At long last Itsuomi and Yuki finally go on their “official” first date, to a botanical garden! I had to laugh at the fact Yuki got so excited about the flowers, that she kinda forgot about Itsuomi. He didn’t mind too much though, as seeing her just buzz around like a bee from flower to flower was fun to watch. I thought the little playful jab at her with the beautiful picture he captured was hilarious. Though that Wisteria scene when Yuki thought about what it meant when someone says ‘it took their breath away’, I thought to myself: I think they both had ‘a took their breath away’ moment there, hahahaha! It’s funny how they both got a sneaky shot of each other though heehee. It was also funny how Yuki mused at the end how their love will keep growing, because she has no idea just how hard Itsuomi has fallen for her. Don’t forget he already sees her as someone he wants to spend the rest of his life with!!!!
We finally got to learn why Itsuomi travels around the world so much. When his family first moved to German, although he went to an International school, he had a difficult time fitting in because he could only speak Japanese, spoke very little English, and next to nothing German. So even back then he had earnestly studied languages. But he came to realize that learning language is a lot more fun when he interacts with others. Since then, he wanted to learn more about culture, history and languages around the world, and then pass them onto kids so hopefully it would be useful to them someday.
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t’s also worth pointing out, that aspiration explains in many ways how much Itsuomi has polished his skill of being able to break the ice with strangers. You could say he’s used to having to get to know people from scratch, so now it’s become a habit of just going head first into it. (On that note, Oushi was never going to stand a chance of turning him down to begin with hahahahaha, but I digress.) It also shows his commitment of immersing himself in all sorts of cultures, histories and languages. And we see the lengths he goes to make sure he doesn’t fall out of practice with the languages he has learned as well. It’s true dedication and passion. So his willingness to learn Sign Language because he fell for Yuki is very much a big part of who he is. He wants to learn everything about her and be a part of her world.
Speaking of which, now that Yuki has finally obtained her passport, soon she’ll be able to step into Itsuomi’s world and get a taste of exploring new places far and wide! I’m excited for her, and I’ll have to revisit the manga to see if they’ve gone on any trips yet, heehee.
Finally apart from Oushi, after ten to twelve episodes, it looks like just Rin and Touya, and Emma and Shin seems to be on track with their new love life! I still find it funny how it took them ten to twelve episodes just to get there, while Itsuomi and Yuki were well off to the races from the get-go.
Final Thoughts
A Sign of Affection was such a great watch! It’s so fluffy and wholesome, and frankly I’m very relieved we were spared of any drama with Emma. Boy, we dodged a bullet with that one. That really would’ve pulled the series down. I just appreciate that we got a wholesome and positive story revolving around a protagonist who is deaf for an exchange. So I would love to see a second season in the future to see more of our adorable lovebirds!
As you know, this show definitely invoked a lot of emotions from me because of the way I was able to so closely connect to Yuki and her struggles. For that reason I’m glad I was able to cover this series, and really enjoyed it from start to finish. If you want some wholesome romance, definitely watch this! It got loads of cute and fluffy scenes that’ll make your heart squeal. You’re going to get a lot more skinship intimacy early on between Itsuomi and Yuki because it’s essential to their communication. Another charm about these two is that they don’t twiddle their thumbs waiting for things to happen, if they feel something, they for most part, express that right away. This is the main reason why they ended up beating other couples who were already pining for each other (one of them for years) to the race, which was quite amusing to see– especially with how they weren’t shying away from doing the little and simpler things, like holding hands, cuddling, and hugging.
Best of all, this show is spared of any drama nor stupid misunderstandings, which, honestly gets extra points from me just from that, so it’s a lot more of a relaxing show. While there are two annoying characters, neither had enough of a presence in the show to truly weigh it down or to stir up any serious hiccups. And most of that is in part of Itsuomi making sure nothing is misunderstood and communicates immediately to keep things straight.
And lastly, I really felt like they did a great job with the way they delivered Sign Language. I just loved the way they portrayed and expressed it. Though if there were to be anything to nitpick, it would probably be the lips design– though that’s really subjective. While it did throw me off in the beginning, I eventually got used to it enough that it didn’t distract me anymore.
Final Score: 8.5/10
The charm of A Sign of Affection is in its simplicity and not being shy of intimacy. So if you want to enjoy a wholesome romance that has great communication (because that’s essentially what it’s built off of), definitely this this one a whirl!
