×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
EP. REVIEW: A Sign of Affection


Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
L'Imperatore



Joined: 24 Mar 2014
Posts: 828
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:56 am Reply with quote
Here's still trying to get used to the boys' lips Anime smile + sweatdrop
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gnarth



Joined: 06 Oct 2023
Posts: 175
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 9:30 am Reply with quote
Yuki's lip reading skills are definetly exaggerated, but I think in most cases she's actually typing or writing and that's only how the show portrays it to make it more "lively". When she's really lip-reading, the sentences are usually extremely simple and it's not unbelievable that someone experienced could do it. While I do get this decision, I wouldn't have disliked a totally realistic portrayal to really put you in her shoes.

I'm a fan of unconventional romances and I'm really liking the show, even though I'm not too familiar with the subject. One thing I didn't really understand is what exactly her hearing aids do. Do they let her hear something, if extremely little, or they just vibrate to give her a very vague idea of what's going on around? Judging by the third episode, they're not just for other people to notice her disability, so if someone knowledgable can explain I'd love to learn.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11362
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 12:54 pm Reply with quote
I don't quite know what it is, but I'm finding it really hard to warm up to this. I don't actually like Yuki very much, but there's not one or two specific things she's done that I can say really annoy me. It just seems like she's a personality type I don't get along with in fiction. And Itsuomi is such a cold fish (except when he genuinely smiles) that it's hard to root for her to get with him.

I actually like her childhood friend the most. He's overprotective and wrong-headed, but at least he feels like a person instead of a character. If he got his act together and got his head out of his ass, I'd rather see Yuki with him than Itsuomi.

I dunno, I'm sure I'll stick it out to the end, but right now I'm just not feeling it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 11233
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Reading the manga I really found this to be such a beautiful and natural Shojo romance and I'm really happy they're delivering on that in anime form with the direction, animation, sound design, voice acting, and general execution.

I find Yuki so inspiring because she's grown up with her disability but doesn't let it define her and is growing into an assertive and sincere young woman.

Itsuomi feels like an enigma at times but that just makes it all the more meaningful when Yuki is able to unveil the truths about him as they get to know each other better.

Rin is the kind of wingwoman who you really want to see succeed in her own personal romance. Also nice to hear Ryota Osaka.

Nao Toyama is, of course, playing the girl destined to lose at romance as is her typecast. But Emma is pretty cute.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
yeehaw



Joined: 09 Sep 2018
Posts: 423
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 2:58 pm Reply with quote
The childhood friend mentioning he wishes he could hide Yuki away somewhere safe gave me real Touma from Amnesia vibes. Huge red flag
I also find the lips a bit distracting, but I never like big lucious anime lips and at least these are better than the lines in something like Orange.
but wtf is up with the background character with the golliwog lips??
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
minamikaze



Joined: 20 Jan 2008
Posts: 221
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 3:41 pm Reply with quote
Gnarth wrote:
Yuki's lip reading skills are definitely exaggerated, but I think in most cases she's actually typing or writing and that's only how the show portrays it to make it more "lively". When she's really lip-reading, the sentences are usually extremely simple and it's not unbelievable that someone experienced could do it. While I do get this decision, I wouldn't have disliked a totally realistic portrayal to really put you in her shoes.

While I agree the show has not been direct in stating the actual difficulty and limitations of lip reading, it hasn't completely glossed over it either.

When Itsuomi first learns that she is deaf after meeting her, Yuki comments that he starts making an effort to more clearly mouth his words so she could better understand what he was saying. That did imply that lip reading is more difficult when people speak normally.

In the previous episode we learned that Rin takes lecture notes for Yuki. Before that was revealed I was wondering how Yuki was following along and understanding the lectures, since a lecturer would not necessarily always be facing towards Yuki when speaking. Also, even if the lecturer were standing at a podium and not moving around, even when facing Yuki, their mouth would be obscured when they looked down to read from their notes.

In this most recent episode, Yuki said that she could not understand what the drunk Shin and Ema are saying even though they were sitting right next to her and facing her. It is possible they were slurring their words which would make the already difficult task of trying to understand what they were saying by reading their lips impossible. However it did show that Yuki's lip reading skills did not allow her to always understand what people are saying.

I agree in order to better dispel the myth that lip reading is 100% accurate and easy, it might have been better for Yuki to explain to Itsuomi that it is very difficult and she cannot always understand everything people are saying and that sometimes cannot understand them at all, since the more subtle examples they have given so far could easily be missed.


Last edited by minamikaze on Sun Jan 21, 2024 11:00 pm; edited 3 times in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ab2143



Joined: 09 Jan 2021
Posts: 708
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 3:50 pm Reply with quote
I noticed that Yuki's mother understands JSL but doesn't seem to sign herself?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
blahmoomoo



Joined: 27 Jan 2020
Posts: 461
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 4:25 pm Reply with quote
minamikaze wrote:
In this most recent episode, Yuki said that she could not understand what the drunk Shin and Ema are saying even though they were sitting right next to her and facing her. It is possible they were slurring their words which would make the already difficult task of trying to understand what they were saying by reading their lips impossible. However it did show that Yuki's lip reading skills did not allow her to always understand what people are saying.


The manga signifies when she has difficulty understanding something by graying out and rotating letters. So it's frequently clear that her understanding isn't 100%. It's probably still too accurate though.

ab2143 wrote:
I noticed that Yuki's mother understands JSL but doesn't seem to sign herself?


I think the "a little bit" gesture is fairly universal, rather than JSL-specific.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ScruffyKiwi



Joined: 25 Oct 2010
Posts: 675
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 6:55 pm Reply with quote
ab2143 wrote:
I noticed that Yuki's mother understands JSL but doesn't seem to sign herself?


