Interest Stacks

A woman finds out her child is autistic after struggling to raise him for a while, learns about how to properly take care of him in a society that isn’t empathetic to them. Watching her overcome her own biases and become such an amazing mother is beautiful. She becomes quite open minded and seeing how she parent him brings tears to the eyes. It feels real. You become quite attached to her son as well. He deserves the world and it’s hard to see him struggle. You’re on that journey with her. It goes in depth about symptoms of autism. It talks about difficulty with social cues, non-verbal and verbal autism, special interests, sensory overload, etc. While sometimes it can get uncomfortable, that’s because it’s portraying harsh realities people who are autistic face around neurotypical people. The story is more set on the aspect of how society views kids with autism, to remember that they ARE different and that’s okay, and to treat them with respect and kindness. I love their dynamic and I think that it’s a wonderful story.

This manga is a story about an autistic boy who is not good at masking, going to high school. That’s genuinely how it feels to me. He doesn’t have magic and he’s incredibly strong, and his strength is so overwhelming it feels like a sensory problem. His obsession with cream puffs is a special comfort food. A lot of autistic people have attachment foods that they eat often in a rhythm or ritualistic manner, for him, it’s cream puffs. His misunderstandings are funny but are also a part of autism. His slightly confusing statements that make sense to him are as well. His obsession with working out and being strong is also a special interest. Sure it began as a way to help his family but now he loves it and is so attached to the routine that I can’t think of it as anything but a special interest.

A story about a chef, Tsuburaya, and a (implied to be undiagnosed autistic) man, Tatsuya, who grows attached to the chef for his food and open mind. Most people don’t bother trying to explain things to him and he ends up feeling confused about most social interactions. The chef finds him to be fun and adorable, someone he can be himself around. It’s a cute BL that explores a lot about symptoms of autism. It’s adorable, and while I wish that it was more direct about Tatsuya’s symptoms being autism there’s only 1 volume and 5 chapters. Plus, they did a good job showing that being direct, kind, and open hearted, towards people with autism goes a long way.

This manga about a depressed autistic young lady who goes out of her way to meet her favorite author and they develop a romantic bond between each other. This series is more centered around mental health and helping the other be healthy and happy. It’s a very interesting read. They portrayed autism really well in it as well. Give this a read for sure.

Two high school boys find interest in one another based on how completely different they are from each other. One doesn’t understand social cues, is very literal, doesn’t adhere to broken rules, and loves repetition. While the other, is a rule-breaker, a delinquent, loyal to a fault, and rough around the edges. It’s romantic and sweet and although it’s doesn’t go into the possibility that our socially awkward sweetheart could be autistic, he’s very heavily coded to be so.

A young man in high school who is happy to be on his own meets a young transfer student and shenanigans ensue. He’s easily misunderstood to be cruel when he’s just blunt and sees no need to lie to others to spare their feelings. He doesn’t understand why he would have to go along with other peoples whims. He doesn’t have social anxiety, he just sees things differently from others. He has special interest and he throws all his passion into them. From baseball, rakugo, fortune telling, to wood carving, he’s had them all. He’s clearly autism coded, though this manga focuses more on relationships and how people have different perspectives and needs. This isn’t a romance manga, though it hints to a possibility romance could happen around the end of the story, it doesn’t show.

A BL Manhwa about a young man named Sangwoo who takes his life in a very rational manner. He has little rituals he must do in order to study properly and he’s furious when those things are disrupted. It takes him quite a while to attach names to faces. He’s got a very difficult time picking up social cues and when he does he tends to toss them aside for things that make him happier. He doesn’t like to be touched by people without warning. He takes everything very literally and he finds things outside of science or statistics to just be outright confusing. He doesn’t understand his own emotions most says and he calls people or things he doesn’t like as an ‘error’. It’s addressed in the manhwa that he has developmental disorder and while they don’t outright say ‘autism’ it’s clear that it’s probably what it is.

