*benny hill theme plays*

Example 1: Dinner with the amars

A good example that sticks out to is when Kuranosuke first has dinner with Tsukimi and her friends. Kuranosuke is very used to hanging out with extroverted girls who talk to each other in a very familiar way, and he tries to do the same with Tsukimi and the amars:

This does not land well.

We also see how blunt he can be, to the point where Tsukimi takes him out of the room.

This is played for gags obviously, but again we see that he's crossed a social boundary without really realising what he did.

Then, as he's having fun, he ends up tiring out the rest of the group until they leave, and he again wonders what he did wrong, because according to the set of social rules he is used to he is not crossing any lines. The thing about noodles and meat is quite literally a rule that he's never been told before and reflects the unspoken rules of "how to converse with the amars" that he does not know.

And then his reaction, and regrets about "getting carried away" is something that both he and Tsukimi struggle with throughout the rest of the manga. It is very much a big autism mood idk what else to say.

Example 2: Themed outfits

This is light-hearted compared to the last one but Kuranosuke's tendency to be compared to a character, or have a symbolic personal revelation, then make a themed outfit around it is absolutely autistic. That's just how it works!

This happens when Cheiko and Jiji compare him to Oscar from Rose of Versailles

And then later when he decides to "live as a sorcerer" and makes a themed outfit around it (this makes more sense if you've read the manga).

Who amongst us has not tried to coordinate a themed outfit of some sort, Kuranosuke is just more ott about it.

Example 3: At the theatre

Here is where we start to talk about his special interest in fashion. While watching the surreal Ophelia clone play, his gaze naturally focuses on the costumes and he is remined of how he was at the age when he started to become fixated on fashion in the first place. The sheer amounts of passion in his eyes is undeniable.

However, as is a common autistic mood, he gets irritated that the people on stage are not giving his interest (fashion) enough thought and are doing things sloppily. It is literally distracting for him, and he is blunt enough to let the cast know that, but he also wants them to do it well and offers to take the reigns. (also note how flat his affect/face is in the first panel. There are certain scenarios which stop him from masking throughout the manga)

Also on the third page, notice how his eyes glaze over when critiquing the costume. This is something that Higashimura also draws when Tsukimi and the amars are info dumping/passionately speaking about their special interests so......

This arc also has some examples of the recurring trend of Kuranosuke learning to relate to Tsukimi through her special interest (her being able to do the same for him by the end of the manga) and it is very cute.

Example 4: Fashion show planning

Just a small example of how rigid Kuranosuke can be at the beginning of the manga regarding their fashion endeavours, cause he has a very specific idea of what he wants a fashion show to be like in his mind.

It's funny seeing this contracted with the end of the manga, as they need to find a free venue as he asks about a community centre, only to end up hosting a show in an aquarium. He also goes on to acknowledge Mayaya's skill as a model and learns to not try and do everything himself.

Also have an example of Kuranosuke's recurring issues with volume control

Example 5: Chanel No. 19

In a flashback to Kuranosuke's childhood Shuu is clearly uncomfortable being around Kuranosuke's mum (as his father cheated on his mother with her). Shuu's comment about her perfume upsets Kuranosuke, not only because he wants to defend his mother but also because he is frustrated with Shuu not knowing what is, to him, basic knowledge about fashion.

When the flashback ends we see that it is still a scent that Kuranosuke owns.

Example 6: A place where he belongs

Earlier in the manga we see how Kuranosuke has grown weary of his old friendships and often cancels hanging out with his "fashionable" friends in favour of hanging out with Tsukimi and the amars.

Later on, we even see Kuranosuke's friends meeting Tsukimi, Mayaya and Banba and they cannot seem to understand why Kuranosuke would hang out with such "unfashionable" people.

Soon after the Chanel no. 19 flashback, which also delved into their difficult home situation, Shuu discusses Kuranosuke's interest in Amamizukan:

If anyone has gone through the process of, after spending years struggling to feel fulfilled in friendships, discovering a friendship group of other autistic people for the first time, this should speak for itself as part of why I have this reading.

Example 7: We're the same

Keeping on with this theme, as they try to figure out what fabric to use to make their dresses, he and Tsukimi go to look at an outlet. This is the first time we see Kuranosuke fully surrounded by clothes he could buy, and he reacts in a way which is remarkably similar to the ways in which the amars behave regarding their own special interests; even surprising Tsukimi.

Later, after being confronted by Chieko relaying the reality that the amars are demoralised from needing to make clothes that "they can't even wear", Kuranosuke makes it his main goal to discover a way to make clothes which the amars would like. He finds this extremely difficult, however, because as someone for whom fashion is everything he cannot fathom people not having an interest in it at all.

