A wonderful take on a romance shojo with the unique bonus of having a deaf protagonist.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for its advanced copy which I received in return for an honest review.

4.5⭐

I had heard about this story from some friends and decided to give it a try for the plot. This is the first time I read a manga and I loved it, for those who are like me and have never read manga, the reading format is from right to left unlike graphic novels, so at first, it felt a bit weird but even so the reading was quite fluid.

Yuki is our protagonist, a young university student who, unlike most is deaf, firstly she’s very cute, sweet and like any girl, she wants to have new experiences. Most of this volume was her deciding if what she felt was love or admiration because meeting someone like Itsuomi made her wonder what it would be like to know the rest of the world.

Now, Itsuomi is a mysterious, patient, and direct character, who lives by and traveling the world as a backpacker. He’s always traveling, so he is a curious person who likes to have new experiences. I would say that since the story focuses on Yuki's point of view and almost all we see are her thoughts, it’s difficult to understand his character. At the moment I like him and the times we see what he feels for Yuki is very sweet, I love that he wants to know and understand Yuki's world, so I liked how his character was taken in the plot.

They're both too cute, I can't stand them, Yuki is the definition of cuteness. Their relationship was slow-burn and I'm dying to know what will happen, it was very cute when Yuki made a book for him to learn sign language. I love them and I definitely need to read the next volumes.

"Let me into Yuki’s world?"

Plot

The story is very beautiful, I love it, as a reader of darker themes this was a radical change for me, I must say it’s not the type of history I am used to since it has too much sweetness. For those like me, this is a good way to relax a bit and enjoy a nice story. The levels of cuteness were too high but I loved it, at first I felt that the relationship was spontaneous and rushed, but considering that it’s not a book itself, the pace of the story makes sense. At the moment the plot is about their relationship and something I would like to highlight is that there is no drama, thank you very much author, everything flows very well and the story feels realistic.

Our heroine is deaf and therefore that is something important for the story, it’s one of the main points obviously. I like the way her character is introduced, especially the way her friends and Itsuomi wanted to learn to communicate with her using sign language as well as learn to approach her. I liked that the authors introduced this language and that the drawings were easy to understand in terms of movements, I also loved that at some points they explained to us how sign language works in Japan and the differences there are with others. In the end, there’s an interview with the author that was very entertaining, reading how it was decided to create this manga and the research they did to present a realistic character like Yuki without falling into stereotypes.

Secondary characters

Rin, Yuki's friend, is one of my favorite characters. I felt connected to her, she is very friendly and I love how she supports and encourages Yuki. She’s definitely a good friend and a great character for the story. I also liked Itsuomi's cousin (Rin crush), we didn't see much of him but I look forward to seeing how his relationship with Rin progresses.

Yuki's friend Oushi is an interesting character, he cares for Yuki and protects her. I like his character but I don't know how to feel about him, I just hope it's not a love triangle, it doesn't seem like it's going to be but you never know.

To finish, it's a very cute story and I definitely recommend it, I read it in one day so it's a good story to pass the time.

I wonder… if you can fall in love as silently as this snow is falling.

Is this manga for you?

Perfect for: Lovers of cuteness, cute heroines, and pure romance.
Do I recommend it? Yes, I loved it.

Heroine: 9/10
Hero: 8/10
Romance: 7/10
Type of Relationship: F/M
Plot: 7/10

My thanks to the author suu Morishita, Kodansha Comics, and NetGalley for the opportunity to get this ARC for an unbiased review.

So on one hand this story is cute and very sweet. On the other hand the male lead kept touching the female lead without her permission and this is presented as romantic. I’m not really comfortable with this especially since the female lead is deaf and can’t always sense him coming.

I’ve read A Sign of Affection, Vol. 1 a couple times now. Unlike other titles, my appreciation (and affection, if you will) only grows more with each completion. This is a story about a college girl named Yuki. While riding the train another passenger attracts her attention to ask for assistance. Yuki is deaf, and tries to explain she cannot understand. A tall, silver haired boy jumps in to assist the passenger and when Yuki thanks him he realizes she’s deaf. He’s never interacted with a deaf person, but makes an effort to communicate with and understand her. Yuki realizes her classmate, Rin-chan, is familiar with the silver haired boy, Itsuomi-san. With Rin’s help Yuki continues to run into and get to know Itsuomi and develops feelings for him.