This story feels like an autistic girl who is showing interest in the opposite sex for the first time and falling in love for the first time and an autistic boy falling slowly for her as well. She’s clueless on actual social cues and although she has friends, they understand she’s a bit different from them. While Tamao also struggle with interacting with others. He’s a good young man who’s easily misunderstood because he struggles with communicating with people and doesn’t understand why they do certain things.

A short story about a young girl trying to hide that she has autism. It’s a pretty depressing story but it shows how messed up some people treat autistic people and how we can be forced to mask for our own safety. It’s a super emotional story for something that’s only a chapter long.

A young man named Haga is always breaking the hearts of his coworkers and hurting others feelings and our main character is sick of it. However after speaking to Haga he realizes that he’s lacking in understanding. It isn’t like Haga doesn’t have empathy or can’t be kind. He just genuinely doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong and he makes no effort to fix it. The two have a harsh journey falling in love. It’s adorable and wholesome.

A manga about separate children with developmental disabilities. Of course there are more than just autistic children in the manga as well. Each child feels real though, and it’s very sweet and wholesome. This one isn’t just about the children’s difficulties either. Watching the kids and how they interact and see the world is part of its fun.

A young man rescues a woman off of a roof one night and helps her find footing and supporting her. This adorable manga is pretty accurate another the anxiety that can come with interacting with people and how frustrating not understanding things people say that others find simple, can be.

This story is an omegaverse BL about a young man named Tsugumi who, I believe, is autistic. He doesn’t understand why he should be taking medicine and he’s very stubborn about not taking it despite the risks involved. He doesn’t understand social cues one bit either, he’s always running off to do things he takes an interest in. He ends up getting into fights quite often because either he’s being misunderstood or he’s misunderstanding someone else’s intentions. While Megumi is always trying to help him and keep him safe throughout it all. It’s quite adorable for omegaverse!

Kyoko Mogami is a girl stuck in her own world. She loves fairies, magic, princesses, and love to such a degree that no one can tell her they aren’t real. She’s sensitive and intelligent but very unaware of her surroundings. She gets a vague sense that people dislike her but she either genuinely doesn’t care or she shrugs it off. Until her childhood friend betrays her and she decided that all gloves are off. Watching Kyoko mature and become a woman who says how she feels when she wants to is satisfying. While others might disagree, she is clearly autistic. Things have to be a certain way for her to get performances and work done. All of her special interests, her attachments to schedules and rituals, it’s so clear to me that I wonder how people haven’t spoken on it yet.

Subaru is a man who has always despised social interactions, loud noises, tiresome situations, and anything outside of reading. It’s hard to look past his sensory overload, repetition, meltdowns, and try to view him as anything but. His relationship with his cat is adorable though and that’s more on what the show is about so if you’re a cat person this show is probably for you.

This BL manga is a classic, and there are many interpretations of the characters but I believe that Usagi is autistic. He doesn’t understand how to act with someone he loves because he self isolated most of his life. True, his family wasn’t very accommodating with his needs but he genuinely just doesn’t understand how to interact with people. He is obsessed with trinkets like teddy bears, trains, certain foods, books, and writing, etc. he has so many special interests that I wonder why nobody ever talks about the possibility he could be autistic. The way he interacts with Misaki is telling as well. He has meltdowns often when things aren’t a particular way, he seems to be a genius but he finds it extremely difficult to do certain things like cooking no matter what kind of instruction he gets. I don’t find his jealousy endearing but I understand it as I’ve had similar meltdowns when I was younger. He needs introspection but at the same time I can’t see them as anything but autistic meltdowns. He’s not really trying to control Misaki and he’s not really trying to harm him either, they’re outbursts. Even the way that Misaki handles Usagi feels like a man who is trying to understand triggers and avoid them at times. Again, this is just my opinion but I hope others can agree with me even a little on this one.

A young autistic woman becomes an attorney, she’s bubbly and energetic and she’s sweet. She’s incredibly intelligent and watching her navigate around a law firm with peers who judge her is endearing sometimes and sad in others. I really appreciate the way that this manhwa shows sensory issues and the stimming, it’s very clear that the author did research. It’s very respectful.

