In our first two episodes, our main characters meet each other and we meet them. Also, there’s a lot of snow.

It’s not a Japanese love story with a deaf character unless there’s snow

In this case, our main character’s name, Yuki, means snow (雪). Yuki wonders if love can arrive silently, like snow. This is particularly pertinent because Yuki is deaf. 

(See also: The beginning of Silent and the second episode of On a Starry Night, which also has a character with Yuki・雪 as part of their name. It’s a snow conspiracy.)

Yuki is on the train when a stranger talks to her. The man doesn’t seem to be speaking Japanese AND doesn’t realize she’s deaf, so Yuki is flustered. But she gets lucky, and a silver-haired young man steps in to help. 

Relieved, she recognizes the silver-haired guy as belonging to the same college club as a friend. After the stranger leaves, Yuki shows her hearing aids and signs “thank you”. 

Being considerate is sexy

His name is Itsuomi and he realizes Yuki can read lips. He’s careful with his speech to make it easier for her to understand him. 

This is in contrast to my typical experience, where I tell people I’m hard of hearing and they do NOTHING to make themselves easier to hear. Yes, I get why she falls for him.

After they part, Yuki is filled with strange new emotions. At school, she tells Rin, her friend who knows Itsuomi, about what happened. Rin thinks Yuki has a crush but Yuki isn’t sure. As luck would have it Rin has a crush on Itsuomi’s cousin, who works with him. A plan is immediately made to go to the restaurant and get their crush’s contact info.

Does snow cause uncontrollable romance? Where I live it doesn’t snow.

At the restaurant, Yuki is overwhelmed when she learns Itsuomi is trilingual and sees him casually interact with a group of (probably) Europeans. She doesn’t know what language they’re speaking. It seems his world must be so big and different from her own.

Yuki catches sight of  Rin getting the cousin’s phone number. She doesn’t know how Rin asked for it and doesn’t know how to ask Itsuomi for the same.

Rin has her back though, and gets Itsuomi to walk Yuki home. In the snow. 

In classic drama style, Itsuomi pulls Yuki close to prevent her from getting run over by a car. After that, he holds her hand to keep her safe. The animation is nice here, with just the sound of them walking over images of their feet, their shadows. And of course the snow. It feels very intimate. 

Yuki can’t take it and yanks her arm free to ask Itsuomi for his number. He wants to give an affirmative reply in sign language. 

As they part, Yuki texts Itsuomi to ask if the world is a big place. He texts that it’s huge. Then he texts that he wants to enter her world.

She’s so excited she bounces with happiness, making him smile. The next day the snow is gone, but the romance will continue!

Rin ships Yuki and Itsuomi

Rin is thrilled at Yuki’s progress and picks a meeting spot where they’ll see Itsuomi, who is meeting with his cultural exchange club. Yuki wonders if he’s only interested in her for a kind of cultural exchange since she’s deaf. But she’s glad to know him either way.

When a silent Yuki can’t get Itusomi’s attention, Rin calls him over. He asks a question with a hand gesture that I don’t understand. She tells him she wants to, but not at school. I’m missing something here. Help.

Itsuomi has to catch a plane to Laos, so that’s it for this conversation.

Rin thinks Yuki is now in love. But their conversation is interrupted by Yuki’s childhood friend.

Oushi does not and will not ship Yuki and anyone

Oushi is Yuki’s childhood friend who knows sign language but is not deaf. Yuki explains that he uses sign language to say mean things to her. I agree. 

And he uses spoken language to give expository dialogue. He tells a friend that Yuki wears hearing aids because she’s used to them, but still can’t hear anything. We also see him help another person who is deaf and doesn’t realize he hasn’t paid his subway fare.

Because of this risk of misunderstanding, Oushi thinks deaf people should stay where they are safe and not leave. Yikes. Oshi may understand sign language, but he doesn’t understand humanity.

Yuki treats her feelings like a homework assignment

Yuki wants to know from Rin how to tell whether it’s a crush or love. Rin says she gets to decide. Rin is awesome. Yuki decides to seriously contemplate her feelings. Yuki is awesome.

While she’s working this out, Itsuomi sends her pictures from his trip. He’s not gone long, and they soon meet by luck at a crosswalk. He signs “good morning,” and she feels her world is growing.

Her world is so small because, for most of her life, her entire world was a small school for the deaf. It was very safe, but she longed for more. She wanted to discover the outside world. 

Yuki hands in her emotional homework to Rin

Yuki wants to talk to her best-confident Rin but gets stuck with Oushi. He implies that Rin isn’t really her friend because she takes notes for her in class. Later he tells Rin not to startle Yuki by grabbing her from behind.

Yuki feels that what Oushi signs is harsh, but his signing makes her feel he is worried for her. I appreciate this insight into how sign language can convey feelings. I still don’t like Oushi. At least Yuki doesn’t pay much attention to him.

Thankfully he goes away and Yuki tells Rin that she’s in love. Seeing Itsuomi across the room, Yuki reflects on the strength of her feelings. It’s definitely love.

The signs of my affection for this show

Yuki is awesome and I love her hair color. She grew up in a warm and loving environment, but it was also isolated and unusual. Despite this, she doesn’t put it down or see it as holding her back. She’s just ready to leave it behind. Really, she’s very pragmatic about everything.

The world she’s entering isn’t designed for people who can’t hear. Yuki has no guidance for doing things in this world and can’t rely on the people around her who can hear. Such as when Rin gets her crush’s number while Yuki isn’t even looking. Yuki also doesn’t let this stand in her way for long. She’s really brave.

I love how openly curious Yuki and Itsuomi are about each other. They both seem turned on by the differences between them.

I love Rin and how supportive she is of Yuki.

I think the animation is better than I initially gave it credit for.

These episodes are short and go so fast! My inner teenager demands more!