Warning: Spoilers for A Sign of Affection episode #6Crunchyroll‘s new romance series, A Sign of Affection, just became a top contender for greatest love confession of all time in anime. The reason is how flawlessly the anime portrays the dynamic between deaf and non-deaf lovers, letting viewers can experience a ubiquitous romantic moment in a new way.
An adaption of the original manga by suu Morishita, A Sign of Affection episode #6 capitalizes on the extra lengths at which those who can hear must go to fully communicate with those who can’t when they have to confess their feelings.
The anime also portrays a form of deafness that’s normally conveyed or understood as a limitation in a way that illustrates the loved person’s happiness even better. All of these incredible dynamics are then amplified by how these two characters react to each of their attempts.
A Sign of Affection‘s Confession Can’t Be Fully Replicated By Any Other Series
Produced by Ajia-do Animation Works, based on the manga by suu Morishita
The multilingual Itsuomi Nagi confesses to his deaf love interest Yuki Itose in episode #6. What initially stands out is how he switches from writing on a board, which he had been using to communicate with her up until now, to sign language, for his confession. The fact that he chooses to confess using a form of communication that he had to learn on his own to fully enter Yuki’s world underscores just how seriously he is taking that moment. He is making the additional effort for someone who has always had to make accommodations for the world to more effectively convey his intentions that he will go above and beyond for her.
The other powerful moment is when Yuki becomes so overjoyed that she literally can’t read Itsuomi’s lips anymore when he switches to mouthing his words slowly to answer her questions about why he wants to be with her. Portraying a character’s happiness at being confessed to by the one they secretly loved isn’t difficult to illustrate in the conventional sense, which is proven by how well the anime captures Yuki’s expressions. However, having that happiness literally blind her serves as another compelling way to portray a moment where someone is so overwhelmed by happiness that they literally can’t focus on anything else.
Another heartwarming reinterpretation of a well-understood moment occurs when Yuki wonders if Itsuomi understands that what he’s signing is a gesture to convey that he wants to go out with her. Most people can find themselves in a state of shock when someone they love is confessing to them and often wonder if that person knows the implications of what they’re saying. This is essentially what Yuki is experiencing except the anime’s direction gives it a much more literal meaning since Itsuomi has just learned sign language recently.
This scene isn’t the first instance where A Sign of Affection has used the dynamics of deaf and non-deaf lovers to reinterpret well-known romance tropes. In fact, Itsuomi misses the moment when Yuki confesses to him earlier in the same episode because of their unique complications. Although mangaka suu Morishita has proven in recent interviews that they put in a great deal of research to make their work as accurate as possible, the anime adaptation of A Sign of Affection is so effective not just because it’s realistic, but due to the fact that it beautifully uses these accurate interactions to create absolutely stunning metaphors that few anime can replicate.
A Sign of Affection is available on Crunchyroll
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