English Dub Review: A Sign of Affection “The Answer”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Itsuomi takes Yuki back to his apartment, where the two continue to bond. Emma shows up and attempts to make Yuki jealous, which makes Yuki think they’re dating, causing Itsuomi to run after her, later meeting her at her place the next day to clear things up. Also I can’t read anything they say in text because CRUNCHYROLL DIDN’T PUT IN THE CAPTIONS.

OUR TAKE

After an odd delay last week where there was NO sign of affection, we’re back to cover the story of a “Will they, Won’t they” so obvious, it may as well be called “Will they, They will”. And then sign it out because one of the characters is deaf. Which actually made things kinda difficult for me this, week, though not because Yuki’s deafness actually interfered with the sound quality somehow or anything. No, it’s more because she communicates in text a lot of the time and, despite having A FULL EXTRA WEEK, Crunchyroll has not put in the subtitles for her texts as of the time of this writing. This is a good time to reiterate that this is a review of the DUB, so if the sub has it, I wouldn’t know, and even if it did, why does the dub not get the subtitles for the PLOT IMPORTANT TEXTS that are in Japanese?! Man, aren’t you all so glad that the Funimation app is finally getting shut down in a month and Crunchyroll is now pretty much the only big localizing group in anime? AREN’T MONOPOLIES GREAT?! They can do stupid shit like this and you can’t go anywhere because they’re all you got!

…(sigh) Anyway, there’s also not a whole lot to really talk about in this episode anyway. We’re already seeing Yuki and Itsuomi basically speedrun the relationship development to the point that they’ll probably be official by the end of next episode. The problem is that, unless you’re really into the marshmallow soft bonding and ASMR-like voice work, there’s not very much to look forward to. Then again, those aspects may just be what this show is trying to be in the first place, so it’s certainly succeeding on those fronts. Personally, I think the voices are almost TOO soft to the point it’s kinda unnerving, but I can definitely see people actually liking that. Meanwhile, the only thing they can do to add something even remotely resembling conflict is throwing Emma right in the path of the lovey dovey-ness like a literary speedbump to keep things from going too fast, but all it does it make me really annoyed with her character AND basically confirm a theory I have about these romances that whichever love interest confesses feelings first will inevitably be a sacrificial lamb to get the real winner to recommit to who they actually like. And it looks like that’s what’s happening next time so see you then!…unless there’s another delay. But if there is, what the hell am I gonna do about it? Not like I have any other option.