A while ago I was really impressed with this artist's endearing love for Meiling. This time, I'm impressed with their sensitivity. The art is really top-notch, well done. I hope we get to see more of their work soon. And thanks to sneikkimies for bringing it to our attention!

last edited at Nov 13, 2019 11:08PM

Wow this really hit me hard. I also have developmental disorders (ADD & mild autism) and struggled with a lot of self loathing. I was disappointed the bf wanted to ‘cure’ her autism. She should just date her childhood friend instead. Im glad someone accepted her for her.

It's really strange, I normally never cry even at sappy stories but tears actually welled up and now I can't stop crying ahah
This was good. Really good.

Oof.. This one hits me.. I can relate to a lot of that.
Good thing she found a friend who cares about her. And damn that guy for not being punished !

Enjoyed the extras and afterword. Was really interesting to see what the author thought about and part of their process.

Hits home. Gonna cry myself to sleep now.

The boyfriend is a classic example of the Nice Guy meme.

Sazanka (Camellia Sasanqua) means "reliance and modesty" in Hanakotoba.

Whaddayaknow, a positive representation of a ma...
Ah, nevermind. Carry on.

This one hit pretty close to home. I found it funnily ironic since I, as a QC lady, have Asperger's. (Although I didn't get my official diagnosis until my 30s.) I didn't know what it was about, so when I read that first couple pages I was like "wow, okay, this is pretty neat I hope it doesn't end up being bad or offensive somehow".

Wanted to murder the boyfriend of course, knew right away when he offered to "help cure" that that wasn't gonna end well.

I think the author did a pretty good job. There were a couple things that I thought weren't entirely right, but I can't complain, since clearly the author put a lot of time and thought into giving a respectful and accurate representation.

I'd like to give Tatsuki all the hugs, plz.

Pretty good stuff right here. I can't even imagine how tough it is to have Asperger's in a Japanese society. It's already tough and brutal in an American society. I'm glad the mangaka Kamiyama Aya was able to remove that bit of mystery.

I think we need some more manga like this.

last edited at Nov 14, 2019 4:44AM

A bit too much of a sappy drama for me. The 3 main characters were cardboard cuts.

Tatsuki is such precious cinnamon roll. Must protecc.

Nice that this was a topic up for discussion. I'm surprised the boyfriend let her go so easy. I always thought if you were going to beat anyone to that extent then you'd never let them go unless the abuser was the one to to it

Alpaca posted:

Nice that this was a topic up for discussion. I'm surprised the boyfriend let her go so easy. I always thought if you were going to beat anyone to that extent then you'd never let them go unless the abuser was the one to to it

He was only abusing her to "cure" her, but since it didn't seem to work, he had no reason to keep her. As he said it "she isn't worth it".

A bit too much of a sappy drama for me. The 3 main characters were cardboard cuts.

Agreed.

It did remind of this Time article from the 60s (or maybe 70s?) I read about a UCLA researcher who treated children with severe autism through a very simple regimen of classical conditioning which involved smacking the children if they acted out and giving them candy when they communicated. The article was very impressed with his success rate.

Edit: it was Life Magazine, and it was 1965.

last edited at Nov 14, 2019 9:58AM

When it cuts to her face all bruised up revealing whats been happening though, holy shit.

As someone who has a family member with autism this is such a satisfying and heartwarming story. Autism is hard to understand but there is no need to, as long as people can appreciate others living with disabilities like the MCs friend.

i really love this

It's a simple story, with an obvious moral, if you're expecting nuance, or a deep exploration of what it's like to live with an invisible stigmatized disability, look elsewhere.

Loved this. Wished it was longer so it could develop Tatsuki and Aoi's relationship

I liked this story a lot, and I love how her friend was so supportive of and nice to her. Although the abuse part was really painful to read.

Although the abuse part was really painful to read.

The sad thing is that it seems to be pretty common for folks on the spectrum to stay with shitty people, so the shitty boyfriend was sadly accurate too.

Although the abuse part was really painful to read.

The sad thing is that it seems to be pretty common for folks on the spectrum to stay with shitty people, so the shitty boyfriend was sadly accurate too.

True. As someone who's on the autism spectrum myself, I have to wonder if Tatsuki never noticed all the red flags, such as when Keita berates Tatsuki for causing trouble for him as a full-timer before "magnanimously" forgiving her because she's cute, seemingly in order to manipulate her. I suspect that he'd been abusing Tatsuki, even hitting her, for a while, and she never realized that what he was doing was wrong.

Another thing that supports the idea of Keita having always been abusive is the author's notes saying, "Being young, (Keita) figured Tatsuki would be naïve and easy to deal with," which makes me wonder if he thought she'd be easy to control. The fact that he convinces her to quit her job when she breaks up with him, something she easily accepts, lends credence to this idea.

last edited at Nov 15, 2019 10:47AM

Although the abuse part was really painful to read.

The sad thing is that it seems to be pretty common for folks on the spectrum to stay with shitty people, so the shitty boyfriend was sadly accurate too.

I have to wonder if Tatsuki never noticed all the red flags

IME it's exactly this. Most people with Asperger's have a difficult time understanding what is and isn't proper behavior. It's sort of a key point of it. While most women with it learn early on how to mask their own "different" behavior by imitating what they see around them, that is only mimicry without a deeper understanding of the motivations and social constructs.

I remember when I was in school I was always confused about how people acted. When I was in elementary and middle school I would sit and just watch people, and literally take notes to try and at least solve the mystery enough that I could "fake it till I make it". Now I'm super good at mimicry and I can blend in with just about any crowd, at least in a more cursory sense, but deeper relationships tend to escape me. It's just how I am, and it won't ever change.