The manga mostly focuses on the main characters ‘scary face’, how he’s a gentle soul but because he’s so terrifying he can’t make friends and everyone misunderstands him so he gets into fights. However, it’s not that the boy is genuinely scary looking, he’s tense and he can’t get a handle on the expressions on his face. It ends up taking someone open-minded to accept who he is as a person and show everyone that they were wrong about him. He’s masking to a degree where it backfires on him and I think that is why I suspect him as autistic.

A girl cross dresses in a futuristic version of Tokyo and becomes the bodyguard of a Yakuza member who is her friend who is in love with her. I’d say both characters are on the spectrum, Ryuji doesn’t understand a lot of things about communication. There’s a lot of misunderstandings between these two because both of them aren’t very good with social cues. Ryuji is also not good expressing himself or even understanding his own emotions. Tsukasa on the other hand is more understanding of others situations, however I still think her autism shows in unexpected places. She doesn’t really understand that Ryuji is in love with her, she doesn’t really get physical affection, and her special interests are pretty clear as well. This is more speculation on my part but I do see autism in both characters.

An honest but awkward teenage boy, Hoshizaki, has a tendency to glare at anything and everyone. He’s not very sociable and people misunderstand him quite often because of how he looks. Meanwhile the person he likes, is always masking around people, Sawahata, he doesn’t have a very nice personality but he’s got good intentions and he genuinely doesn’t want to hurt people so he hides himself. While Hoshizaki doesn’t really get why Sawahata goes that far, he finds that part of him admirable. He also doesn’t really understand social cues either, he tends to be more straightforward so when people make jokes he sometimes just comprehend them. This manga is just cute and fun, kinda toxic but interesting.

Ogata, a young man whose facial expressions aren’t very lively is a bodyguard at a club, meanwhile Saya someone who is better at reading facial expressions than most, can tell. Saya brings out expressions from him he never thought he had. Ogata has a very difficult time expressing how he feels so while he understands social cues, he can’t perform social interactions well.

Takamine is a man who hasn’t had friends in the thirty years he’s been alive. He doesn’t really understand why he’s been left alone that long and he’s doesn’t mind being all by himself. Okumura, his colleague at work, found him to have a suspicious smile and thought he was two faced so he didn’t like him very much until he found this information out. He offers to be his friend and decides to teach him certain social cues. This manga is very heavily autism coded on Takamine’s part, I think that this aspect of it is very fascinating and the romance between the two is quite believable as well.

A young girl is isekaid into the body of Eumilia Dolkness, a dark magic user, but instead of caring about the main characters, her new family, or anything else, she’s fascinated by leveling up and being strong. She’s not an expressive person so people misunderstand her quite often and while it does bug her, it’s not her priority. She loves magic, to the point where it becomes an attachment or special interest. She would put everything behind because of it. She doesn’t understand social cues either, when a young lady tries to become friends with her she uses a script she’s created to have a decent conversation. She’s blunt, honest to a fault. Plus, when she finally finds someone she likes she doesn’t understand quite obvious signs he likes her back. I know all of this is genuinely for a comedic effect, the author probably isn’t trying to propose that she’s actually autistic but the very few flashbacks we see of her life in Japan make me believe it’s not only a theory. She has very clear and obvious symptoms of autism and I refuse to ignore them.

Crown Prince Cecil meets his new fiancée, Bertia, who he thinks is interesting because of her carefree nature and her words which he believes to be nonsensical but come from a young lady who was reincarnated into the body of a villainess. A lot of people believe her to be quite childish so I’ve seen theories that she could’ve died remarkably young and her real age is only 4 or 5 years older than the body she’s inhabiting. However, I don’t think she’s childish at all. I feel like she’s an energetic soul who already doesn’t understand social cues and is now in the body of a little girl in an extremely different society from what she’s used to. She’s autistic. The way she goes about her problems, her keen memory with things that fascinate her and the terrible one with things that don’t, her blunt nature, her misunderstandings, the way she insists on things going the way of the game. To a large portion of it being that she’s worried about Prince Cecil, however even after she realizes nothing will happen she STILL tries to maintain the essence of who her character was in the game. I feel like it’s pretty clear she’s autistic but I would understand if you didn’t think so too.

