The Global Reach of Autism Representation in Anime
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Today, we're examining examples of autistic representation in anime! A lotta you had great suggestions for autistic anime characters. Hope you enjoy my analysis of them!
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Would you want to see a video discussing autism representation in Japanese video games? 🤔 Lemme know in the comments 👇
yep heres one character trucy wright from ace attorney investigation
Lloyd from Mother 1 (earthbound beginnings) is autistic coded.
I think another anime autistic coded character people should talk about more is Yor Forger from Spy x Family. She takes a lot of things literally and doesn't understand sarcasm, she gets extremely nervous while in an intimate situation to the point of freaking out, she has a rather hyperactive imagination, and even has a hyper-fixation on sharp objects (no thanks to being an assassin). Honestly, all three of the Forger family members read as somewhere on the spectrum 😂
I'll add Yor to the list!
I would second this! and agree that yes, the rest of the Forgers are very autistic coded, especially Anya with her telepathy and how it could represent sensory overload.
Great video, my friend. As an autistic person and an anime lover, I love seeing it represented well in any media.
Thank you very much!!
@@noahthe0tter You're welcome!! 😊
@@noahthe0ttercan you do a video about Nene from pjsk (pjsk being a Japanese beat game)
@@dylanfleurentin647 me too
Sure, I'll look that up!
An anime with a very autistic coded chatacter I really enjoyed was Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Its about a girl who's incredibly passionate about anime, and has a dream of making it herself so she gets a couple classmates together and tries to make one
i'm leaving a comment here so i don't forget about this in the future
i want to watch that
Laios from Dungeon Meshi, is a great autistic code character, along with his sister Falin and his father.
From the same anime, there is also Kabru
.
In the same anime of the Apothecary there are also her father and mother, both of them also have a strong autistic code, Lankan can't even recognize faces!!!
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Tanjiro from Kimetsu no Yaiba.
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Hibiki from Bubble
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Shoya From Koe no Katachi
also laios eng va is autistic (Damien haas)
My favorite autistic coded anime character is himari from kirakira precure al a mode she is a great representation in my opinion and I heavily relate to her ever since I first watched the show as a kid
I love Precure!
Also in my hero, a lot of people head canon Bakugo and Iida as autistic as well as Midoriya. Admittedly, I'm less familiar with autistic bakugo fanon (it's also been years since I've actually watched the anime) but I can at least see having a hard time with emotional regulation and social interaction. However Iida was my favorite character with his arc early in the anime. You can interpret his hand chopping as stimming, he really cares about organization, and initially comes off as really serious and cold before Midoriya gets to know him more. Even if the 1A gang tease for some of traits, its not maliciously and his valued in the class and tries to be the best class president and future hero he can.
If you want suggestions for autistic-coded characters in Japanese video games, I have to suggest Marina from Splatoon! She's probably the most developed character in the entire series, and her autism coding does play a big role in all of it.
First of all: Marina is rarely seen without her headphones. While there is a likely reason outside of autism--she wants to hide the fact that she is an Octoling (she escaped from Octarian society, which were forced underground by the Inklings one hundred years ago, prior to Splatoon 2)--it could also be a way to block out loud noises or a comfort item. We do know she has texture sensitivity--in the Pulp vs. No Pulp Splatfest (talking about orange juice), she repeatedly states how gross pulp is and that it ruins orange juice.
She also has a big interest in heavy machinery, which could be interpreted as a hyperfixation or special interest. While she does mention it quite a bit in her Splatoon 2 news dialogue, in Splatoon 3: Side Order, Acht tells the group in random dialogue Marina could talk to no one about excavators for two hours, in which Pearl remarks her speeches have gotten much longer since then. Not to mention she's very skilled with technology in general, being considered a prodigy and creating a complex virtual world (which I'll discuss more later), and is also a self-proclaimed nerd (something she denies at first, but later embraces it).
She also has a big interest in the Squid Sisters, understandably given their song is what motivated her to escape to the surface. Her laptop and keytar has various Squid Sister stickers on it, and when performing with them live, she gets so excited that she starts running around, possibly a positive form of overstimulation. Speaking of stimulation, another trait of her is that her tentacles constantly move, a trait no other Octoling shares. It could be a subtle form of stimming for her, like tapping a pencil on a desk. She also stands notably different from the other idols, having her hands clasped together--which is a very small thing, but I know I've stood like that before.
But perhaps one of the biggest things that defined her going in Splatoon 3 was her desire for everything to stay the same. Autistic people tend to hate change, and one of Marina's biggest reasons for choosing Order in the Final Splatfest of Splatoon 2. She worried Off the Hook was going to break up as a result of the Splatfest, given meeting Pearl (someone she considers very important to her) and forming Off the Hook was one of the best and most impactful moments of her life. She wanted to keep the life she has now. Pearl reassured her Off the Hook won't break up, and they would instead go to new heights, which they did by going on a world tour.