Yuki is so sweet, and I find myself relating to her enthusiasm for others. Itsuomi-san is forward, which seems to be a welcome change for Yuki who is used to little direct interaction outside her friends and family. Itsuomi’s worldliness does explain how easily he adjusts to barriers and shows his affection, something more uncommon in Japan.

I’m really interested to see Yuki’s world continue to widen and where her relationship with Itsuomi goes. The writing is especially lovely.

suu Morishita returns with another tale filled to the brim with sweetness, laughter and the bright lights of new-found love.

A Sign of Affection has become a recent favourite with the mere power of its first stunning volume. As an avid reader and a long-time fan of suu Morishita, I was thoroughly excited for the announcement of her new series. I could not wait to get my hands on this book, and had very high expectations—and she did not disappoint. First of all, the art style is magnificent—there are no words to describe the sheer beauty that seems to eternally cling onto her brushstrokes. It is as if every inch of her drawings is intwined with spun sugar and all things sweet. Her character designs are individually unique and definitely gives an insight as to what kind of characters they are/what their roles are in the narrative. On the other hand, her character creation is flawless—Yuki being the kindest beacon of hope in the silent world she lives in, makes you root for her as your heart warms at the very sight of her on the page. Whilst we do not get to learn more about Itsuomi yet, I have already fallen deeply in love with his character and how genuine he is in his unhesitant, quiet confidence. And their chemistry? Blossoming in the way that you can see sparkles on the pages, viewing it through eyes that have undoubtedly become hearts.

Another aspect that Morishita-san has complete mastery over is her humour, as Yuki's abrupt cute actions and Itsuomi's hilarious 'chibi' form has me rolling in constant laughter. And finally, in terms of the plot, Morishita-san has yet again introduced me to a story that has easily found a special place in my heart. Writing a story about a community that has without a doubt been hidden and silenced in the world, it was heartwarming. I was touched by how much this book covered sign language and allowed us to see life through the eyes of someone who is deaf. Not every deaf individual's experience is the same, and the book highlights the fact that Yuki is simply one of many stories within this community. With this book, suu Morishita has given a voice to the unheard, and I thank her wholeheartedly for making them seen.

A story from the margins brought forward into the glittering light—that is exactly what suu Morishita has given us. I am already awaiting the rest of this series, as I know that it will find its way amongst my other favourites, in which Morishita-san has eternally found her place within.

I went into this manga with fairly high expectations. It was being compared to A Silent Voice / Koe no Katachi of which I saw the movie and absolutely loved. In general, it’s also not very common for a shoujo manga to feature a protagonist with a hearing impairment (or a protagonist with any disability really) so that immediately intrigued me as well. I was curious about how accurate the main character’s experience of being deaf in Japan was going to be. I’m happy to report that A Sign of Affection more than exceeded my expectations!

Even before I read the author's note about how they consulted a deaf person for this manga, I could tell that they tried very hard to make this manga as authentic as they could. Yuki communicates through a mix of sign language, lip reading and text messages / writing on notepads which makes a lot of sense as most of the people around her are hearing. A lighter text color is used when Yuki is lip-reading and if she doesn’t catch something, the text will actually be gibberish so as a reader we don’t understand what was said either which I thought was brilliant! There were other small things as well, like when Yuki was walking through a crowd of people and all the speech bubbles around her were empty. I really like that they paid attention to these small details.

In terms of the characters, Yuki is so relatable! I loved her bravery in trying to get closer to Itsuomi even though she was shy. I also totally got her because Itsuomi was a really attractive character! I’m probably biased though as I’m also a language learner so characters that speak multiple languages are immediately attractive to me. I liked how he was kind of pushy but not in an arrogant or rude way. He wasn’t shy speaking to her and looked right into her eyes. I really felt like *I* was falling in love alongside Yuki which is the best feeling when you’re reading a shoujo manga! Her childhood friend, Oushi, really rubs me the wrong way though. I know he thinks he's looking out for her, but he's being too overbearing. My prediction is that he likes her, but doesn’t want to say anything because he thinks it’ll ruin their friendship.

As a first volume, this was such a strong start to the series! I already love all the characters and am so invested in their relationship. I’d actually say it’s better than A Silent Voice because it doesn’t have the bullying plotline, so if you liked that, you will absolutely *love* this. It’s just a very cute, wholesome story. I’m definitely hooked and will be continuing the series!

