Kohei blames himself for his disability, and a lot of his growth during the story comes from learning to be comfortable with his hearing impairment-something that he discovers through his relationship with Taichi. Kohei even goes so far as to refusing to learn sign language, something that would make communicating easier, because he feels that it’s just another thing that marks him as different from everyone else. For him it’s better to be perceived as distant and unsociable, than to be labeled as “disabled” or “special”. He internalizes a lot of his emotions, shouldering the burden of his condition on his own rather than being open about his limitations. Because of this he is often misunderstood by his peers, who don’t understand his condition, so Kohei voluntarily isolates himself from others and resents the unwanted “sympathy” of those around him. His hearing impairment is enough to affect his day to day life, but because he does retain some degree of hearing he exists within this grey area of the spectrum.
I HEAR THE SUNSPOT SERIES
However, unlike in many series where a character’s “otherness” would be used as a gimmick to add unnecessary drama to the story, Fumino humanizes Kohei’s condition by treating it not as an obstacle that must be overcome, but instead looking at the emotional toll his hearing impairment has on his life - how he views his condition, how others treat him because of his condition, and the isolation and loneliness that comes from being labeled as “other”.īut, Fumino goes further, exploring the division that exists within the hearing impaired community, Kohei isn’t deaf in the traditional sense – he has some hearing and he can read lips. It is his openness that helps Kohei come to terms with his hearing loss and start to accept it not as a weakness or a handicap, but an extension of who he is as a person.įumino doesn’t just explore the relationship between Kohei and Taichi, but what it means to be an individual living with a disability. But, even he has his share of troubles - in the past he too has dealt with abandonment and loneliness - but unlike Kohei who retreated within himself, Taichi took the opposite approach, developing a desire to support others. Unlike Kohei, he has no trouble making friends and is genuinely well liked by his peers. Kohei, who is used to being excluded by classmates - who either don’t know or don’t want to take the time understand him or his condition or worse, viewed as a charity case - finds a genuine friend in Taichi, who is a cheerful and friendly guy, trying to find his way in the world. But, unlike Kohei’s well meaning classmates, Taichi actively seeks to understand Kohei and even goes a step further by engaging him in social activities around campus. He makes an effort to get to know Kohei as a person, and even volunteering to be his note taker in class as a way to spend more time with him. Taichi is an anomaly both in the story and in Kohei’s life, as he never makes Kohei feel like he is anything other than one of the guys, engaging him in conversation much like he would any of his other classmates. It’s only after this encounter that he learns about Kohei’s hearing impairment, and even then he doesn’t treat him any differently because of it. Unlike most of his peers, Taichi doesn’t have any ulterior motives for approaching Kohei, in fact he quite literally drops in on him by chance during one of Kohei’s solitary rooftop lunches. In fact, there’s a scene early on in the volume where Taichi openly chastises a female classmate for doing just that, when she likens Kohei to the hero of a romance novel featuring a deaf protagonist. And while you could argue that it’s because of Kohei’s hearing impairment that he and Taichi even meet in the first place, Fumino makes it clear from the start that Taichi doesn’t define Kohei by his condition, nor does he fetishize it. I Hear the Sunspot is a boys love story in the same way Banana Fish is a shojo… When I picked up this series I fully expected it to go the way of Ten Count, with Kohei’s disability being used as a vehicle to further his romantic relationship with Taichi.
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