Just let it go, the man has suffered enough.
Summary:
- Itsuomi’s personality has caused a lot of controversy in the fandom.
- Everything he does can be explained in an unproblematic way.
- He’s been nothing but a perfect gentleman to Yuki.
It’s difficult to believe that such a wholesome anime as A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren) can become the reason for so much controversy inside the fandom, but it’s true, and it’s time to settle this.
He’s not problematic
Straight after the first episode of the series Itsuomi was labeled creepy and problematic by so many fans due to his love for ignoring Yuki’s personal space. They disliked him so much that no matter what he did in the further episodes, they tried to find fault with his behavior.
During one of Yuki and Itsuomi’s first encounters, the man came really close to her and touched her head, which caused the first wave of outrage. And Yuki herself noticed that about Itsuomi and thought about how he was not afraid of getting into her personal space.
It’s important to keep in mind that Yuki cannot hear. When Itsuomi touched her head in the first episode, he was trying to attract her attention to ask her a question. Of course, he didn’t have to do it like that, but we shouldn’t also forget that anime tend to exaggerate things a little bit.
But all of that doesn’t really matter because later in the story Itsuomi asks Yuki about this directly. He wants to know how much he’s allowed to do and whether or not his touches are appropriate. And Yuki tells him that he’s allowed to do anything.
Yuki doesn’t need to be protected by the fandom
That means that fans have been trying to protect a girl that doesn’t need to be protected. On top of that, they’ve been trying to protect her from something that she’s actually enjoying, since she’s madly in love with Itsuomi.
There have been other moments that many fans found questionable, and if we really think about them, then we see that there’s nothing problematic there, either.
In Episode 4 Itsuomi covered Yuki’s eyes, so that she couldn’t read Oushi’s lips and understand what he was saying. But in reality, he was just trying to protect her. Itsuomi saw that Oushi was making Yuki uncomfortable (and he really was) and didn’t want her to get upset.
Fans also felt unsure about Itsuomi and Yuki’s kiss in Episode 7 because Yuki thought that Itsuomi was going for a hug instead. But it turned out that it was just a sign language misunderstanding. Itsuomi addressed it later and cleared things up with Yuki.
No matter what happens and what Itsuomi does, he always makes sure Yuki is okay with everything. He’s been nothing but a perfect gentleman to her, always caring and sensible. That’s why the word “problematic” is the last thing that we can call him.