Episode 2 of A Sign of Affection has finally premiered and it is one of the sweetest episodes of the season yet. It continues to charm audiences with its heartfelt exploration of Yuki’s blossoming feelings. Building on that strong and lovely premiere, Yuki’s crush on Itsoumi is hitting her hard, and it’s the cutest thing ever.
Although it’s quite obvious that she likes Itsoumi, I love the fact that she’s still cautious about her feelings. Maybe it’s because of her hearing disability, which makes her world a bit different from ours. Maybe she’s just not the type of girl who would fall in love instantly. Perhaps, she doesn’t still know how romantic love really feels and hasn’t fallen in love with someone yet. She did admit after all at the start of the episode that in her whole life, she had never experienced being this nervous before Itsuomi came into her life. Aside from that, she flusters and starts to get all red every time she’s near Itsoumi.
As a college student who never really experienced romantic love, what does Yuki really know about gauging someone whom she could potentially fall in love with? Not saying that there’s anything wrong with this, but I think it’s cute that she’s now experiencing the best feeling in the world—love. She is an extremely modest girl and she doesn’t barge in on anything. Even when her best friend Rin was occupied in a conversation, she didn’t approach her immediately despite having something to tell her that was extremely important.
Even though Itsoumi was also showing signs of affection for Yuki, she just didn’t just jump into the “I’m in love” pool. Instead, what she does is determine whether her feelings are genuine or not. And it’s the moments when she’s pondering whether what she’s feeling is either admiration or love is why I love Yuki as a character. Love takes time to bloom after all. Just like how a flower needs time to bloom its full beauty, so does Yuki’s affection for Itsoumi — it unfurls, revealing a love that is delicate, yet beautifully intricate.
Ultimately, Yuki chooses love over admiration which had me screaming and jumping. Now that she’s fully embracing her feelings for Itsoumi, it’s only going to get rainbows and sunshine from here. Right?
The Childhood Friend
Luckily, the moment he steps in, Oushi is already showing that he will suffer from the childhood friend trope that they never win. Though not explicitly stated in A Sign of Affection episode 2, it’s apparent that Oushi has some romantic feelings for Yuki, and in order to hide his feelings, he’s being a bit mean to her. I mean, he even learned sign language just so he could communicate with her, and in the episode, we found out that he only used it on Yuki before. He’s also too protective of her. Even though I mentioned previously that Yuki seems helpless at times, Oushi’s level of overprotectiveness seems to exceed what’s typical for friends.
Despite this, I don’t entirely dislike Oushi’s presence in the series; it inserts a bit of drama and spice into the narrative if you ask me. However, his view that deaf people should just remain in their world for their safety is the exact opposite of what Yuki wants, a world where the likes of her can experience the same things as others. With that, I don’t think Oushi’s ever gonna leave the childhood friend zone.
One last reason why Oushi will remain in the friend zone is the way the series portrays the interaction between Yuki and Itsoumi. When Yuki engages with Itsuomi, the scene becomes more colorful and bright. It’s like the colors beautifully express her lovely emotions. In contrast, whenever Yuki interacts with Oushi, there’s nothing unique or special about it. Poor guy, even the series isn’t in favor of him but who knows, maybe there’s much more to him than just being an overprotective childhood friend.
Screenshots via Muse Asia
© Suu Morishita, Kodansha／A Sign of Affection Production Committee
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