is not present or Itsuomi being her spokesperson as nothing to be perturbed about. While likely none of this was the intent of the writer since later episodes have unambiguously affectionate moments between Yuki and Itsuomi, this is an extremely blatant example of the show’s framing not matching its contents. It makes one wonder how much of A Sign of Affection is being propped up by being framed from Yuki’s perspective and giving the viewer access to her thoughts. It gives the impression that if this were told from a male perspective like Itsuomi, it would come off much less favourably with many actions appearing presumptuous, ignoring Yuki’s agency or opinions, or even as petty bravado in the few confrontations between men the show has.

It did not necessarily have to be this way since the show sets up a reasonable premise and inciting incident for Yuki’s infatuation with Itsuomi. In a world where most people are callous about the difficulties faced by the disabled, it is easy to see how someone more idealistic like Yuki would be deeply moved by Itsuomi’s act of kindness. The problem is then that the series does very little to explore anything about the experience of being deaf or any of the challenges or unique experiences of being in a relationship where one person has a disability. There is only lip service paid to some of these elements like the challenge and even danger of lacking situational awareness due to being deaf, or how difficult it makes it to find employment. Most of the time these seem to amount to almost a checklist of sorts, quickly brushed aside to return focus to the romance instead of being used to explore anything about a core part of this show’s premise. And at worst, they feel like an excuse to have Itsuomi show his care and concern for Yuki by gallantly pulling her away from danger. Again, the idea or fantasy of this scenario is understandable and there is nothing inherently wrong with it, but it cannot help but feel a bit cheap with how little effort is placed into examining anything else around being deaf. It is certainly unreasonable to expect the show to be some kind of primer on the experiences of the deaf, but it has reached the point where it could be argued that Yuki’s deafness is a mere accessory or an aesthetic to a trite love story, hardly a praiseworthy impression to make.

Ironically, the show does set up an interesting opportunity to explore its premise, just with a character it seems to have no interest in beyond being drama fodder, Oushi. A Sign of Affection does a surprisingly good job of building up the complexity in his character despite it being barebones with every other member of the supporting cast. The show demonstrates an uncharacteristic level of subtlety when it points out that beneath his prickly and petulant behaviour towards Yuki, he did learn sign language to communicate with her. The show later complicates this further by giving the viewer some insight into his reluctance to simply be nice to Yuki in that he does not want to give the impression he is doing it out of pity or pulling his punches so to speak because she has a disability. This even has the potential to make the shoujo dynamic of a shy and reserved protagonist interesting since it would introduce another layer of complication to a relationship with a disabled person. While a more fiery character might see through the rough exterior and come to appreciate being treated “normally”, it raises the question of how a gentle character responds to this and if Oushi might be doing it more for himself and what he views as patronising instead of what Yuki as an individual would like to see from him. This all sounds quite compelling and involves actually exploring ideas around disability and having it be a major part of a relationship, yet the show is far from realising this. Like many other shoujo series, it has the problem of the losing leg of the love triangle being the most compelling character but having the least narrative presence. Often because they are the only one with flaws that could give them any depth and are placed in the position of most conflict which inherently gives them the most interesting choices to make. Even if it does eventually elaborate on this exact idea, it speaks more a misguided mentality of saving “the good stuff” for later when it should put its best foot forward and further problematise its ideas from there. Instead, what we have now is A Sign of Affection relying heavily on fluff and the human mystery box of Itsuomi. Ultimately, all this will be too little too late with how much the show currently hinges on a surface level relationship, taking a whole season to set up what should have been its baseline themes and dynamics.

Overall, A Sign of Affection has the barest inkling of interesting ideas while being almost an overwhelmingly trite shoujo narrative. It does little to justify its premise of having a deaf protagonist, though it is certainly not to the point of being egregious, harmful or even fetishistic like some detractors have alleged. Most of the shortcomings stem from issues that can be found throughout shoujo such as having a passive protagonist instead of something unique to having a deaf character. Though what is a problem particular to this show is that despite the grounded and mature image it presents with its university aged cast, it is still intent of being more parts idealising or fantasizing instead of a real yet sanguine look at relationships. With little in the way of connection or chemistry in our lead’s relationship, and little exploration into the premise of a deaf character, it is hard to give this show more than a 5 out of 10. It is still an endearing enough watch, and it might show some depth eventually, but it is simply lacking too much to be considered anything more than a mediocre shoujo entry. None of that is meant to disparage shoujo but is more so an indication of how far the titans of the genre have surpassed this level of storytelling.