A Sign of Affection Reminded Me Why I Love Shoujo

After putting it off for so long, I recently finished watching A Sign of Affection, and I don't know why I ever doubted if I could finish it. I'm coming back to watching anime again after a bit of a hiatus; I dropped a lot of shows that I used to religiously watch, such as Boku no Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Demon Slayer, not because they were terrible but because life got busy and I lost interest. I'm the type of person who's very iffy when starting shows because I tend to drop them if I don't regularly keep up with them. With that context, I wanted to slowly get back into watching anime again because I missed it, and I've seen many good shows come out.

Despite my desire to become a shoujo girlie, I tend to watch more shounen than I do shoujo; some of my favorite animes are Mairamashita! Iruma-kun, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Mashle, and Haikyuu, which, as you can tell, aren't precisely doki-doki material. I just really like the aesthetic of a shoujo girlie. But that isn't to say I don't watch any shoujo. My all-time favorite anime is Ouran High School Host Club, and it's my ultimate comfort show. Words cannot describe how much I love that anime. But I will save that rant for another day because we're talking about A Sign of Affection, and we've veered off-topic severely.

I first heard of A Sign of Affection while looking for some manga to buy online. I'm a broke college student, so I don't have the funds to purchase physical copies of manga, so I either sail the seas (iykyk) or buy e-pubs of them. Anyway, I came across A Sign of Affection while looking through some titles, and after reading the description, I was immediately intrigued. One of my favorite all-time movies is A Silent Voice. I've watched that movie and cried at the same scenes so many times, and that influenced my desire to take a peek into A Sign of Affection. I didn't buy the manga (which will change very soon), but I put the anime on my 'To Watch' list, which now brings us to the main point.

I loved A Sign of Affection. From the get-go, I was squealing like a teen girl. It really transported me to when I was thirteen years old, kicking my feet in my bed as I daydreamed of experiencing a love like that, which is cringe, but I'm pretty sure everyone's had a similar phase. I'm sorry, but I related to Yuki not being able to look at Istuomi's face because that man's face card is LETHAL. There were multiple times that I had to pause and switch the scene for a bit because I couldn't look at his face, and my heart was going to beat straight out of my chest. I haven't felt that for any character in so long! I loved the entire anime's wholesome, peaceful, and lightly comedic feel. It was just so mundane in a good way. I had no anxiety if something terrible was gonna happen because it just wasn't that kind of anime. Some people might call that boring, but it wasn't to me. In fact, I was excited to watch more, I binged it all in three days, watching whenever I had the time, and as someone who's been so far removed from that feeling of anticipation for so long, I relished in it. It felt good to have something to be excited about; it felt amazing to finally feel such a want for something again.

A Sign of Affection reminded me why people love romance and shoujo. It's just all fluffy and warm, and that's a feeling I never get to have anymore in recent years. Sometimes, you just want to relax and turn your brain off and your heart on. Shoujo has that effect; it's something in the genre that just reignites my girlhood, and I missed that feeling. So thank you, A Sign of Affection, for making my heart go doki-doki again.

This isn't a comprehensive breakdown of the plot and the characters; I realize that I didn't even talk about it in detail, which might be good for those who don't want spoilers. I want to write something more detailed about A Sign of Affection and share my thoughts and breakdowns of the characters' personalities and scenes in the anime that I enjoyed. I want to take my time to do that and work hard to make a comprehensive review of the anime! Anyways, that's everything out of me today. When you have the time, please give A Sign of Affection a chance!