Later, in Side Order, after entering the virtual world she created, the Memverse, for its test run, an entity known as Order was born from her and the Octoling engineer that helped her's subconscious desire for an unchanging world. It initially took over her before becoming fully realized after Marina is freed from its influence. Order tried to create this unchanging world no matter the cost, and the speech Marina gives to it when you fight it for the first time is perhaps one of the most significant developments of her character. She says that even though change can be terrifying, sometimes it ends up as "a beautiful rainbow." With Pearl and her friends by her side, she was willing to risk it. They end up literally using color (the Memverse is a monochrome world) to defeat Order and reduce it to a harmless form.
Finally, I want to touch upon Marina's empathy--her reason for creating the Memverse was to help restore the souls and memories of Sanitized Octarians, who had their free wills forcibly taken away from them. Depictions of autistic people's empathy is rare to see in media, so I find it heartwarming to see Marina, who just wants to help everyone Kamabo Co. (the company responsible for sanitization) had hurt. She's happy to see Acht, who is a Sanitized Octoling and Marina's childhood friend, restored, as well.
Oh, and the Memverse itself was stated by the developers to invoke feelings of nostalgia, but Order's presence has twisted it the further you climb the Spire of Order. It just looks very calming in general, minus the fact that it's inhabited by plastic bone fish with red eyes.
I spent a nearly an hour writing this comment, so yeah, I do hope you make a video on autism coding in Japanese video games and check out Marina for it!
Interesting! I've actually never played Splatoon, so this is a great suggestion to check out!! Thanks so much 💚
@@noahthe0tter No problem! I'm quite passionate about Splatoon, so I'm always glad to talk about it!
Can you cover characters like Saiki from the disastrous life of Saiki k, Komi from Komi cant communicate. Or characters like sailor moon or Nobita from Doraemon who may also have ADHD or some other learning disorder.
Thanks for these suggestions for autistic characters! I've added em to the list!
I may not have even watched this yet but I know it’s gonna be good. As someone who also has autism your videos make me feel really seen and what you make is really awesome.
That's EXACTLY the goal with these videos. Thanks so much for saying that 💚 I'm very glad this message is reaching people
You should have a look at Stannis Baratheon from the book series A Song of Ice and Fire. He is one of my favorite characters and shows a lot of autistic traits.
- obsessed with duty and justice
- socially awkward, not well liked by anyone for his bluntness and sense for duty and justice. He likes to say the truth and if you don't like you can be damned.
- he is known to be one of the best battle commanders of his time, even though he does not enjoy fighting. It is said that he knows every houses strength in men(how many men fighting for that house)
- he values merits more then the state of birth. He makes a one time smuggler who once saved his live a lord and his right hand man. When the smuggler saved his live, Stannis made him a knight but took four finger tips of one hand for the crime of smuggling.
- uncomfortable around woman even his own wife
- at his castle feasts are quiet and dignified by his command
- he has also a lot of bad traits, he is rigid and rarely forgives. Is almost willing to sacrifice a innocent boy his bastard nephew to the flames to "save the realm". In the TV shows he burns his only daughter alive, which is said to happen in the books too at some point. But we don't know for sure, we've been waiting for the next book for over ten years now.
- He tries to learn from his mistakes.
Frieren comes to mind as she is very autistic coded (though I'd argue almost all the mages in the show are and neurodiversity is even explored pretty explicitely with ubel)
Also special thoughts for serial experiment lain and kino's journey (2003) where it's not just the characters, it's also the animation itself that feels very uh... "autistic gaze" for lack of a better term. Like, the way power lines always make background noise in lain or the way the sun is sometimes so bright in kino are things that I relate to on a visceral level, and I think that's an aspect of autistic rep that isn't explored nearly enough, it's not just about socializing differently it's also about feeling the world differently (which is also why I think frieren works so well, because it's not just that she's awkward and struggles to understand others, she also has a completely different perception of time which is honestly a mood)
Oh also anthy from revolutionary girl utena but I can't discuss more cause I'm still in the process of watching the show (great so far, never thought I'd see a man boxing a kangaroo in it), but she's giving that vibe so much, and the way people treat her, denying her humanity to the point that she also sees herself as having no real interiority or desires that's some really heavy stuff that I think a lot of autistic people can relate to especially those that had to go through traumatic treatments like ABA.
Well again, not sure where the show is going exactly but yeah, adding that one to the list lol
I would love to see you watch more animes and diving in with more character representational and analyzing for other animes eventually :3 Thank you for analyzing these characters that show representation!
