?

We're looking at asa being possibly autistic and having BPD (and maybe ace too lmao). I wanna clarify since BPD is especially so stigmatized that this isn't coming from a desire to label asa negatively, but to understand her better. And that I am autistic and ace, but I do not know anyone personally who has BPD. This is from my own research and if anyone wants to correct me, please do.

First we should review the criteria for both autism and BPD. Autism boiled down is defined by social deficits, restrictive and repetitive behaviors, and abnormalities in sensory processing. BPD requires five of nine criteria: fear of abandonment, unstable relationships, unstable self image, impulsivity, emotional instability, feelings of emptiness, anger issues, and paranoia/dissociative symptoms.

Asa has disdain for personal relationships, and one of the first things we see her doing is literally cursing out random people in her head. Granted, blocking the hallway is annoying, but thinking they should drop dead is a drastic reaction. She doesn't understand the point of having friends, in her own words.

I read this as a very complicated clash of both autistic confusion over why people prioritize relationships, and lashing out due to BPD. Asa has often attacked things she actually wants, and it reads as if she's been burnt before. That she experienced rejection and then decided to steel herself against friendship in general to protect herself from abandonment. which also exhibits the black and white thinking common in both BPD and autism. She straight up labels friendship as pointless and sees school only as a place to learn, nothing else.

There's also suicidal ideation, which I feel I don't need to explain here why she's showing it. There's also the extreme reaction to rejection - granted, something big just did happen - but it feels like this isn't the first time. It's also notable that she views everyone else as despising her as WELL as despising herself.

Asa repeatedly shows rigidness, particularly in morals, beliefs, and understanding of the world in general. She equates the law with morality, or at least believes there can be no breaking of it whatsoever. Black and white thinking again, this time more reminiscent of autism. And people point this out, are frustrated because of it. And I feel the fact that her teacher apologized for her is also a pretty autistic thing. The implication is that she didn't realize she needed to say something or apologize. Missed social cue. And her immediate labeling of denji as a thief with little nuance - asa my girl, you have a massive problem with black and white thinking.

Speaking of missed social cues, her actions with the shoes she's gifted are painfully familiar. Immediately jumping to the logical conclusion that she wouldn't use them, instead of accepting a gift like she's supposed to. Yuko thankfully takes this well, but asa still doesn't understand that she should accept the gift, and then returns them when they're too small instead ot the socially acceptable option of just... not. Yoru even calls her an idiot (she wants to say autistic I asked fujimoto himself)

She also admits to Yuko that she doesn't know what to do in this social situation, and the way she goes about it is very autistic in my eyes. She doesn't try to bring up something to keep conversation going, she bluntly states the problem.

Their date really encapsulates asa's neurodivergence and aceness, god. The way she approaches the date with a intense lack of flirting and in a very systemic way reads as an autistic ace who is unaware of how allo people work and doing what she can. Autistic people can be very rigid and get stressed out about change or deviations from a plan, and Asa literally looks us in the eyes and says "stick to the plan". I'm not including the infodump itself because everyone knows that and I have enough images already, but autism. And Denji's social cues are like beating Asa's head with a stick blatant. She ignores them stubbornly, insisting that her way is the right way. Very autistic of her.

Once Denji leaves, Yoru prompts Asa to do the usual thing: go after him. Asa doesn't see the need to go after him, fundamentally, and labels him as being in the wrong, and not really worth her time. She is surprised that he was bored by her infodump - again, he couldn't be more blatant about it, and she didn't realize. And she lashes out at Yoru, and it's notable how she isn't just angry. She jumps to categorizing both of them as bores, as wrong, that she is right. It's such an extreme way of looking at a rather mild situation (she's clearly not worrying about making Denji into a weapon at this second, but is hurt). She doesn't just get angry, she starts blaming others for her own actions. not her best moment

This isn't a feeling exclusive to BPD or autism, but is fascinating to look at through that lens. Autistic people often are told they are wrong without knowing why, and fumble around trying to avoid being wrong. For asa to come out and say this, it rings painfully true as an autistic person. I'm sure you could connect this to BPD as well, but I'm not as familiar.

When she gets "stood up" by Denji on their second date, she immediately flips to pretending she didn't want the date, which does read as emotional instability. She went from one extreme of wanting a date to really "not" wanting that date. And the way she justifies it with logical reasoning and it being hormonal feels like a very autistic understanding of emotions.

