A sign of affection vol 3 by suu morishita

Itsuomi tells Yuki he’s leaving the country for a little over a month, but before he leaves, he asks her to be his girlfriend. Yuki is shocked and still a little doubtful that Itsuomi could really fall for a girl like her, but she accepts. While he’s gone, Itsuomi sends Yuki photos of his adventures and asks her to send sign language videos so he can practice. When he returns, Yuki misreads his lips, and she ends up acquiescing to her first kiss accidentally!

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The romance in this book is still exceedingly adorable, and there's so much to like about Yuki as a character. Itsuomi is still a little bland and stand-offish, which makes me side with Yuki about her mistrust of his attraction. Morishita isn't the best for writing male characters, but I still have some hope that Itsuomi will get some depth in later volumes. Morishita is doing well, I think, in representing the unique struggles of being deaf, including misunderstandings in communication that can lead to some interesting situations. Reading lips isn't perfect, especially in a language like Japanese where a lot of words are close in pronunciation. Some of these situations are a little hard to translate, but the team is doing their best and providing helpful notes in the back to explain what's really going on in the original language.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Publisher: Kodansha
Publication Date: August 10, 2021
ISBN: 9781646512188​ (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Romance, School Life, ​Disabilities, Kodansha