Thank you Melany for always cheering me on! :3 I do plan to do a part 2 for anime characters 💚
Kurama on YuYu Hakusho is very tism-coded. Also, numerous characters in Hunter x Hunter. And Gohan is so autistic that he's a saiyan that doesn't even like fighting.
If you want to see some autistic representation in other media like korean drama's I always bring up 3 shows, It's Okay to not be Okay, Move to Heaven, and Extraordinary attorney woo. Kdramas can be pretty long as most episodes are about 1 hour or so long but if you check them out you won't regret it. All 3 shows are on netflix currently with It's okay to not be okay being my favorite of the 3.
Interesting! Never seen any K dramas, but I will check these out! Thank you!
A video about autism in japanese video games would be amazing!! Some characters that i would suggest are Marina and Harmony from Splatoon and Nemona, Kieran and Penny from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet :D
Awesome! Thanks for these suggestions!!
I would love to see a video discussing autism rep in Japanese video games! If you do PLEASE do Franziska von Karma! She’s one of, if not my favorite autistic coded character. I could talk about her traits all day, but I’ll spare you the essay for now-
Absolutely! Von Karma added to the list!
Could you also add her brother, Miles Edgeworth? I'm a huge Ace Attorney fan and both feel autistic coded.
@@cabin7slytherpuffempath absolutely! I love Ace Attorney a ton myself 💚
Honestly, Ace Attorney has so many good autistic coded characters that they could probably take up a whole video themselves XD
There is actually another character in My hero academia I see as autistic. Tenya Iida. The first main thing is his hand motions which could be seen as stimming. Other things are his overall emotional scale. He tends to get overly passionate about getting into a role (EI, him pretending to be a villain) but he also is very emotional when it comes to *certain events* related to his brother and tends to get lost in them. He also is known to have volume control issues, many times in the show people call him loud when Iida is sometimes just using his normal tone. There to me is more stuff there but I can't list all of them right now.
I highly recommend you to read “With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child”
I'll look it up!
Omg I love to see autistic Deku talked about. Genuinely I wish the show leant into it more cuz it feels like they drop that part of him later on. I seriously do love these autism in media videos you do cuz I love seeing new autistic reps.
As for autism in Japanese games might I reccomend Yusuke Kitagawa from Persona 5. I know you've already covered Futaba but I personally think Yusuke is also autistic. He's incredibly passionate about art, does not quite undetstand social cues and tends to be quite blunt in his wording.
Also N from Pokemon Black and White. His dialogue boxes are always set to fast almost like he's speaking incredibly fast. He's quite socially oblivious and also he has a strong sense of justice for Pokemon liberation hence why he's manipulated into joining Team Plasma.
Yusuke added to the list!
I am an autistic person and I feel pretty indifferent towards other autistic characters. When I approached a girl I got rejected. So autistic people can never have real relationships with other people or autistic people who the normal people force to hang out with.
If you were going to talk about ASD in jpn video games, I'd highly suggest Project Sekai (colorful stage) as like every character in that game could stand as representation.
I've got another one for you, Cherry from the anime movie "Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop". I actually made a character analysis about his autistic coded traits on Tumblr, there's quite a few! He's pretty relatable to me, and yet another one is Goh from Pokémon Journeys, which I collabed with a friend to make that character analysis on Tumblr since we both are autistic and we relate to him so much.
A character I view as autistic coded is Kaonashi from Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away.
Chihiro actually has been recommended a few times! I'll put her in the next anime video
@@noahthe0tter For me, it is Kaonashi (No face).
yay so happy you enjoyed apothecary diaries!!! Maomao is my favorite rep :) I've never seen myself reflected so much in media as I do with that show.
Studio Ghibli Mob and MHA Let's Heckin gooooooooooooooooooo Another dub for the Trouge Gang this is a great video Noah Keep up the great work
Thanks Trouge!!
Tbf, Maomao is in no place to even think about trying to impress the emperor. She's a concubine's handmaiden, and it's specifically the concubines who need to impress the emperor for their own survival or as their job. But yeah, her hyperfixation and complete obliviousness to Jinshi's flirting - plus having a similar dad lol - all really scream autistic to me.
Also, I'm sad I didn't get a chance to recommend Edogawa Rampo or Laios! XD Rampo is one of my favorite autistic-coded anime characters. And Laios reaaaaally shows what good character writing and specifically good autistic character writing can look like.
If you do end up doing video game characters, I hope you'll consider looking into Zayne from Love and Deepspace and Genshin Impact in general. (Three characters that come to mind instantly are Alhaitham, Kujou Sara, and Shenhe? Ah unless your thesis and format are totally different and you won't be doing a character by character analysis/summary.)