A young man falls in love, without realizing he’s in love. He wants to be cool like the person he’s in love with and doesn’t understand many things about what’s considered ‘the norm’ in society. He likes what he likes and he does it honestly. This aspect of him becomes dangerous when he ends up being stalked. His social cues are obviously lacking and his earnest attempts to makes friends and to learn to be more like them makes me feel like he could be autistic.

A young man learning about puberty and love from a guy in his class because he wasn’t listening in sex ed. At first that’s what the story felt like to me, it didn’t really give me any pause until I gave it a reread. In conversation about sex and etc. he’s uninterested and so he doesn’t listen at all. He even said he skips because they didn’t have tests, there wasn’t any reason to pay attention or go along with the class if he wasn’t being graded. His attention diverts to more interesting topics or he just zones out until someone who he liked came along and corrected what he knew, he would’ve just stayed ignorant. When he wakes up from a wet dream he thinks something is wrong with him and instead of going to a doctor or even checking google he just continues thinking that because he doesn’t care enough to check. He has his special interests and classes he likes and unless people are talking about those he genuinely doesn’t care. He ignores people he doesn’t like and even develops a phobia on certain types of people because he’s so particular. He’s also very adamant on following rules and schedules as well. Drinking, sex, and etc are things kids shouldn’t be doing anyway so why should he care? On the other hand he’s so straightforward and curious that no one can really hate him but he’s easily misunderstood. He’s a classic case of autism in other words. Feels that way to me at least.

Sunako, the protagonist of this series develops a special interest in the supernatural, dark, and otherworldly things after she was dumped by a pretty terrible guy. This attachment becomes an integral part of who she is even after Kyo helps her get over that traumatic experience. She stims, she hops around and giggles around things she adores and she screams and shrinks up around things she dislikes. She finds it difficult to be affectionate around people she loves. Although you could say that because she could be social to an extent prior to the traumatic experience of being dumped, she isn’t autistic. However, I say it’s simple skill regression which is a normal part of autism. She’s autistic, or at least seems that way to me.

This might seem like a strange one for some people who have read this manga but just hear me out. Satou is a high masking autistic person, at least that’s how I see it. The attachment he holds toward Yoshida while it is love, it is a bit more intense than that as well. He feels like Yoshida is honest, kind, and understands him. Satou isn’t kind, he’s mean and and insensitive and has to have his way. Yoshida considers him selfish as a result of the bullying he faced while growing up but I happen to disagree. Even while being bullied, he was seen as rude. I genuinely just think he’s autistic and just didn’t understand how to interact with others. He masks now and he lost weight so people respect him and because of that his view on the world is VERY, VERY warped. He’s sadistic and unkind, even considered murdering his bullies at one point and the only reason he didn’t was because he didn’t want Yoshida to hate him, so again, he’s messed up. However, I feel like this is an example of how masking can be very unhealthy for a person. He’s a perfect example of the reason why we should be true to ourselves as autistic people. He finds a form of stability in Yoshida who helps him more with social cues, stubborn obsessions, and more and while their relationship is adorable I hope Satou finds his own form of stability as well. Yoshida isn’t guaranteed to stay by his side forever.

Natsu Dragneel stims, echoes his own catchphrases, definitely has a very difficult time with social cues, and has very particular special interests. The way he expresses himself is often seen as odd and while people around him try to make him seem dumb, Natsu is very focused with things he’s interested in. They call it instinct, but Natsu worked hard his whole life to reach the level of skill he’s at now. It can’t really be considered instinct.

Jian Zi takes a lot of things quite literally a lot of the time. He’s very straight forward to the point where he can make people uncomfortable and he’s sensitive when it comes to the emotions of other people. He’s blunt but afraid of being hated for that bluntness. He tends to come to wild conclusions and makes weird assumptions and he tends to misunderstand people’s intentions quite a lot.

