2024 is here, and so is possibly the most hyped shoujo anime this season. A Sign of Affection or Yubisaki To Renren. Oh man, when I first watched the trailer, it turned me into a teenage girl, really. What’s this feeling? Why my tummy feels funny?

I think it has to be stated that a great shoujo is the one that can turn anyone, whether it’s an old dude, a crass boy, or even a prim and proper businessman, into a lovesick adolescent. That being said, the first episode of A Sign Of Affection did that fairly well to me.

What gives me that impression is a combination of its art style, of course, and the simple premise. Since it’s still the first episode, it’s still early to judge how well the story actually is. However, I think they did a great job in laying out the important characters.

A Simple And Classic Romantic Premise

The anime has a quite simple base for its story. We follow Yuki’s life, a university student who has hearing impairment. She communicates either with sign language or texts. Her shortcoming doesn’t seem to drag her much, though. If anything, her life is as great as ever.

She’s cheerful, cute, and seems like a fun person to be around overall. However, on her commute on a train, she met Itsuomi. He’s also a student from the same university. But, there’s more to it. He’s a polyglot, and loves backpacking around the world.

Girl Meets Love Trope

Itsuomi helped her when she met a foreigner who apparently asking about a café. A bit of comedic detour, it’s funny how we only hear the foreigner spoke a few words besides hello and goodbye in this interaction.

The foreigner seemed to be unaware of her impairment and just kept talking. Well, this is awkward. But, hey, all is well when Itsuomi turned up and helped her.

So far, the anime is really showing the bread and butter for a romance story. The female protagonist meets her future romantic interest from the get go. Is it a very typical formula? Well, yes. But, I don’t think there is nothing wrong with it, especially when the anime does it well.

When Itsuomi got off the train he gave her a pat on the head and, possibly, the most ikemen “see you later” ever. Oh man… We got ourselves a strong contender for Himmel. I love the character design in this anime. So beautiful, so lovely. Speaking of character design, it’s a good segway to the art style.

A Pleasing And Adorable Art Style

I think it’s appropriate to say that I was captivated by the art style the moment I found out about A Sign Of Affection. It’s common for shoujo anime and manga to have the most gorgeous art style out there. But, there is also suu Morishita’s signature in the illustration.

Especially, there are a few static scenes that I suspect they take straight from the manga. I think they really complement the aesthetic appeal. Also, I feel that the anime often gives us very atmospheric scenes.

However, I totally didn’t expect the cute cutouts. Especially with Itsuomi and his blank stares. I don’t know why his silly face reminds me of Saitama so much. Speaking of Itsuomi, let’s review the characters so far, shall we?

The Characters, So Far

I’ve talked about the characters and the seiyuu of this anime. However, the information on that post is only based on the description from A Sign Of Affection‘s official website.

Well, after the first episode, I think they did a decent job in introducing the characters, and laying out the basis for everyone’s relationship with each other.

Our Female Protagonist, Yuki Itose

Let’s first begin with our female lead, Yuki Itose. When I first learned about her impairment, I thought how the seiyuu would even voice her. Well, indeed I totally forgot that monologue exists, silly me.

That being said, following the story from her point of view and thus, her monologues, It feels like we’re reading from her diary. I like this kind of protagonist-audience interaction. It makes us feel closer to her, and we know more about her thought process.

However, there is one big glaring flaw that I could see from a character like Yuki. The beginning of the story establishes her as your regular cheerful girl, who is cute and sociable. It’s just, her impairment gets in the way sometimes. I am afraid she’d fall into the Harry Potter syndrome, just like movie Harry Potter.

Basically, if she ends up as someone who is “the chosen one”, gets constant help from others, and is always perceived as the best girl by others, it will make her character rather bland, don’t you think? But, this is only the beginning of the anime. So, we have a lot to uncover. I hope her personality will really shine in later episodes.

The Main Male Lead, Itsuomi Nagi

I first thought he would be someone who is so extroverted and outgoing. You know, like Satsuki from Overtake! But, I was surprised when he is actually rather cool and rarely gives any expression. It does make whenever he shows his emotions more significant.

On top of that, I mentioned he is an ikemen (handsome guy). Although, it is very typical, I feel he nails it without even trying. A cool, handsome guy, with blue eyes, and white hair, and who loves travelling the world. Hold on a second, is this Frieren and Himmel’s child in another universe?

Anyway, the most interesting thing about him is not the way he is unintentionally charming, not the way he looks. But, I think it’s his genuine curiosity for learning about the world. And you know what, the way he wants to know more about Yuki made my heart throbs.

I’m not the female protagonist, and I’m a dude on top of that. How did he even give me this feeling? There is something so satisfying in how we understand that Yuki already has a small crush on him, and seeing Itsuomi directly say that he wants to know more about Yuki’s life. Really, made me jump like Yuki does in the anime.

The Side Characters

On a side note, A Sign Of Affection wastes no time in introducing the other characters that will be important later. Also, I like how the anime immediately brings us another romance between the characters besides Yuki and Itsuomi.

Most of them are classic tropes in romance, like the girl best friend, Rin Fujishiro or Rin-chan. She is your usual outgoing best friend who will jump into the main characters’ romance ship. However, she has her own romance. She has a crush on Itsuomi’s cousin, who has a café, Kyouya Nagi.

We haven’t got more ideas about what kind of person Kyouya Nagi is, though. Overall, the impression that I got from him is that he’s more of a warm person compared to Itsuomi. At the end of the episode, we got to know a bit of Itsuomi’s friend, Shin Iryuu, who is a hairdresser, I suppose. There hasn’t been details on his character, though.

Also, we got a glimpse of Oushi at the beginning and at the end of the episode. He is supposed to be Yuki’s childhood friend. From his lack of smiles and friendliness, I bet he’ll be a kind of tsundere.

All in all, I think the first episode of A Sign Of Affection is a great hook for anyone looking for a good shoujo anime. The art style is simply an eye-candy. It’s beautiful, so pink and fuwa-fuwa. Also, I think this anime has a nice and adorable storyline. But, there is always a room for surprises and plot twists.