A Sign of Affection - Romance through Sign Language, it's such a (cue the Sign for sweet) feeling of affection.
What's the best way to show the affection of these 3 words: "I Love You"? Countless ideas have been shown time and time again about how love breaks boundaries, and one of them is not through words, but through expressions of the hands, called sign language. This is especially for people who were born deaf, and even people like them are worth loving, as stated by the closest example of which is Fumetsu no Anata e a.k.a To Your Eternity female mangaka Yoshitoki Ooima's Koe no Katachi a.k.a A Silent Voice (which KyoAni's 2016 movie was and still is a masterpiece even to this day). This would be the last we'd hear of the sign language ability, until mangaka duo suu Morishita would come up with Yubisaki to Renren a.k.a A Sign of Affection, that got its start with Kodansha's Dessert targeting the Shoujo market in July 2019, and is still going strong with its present 10 volumes and ongoing, receiving critical acclaim.
If you didn't know who were the duo, I don't blame you since their works cater more towards the Shoujo market, which manga readers for Hibi Chouchou a.k.a Like a Butterfly, would be even more pleased that Yubisaki to Renren continues the trend of the already sweet romantic affections. And as someone who has read Hibi Chouchou (despite it only going as far as a drama CD in terms of media) from start to finish of its 12-volume total series, I was floored and enamored by its romance, and wanted more of it, and Yubisaki to Renren is the mangaka duo's next evolution into the Shoujo romance genre, but with a mature and adult twist.
The story of how the mangaka duo came about with YubiRen, both storyboard artist Makiro and illustrator Nachiyan, after penning Hibi Chouchou, were already thinking of their next manga series. And the latter envisioning about a story involving sign language, which the former got interested in and wanted to bring it to life, given its difficulty to express visually, along with a deaf protagonist in Shoujo contemporaries. Both elements have very similar crossovers in terms of understated expressions and emotions that exist beyond normal dialogue, despite the absolute need to pay attention to everything around it: the signing, expressions and more. For Makiro, she did learn a bit of sign language when she was in elementary school: singing a children's song in Sign. As a duo together, they consulted teachers at a school of the Deaf, and even mocked a life-like example of Yuki Miyazaki, a woman who is also a deaf person, who can share about her real life, as well as supervise the innards of the manga when it comes to sign language. You can already tell that YubiRen is not just some double-handed work that just profits off of someone's disability, but putting it in expressions that tell from a disabled person's perspective, and that is an insane job by itself.
And for 19-year-old college young Yuki (lit. Snow) Itose, like Shoko Nishimiya, she was born with a congenital hearing loss i.e. deaf, and could only communicate through the obvious of sign language and the observant keen eye of text and speechreading i.e. lip reading. She may look aloof and timid, but trust the instinct that she acts like a normal growing young adult on her way to university. But as typical as she looks, her deaf disability may not be observed by the common man, and one guy would appear to help her along with communication problems, and thus, between her and the guy known as Nagi Itsuomi, an uncommon love was born.
First off, Yuki is quite the unique character. Aside from her obvious disability, she is more earnest and pure than the previous heroines (from Hibi Chouchou), while still being relatable and typical of that of a college girl. Also, don't expect Yuki to respond like a normal person, her monologue and words are not in the form of the typical speakeasy (in anime) or speech bubbles (in manga). Makiro is very careful on Yuki's portrayal lest in order not to get people offended, but in the process, makes her easy to be defined by her cute, calm and collected personality, someone who is experiencing love in an entirely unique form that feels the same, but different. For her partner, Itsuomi Nagi is the ideal male mature character that all guys (including myself) should take notes of and learn from, especially if you have a partner that you love dearly, as much as Itsuomi cares deeply for Yuki being patient and empathetic, one who's very observant about her every detail hook, line and sinker, even going as far as to learn sign language as a new language to better properly convey his feelings and emotions to her, which is a great touch. Even with a disability, Yuki and Itsuomi's relationship just feels so natural like a typical relationship between a boy and a girl, that I can fall in love with and squeal like a fanboy on their oh-so-sweet interactions, much like Hibi Chouchou.
The other cast of characters are great too. Yuki's best friend of Rin Fujishiro is the quintessential support character who supports Yuki, while taking notes for her in university, though with her being in the foreigners' club in school, also meant that she also knows Itsuomi in the first place as a mutual friend, which she comes to support her after knowing that she is interested in Itsuomi herself, and likewise with the latter. The man himself is a multilingual genius being fluent in Japanese, English, Spanish, and runs a bar alongside his cousin Kyouya, whom Rin has a crush on.
For every potential winner, there're losers in this regard. Yuki's childhood friend Oushi Ashioki is kind of a douchebag when you first get to know him, as he picked up sign language due to his crush on her when they were kids. But this only proved to be a one-sided love as he uses it as a way of forced control on her, much to her chagrin as she has no interest in him. This is pretty much the same for Emma Nakasono, who's been Itsuomi's high school friend who tries to push her feelings towards him, though he reciprocates by just simply avoiding her each and every time, even as Yuki also notices her ham-fisted approach for his notice. This proves difficult for Itsuomi to avoid, and confides to another best friend of Shin Iryuu, who works at a hair salon, and like Oushi to Yuki, has a crush on Emma, but was never reciprocated. Thinking that the entire love heptagon/septagon is a little too complicated? It sure feels like that (since Hibi Chouchou is also pretty much that way), but it never once feels jarring, as it comes for young adults being in a truly messy and foolish love with friends they adore.
When it came to the manga art, the mangaka duo using Too Corporation's Copic Multiliner brown for the outline, along with Dr. Ph. Martin's color ink for coloring, that together meshes for a soft and delicate art style, it really is that mesmerizing to read the manga. And the anime did the manga justice, thanks to studio Ajia-Do and in-house director Yuuta Murano, along with his staff team for showcasing the exquisite art and translating that in a beautiful and gorgeous animation form, definitely one of the most charming series of the season.
The music really adds the compliments the series as a whole, thanks to veteran female composer Yukari Hashimoto, who has done from the classics like Toradora! to recents like Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. a.k.a Komi Can't Communicate and even the studio's very own work of Kakushigoto. The theme songs truly elevate the entire series as a whole, and it's a work of art. Novelbright has once again brought their A-game to the table with "Yuki no Ne", and it's a slow, but alluring song that pumps all of the feels of romanticism, along with ChoQMay's ED song "Snowspring" that exudes childish feelings of playful love. Both songs are great and fit the series very well.
Romance series are a dime a dozen, but works like Yubisaki to Renren a.k.a A Sign of Affection are very hard to come by, and is a romance that I can really recommend to the average romance otaku of a love that's not really experienced, much less portrayed in real life that takes time, skill and polish to develop a relationship with deaf people. Once again, I compliment the mangaka duo for trying something outside their comfort zone, and this show is an out-of-world experience that everyone should watch given any chance and opportunity they get.
