Title: I Hear the Sunspot: Limit Vol. 1
Author: Yuki Fumino
Publisher: One Peace Books
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 242
Genre: Slice of Life, Yaoi
Publication Date: November 20, 2018
The Story
I Hear the Sunspot: Limit is the continuation of I Hear the Sunspot and I Hear the Sunspot: Theory of Happiness. Here, we continue to see the growing relationship between Taichi and Sugihara along with our other characters Maya, and a new character, Ryu.
There a couple of major events in this volume with the first being a retreat that Sig-n, the company Taichi works for, is doing. They’ve been hired by another company to provide training assistance. While there, Taichi comes across a deaf girl named Ueno; however, any attempt to become her interpreter is instantly and harshly shot down by Chiba. He explains that this retreat is to get those employees to work together and overcome problems and using an interpreter would only be putting a wall for Ueno in her workplace. She needed to learn how to interact with her co-workers in order to circumvent her disability. Even though Chiba was right, he was extremely brash about it which only caused Taichi pain since he wanted to help her so much.
After the retreat, we are introduced to a new character by the name of Ryu who is completely deaf. He plays on a deaf-only futsal team and begins to warm up to Sugihara. He wants to know why he is so obsessed with wanting to hear and that putting so much focus on it only pisses him off., Ryu truly believes you can have a joyous and uninhibited life while being completely deaf so he doesn’t understand the stress Sugihara is putting on himself. Plus, his decision on whether or not to get implants to hear better was all for Taichi’s sake.
Ryu’s beliefs coupled with Taichi going through a rough time with his grandfather ends up putting a bit of a strain on their relationship which leaves us with a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the first volume.
Characters
At the end of Theory of Happiness, we saw Taichi and Sugihara profess their love for one another and we all thought that it was a happy ending. Despite that tender moment, things are still a bit awkward between the two of them. Despite their growth, Sugihara still feels that his love is one-sided even though Taichi completely accepts his love and even loves him back. Things got even weirder between the two of them when Sugihara wanted to advance his expressions of love beyond a mere kiss. It didn’t seem as if Taichi was willing to take that step and it made Sugihara question things even further.
With Sugihara being given an opportunity to hear better through surgery, he fell into even more conflict. He had to do a bit of self-reflection on whether or not this was the right choice for him. Had things been better between himself and Taichi, I wouldn’t doubt for a second that he would opt to have it done immediately; however, with those uncertain feelings, he’s hesitating. Before he could even come to a conclusion, Ryu intervenes and tries to get him to realize that a world where you’re completely deaf isn’t such a bad deal. Whether or not those words will resonate with Sugihara will be answered in the next volume.
Taichi, on the other hand, is doing some growing up of his own. He starts off the same, loud-mouthed brash kid we’ve always known him to be but once his grandfather is put in the hospital, we get to see a bit of his backstory. His parents wanted nothing to do with him when it came time for a divorce so his grandfather stepped in and took custody. He thought his grandfather hated him all this time but even though their relationship continues to be jaded, he knows that he is loved by him. Recalling those memories helped put things into perspective for Taichi but, at the same time, he hasn’t fully reached a turning point yet. He’s still trying to figure things out and I like how it’s not a complete 90-degree turn with him. His development is a slow burn and those are the kind of stories I like best!
I don’t know if this was just a translation oversight between Theory of Happiness and Limit but I found it odd that Maya just started to refer to Taichi as senpai. I don’t recall her ever doing that in Theory of Happiness. It struck me kind of oddly because Maya just can’t stand Taichi and she didn’t seem like the kind of person who would use an honorific with him. Maya has changed a little bit, though. Perhaps she understands Taichi just a little bit more but it doesn’t mean she has completely warmed up to him, either. Again… slow burn!
Ryu is our new character and just as I described him in the story section, he believes that the world of the deaf is perfectly fine. He’s pretty energetic and could be taken the wrong way at times, but he’s not really a bad kid. He does get angry at those who are hearing-impaired as they often yearn for the ability to hear. Ryu doesn’t quite understand that gift.. or maybe he does and he just rejects it. There’s more to this character, I’m sure, which we’ll probably learn about in a future volume.
Final Thoughts
I Hear the Sunspot: Limit is the next installment in a so-far great series. It gives a nice look into the struggles of a world filled with people who cannot hear properly and how they deal with and overcome those challenges. It has some pretty relatable characters that we can all look into and apply to ourselves for self-reflection.
The romance since of things is also done very nicely as these are some struggles that people do go through. Even though you profess your love for one another, there is still that adjustment period for some. Not every couple can just get together and hit the ground running and this is a nice reflection of a pain point that not many people like to admit.
As far as I am aware, there are three volumes in the Limit sub-series and once they are done, this series will be over with. Limit does feel as if it is heading to an endpoint and despite this being a rather short series, it deeply engrosses you, holds your attention and entertains you at the same time!
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