A Sign of Affection: Not Bad, but Not Great
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video, I discuss the manga A Sign of Affection. While the manga is still on-going, I still wanted to discuss the series as it has over 40 chapters already. The manga is praised for it's enticing romance...but is there more to it than that? Maybe not, so let's talk about it.
Let's Otaku article: letsotaku.com/...
Center For Disability Rights article on Ableism: cdrnys.org/blo...
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Music featured in the background of this video is from Nintendo, LittleWood, and Evolution Worlds.
Ngl and tbf- I'm not deaf myself, just a bit hard of hearing. But... I find the fact that not one, but both of her LI's, fell in love with her because of her deafness kinda of... weird. Not because she's empathetic, not because she's kind, hard working, they have similar interests- because she's deaf and uses sign language, they can be in their "own little world" together. I'm not saying it's inherently bad or that those idea aren't/doesn't ever get confronted in the manga.
But to me that doesn't read well, it reads as "the way society isolates and makes life harder for disabled people makes it so she can be more dependent on me for human connection and affection which will therefore make me feel like a special little boy."
Again not trying to hate but I would assume most deaf people don't wanna be loved because "sign language can be out special little code language" it's an actual language with its own culture and community surrounding it.
I agree with this!
I am not in the deaf community and i do no wish to offend anyone from that community so please i hope this is not taken the wrong way cause Yuki could have been deaf OR hearing and I still did not like her as much as i wanted too, i felt she talked/acted like a little girl...almost? and it was off putting since Itsumi looks and acts so much his age/ older. And maybe i just missed the point--? but just from a character aspect, you can totally make a "naive" or "innocent" character without them talking like a child. But I hope the manga is better and i will give the manga a shot 👍
@@thatkodochagirl I totally agree with your comment! I honestly didn't like Yuki that much because she just seems mesmerized by Itsuomi (like any other girl) and doesn't really think about her own life and her own goals.
You described it very well! It’s cute and sweet, but I have a hard time getting attached to the characters because most of the focus is on romance.
I know that shin is a sweetheart but he has few similarities with Oushi as both failed to express their feelings to the ones they loved, friend-zoned themselves and both dated for a while as way to deal with their love being unrequited and cope with thier inability to admit their feelings
They are both more interesting than the ML
as someone who is hard of hearing, i really liked the representation of yuki! her deafness isn’t treated like an obstacle, it’s nice to see such a positive rep!
great video, loved hearing your thoughts
Thank you for watching!! 💖
Great video. While I think the series is cute and explores communication, I also think there's not much substance to the characters other than their relationships.
That said, I really like the representation of Yuki. She isn't portrayed as someone "pitiful" or "inspirational" just because of her disability.
She's a college girl discovering love and has friends and a family that support her.
I was annoyed at how "naive" this show was. A part from Yuki being deaf, it was more like your average HIGH-SCHOOL love story. The quid pro quos, the jealousy, the "what is this feeling i feel?"
Also, like you, I didn't have a good feeling about Itsuomi. But I guess your comments about him makes me feel better
Thanks for the video.
Thank you for watching! This series definitely needs more...and it was surprising how naive it was considering the characters are in college.
I think the reason people say Oshi is ableist is the thing he said after that incident with the deaf guy at the trainstation. He walks into Izumi and they start to talk and he says something like "those people should just stay at home where they are safe"
Omg...I didn't catch that one!
@@thatkodochagirl I'm not sure the scene was also in the manga though. but if so it must have been pretty much in the beginning.
@@thatkodochagirl also I think people hating on Oshi are pretty much acting as immature as they say Oshi acts lol I think he just never grew out of being the little kid when interacting with Yuki and therefore they never had a chance to be together. That's the point where Itsuomi does a better job at communicating his feelings and also hearing her out for what she wants I guess.
@@Kjaskar3003thank u for explaining oshi
I can't comment on the quality of the series since I haven't seen/read it yet but it's always interesting seeing differing opinions. Based on what you said I think it'd be something I'd enjoy, I always love a wholesome feel-good anime/manga even if there's not a lot of depth. Great video!
