A Sign of Affection stands as one of the many manga and anime that deal with disabilities in a beautiful manner. There are various works within the industry that depict disabilities in the most natural and mesmerizing manner, just as at times disorders and mental health issues do. One of the biggest examples where both those get combined is A Silent Voice.
Banana Fish, Perfect Blue, and Neon Genesis Evangelion deal perfectly with mental health issues. While works like Violet Evergarden take it upon themselves to bring forth autism. Your Lie in April and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion dive into disabilities. The representation in each of these requires a great deal of research and for the romance anime, Suu Morishita left no stone unturned.
A Sign of Affection Couldn’t Do Representation the Wrong Way
During an interview with Kodansha, the creator of A Sign of Affection, Suu Morishita sat alongside Makiro-san, who is in charge of the storyboard, and Nachiyan-san, who works on the illustrations. They discussed how the manga came to be and all the research that was put into its making. Makiro-san added that while they had familiarized themselves with Sign Language to a certain degree, it wasn’t nearly enough to use proficiently.
I learned a little bit of sign language when I was in elementary school, but it was just singing a children song in sign language. So we made sure to do some interviews before starting the series.
Morishita added, We also read books, interviewed teachers at a school for the Deaf, and then, most importantly we met Yuki Miyazaki, who supervised our use of sign language for this work. She also shares with us her world as a Deaf person and tells us about her daily life.
To make sure that nothing wrong was done, interviews after interviews were conducted. It helped ensure that Sign Language got its best representation in a show and manga that dealt with a cute love story that would have viewers squealing.
These interviews gave me an experience of understanding Sign Language and just how it could help in expressing. It wasn’t just words that it was supposed to express but also emotions. Someone who was fluent in using the language could make it seem natural and that is exactly who they chose to consult.
Heavy Research Leads to Accuracy
Suu Morishita, the creator of A Sign of Affection, also added that there was extensive search going on, finding teachers who taught at schools for Deaf people and learned from them. Moreover, getting a supervisor on board for Sign Language helped them more than they realized as Yuki Miyazaki became a gift from the Gods.
What was my amazement to discover that I could feel not only the vibrations but also the impassioned rhythm, the throb and the urge of the music. I could actually distinguish the cornets, the roll of the drums, deep-toned violas and violins singing in exquisite unison.
Helen Keller
It wasn’t just to learn about the basic stuff but also to go into details about mundane lives. The series was to depict a shojo story that would warm everyone’s hearts. To do so, they needed to capture the daily life. Sign Language, is at the end of the day, a language. Throughout the day, there are various ways of communication used altogether without even realizing and Sign Language happens to be one of them.
Everyone sees the world differently. It is like the colors of the world are different for everybody, and so are the experiences. What is one thing for one person could mean completely different for another. The sound of music is melodious to one, but it is the feeling that gets everyone at the end of the day.
A Sign of Affection is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