As an autistic girlie who very well could read a novel that’s way too long and remember all of it, has no engagement with others, just because I’m fascinated with one character even if he frustrates me to no end. I feel this. For Kim Dokja, this world he finds himself in is the world he knows most about and he excels because of that. However, people often forget that before the event occurs, he was always in his own world. It’s not that he can’t focus, it’s that he’s disinterested and he needs his comfort place, the book. Socializing terrifies him and he’s not good at it, so he finds solace in the one thing he loves, a book. While it could be too simple a thing to straight up say of course he’s autistic! I thought I’d put this on here just for the possibility he could be. I’m still not 100% but I think there’s a chance.

Shin Walford is autistic. The little jokes that he doesn’t understand common sense aren’t just jokes to me because he genuinely can’t tell. His special interest in magic and fighting could come from video games, but the manga, the anime, and even the light novel don’t seem to suggest that. He just genuinely loves these things. He doesn’t just show this unawareness of social cues with magic though. He’s often misunderstanding jokes, missing sarcasm, and being offended in areas that weren’t meant to be seen as offensive. He tends to ignore things that don’t have to do with his friends, family, or magic unless it’s extremely important. He’s from a different world sure, but he’s making mistakes that I would genuinely make. Maybe I’m overthinking, but I’m like 85% sure he’s autistic.

Takane is a sheltered rich man who had been spoon-fed everything his entire life so his autistic outbursts are seen as either his comedic entitlement or just him being stupid in the manga. HOWEVER, this man is not dumb, and though it’s true that he’s spoiled, it’s shown repeatedly that he does in fact know his place. He knows he’s privileged and he knows that others have less than him but he has a routine now. He’s fond of schedules, he has a way of life he’s used to, a type of clothing he can’t disengage from, and he’s incredibly stubborn about keeping to it. He stims, he’s incredibly expressive to the point where it can be rude or people can see through him. Takane is portrayed as this strange tsundere but that’s not what I think he is. He’s clueless about social cues and he doesn’t try to understand them either because of how he was raised. Everything worked out for him regardless of whether or not he understood what people were thinking. The whole manga is about him meeting Hana, falling in love with her and learning how to interact better with people so he can take over the family business without extreme risks and getting rid of prejudices he accumulated because of how he was raised. I love this manga.

Chika Kudo, a misunderstood boy who picks up on the koto after his grandfather passes away. After every experience he’s ever had, I understand that a lot of his behaviors are because of trauma. However, his autism, while debatable, is something I can’t help but consider. He cannot find interest in class curriculum unless his best friend Tetsuki helps him study, and the only reason it works when he does it is because he changes the material in a way where Kudo isn’t completely disinterested. He makes math characters into people and gives these people stories that pulls on Kudo’s heart strings. Chika has safe foods, strawberries. Kudo is also very particular once he finds an interest. He’s incredibly sensitive to people and their emotions to the point where it feels like he’s compensating and his incredibly blunt nature can be seen as intimidating and insensitive. However, he’s never actually intending to hurt others and he gets incredibly hurt if he ends up doing so. The only time he raises his hands is to protect others even when he was just mindlessly going with the flow and fighting because he gave up on himself and others. I genuinely think he’s autistic, however, I understand if people disagree.

A story about, what I assume to be a high-masking autistic boy, and a young girl with mind-reading powers. He is highly empathetic but struggles with expressing that, his emotions seem to be very difficult for others even if he’s not really thinking anything complex. He’s seen as a cool kid in their class but he seems to not have very many friends he hangs around besides the select few he’s comfortable with. He’s got incredible fixations, some that he vocalizes while other he doesn’t. Honestly he can be a bit of a pervert, but he’s a teenage kid experiencing love for the first time and he’s never disrespectful to the girl in question. He’s a good kid who I assume with not as much certainty as other characters on this list, could be autistic.

