Finally, an Anime that displays social anxiety/ASD perfectly

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Yeah, that too, haha. Which often makes things even funnier.

Another way in which I can relate to her, heh.

I am not convinced she is that good, I think there were a few times people were just being nice and she took the situation to be really imamate. In the episode where she tries to make faces/expression in the photo booth she ends up messing them up, and she can't seem to realize that her brother does not like the talks.


She thinks that she wants to be noticed, but from episode 1 she reacts as if scared when people do, often fidgeting, and when her class seats change she becomes quite desperate to avoid them. She wants those two guys to leave when they get close with the rain too.


Pardon? She is constantly wearing clothes that mostly have comfort going for it, and shown to be annoyed by others conversations, being in the middle of conversations actually makes her stressed that she has stomach issues.

Except for the clothes she has no other sensory issues.
She is annoyed by other people's conversation because she's jealous of them and wishes she could be like them. Proof of that is that she says stuff like "why are you always talking about bulls***?" and not something like "shut up, your voice bothers me".
Her problem in conversations is the social part not the sensory one (at least that's what is visible).
Also she isn't bothered/scared by the noise of fireworks.
Not to mention that lights don't seem to bother her.

It's a spectrum, and no two people with AS have exactly the same symptoms. For instance, I know someone on the spectrum who listens to music so loudly that you can hear it coming right out of his headphones, which I would find extremely uncomfortable, yet when he tried some of the jalapeno and cheddar doritos I was eating, he complained that they set his mouth on fire, and I find them to be relatively mild.

Also, I find that while a person's tone of voice can bother me, the actual words that they are saying can bother me just as much, if not more. I can definitely relate to Tomoko's jealousy towards her classmates, and how she secretly wanted to be "just like them" despite how idiotic she thought they were.

As far as fireworks go, the sound makes me jump a little bit sometimes, but overall I like watching them. I certainly wouldn't want someone to set one off right in front of me unexpectedly, but if I knew there was going to be a fireworks show later on, I would probably go and watch it.

But my point is, no two people with AS are alike, and some people on the spectrum struggle more with social interaction, while others struggle more with sensory issues.

Its not like they had to go down a list of the stereotypical problems because it looks like they weren't really aiming for an AS character, but she has many of the traits, and I perceive that multiple of her problems are being hidden as other ones. Plus I mentioned that that she very much like me, and I like watching fireworks, in fact I like lightning/thunder so sudden loud noises are not always an issue. I do have a bit of a sensitivity to light, which is one reason I spend so much time in a dark room just like she does, and apart from feeling sleepy from lights like in a classroom, rarely had any strong affect.

I see it that any other problems just are not shown due to be unnecessary, less interesting, or make it harder for some of the audience to relate.

She doesn't seem like a person with Asperger's to me. I only see social anxiety in her, if there is some Asperger's I probably miss it because social anxiety is her most outstanding problem and I can only see that. Since she has few to no sensory issues I would think that is mild Asperger's and severe social anxiety, if AS is there at all.
I can get moderately or severely socially anxious in some situations but social anxiety isn't a big issue for me generally while sensory issues are my biggest problem along with the inability or very scarce capability of getting non-verbal language. That is to say, it's hard to mistake my AS with social anxiety, since I generally don't think about what I say but blurt out whatever comes to my mind first.
Another thing that I noticed is that she has a very good sense of direction since she can go to many places alone. I can't do that and I need someone with me. But that's not AS-related, I know.

Well mine is the other way around that my social anxiety is my main problem, but I do have other issues, and I see that she has them too.

I don't know what level of sensory issues or how they are expressed. She seemed to instantly hate being in the clothes and environment for the factory job, she wears a backpack instead of the standard Japanese student bag, she has a long shower after being caught in the rain to the point she gets her brother sick. She clearly has a few empathy problems if you consider that an applicable trait, as she eats food that her brother was keeping, and one time tries to make it up to him but it just annoys him.

I burst out laughing when she was playing a hentai game on her Nintendo DS!

I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it it does make a lot of sense! I haven't watched Cowboy Bebop in a long time.

As for Tomoko, I definitely think it's possible that she's on the spectrum, but (as I think we can all tell from the debates going on) there's really no way to know for sure. The AS trait that always stood out most to me, though, was her taking social scripts from things like anime and video games and expecting them to apply to real life in the same way.

That Anime was a good watch, I really enjoyed it.

She totally has autism.

She might not be as identifiable to the socially anxious and shy types, but she hits the socially odd and eccentric nail square on (with all the other stuff like odd body movements, no peer relations, odd speech patterns, and isolated skills).

Shes like a younger female version of me!

Well, the #1 symptom of AS is problems with social skills. So I'm not sure that proves much.

But I do agree she doesn't seem very AS. I'd say the character is more likely to have Antisocial Personality Disorder, rather then ASD. She is a psychopath.

Last edited by Max000 on 22 Feb 2014, 4:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

No dude.

AS and social anxiety are unrelated.

The No.1 symptom of AS is (it's actually 2/3 really; 1 and 3 below can be combined if you feel like it):

a lack of social and emotional reciprocation
an all absorbing interest
a lack of appreciating and showing nonverbal cues

The symptoms of Asperger's syndrome vary and can range from mild to severe. Common symptoms include:

#1 Problems with social skills: Children with Asperger's syndrome generally have difficulty interacting with others and often are awkward in social situations. They generally do not make friends easily. They have difficulty initiating and maintaining conversation.

Eccentric or repetitive behaviors: Children with this condition may develop odd, repetitive movements, such as hand wringing or finger twisting.

Unusual preoccupations or rituals: A child with Asperger's syndrome may develop rituals that he or she refuses to alter, such as getting dressed in a specific order.

Communication difficulties: People with Asperger's syndrome may not make eye contact when speaking with someone. They may have trouble using facial expressions and gestures, and understanding body language. They also tend to have problems understanding language in context and are very literal in their use of language.

Limited range of interests: A child with Asperger's syndrome may develop an intense, almost obsessive, interest in a few areas, such as sports schedules, weather, or maps.

Coordination problems: The movements of children with Asperger's syndrome may seem clumsy or awkward.

Skilled or talented: Many children with Asperger's syndrome are exceptionally talented or skilled in a particular area, such as music or math.

What Are the Symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome?

Which is exactly what I said (with a few more added).

Notice no "social anxiety"?

Social anxiety is totally different; it's the feeling that you're being judged or evaluated negatively by others in a social situation.

For example,

AS: person says a socially inappropriate thing but doesn't know it's socially inappropriate and doesn't think a thing of it
SAD: person says a socially appropriate thing but worries if they said the wrong thing