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| The cover of volume 1 |
Asuperu Kanojo, or Asperger’s Girl, is a Japanese graphic novel written by Hagimoto Souha and drawn by Morita Renji. The book follows the main character Yokoi Taku, who recently moved to Tokyo and now makes a living by delivering newspapers and drawing comics. Because of Yakoi’s unusual plot and unhappy endings due to him most likely having ASD (never explicitly stated in the story, but heavily implied), his comics are completely ignored by everyone. However one day, a girl named Saitou Megumi suddenly appears in front of his apartment saying she’s a huge fan of his original works, it turns out she suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and was abused and bullied when she was a child. After realizing Saitou came from extremely far away and has no intentions, or money to go back, Yakoi decides to let her live with him and thus beginning their journey of learning to rely on each other and treating their mental disorders. I know this is an extremely confusing and complicated introduction so please just read the actual manga. Currently the manga is finished with 12 volumes and 123 chapters in Japanese and Chinese, however the English translation is only up to chapter 41.
Asperger’s Syndrome, also called AD, is a developmental
disorder that affects the ability to socialize and communicate, it is quite
rare but can last for years or even be lifelong. It used to be considered as a
separate condition, but today it is part of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD),
though lots of people still use the term Asperger’s. Asperger’s is called a
“high-functioning” type of ASD, meaning it is less severe than other kinds of
autism spectrum disorder.
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| no context panel |
I came from China, and generally, it and other Asian
countries place less importance on mental disorders compared to the west, to
the point where I didn’t know anything about it until I arrived in the US.
Thus, my knowledge of mental health as a whole is…not a lot and extremely
basic, so I'm not sure how correct the story depicts it, but the reviews from others say it's pretty accurate. This story taught me a lot about mental health, like with Yokoi I learned
about how he thinks and even though his childhood wasn’t bad, he still feels
empty inside. Then Saitou’s sudden panic attacks, quick changes in emotions and
behaviors toward strangers and herself. She is also most likely suffering from
multiple disorders, including PTSD and depression from her abusive father and
school bullies. I’ve learned a lot of these things from places like health
class, but it was simply just facts and words that I memorized. In this book,
you get to follow 2 characters and watch them grow and experience things from
their perspective, allowing you to understand things much more than just
studying. Overall, I think Asuperu Kanojo is a really good read, though there
are a few… interesting and maybe questionable side plots, the mental health is
definitely the main draw of this manga and I definitely recommend reading it.
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| The cover of volume 5 |
Stories that cover topics like ASD are very enjoyable when done right because of how complex characters can be. I've read many other manga that contain main characters with mental disorders like this one and they all mostly end up being great stories about struggling with being different and how they overcome obstacles with the help of friends. It's the stuff you read when you want to cry.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that Japanese cultural ideals are more open to the exploration of mental health disorders as opposed to American "toxic-positivity," and this graphic novel seems to be no exception - your discussion of the themes depicted in this book and how you perceive them through the lens of your personal experience is really interesting, and got me thinking about different socio-cultural approaches to mental health.
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