I don’t think her mother even understands JSL at all. Yuki has a writing board near the entrance. The fact that she hasn’t bothered to learn JSL is, well probably par for the course for some families :S

In reference to lip reading, my mother in law has to lip read as she has lost most of her hearing. She is pretty good but if you say something unexpected or if you are not facing her head on she can get lost pretty quick.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
SinisterOracle



Joined: 13 May 2023
Posts: 189
PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2024 12:54 am Reply with quote
This show is a must watch for me. I didn’t know what to expect when I started watching it but it’s become one of my favorite of the season. So much so that I bought and read the first volume of the manga and plan to get the rest.

The manga does a better job showcasing when Yuki is having difficulty reading lips. The Laos scene is hilarious in the manga (she thinks he says he’s going to Meows lol).

The hearing aids allow Yuki to “hear” sound, but it’s a jumbled distortion that she is unable to understand as anything more than static noise is my understanding.

Itsuomi comes across as a real person to me, but only because I’ve known someone like him before. I think he’s genuine in most of his interactions with others but he also has to phone it in sometimes when he’s put off by people.

Oushi seems to care for Yuki a lot, possibly even having feelings for her. But he’s very protective of her and he doesn’t like her running off by herself or being in unfamiliar situations as she’s not as able to sense danger and protect herself like people who can hear are (partly because of her school being on the same campus until college).

I’m looking forward to the next episode as it appears we’ll be getting into some drama with the childhood friends!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11362
PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2024 2:56 am Reply with quote
One of the things that doesn't ring true for me is Yuki being so terribly shy and nervous that she looks away from Itsuomi while he's talking to her. I get that it could be hard to look him in the eye, but looking away is the equivalent of a hearing person so smitten by their crush's voice that they stick their fingers in their ears when that person speaks to avoid revealing their reaction. Also, deaf people don't just depend on lip reading to glean content. They use facial and body cues as well. Watch an interpreter at work, and notice the totality of body language, facial expressions and lip movements that's part of the whole language package. When Yuki looks away, she misses 90% of what he's communicating.

I get flustered talking to anyone, but since my tinnitus has gotten so bad it's hard to make out words sometimes I depend heavily on lip-reading. I do it without even noticing, and have to remind myself to make eye contact from time to time. If someone is deaf, their looking away while someone is talking to them is not only rude, but it sends the message that they just want out of the conversation by essentially turning it off.

It's not even just in the middle of him talking. She's given that whole constellation of stereotypical shy girl avoidance mannerisms that just don't feel realistic to me for someone who is deaf. I had the same issues with Sei's behavior last season in Saint's Magic Power, but it's even more irritating when the shy girl needs to be looking at her love interest to communicate at all.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11362
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2024 1:43 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, that blocking maneuver earned at least an orange card, but what bothered me even more was Yuki just accepting it, instead of pushing his arm down. Was she not curious enough to at least duck her head under his arm to see what Oushi was ranting about?

I dunno if I'm going to make it to the end of this if she doesn't stop being a dishrag with everyone but Oushi.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
yeehaw



Joined: 09 Sep 2018
Posts: 423
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2024 2:08 pm Reply with quote
When Itsuomi changed the movie from dub to sub I was like "Based. This guy gets it"
but then I immediately changed my mind when he started mimicking the movie dialouge.
I would have killed him.
I also hated him blocking her view so she wouldn't see their conversation. That's gross.

I really like how Yuki gets more of a personality with Oushi than her usual basic shoujo manga one, but man he's the worst. I don't mind some teasing and him learning sign language just for his first word to her being 'idiot' is pretty funny, but he's acting like a controlling mom and it's just annoying.
Good thing he's the childhood friend and so his love is doomed from the start.

Yuki talks alot about her world and Itsuomis world and how much bigger his is, and I wonder if he'll inspire her to start traveling, either together or by herself. That'd be nice I think
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Thesarum



Joined: 25 Mar 2022
Posts: 405
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2024 4:29 pm Reply with quote
Oushi might be well intentioned and genuine in his care, but his problem is he infantalises Yuki. Treats her as a fragile thing not competent enough with the basics of human interaction to be trusted to make her own friendships, to go outside, to do pretty much anything without his protection. And really... who would ever fall in love with that?

Itsuomi on the other hand, is clearly a big pile of risks. But I guess that just makes him interesting and exciting.

Rin and Kyouya's reactions to Itsuomi and Yuki being all couple-y throughout the costco trip cracked me up too.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Azure Chrysanthemum



Joined: 23 Apr 2023
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2024 5:32 pm Reply with quote
Knowing what I know of shoujo tropes and how they tend to like boys a bit rougher, Itsuomi's covering her with his arm struck me as not bad intentioned but a bad look. I got the impression that Oushi was annoying him and he lashed out a bit by being kind of a dick, while also not wanting to make Yuki see what was going down. And honestly like, I generally think Oushi deserves it, I hate how he treats Yuki like a fragile porcelain doll while also just being kind of a jerk to her all the time. He has the worst aspects of an overbearing caretaker and a ten-year-old with a crush rolled into one and it's pretty apparent to everyone the minute he opens his mouth. I get the impression he both doesn't see Yuki's humanity and also feels entitled to her, which could certainly be projection on my end but yeah. Ugh this dude seriously grosses me out. Itsuomi is always very gentle with Yuki so I'm willing to give him a bit more leeway for being a dick in that circumstance, although I do hope he doesn't make a pattern of acting questionably.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 1 of 4

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group