We only get a few across the story, but they’re either not from her point of view, or are clearly in her field of vision so could be potentially caught by her hearing aid. It’s important to make that distinction because she is deaf, and so you’ll notice very early on that panels of her in the streets, trains, malls – places that normally have lots of noise – are lacking sound effects. The story is 90% told from Yuki’s perspective, with the last 10% being a couple of panels switching to another’s point of view just to flesh out the story, but not enough to completely take over Yuki’s narrative. Luckily, just from the first volume, it’s clear to see not only how much passion the authors have for this story but also the research they went into to bring Yuki’s world to life, despite her not being able to speak. Regardless of how passionate you are, or how pure the intentions are, it’s important to not only listen to the experiences from the minority you wish to write about, but also to be sensitive and empathetic, not condescending, when portraying them. Both at the top of the book, and in the interview provided at the end, the manga co-creators wanted sign language to be at the forefront of the story, as having deaf characters (let alone protagonists) is rare in shojo manga. The author, Suu Morishita, is actually two manga creators, who split the duties (such as storyboarding and artwork) between them, but for this manga there’s also co-collaborator Yuki Miyazaki, who oversaw the use of sign language for this story. The unlikely pair are drawn to each other regardless, but can love bloom despite the language barrier? The good news is that Itsuomi can speak three languages, the bad news is that Yuki is completely deaf and can only communicate via sign language or texts. Enter Itsuomi, a tall, silver-haired, handsome man who helps Yuki on the train when she’s unable to communicate with a tourist. Yuki is a college student who loves fashion and hanging out with her best friend Rin, but she’s never been in love before.
0 kommentar(er)
