is a Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

series written and illustrated by Suu Morishita. It started serialization in Kodansha's ''

Dessert Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and most parts o ...

'' magazine in July 2019. As of February 2023, eight ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

'' volumes have been released.

Development

In an interview with

Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and manga ...

, the author duo Suu Morishita stated that they decided to make the main theme

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

since they were both interested in the idea. However, since neither of them had much experience with sign language, they did research, which included reading books on the subject, interviewing teachers, and getting someone to supervise how it was used. When it came to the art, they decided to use

Copic is a Japanese brand of refillable markers and related products made by the Too Corporation and distributed in the United States and Canada by its subsidiary, "Too Corporation Americas". Description Copic is most famous for its marker line-up, ...

Multiliner brown markers for the outlines and Dr. Ph. Martin's color ink for the coloring because they felt it gave the art a "soft and delicate" style.

Media

Manga

The series is written and illustrated by the author duo Suu Morishita. It started serialization in ''

'' on July 24, 2019. On June 24, 2021, it was announced the manga would go on a hiatus as the writer and storyboarder gave birth to a child. The manga returned in November 2021. As of February 2023, eight ''

'' volumes have been released. In March 2020,

announced they licensed the manga for English publication digitally. At

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first ...

Lite in July 2020, they announced a print release for the series. Later that month, they announced they would publish chapters of the series digitally simultaneously with the Japanese release. The series was also translated into French by Rosalys and published by Akata.

Volume list

Musical

A musical adaption ran in the Honda Theater in Tokyo from June 4 to June 13, 2021. It was directed by Maiko Tanaka, with Sanae Iijima writing the screenplay, Kiyoko Ogino composing the music, and Kiyomi Maeda in charge of choreography. It starred Erika Toyohara as Yuki,

Takahisa Maeyama is a former Japanese actor. Career In 2010, Maeyama was a finalist in the D-Boys special unit audition. He eventually joined the group's D2 division in December 2010. In 2011, he made his acting debut as Nakazaike Chōji in the ''Nintama Rantar ...

as Itsuomi, Manatsu Hayashi as Rin, Saho Aono as Ema, Ikeoka Ryōsuke as Ōshi, Kodai Miyagi as Shin, and Ryuji Kamiyama as Kyōya.

Reception

The series ranked 17th in the 2020

Next Manga Award The is an annual award for manga series presented by Kadokawa Corporation's '' Da Vinci'' magazine and Niconico streaming website. It is divided into two categories: one for print manga, and one for web manga. Overview The award was originally ...

. It ranked ninth in the 2021 edition of the ''

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying people in the manga and publishing industry. The series is part of Takarajimasha' ...

'' guidebook's top 20 Manga for female readers. Also that year the series was nominated for the 45th

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in ea ...

in the ''shōjo'' category; it was nominated for the 46th edition in the same category in 2022; and for the 47th edition in the same category in 2023. The manga was also nominated for the first Ebook Japan manga award. The manga also won the grand prize at the eleventh ''

An An ''An An'' (stylized as ''an an'') is a weekly Japanese women's lifestyle magazine. It is one of the earliest and popular women's magazines in Japan. In 2009 it was described by '' Japan Today'' as a mega-popular women's magazine. It is also one ...

'' manga award. The manga has been nominated for the 68th

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier J ...

in the '' shōjo'' category. Sean Gaffney from Manga Bookshelf gave the first volume praise, calling it an "excellent debut" and stating he wanted to read more. Koiwai from Manga News also praised it. Like Gaffney and Koiwai, Darkstorm from Anime UK News also gave the first volume praise, comparing it to '' A Silent Voice'', as well as calling it "beautifully drawn and written".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sign of Affection, A Drama anime and manga Kodansha manga Literature about deaf people Romance anime and manga Shōjo manga Works published under a pseudonym