Her solution to feeling abandoned is, yet again, to immediately reject companionship. She'd rather be alone than feel rejected in any way. And yet again, a pretty damn drastic reaction to some guy she has mixed feelings on not showing up to their date.

She immediately spirals afterwards as well, lapsing back into suicidal ideation and condemning herself for being too arrogant. Both autistic people and people with BPD have similar struggles with social relationships and wanting them, but also not wanting them. And she calls herself out by saying she can't maintain a relationship with another human - unstable relationships, anyone?

This is echoed soon after with the falling devil arc, asa explicitly calling out her pattern of behavior of seeking love and then drawing back. Very BPD coded, in my opinion, and then we get her wishing for death yet again. Feeling like you only cause trouble for others is something so many neurodivergent and mentally ill people experience.

There's also her backstory with Crambon, which kind of sums up that she's been bullied not only by her peers, but by adults as well. It's horrifying common for neurodivergent kids to get bullied, even by adults in their life. It's also common for them to get along better with animals than people, which the woman at the orphanage points out.

There are readings of this that could make her ace, autistic, or both. I read it as she's ace and doesn't feel the appeal for sex, and sensory issues on top of that makes it seem extra unappealing. After all, she claims people "have nothing better to do". She isn't just grossed out by sex, she has no understanding of the appeal for it.

Ending the manga analysis part on a more silly note, I know this face is memed quite a bit, but that damn smile is exactly how I smile. To the point where my family recognizes that as a "big smile" for me. She does this smile multiple times. Asa, you're a tad autistic and can't smile

Bringing the criteria back, let's see how Asa fares (badly)

Asa repeatedly shows social deficits, both in getting social cues and in getting the point of interacting with others. She is incredibly rigid and prone to black and white thinking, which fits the insistence on sameness criteria.

As for BPD, she constantly shies away from people to avoid abandonment, literally says she cannot hold a relationship, and has drastic mood changes and is prone to spiraling quite easily. I don't think we can judge whether her sense of self is stable, considering the situation she's in and she's a teen, at the end of the day. But even without that, she checks off five of nine criteria for BPD.

I keep thinking about it and how they relate to the narrative of Chainsaw Man in the sense that Denji in that series never really had an actual adult figure to guide and properly educate him.

He had Aki acting as an older brother, trying to protect him, he had Kishibe teaching him how to be a hunter, and he had Asa teaching him some common sense... But he never really had a true father or mother figure to really educate him into becoming a proper adult.

Most of the adults in this series were either trying to manipulate, trick, use, or take advantage of his naivety so they could exploit his Chainsaw powers.

The closest thing Denji had to an adult figure actually trying to take care of him was probably Pochita. That orange dog tried to had Denji think about what he wanted, why he wanted it, if it was good for him or not, how he should go about obtaining it... Tried to fight to keep him safe, tried to help him find himself whenever he was lost, and was even ready to sacrifice himself for his sake.

But at the end of the day, he was still just his friend, not his father, so there was only so much he could do or so much he could teach. And as the series went on, this lack of education kept becoming an even bigger harm to Denji as he started to develop this mindset that as long as he had Pochita, he could deal with anything.

Similar to how Wolverine doesn't care about getting stabbed cause he knows he can heal, having Pochita made Denji think he didn't need to learn or grow because he would always have his best friend to rely on.

And it seemed like Pochita had also realized his own presence was halting Denji's development, which led to his decision at the end of the series. It's why the series ends with Denji finally being able to truly succeed in helping the girl he never could, even with Pochita by his side after he finally managed to part ways with him.

We can see in small things, like how in the new world that trashy teacher who was grooming a schoolgirl remained dead, or in the Aging Devil arc with those old men who wanted to sacrifice kids for immortality, or even Makima herself and her whole plot in part 1 about manipulating Denji. This series hates people who fail to educate and protect children, and instead try to take advantage of them.

Denji's education on how to become a proper hero and on how to properly be truly happy was finally allowed to start after a responsible "adult" finally decided to show him the way by sacrificing himself, even if it might not have been something he wanted, but it was something he needed.

Some people were upset that Denji "lost his agency" or "didn't choose to get better himself and instead had the decision made for him" but I think that's kinda the point. At the end of the day, he was a kid that nobody ever took responsibility for, and finally, in the end, Pochita decided to step up and take responsibility himself.

big fan of this little guy

csm final extra page of the manga dropped

White board ralsei for pride