Book: A Sign Of Affection
Author: Suu Morishita
Story: Makiro
Art : Nachiyan, Shigeru-San
Sign Language Collaborater : Yuki Miyazaki-chan
Genre: Manga/ Romance
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
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Blurb:
Yuki is a typical college student, whose world revolves around her friends, social media, and the latest sales. But when a chance encounter on a train leads to her meeting friend-of-a-friend and fellow student Itsuomi-san, her world starts to widen. But even though Itsuomi-kun can speak three languages, sign language isn't one of them. Can the two learn to communicate the budding feelings between them?
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🌼My first Manga read and I'm happy I got to read this one.
🌼 Yuki is a 19 year old deaf girl who is very pure. Itsuomi-kun is a free spirited person who loves languages. She is adorable and maybe that is what pulls the ML towards her. Their interactions are cute
🌼The illustrations were really good.
🌼To make the character of Yuki authentic and relatable, the writing team also collaborated with someone with the same problem to know about the struggles and daily life in details.
🌼 The book ended really fast. I completed it in one go and I wanted it to be long but it's ok. I can read the sequels.
I enjoyed reading this manga and I'm really looking forward to all the upcoming books in the series.

Amidst all these talks about inclusivity and representation of marginalized communities, it is still rare to find works on people with disabilities or rare disorders. It is rarer still to have them featured as protagonists and not just showcase them as an alien with only their problems/struggles in the highlight in the main story. ‘A Sign of affection’ is a true example of how not to give in to these clichés.
The duo Suu Morishita presents us with a romantic age-old college romance between a trilingual world traveller hero and a shy hearing-impaired heroine. The story progresses after a chance encounter in the metro, only to find out they share a mutual friend and study in the same college. In this Volume, the main focus is on their budding closeness and Yuki (h) finding herself in love. The manga clearly shows that the creators have done their research. For instance, there are no dialogue bubbles for Yuki since she doesn’t speak. Many panels are characters using sign. The colour theme is kept soft and light as well (although it’s B&W, one can notice it).
I love that Yuki is the one to take the first step and ask Itsuomi (H) for his number. She is a strong, optimistic and vulnerable character. Itsuomi, on the other hand, is hard to read. He’s stoic, social and outgoing but he has never met a deaf person before. I like that he treats Yuki with respect and tries to learn signed Japanese too.
If you want to read some new, out of the box plot, this is not for you. This is a normal college romance with relatable characters.

This was a short & cute manga! I appreciate the inclusivity and visibility of hearing impaired characters in this, as well as the use of sign language in print. A super unique idea & a great fluffy, lighthearted story!

Protagonist Yuki is deaf, and struggles her way through a hearing world. When a foreign stranger asks her for directions on the train, she panics and a nearby Itsuomi steps in to assist. Yuki is pretty entranced from the get go, and discovers that her path crosses with Itsuomi's a lot more than she anticipated.

Yuki thinks a lot about how she wants her relationship with Itsuomi to be defined, and what love means to her. She has a few close friends, a girl named Rin who she goes to college with and her male childhood friend named Oushi. Other than Yuki, Oushi is the only other person who can speak sign language.

Itsuomi is the polar opposite of Yuki. Whereas Yuki seems content with her small world, and has resigned herself to the fact there's a lot she can't do, Itsuomi throws himself into experience after experience. It's introduced early on that he has a passion for travelling and learning languages. Over the course of just the first volume through her blossoming relationship with Itsuomi it occurs to Yuki that the world is a lot bigger than she realises and she starts to yearn for more experiences, which is really sweet to see as Yuki accepts she can have the same experiences as everyone else.

Yuki is also a very sweet and seemingly naive girl, where Itsuomi comes across at least initially as a bit of a playboy. As a reader there's a real urge to want to protect Yuki, and make sure Itsuomi is legitimate and not messing with her feelings, which I think is a real testament to how well the characters in A Sign of Affection are written that after only a few chapters of the first volume, I cared that much about Yuki.