Thank you for watching! It's a cozy series for sure 💕
the barber got me down horrible
I watched the anime first and thought it was great so I picked up the manga and I’m having fun reading along and can’t wait for more chapters. I’m so glad you brought up the Oushi business, oddly enough, I happen to like him a lot. And I hope to see his character develop more as the story progresses. My hot take is, I think itsuomi is too ‘perfect guy’.
While I don't necessarily disagree with some of your other takes here, I think your dismissing the idea of Oushi having some internalized abelism here betrays a bit of a shallow understanding as to what ableism is and the different forms it can take - TBH, as someone who has experienced the sort of condescending brand of ableism I see reflected in Oushi, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way to see you dismiss it out of hand as the opinion of 'angry fans' who just didn't understand the series. I also think it does both his character and the writing of the series a bit of a disservice to act as though his ableism cannot exist in tandem with his genuine concern for and investment in Yuki as a person and his effort to engage with her on her terms. The friction caused by these contradictory aspects are part of what make him interesting.
To be more specific, Oushi's overprotectiveness of Yuki does not stem solely for his feelings for her - they are also rooted in a belief that her deafness makes her uniquely vulnerable and incapable of caring for herself. We see this reflected in his insistence that she shouldn't leave her house at night and his baseless assumption that Itsuomi is 'taking advantage of her' with absolutely no evidence as to this being the case; and that this is the accusation he leaps to implies he has a low opinion of Yuki's ability to advocate for herself socially and of her agency and decisionmaking skills in general. This paternalistic overprotectiveness *is* ableism - this idea that Yuki 'needs' him to protect her because she is somehow incapable of doing so, or that Oushi 'needs' to dictate to Yuki what she can and cannot do is something that stems from his belief that Yuki is not capable of being a complete and independent person on her own because of her disability.
This controlling paternalism is not something we see reflected in Itsuomi or really any other character we see interacting with Yuki, so I'm not sure why you think it's strange that Oushi is the only character to be criticized in this regard - if something's a duck, people are going to call it a duck.
Are you retarded? 😂
Agreed
Agreed
(This is from the perspective of a basic boring reader) people villainise him because it’s much easier and its kind of fun to trash a character, rather than realising that a character shouldn’t be good or bad, but characters are complex and beyond that (I haven’t seen anything from the show, but just saying I’ll probably be basic and be a hater to )
Haha this is a great take though! 👏😊
@@thatkodochagirl awwww i’m blushing~~ ty🤭🎀
3:45 Little background storytelling can be done really well, but I agree how it's been done in A Sign of Affection could be done better. Judging by where its going though, I hope things get more fleshed out, great video!
Thank you!
I do really agree with some of your comments. In a way, Sign of Affection is an improvement over Suu Morishita's previous series, while also losing some of the things. Shortcake Cake had the main female lead Ten go to the Boarding House because she wants to hang out with her friends, however as the manga goes on the focus becomes more on the main couple which I didn't find too interesting, cause while there was some development, it felt a bit like Ten was losing a part her personality when she feel in love. The side characters also don't get a lot of spotlight compared to A Sign of Affection, and SoA has better art since the artists has improved over the years. Both series has their ups and downs I'd say.
I do think Oushi could be seen as ableist since I think a lot of his behaviour comes from feeling infantilizing towards Yuki because of deafness (that she is extra vulnerable). I do feel like Itsumoi has a tendency to infantilize Yuki sometimes (the worst is the scene is when he blocks her from Oushi), but that also comes from how Yuki is written as a shy Shoujo Protag. Being Autistic Bi women, I can relate to Yuki feeling isolated while also being frustrated with how detached she makes herself. Ultimately, I think the anime and manga is cozy and beautiful, I just think it's interesting to discuss
I think that's what ASOA does best...the side characters feel very fleshed out!
Oushi is me. It's like i am watching myself damn
This is my first shoujo anime and it already feels better than most romance animes ive seen (which includes your lie in april, clannad, tomochan is a girl, SNAFU, and i want to eat your pancreas ). Is it really not all that?
