All characters turned out to be more rounded and adorable than the beginning, creating a great viewing experience. Yuki was pure and cute from beginning to end, while Itsuomi turned out to be mature and personable. The anime also spent non-trivial efforts on supporting characters, adding to the depth of the story.
Glad to see Yuki gradually embraced a bigger world under the influence of Itsuomi...even though I wish more of such growth was endogenous, rather than just motivated by "wanting to travel abroad with my boyfriend".
Would recommend to those who enjoys a straightforward and peaceful love story.
(preliminary review at ep.3)
This is a delicate romantic anime, but it's not portraying the (supposedly) mature love between adults.
It's easy to see the thoughtfulness of creators. Since hearing impairment is the key theme, the character design places strong emphasis on the lips, making it easier to discern the different mouth shapes when characters spoke. The actions and postures of the female lead Yuki were adorable, making up for her lack of speech. Like most romance anime, there was a lot of focus on Yuki's expressions and inner thoughts, making it easy for audience to follow her emotional journey.
So far, the pacing and atmosphere of the anime have been well-managed. Ep.1 had relaxed pace but efficiently told the story of how Yuki met the male lead Itsuomi, and delivered an impressively beautiful scene of them chatting on their phones. The nice balance of emotion depiction and story progress continued into following episodes as well.
It can’t be viewed as a mature love story, however, due to the imbalance between Yuki and Itsuomi - unfortunately, power dynamics is an inevitable topic in romantic relationships. Itsuomi was depicted as someone who loved freedom more than others, and marched to the beat of his own drum. In contrast, Yuki was portrayed as a pure, inexperienced hear-impaired girl, who seemed passive and needed protection. Furthermore, so far the anime was shown entirely from Yuki's perspective, which easily gave the impression that she was too occupied by this romance. It naturally raised concerns among viewers, much like the concern of Yuki's childhood friend Oushi: Would this romance really work out? How long would it last?
Essentially, the anime was lacking in portraying Yuki’s proactivity and growth. Having the courage to ask Itsuomi’s contact info wasn’t the proactivity I’m talking about here. What I wanted to understand are: Why Itsuomi's presence made Yuki want to see the larger world? Will Itsuomi become her catalyst, prompting her to expand her horizons? If so, how will she go about to do that?
If in later episodes, the anime can delve into the theme of “Love as a catalyst of personal growth”, it would become a more outstanding work.
