Welcome back to Beyond The Anime! For my first post of the new year, I'm starting a new seasonal feature - a manga preview for series receiving anime adaptations. This preview for the winter season focuses on two manga and one manwha, and includes comparisons to their premiere episodes - A Sign of Affection, Hokkaido Gals Are Adorable, and Solo Leveling.
A Sign of Affection
This story begins when Yuki, who has been deaf since birth and communicates using sign language, meets Itsuomi, a fellow student at her college with an interest in traveling, on a train. He helped her out when a tourist was trying to ask questions, and he's intrigued by her unique way of viewing the world, while she's drawn to the way he bridged the gap between them without hesitation.
The manga beautifully portrays the varied ways these characters communicate, with different text styles to represent each one. Messages are shown typed or handwritten, spoken words are colored gray when Yuki is reading lips and bolded during parts of the conversation she doesn't catch (usually because she's not facing the person speaking), and the occasional sideways letters mean she's having trouble understanding. The sign language flows well and is very easy to follow, even though the author notes that only part of the phrases are depicted in the panels. I enjoy stories that explore a language barrier, so it was really nice seeing everyone's interactions illustrated with such care.
So far, I've read volumes 1&2 of the manga, and if the anime continues at its current pace, that content will likely cover two thirds of the season. As Yuki and Itsuomi's relationship moves forward, later chapters bring up deeper topics like Itsuomi's dreams for the future, and Yuki's self-consciousness about vocalizing.
I have mixed feelings about the story introducing love rivals for each of them, because their interactions at this point are mainly used to create misunderstandings between the leads, but these situations seem to be resolved quickly aside from some lingering feelings of insecurity. However, the sweet and heartwarming moments far outweigh any minor drama, and there are so many scenes I'm excited to see animated.
Episode 1 covers the events of chapter 1, from Yuki and Itsuomi's first meeting to exchanging contact info. The anime did a good job adapting the manga's art style. Scenes like Yuki and Itsuomi walking home beneath the falling snow were beautiful, and their facial expressions are a perfect match for the manga so their emotions come across really well, which is important for a story that often portrays its characters' feelings without words. This first episode also added a few brief scenes to foreshadow characters who appear later on in the manga, like Yuki's childhood friend Oushi and the hairdresser Itsuomi knows from high school.
I really enjoyed the first two volumes of the manga, and I have high hopes for this adaptation. Aside from sequels, it's my most anticipated of the season. Definitely recommended.
Hokkaido Gals Are Adorable!
I've seen quite a few anime series based around the premise of a character moving from the big city to the country and enjoying its small town charms, but this is the first one I've watched that makes the winter backdrop the main cause for appeal (and also sudden culture shock). Tsubasa arrives in Hokkaido unaware that he would find a largely empty snowy landscape with buses that only come once every few hours, and a girl standing outside in her high school uniform with bare legs while he's bundled up from head to toe and still freezing.
The first person he meets in Hokkaido is the super friendly gal, Minami Fuyuki, who instantly captures his attention. Their initial bond forms out of an interest in a way of life that's different from their own - Minami is curious about Tokyo, and Tsubasa is constantly surprised and mesmerized by her forward personality in equal measure. I found both to be likeable main characters, the comedy is pretty funny, and later chapters hint that the story will have a nice message about gaining a new appreciation for one's hometown. The snow festival chapter (coming in the next episode or two) shows that off really well.
The first episode of the anime covers chapters 0-2 of the manga, from his initial encounter with Minami to his first day at school, and his visit to her house. It's a very faithful adaptation so far, almost exactly like the manga - sometimes to a fault. The sneezing scene was awkward in the original, and it's still just as awkward here, but the anime did at least tone down some of the exaggerated fanservice angles that appear throughout the story, which I appreciate.
The snow scenes are beautiful in both versions of the story. Although Tsubasa's hairstyle looks slightly different in the anime compared to his original design, Minami's character art made the transition really well and is a perfect match to the color portraits of her in the manga. The only things missing in this premiere that I would have liked to see were the brief snowball fight during lunchbreak and the little snowman made by Minami that she's shown taking a selfie with in chapter 1 - also displayed on the series cover image on Manga Plus.
This one turned out to be better than expected. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a fun romcom and doesn't mind a bit of fanservice.
Solo Leveling
A twist on the traditional dungeon raid and isekai formulas, this present day/near future real world setting features the premise that gates to another world have spontaneously opened, and hunters who awakened to special abilities enter these dangerous areas to slay monsters for profit. Hunters are ranked depending on their ability, and main character Jinwoo is the lowest rank, considered by most to be the weakest hunter of them all, but he continues to take part in dungeon raids despite frequent injury to pay for his mother's medical bills, which makes him a sympathetic lead. The opening chapters of the manwha begin with a raid which takes a turn for the worse when the party decides to advance into the uncharted territory of a double dungeon.
I was surprised by how many additions were made in the anime version. While the main storyline of the dungeon raid is the same, the anime offers more worldbuilding in the beginning and introduces new characters who will probably be relevant later on. The opening scene with a group of S-rank hunters dressed in full raid gear taking down a horde of giant ant monsters with fire and lightning blasts, or a similarly high ranked hunter stopping a purse snatcher in town, really shows the contrast between the strongest combatants and those at Jinwoo's level. Likewise, the background information about the Hunters Association's plan to use the essence stones and mana crystals obtained from slaying monsters as a clean energy source was interesting.
However, this structure also has its flaws. The premiere episode felt fragmented, switching from one location and group of unknown characters to another, in a way that the manwha's early chapters did not because it focused solely on Jinwoo's party. Even so, I enjoyed the anime premiere more than the beginning of the manwha thanks to these additions. One scene ending with a video narrated by the Hunter Association's chairman who encouraged hunters to not let their guard down and "be afraid" was a perfect lead-in to Jinwoo's party entering the double dungeon precisely because they didn't take the dangers seriously enough.
There were a few minor changes to the dungeon raid side of the story. In the manwha, party leader Song was very insistent in rallying the crowd to move on ahead to the next dungeon, while the anime shows Kim and Park making the suggestion and Song being more level headed in his assessment of the risks and rewards before putting the matter to a vote. The anime also showed Jinwoo fighting the goblin he won an essence stone from (instead of starting from the scene where Joohee is healing him afterwards), which was a nice bonus.
This premise feels a lot like a modern day dungeon crawler RPG mixed with Attack on Titan. If that sounds interesting to you, then check it out. I wasn't too enthused after reading the manwha, but enjoyed the anime premiere more than I expected.
I hope you enjoyed the first of my seasonal manga-to-anime adaptation previews! Check out my Favorite Manga of 2023, and stay tuned for more manga/light novel comparisons featuring anime from 2023 and early 2024 - Spy x Family season 2, My Clueless First Friend, The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses, Tearmoon Empire, Shangri-La Frontier, and Apothecary Diaries. My Favorite Anime of 2023 post is also coming soon!
The winter festival in chapter 3 of Hokkaido Gals has some familiar anime characters as snow sculptures - Pikachu and Doraemon!
*All screenshots taken by me from A Sign of Affection, Hokkaido Gals Are Adorable, and Solo Leveling from the official manga/manwha releases on Libby, Manga Plus, and Tapas, and anime clips from Crunchyroll's Youtube channel. Banner image made by me in Canva.
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