I do plan on doing a follow up video down the road about more anime characters, so I'll take these suggestions into account for other autistic characters! Thanks for suggesting Laios and Edogawa
You pointing out that Kiki being autistic makes scent Kiki's delivery service is my favorite ghibli movie and I'm autistic. My autistic anime characters head canons are :
- Sakura & Syaoran - Cardcaptor Sakura
- Haru - Free
- Taeko - Only Yesterday
- Haruhi - Ouran high school host club
- Nagisa & Fuuko - Clannad
- Rin - Little Busters!
pasted from the last video i hope u don't mind!
all these characters are from the game ensemble stars, which also has an anime, but some of the characters here are not in it.
souma kanzaki
hiiro amagi (not in the anime)
eichi tenshouin
wataru hibiki
aira shiratori (in a movie, but not the main anime)
chiaki morisawa
shinobu sengoku
shu itsuki, who also has osdd
hokuto hidaka
kanata shinkai
nagisa ran
kanna natsu (not in the anime)
and sora harukawa, who also has synesthesia!
enstars is funny, i think they try and make the characters quirky and unique, but in turn they just end up being autistic. if i could add them all here, i would, but these are just the ones where i believe it is the most prominent. not to say others aren't, but you'd definitely have to know more about them in order to spot it. autism wars if you will /j
also i'm autistic and my special interest is enstars so if anyone wants to know why these characters are autistic to me please ask i would love to share
Thank you for these suggestions!!
@@noahthe0tter of course!! im excited for your next video on this if you choose to make one!
I would like to suggest a character that has autistic traits. Comet from Astroblast. I made a video on that very purpose, so that could help.
Added to the list!
Yes mob is nice
He absolutely is! Very good autistic rep
I would love to see a video on autistic rep in webseries! I'm honestly waiting for someone to talk about Molly from Epithet Erased.....
Talk about Laios and Marcille from Delicious in Dungeon. I think they are really good examples of Autism.
I dont know if anyone else mentioned this already but for me Nozaki from Monthly Girls Nozaki Kun was the first anime character whom I thought was very very autistic coded
I don’t mean to repeat myself from a comment I made in the previous video. But I highly recommend checking out the manga, With the light: the raising an autistic child.
I think Jean for Acca 13 is autistic but he doesn't really show the sensory trouble stuff.
Hello, I have subscribed to your RUclips channel
Yoshiko from Aho Girl definitely has autism.
I'll look them up! Thank you!
If you’re looking autism or autism coded representations in JRPGs for your next video I recommend Alhaitham and Furina from Genshin Impact
You don’t have to play the game all you just have to do is just watch all the cutscenes of them
Alhaitham represents a autistic or autistic coded person who is introverted while Furina represents a autistic or autistic codes person who is extroverted
For autsic characters in video game i recommended talking about futaba from persona 5 and shulk from xenoblade chronicles
Shulk added to the list!
I really want a part 2
I do plan on making one!
@@noahthe0tter Sweet!!!
Hadn't considered it. But Ashitaka and Kiki do fit. . .
Absolutely! Two of my favorite Ghibli characters
Laios from Dungeon meshi. Nuff said.
hibiki from bubble is a portrayal of autism but i dont know if it's good
some people who have watched it said no
I feel like Eureka from Eureka 7 is heavily autistic-coded.
Added to the list! Is this a show?
Not done with the video so not 100% sure but Bocchi from Bocchi the rock. Just watch the show and you’d probably understand and Psyculturists suggests that she is autistic coded and I picked up on it watching the show myself
I do plan to discuss Bocchi in part 2!
Another autistic character is ranpo form bungo stray dogs
Added to the list!
Great thank you for the heart also if you haven’t watched bungo stray dogs i highly recommend it if you are okay with dark themes that is but it’s a fantastic anime and manga series
15 seconds ago😋😋
one of my favorite forms of autistic rep is Rina from Nijigasaki School Idol Club! its not explicitly stated, and the majority of her coding is within the now shutdown mobile game "Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars" but i still think shes well done.
She has a face mask, in the form of the Rina-chan Board, that she uses to express emotion, because she has difficulity doing so physically. she also struggles making and keeping friends, using her mask to help connect with others! and she has a special interest in technology!
in the anime, she gets overwhelmed and puts herself in a literal box.
A more obscure case of an autistic-coded character, maybe because he is just a side-character, could be Kanoh Agito from Kengan Ashura (which is suprising since it's a more edgy series). But the first time the guy opens his mouth i nthe anime, he immediatelly proceeds to misunderstand a reference outside his special interest and try to bring it to his special interest.