Manga Review: A Sign of Affection

Yesterday, I signed my kids up for lessons in American Sign Language. (They’ve just expressed an interest in it, so I figured why not.) Today, entirely by chance, I discovered A Sign of Affection, a manga centered on the romance between a deaf and somewhat sheltered young woman and a globetrotting young man.

Spoilers for the first few of chapters for A Sign of Affection!

Yuki has grown up largely interacting only with a handful of people, mostly family and the four(!) students in her school. But now she’s in college, and a whole new world has opened up for her! On a bus, and later at a bar, she encounters Itsuomi, a guy who likes to travel internationally a lot—like “I’m heading to Laos for the weekend” lot—and speaks several languages. He does not, however, speak sign language. So their early relationship is forged around how they learn to communicate with each other. It’s not long before he tells her, “I like snow”—or is he saying, “I like Yuki”, since the word is the same in Japanese? Whatever else this series may be, it’s not exactly a slow-burn romance!

Review: A lot of care and attention obviously went into both the manga and its translation. The art is lovely, and the story unfolds gently as it leads us into and around Yuki’s world. She’s aware of the ways that being deaf makes her experience different from a hearing person’s, and she’s in no way regretful or upset about it. And despite moments of shyness, she doesn’t beat around the bush when pursuing Itsuomi!

But the translation quality really takes this story to the next level. Different font styles are used when characters are speaking depending on whether the POV character is reading lips, hearing the words, reading them off a screen, or reading hand signing. This subtle technique allows the manga to use the standard “word balloon” approach to portraying communication while also drawing the reader into the various nuances of each experience. As Yuki, reading lips, is able to pick up more of what someone is speaking aloud, for example, the words become clearer and easier for us to read. Or if the speaker turns away, the words fade out. And sometimes strange symbols appear in the middle of otherwise intelligible words, indicating something that she couldn’t quite make out.

Thus, we get a certain unique “flavor” when experiencing Yuki’s perspective. The fact that she is deaf adds something to her encounters, rather than being a loss. The various ways of talking weave together in each scene to create a tapestry of a kind not found in any other story that I’m aware of. And I kind of feel that going back to other manga will feel a bit flat now, at least as far as the dialogue is concerned. So I’m into this rich and unique story for the long haul. It’s a beautiful encounter.

A Sign of Affection can be read for free at K Manga or purchased on Amazon (if you feel like supporting the Curiously Dead Cat while reading fabulous stories).