It would be remiss to talk about A Sign of Affection and not mention the portrayal of deafness throughout the manga. As someone who is losing their hearing, a lot of the challenges Yuki faces are things I've thought about and considered for down the road in my own life. Though I am losing my hearing, I am not deaf by any means, and I don't currently use any hearing aids. That said, I think Yuki's deafness is portrayed really well. Different fonts are used for conversations Yuki is lipreading, and the sign language is really nicely illustrated as well.

This first volume of A Sign of Affection is a charming beginning to the start of Yuki's story. There's a lot of potential for drama, and the wonderful characterisation throughout the manga has you really rooting for Yuki and hoping she succeeds in all of her pursuits.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

The reason why I was so interested in this manga is because of the hype. Some of my mutuals on Twitter won't shut up about it. I didn't know the title in English at first, but I recognized the series by the cover, so I had to try it out. And! I am so glad I did!

I started reading it without knowing anything about the plot. Finding out through the panels that our female lead has a hearing disability felt... different. You don't see variety in series too often. I am actually glad I didn't know beforehand, because everything about this series surprised me in a very good way.

To be completely honest, Itsuomi didn't impress me much, even though he's somewhat different than a lot of other male lead characters, but it's still good. He might grow on me with the more I read. Instead, our female protagonist really surprised me in a greater way! She's so precious and she deserves the world. She's such a warm character.

"I wish my thoughts could drift over to him and melt straight through, like snow."

I really appreciate the mangaka putting in a lot of effort in educating themselves about people with hearing disability and carefully sharing this story to us.

Let me just say, A Sign of Affection is such a great start of a series and I am looking forward to reading more of. I strongly recommend it!.

The only reason why I gave it 4 stars is because it's not a complete story. It's a very close 5 stars read, but depending on the finale and overall enjoyment, the rating could change.

Story rating: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★☆
Art style: ★★★★☆
Rating overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Okay wow. What just happened? Why did I choose to read this manga now?? WHYY :'(

I'm not sad because I didn't like it, quite the opposite actually. A sign of Affection is undoubtedly beautiful and cute to read. The female MC is just too cuteee! My heart was with her throughout the volume 1. The male MC is, well, weird? I mean when it comes to manga, expressions matter a lot I have come to realize and whenever he was with Yuki (MC) his facial expressions seemed weird, maybe coz he was trying to interpret things that Yuki said. It was fun really to figure out their interactions!

Yuki is a college student who is full of life. She is a curious bud as can be seen with her interactions but sometimes feel underconfident about her experiences. A chance encounter leads her to meet with Itsuomi-san, a friend of friend and things change in her life - starting with a rush of feelings. Itsuomi-san is a globetrotter and knows three languages, sign language not being one of them. When he meets Yuki, it is like he is invited to a different world to experience. And so their story begins.

The thing about this manga is that it got over too fast for me. I now need the second volume asap. Plus, I remember making a pact with myself about not starting manga which are ongoing but apparently I don't listen to myself :| Now I have to wait and I don't want to wait! But coming onto the story, as I said, it is cute and like a slice of life, leaving you to digest more of it. I loved Yuki and her friend! As for Itsuomi-san, I did like him but frankly, not as much as Yuki. I still need more content to come to a decision about him lol. Ahh, now I will just count days till I can finally read the second volume!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy via netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I have wanted to read this book since the moment my friend showed it to me just a few days ago. I love seeing a deaf girl in manga! I studied sign language at university so I have a special appreciation for the deaf community and for sign language.

A Sign of Affection is a shojo manga about a deaf first-year college girl named Yuki. One day she gets asked for directions by a foreigner on a subway, and her classmate Itsuomi notices her signing and steps in to help, thus sparking a connection between the two of them.

First of all, the art style is adorable! It’s soft and delicate, really a good choice for this series. Especially the colored pages at the beginning—they have a beautiful watercolor effect to them. It makes me wish the whole book was in color.

This was my first time reading a manga as an ebook, and it was an interesting experience. The ebook is formatted like a normal ebook, to be read from left to right, but each page must still be read from right to left in the traditional manga style. The only problem I encountered was when an illustration spanned two pages, it would show the right page first and then the left, so it felt like I was seeing it out of order, but that only occurred once as far as I can tell. I still prefer to read manga physically and that’s what I would recommend, but the digital format still works just fine if you prefer that.

I really enjoyed this story a lot. Yuki is so sweet while Itsuomi is rather forward but in a friendly way. I love that he took a genuine interest in her.

