No need to rush things.
Summary:
- A Sign of Affection is a series about first love.
- It gradually develops the bond between the main characters.
- The pacing of the series feels very natural.
A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren) is a real gem this season. It does a lot of things well: it portrays the infatuation of the first love, it shows that people with disabilities can live as good of a life as anyone else, it surprises us with its stunning beauty, and it has the most adorable main lead.
But the thing that we want to focus on today is its pacing and gradual buildup.
While it may seem like Yuki’s feelings for Itsuomi happened overnight, it’s not really true. They met, they talked, they felt some sort of attraction to each other. It took Yuki some time to realize that the thing she was feeling was love.
This is how first romances usually happen: they’re sudden, strong and consume you entirely. And this is what happened to Yuki.
Their relationship needs development
Despite the fact that Yuki is completely in love with Itsuomi, and he is attracted to her as well, they don’t rush to become a couple. And this is great! We love seeing their relationship develop gradually and watching them grow closer with each episode is the beauty of the series.
There are a number of characters that are important in A Sign of Affection, but their backstories are not thrown into our faces at once. We’re getting to know them just like Yuki and Itsuomi are getting to know each other. The audience has to start caring for them to be ready to listen to their stories.
The pacing is great
A Sign of Affection doesn’t rush anything, and yet, the pacing is very enjoyable, it doesn’t feel like the story is being dragged for the sake of prolonging your experience. It takes one thing at a time without distracting the viewers with extra details or frustrating them with how slowly things are going.
We’re given hints at some future developments. Such as Itsuomi’s confession about being interested in languages, sign language being one of them now. Even the way he’s learning it feels right. He doesn’t just acquire the ability to communicate with Yuki overnight, he’s learning bit by bit.
We all know that we’re here for the romance between Yuki and Itsuomi, and we know (or hope) that there will come a point when they finally become a couple, but watching them develop this bond is the most beautiful and exciting part, and it’s delightful that the anime is taking its time to make us truly believe that there’s something between them.