A boy that people nickname robo because of traits he has the are clearly autistic traits. He’s ritualistic, socially obtuse, intense about his interests, blunt and he’s got got sensory issues as well that end up helping him in golf specifically. I understand that the author might not have intended for this character to be autistic, but the signs are so clear that I sometimes wonder what if it was intentional. He has meltdowns in the series as well, they aren’t super intense but they’re clearly meltdowns.

Now, before I’m completely shut down and you throw away the entire list, I’m not sure if he’s on the spectrum. However, I felt it was a good idea to mention it anyway because there are some autistic traits and behaviors that I can recognize in him. His intense devotion to basketball is a special interest. While we could say that he just likes basketball, I have trouble believing it’s that simple when he has comfort spots in the same restaurant, comfort food, and other special interests. His awkward social cues and blunt nature are telling as well but that’s not what had me scraping my head thinking ‘Is he?’ His faint presence that he utilizes for basketball is intentional but he had it before he joined the club. It’s basically a super power in the show but fading in within a crowd and walking silently isn’t hard to learn when you’re masking and avoiding people like your life depends on it. That theory that it wasn’t just this weird thing he had since birth solidified more when in certain games he would make his presence more visible to people and that people would start noticing him after a while if he isn’t careful. Again, this speculation isn’t as serious as some of the others but this ‘ability’ of his is suspect to me. He stims quite frequently and has a very hard time noticing sarcasm.

This series is about a young girl who has struggled with communicating with people her age all her life due to comparisons between her and a horror movie character. Sadako is sweet, kind, and adorable, and she has a huge crush on this boy in her class named Kazehaya who likes her as well. Her trouble with social cues makes her distance herself from him sometimes though. She’s often mislead by people with negative intentions because she isn’t understanding that they have these negative intentions. She stims, quite regularly actually if watch the anime. She’s very expressive and has a hard time hiding how she feels. She masks, and it’s quite obvious that it isn’t really working for her favor. She believes that the people around her want to be scary so her demeanor comes off scary around people even when she doesn’t want it to. I could be reading too into that part but it’s something I would struggle with too.

Chung Myung is quite clueless about social cues, while he can see through people occasionally that’s mostly because of how long he’s been alive. It’s clear he doesn’t know what should be done in social situations despite that insight. In his first life, he was basically a social outcast because his special interest in gaining strength is martial arts was taken so seriously and no one could keep up with him. He found those people dumb and didn’t want to work them. While he definitely slacked off to go off and drink, his intense love for fighting and the sword never changed and it was clear to me why that was. His attachment to certain people and comfort in certain environments when he needs a break from sensory overload is amusingly clear as well. In his second life he has trouble going back to one of those spots but he still retains this behavior. He overworks himself to protect the others but he still goes off on his own to train despite knowing he’s safe around them. He stims, constantly. The way he tilts his head when irritated is a stim. Him targeting heads and hitting that specific spot at a rehearsed number is him having a meltdown. The way he expresses his meltdowns are usually violent because he’s a man who spent his life doing martial arts and sword fighting, but he has non-violent meltdowns as well. He overworks, starts pacing, and breaks things. His triggers for meltdown are pretty clear as well.

Oga Tatsumi doesn’t mask regularly like a lot of people on this list, his traits are more clear. He gets overstimulated quite easily. He has a difficult time being clear about his feelings and he tends to mask when he’s with people he cares about. Social cues are something he doesn’t understand and he genuinely doesn’t care enough about them either. He has a very strong sense of what a man should be and a strong sense of justice despite what he would tell you or what his expressions would make you believe. His actions prove that. His special interest is fighting, he doesn’t care about being a delinquent or about school or about looking tough. He just likes to fight. He has comfort people who he trusts and if they aren’t these comfort people he doesn’t really communicate with them. He even ends up going as far as distancing himself from people if he thinks that his presence would do more harm than good. He’s incredibly intuitive and sensitive and he makes a pretty good father for his age. He has repetitive behaviors, he scripts, the first two episodes he uses basically the same first line to describe what’s going on. He’s got very obvious signals to me that he could be autistic.