This story delicately tackles all the hurdles that come with being deaf. Yuki experiences the feeling of knowing people are talking about her right in front of her because she can’t hear. She experiences what it’s like to be expected to lip-read and not be able to see someone’s lips and also not understand some of the words being said. She has to learn how to navigate a school full of hearing people who can’t sign and don’t understand her. She knows what it’s like to feel left out. She is confronted by people’s ignorant comments that since she’s wearing a hearing aid she should be able to hear just fine. There are so many realistic scenes and moments in this manga; anyone who has any experience with the deaf community will really appreciate it. I was amazed at how much deaf culture the authors were able to capture in this single volume alone.

I loved seeing the difference in fonts depending on how communication was occurring in the story. There was the classic manga font for Yuki’s thoughts and the narrative of the story; a lowercase sans-serif font for text on a screen since Yuki usually types back and forth to communicate; the classic manga font but in grey instead of black to show when people were speaking and Yuki was reading their lips to see what they said; and then a fourth font in grey to represent what someone was saying via sign language. It was very easy to tell whether someone was speaking or typing or thinking or signing, and I really appreciated that added detail in the story.

Overall, I loved the first volume of A Sign of Affection! (And that title is so clever!) I can’t wait to read the future volumes and watch Itsuomi learn signs here and there to better communicate with Yuki. She’s so smitten with him and it’s so sweet! I’ve already added this manga to my list of must-buy series because I’m already in love.

This was honestly such a promising start to a series. I can really see myself falling head over heels for these main characters and the plot greatly intrigues me; it did before reading and does so even more after volume 1. I can imagine the soon to be tension with the male second lead which will be interesting to see unravel. I think the main girl decided a bit too early that she loved our lead man, but this romance manga was still so adorable, thus I'm anticipating future releases!!! I highly recommend this one for you romance fans out there

Once again, another first volume of a potential all time favorite series. I absolutely adore the start of this story and cannot wait to see where the story goes from here.

I’m already sold on our hero and heroine’s romance even though we haven’t spent much time with them yet. I adore getting to see how Yuki communicates with the people around her and how Itsuomi made an effort to communicate with her. I’m not hard of hearing or deaf, so I can’t speak to the representation, but I loved getting to see that on page. I didn’t feel like we needed something pushing the story forward to push the two characters together. I was just grateful to see them naturally come together.


*(I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts expressed are my own.)*

Thanks Kodansha Comics and Netgalley for the first volume of A Sign of Affection series in exchange for honest review.
The story line was slow building and captivating. It's admirable that the creators did researches to express sign language in a manga. I was amazed to know the uniqueness of Japanese sign language. The illustrations were kawaii (adorable) and so were the characters. I enjoyed reading it.

It is interesting to know that the main character is deaf and mute. In this book, we come to know a lot about sign language and the lives of deaf and mute people. unlike most stories, the main lead does not get bullied for her disability, rather than that she is well-loved and cared about by her friends and family. The characters are sweet and delightful.
The art is beautiful and I enjoyed reading this book. It is a sweet, kind and pleasing read which will be enjoyed by everyone.

I received an arc for an honest review through NetGalley.

This manga was adorable. I loved the characters and the art style. It was interesting to see signs being used in a format like this. I am not own voices so I can't speak to the validity of how it portrayed but I do appreciate that there was even an attempt that didn't make it a burden to her friends around her. I will be continuing this series and looking out for more Morishita's work moving forward.

The first volume of "A Sign of Affection" illustrates the start of a cute relationship between a deaf girl and a college boy interested in learning languages. The manga has translation explanations for English translation as well as Japanese Sign Language. I really enjoyed there is a blurb about Japanese Sign Language, as I am interested in languages, and this was a great little side note to the story. I hope to read the second volume to this manga soon!

This was a really cute manga! This is my first shojo manga, so some of my reading experience was getting used to the genre. I definitely plan on reading more in the future, and I will be continuing on with the Sign of Affection series! I’m interested to read more shojo manga and discover how much this book reflects typical shojo genre conventions since I don’t know much about that,

I liked the main character and some of the side characters, but I think I would’ve liked a little bit more development for them - I’m sure that will happen in future volumes though and I look forward to raring them!

I’m interested to see how the main relationship continues to develop, and I really like the depiction of sign language on page.