This winter anime season has been quite busy – “Solo Leveling” finally received an anime adaptation, “Matthew” and “Lucky Boy” both got their second seasons, and “Ao no Exorcist” finally got its third season. And of course the excellent Taste of the Dungeon . Many of them, as well as others I haven’t mentioned, are very action-packed and generally geared toward the teenage crowd. I feel like I’m pretty familiar with the field these days, but I’m always trying to branch out more, especially into the shojo realm, which is often undervalued in the broader discussion about Western anime.I’m slowly getting there, with titles like Revolutionary Girl Utena already under my belt, but I’ve been enjoying something fresh lately, which luckily is excellent and very cheesy signs of love Came to pick me up.
Symbol of Love follows some very classic romance tropes from the get-go; there’s a cute encounter on public transportation, a crush begins to form, and there’s a real spark in the air that you’d normally expect from the genre. What makes the show unique is that the main character, Yuki Ito, is hearing-impaired and she basically cannot hear anything. She has been deaf since birth, and since sign language is not widely used, her primary means of communication is through text messaging and lip-reading.
Symbol of Love | Official Trailer
For most of her life, she was isolated from the rest of the world due to her hearing impairment, as few people made the effort to enter her world; early episodes even revealed that her own mother never bothered to learn sign language. Enter Nagigoomi, a tall, white-haired, pretty boy who happens to speak multiple languages. He also doesn’t speak sign language, but from the first time the two met, he made an effort to communicate clearly with her, slowing down his speech so Yuki could more easily read his lips.
It’s all very cute and, yes, as mentioned, very cheesy. Almost from the first episode, she wonders if she’s in love with him, and her obsession develops at breakneck speed. The dialogue is also a bit contrived and melodramatic at times, but that doesn’t hurt any of the characters. Everyone is very well defined early on, and even though the romance may be a little mushy, it doesn’t become unbelievable.
But what makes the show a must-see, even for just a few episodes, is the way it presents the experience of being hearing-impaired. The second episode introduces one of Yuki’s childhood friends, Oshi Ashioki, who speaks sign language and apparently learned it for her. Sounds good so far, but it turns out he’s just a jerk, and interestingly enough, this is conveyed not only through his actions, but also through the way he gestures.
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The way he moves his arms and hands feels aggressive and condescending, especially compared to the very limited knowledge of sign language that his lover Ichen has. While the animation isn’t anything revolutionary, it’s just impressive character work, and you can understand a lot of the different dynamics without anyone speaking at all.
I do understand that romance isn’t a genre for everyone (although I think you’d be making a mistake if you gave up on any one genre entirely), but I think if you call yourself an anime fan, this seems like a special A good choice is first and foremost a girl. It’s an approachable anime, simply because the genre isn’t particularly confrontational, and centers on a hearing-impaired protagonist, something we rarely see in the medium as a whole, easily making it one of the best of the year. One of the important animations – even though it’s still only January.
If I managed to convince you to check out A Sign of Affection, and you subscribe to Crunchyroll, the good news is, it’s streaming there! If you get a hernia from screaming with joy, don’t blame me.