Imo, most of the best shoujo romances are from the 90s. I recommend Kodocha, Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances), and as for manga definitely check out Mars!
@@thatkodochagirl Kare Kano was really weird 😭😭😭, it started so great but then it got to a point where I just couldn't read anymore. There's too many problematic things going on there
(I'm talking about the manga)
Did you say it's better than Clannad?! Did you finish Clannad, i.e. Clannad After Story?
Mars! I wanted to read it for decades but only did last year. Great story! My favorite shoujo has no romance in it (Natsume Yuujinchou) and my favorite romance shoujo would be... fruits basket? (Akatsuki no Yona isn't that romance driven)
@@prairiete Natsume is definitely one of my favourites, I can not even describe how much it means to me, I adore the series. Akatsuki no Yona is amazing as well, I'm collecting the manga
i totally agree with a lot of your opinions!
it's not exactly a bad series and has its sweet moments but overall, there's not much to it. which is a shame considering it involves representation of a deaf character finding love and opening her world to new experiences. it really could've had been more well thought out or insightful, maybe focusing more with the theme of coming-of-age. but as you mentioned, not all representation is good representation.
i feel a bit more strongly for the deaf community as i've taken ASL in college and got some insight about the history of the deaf community. i'm not speaking for all of the deaf community, but an aspect that bothered me is definitely the use of hearing aids and expecting the deaf person to read lips: my deaf professor told the class it was insulting to the deaf community. but i do recall him also saying "not all deaf people are part of the deaf community". of course the series is in the perspective of being deaf in japan so there will be some cultural differences.
i just...i've never been a fan of the author's past works tbh (i.e. hibi chouchou, short cake cake) as there was never much charm in the characters or anything engaging to the series besides its cute art. i do admit, i did have some high hopes for this one since people praise it so much.
also, i don't hate oushi. he's just annoying for being kind of immature for not expressing his true feelings to yuki while simultaneously being upset towards her. he is only a college student so it's eh. doesn't really bother me. i guess what should be more focused on is him being more controlling over yuki? as if she shouldn't be trying to reach out to other people while she's in college. maybe being more supportive while still watching over her since he's quite abrasive with his concern that yuki didn't ask for.
if anything, i only really dislike emma. she's so forceful with her feelings towards itsuomi even though he has never reciprocated back. i find it uncomfortable watching her act so persistent with him considering she's been pursuing him since high school....if a guy character did that to a girl character, i'm sure people would be less forgiving. unwanted advances is still unwanted regardless of gender.
i'll still be watching the anime though, it is still enjoyable for shoujo fluff! i enjoy watching rin and kyouya together :'3
(sorry for the lengthy comment, i tend to have a lot of thoughts about these specific topics haha)
Pretty great video!
Yes tha manga has some flaws.
But still the manga is good!
I dont hate oushi tho i just find him kinda annoying.
Itsuomi...i love him so much!! Like he's the most greenest flag guy you will ever seen!!
The communication between itsuomi and yuki is top tier!!!
Especially chapter 28!
That chapter makes me feel sad!!! 😭😭😭
I love itsuomi and yuki soo much!!!
I love A sign of affection soo much!!!
Its my favourite manga!!
I even have the manga!!
The anime adaptation is very well made too!
I highly recommend to watch it!!
Yeah...they cut some scene cause its only 23 minutes each episode! There is also some original scene that the manga didn't have!
The visual is soo beautiful!!
The anime adaptation is already become one of my favourite anime!!!
I've watched the first 3 episodes...it's really good so far! Can't wait to see where they take it
Its important to have career & things outside romance but romance love erc is a big part of everyones life (almost)
If someone wants to be loved & become a loving wife/husband and care for the family its fine & cool
Westeen audience only blab about things they dont understand why & why not.
Its so sad & dumb
Those are certainly all words
Hey glad to see something else from you I’m happy to watch your videos again
Thank you! 💕