In pursuing this understanding, he comes to an important realisation: that, despite what both sides have been led to believe due to how there perceived socially, he and the amars are not very different at all. His interest in fashion is not that different from their special interests, and they both can, under various circumstances, feel intense passion about clothes:

This is very much operating off of "his passion/behaviours is similar to the amars, and the amars are commonly perceived as autistic so you can thus read him as autistic" logic, but I hope it makes sense why this reading is so prominent for me. The fact that Kuranosuke and the amars are similar deep down is a major plot point.

Example 8: Armour

I am not going to go into detail about this because I could literally write an entire essay about how Kuranosuke refers to clothes as "armour" which allows the self to be protected in a society that judges by appearances. He refers to dressing up as "putting on your armour" and going into casual clothes as "disarming".

It isn't that far of a reach to think of clothes and this "armour" mindset as the way in which Kuranosuke processes his emotions and helps himself mask. As the plot unfolds and stresses mount, Kuranosuke finds maintaining his energetic persona more and more difficult:

The emotional armour motif especially prevalent considering that, during the scene when he drunkenly reveals just how scared he is of people (especially Tsukimi) leaving him, he is naked; "armour-less":

Near the end of the manga, Tsukimi comes to understand both Kuranosuke and herself more deeply and describes the clothes that they want to make like this:

If you look at this motif through an autistic lens, it offers so much about the ways in which autistic people find ways to survive in a judgemental world. Kuranosuke's approach (and even Tsukimi's approach early in the manga) to this "armouring" involved emotional repression, and it evolves into an armour which both protects the self and allows it to thrive within it, as Higashimura sensei says, "freer and more beautiful than anyone else".

Example 9: ARE ALL OF YOU GETTING THIS!??

This is very unserious but Kuranosuke aggressively supporting Tsukimi's jellyfish infodump feels so real:

In a similarly light-hearted note, another example of autist to autist communication:

Example 10: Cross-dressing Eve

This bonus chapter is one of my favourite parts of the manga and I shall refrain gushing about all of the Gender Feelings it gives me in order to focus on what it highlights about Kuranosuke through an autistic lens.

We see Kuranosuke in his last year of high school, diligently following the plan for his life that his father has laid out for him and hating it.

Even the attention that he receives from living this expected lifestyle wears on him (as apposed to the attention he gains while living his authentic self later, which he doesn't seem to mind as much).

When having dinner with is family later, the conversation becomes grating for him and, in a particularly relatable autistic mood, he becomes frustrated and retreats to his room to listen to music while engaging with his special interest. This makes his father see him as a "handful", which I'm sure is also common unfortunately..............

We see that his room is a treasure trove of his interests, and going by the anime, he keeps it locked from the rest of his family.

Later on, after becoming overwhelmed with unwanted attention at his class' stand, he encounters one of the drama club students with a dress, and uses it to escape:

Again, I will look at this through an autistic lens rather than a gendered one, but the way his eyes keep tracking the dress before he wears it and his almost euphoric joy and wearing it really, really, signifies his passionate interest in fashion.

We lastly see the beginning of the armour motif, seeing himself a a "warrior", and how he takes on feminine mannerisms which suit the clothes he is wearing.

I love this chapter because it shows how Kuranosuke's self was not always so easily expressed, and gives us a sense of how he struggles to relate to his family regarding his special interest.

Example 11: A better life

When reconnecting with Shuu, in a manner which thematically mirrors their first interaction as kids, Kuranosuke shows how deeply he yearned for things to be different with his mother. He can't understand why his mother needed to be separated from him, outside of it being something deemed "strange" by the rules of society. There is this running tension between their happiness, how they would want to live, and the conventions which limit their expression, which they don't understand the logic behind.

What makes Kuranosuke happy and what society expects of him are once again seen as two different things, and he struggles to truly understand why.

In this conversation he even, by habit, tries to place society's logic over his desires. Tsukimi "must" pick a "man" to love, that is what he has been taught is the natural state of the world.

The very end of the manga so beautifully subverts this, describing the incredibly fluid way they go on to live their lives; never defining the love they have for each other with "concrete" terms like "romance" or "marriage":

And this is the note I want to end on. I think the final lines of this manga apply to Kuranosuke just as much as they apply to Tsukimi and the amars (and you, the reader).

I'm sorry of my discussion of the autistic coding became a little vague, as it started to become largely based on themes and my own personal understanding of the autism I experience. However, I hope that if you made it this far you gained something from it. Kuranosuke is very dear to my heart and I think that the manga, probably completely unintentionally, showcases a range of different autistic experiences. His is just one amongst many, but no less important to the entire narrative.

In conclusion: the entire main cast of Kuragehime is autistic and you cannot change my mind. Goodbye.