what is it with Asperger's people and anime?

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Hey! OMG, that's exactly the way it is for me! Only I didn't realize it!
See, the thing is, I'm 99% sure at this point that I have Asperger's, but I haven't been diagnosed. I found out about a year ago that my whole family thought my general behaviour was strange, and my mother had already begun to suspect that I had Asperger's. Why no one told me any of this, I have no idea, but right now I feel really angry about it (As in, "Why didn't you tell me I was acting weird???! !!"). But the point is this: My mother took me to a pediatrician specializing in ADD, and of course, specializing in ADD, she almost immediately diagnosed me with that and gave me a prescription for Strattera. She said that my intelligence "makes up" for my "mild ADD". My mother didn't believe her because of the circumstances, so she took me to a child psychiatrist, who said that I was "gifted". Well, I may get good grades, but I don't think I'm gifted per se. From that point on, everything went down hill. I'd already known that I was bad at making friends, but from that point on I started monitoring everything I did, obsessing over everything I did or said in public, at school, or with my friends. I used to just be socially awkward, but now I'm physically awkward because I'm so damn nervous. Or, more precisely, I suppose I might have always been physically awkward, but now I'm much more aware of it. Before, I was oblivious -- oblivious and happy.
Right now I'm on the internet (supposedly doing a French project. ;D), and I decided to look up Asperger's syndrome myself, on Wikipedia. I found myself gasping with almost every sentence I read -- I kept thinking, "This is me!" And I have this story that I'm working on... My main wish is for it to become a famous anime in the future, and the main character is based on me, so I try to incorporate events in my life into the plot or the subplots, so even as I was reading the Wikipedia article, I pictured my fictional counterpart reading it, with the text on the screen flashing whenever it really hit home with her... Dramatic, animated stuff like that.

But the main point is, I love anime, too. And I guess that ^^^ is the reason. It never really occured to me. Although, I haven't seen every episode or anything, and I can't quote them very well. But I actually sort of have this goal of becoming an otaku -- like, one of those people who's seen every episode of all the good anime out there, and has them all on DVD, and read all the volumes of the mangas, and has a ton of collector's items and merchandise... Yeah...

Well, they probably like it as much as you, but they are using their focus superpower to really get into it.

Sort of like what somebody else said, but I think they are very readable. I've found that even when watching western entertainment, I tend to prefer adult cartoons, and only enjoy a few live action shows. I'm beginning to wonder if it's because I subconsciously look for characters with more readable faces and voices, something seldom provided by a live action show.

I do like it but don't really have an obsession with it...I imagine some people with aspergers/autism could develop a special interest in it and from the outside it can look like a plain obsession, and we can tend to go on about a topic of extreme interest. I am more that way with music.

Besides a few Miziyaki movies, I couldn't care less about anime...

Japanese/Korean anime and pop music (called 'K-pop' and 'J-pop') is extremely trendy and popular right now among European, North American and Australian teenagers.

A new 'it's cool to be a geek' trend has taken over North America, with things that were stereotypically nerdy in the past like video games, superheroes, fantasy and roleplay, etc. all becoming trendy and popular.

Anime is just a part of this.

The only reason it appears Aspies might like anime 'more' is because, like other's have said, we tend to have obsessions.

While an NT might love anime and watch through an entire series, an Aspie might like to watch through 3, possibly even more series at the same time, and learn so much about this series and its backstory, characters and meaning that they can 'quote entire series' like you say.

Personally, I do not like very much anime at all, but my best friend on the spectrum is obsessed with it and loves it and often has introduced me to some nice anime...

Anime is not my cup of tea, never has been.

I like a few, but hardly super into to it. only own 4.

I like anime if there's either pantsu (:3) or really cool giant robots (see: Gundam, Evangelion, Escaflowne). I play a ton of anime themed games though, almost exclusively jrpgs.

Miyazaki stuff I don't really consider "anime" even though it technically is.

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I think my guess would be because anime and any sort or animation for that matter is very visual. I know lots of people on the spectrum who are into other cultures and the Japanese one is very interesting. It gives us a chance to take a dive into their world.

Never been into it, although I don't mind a couple of series, I've never really watched any for more than 5 mins on my own.

Because of the total level of relations with characters in some of the anime I watch hits home to me. Shows like Welcome to
NHK does a great job at talking about the struggles of being an introverted individual.

Last edited by Moostar on 16 Mar 2015, 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've never seen an anime cartoon in my life.

I wonder if "Speed Racer" might qualify as an anime. It seems to have at least some of the elements. If it is "anime-like," then I've watched something which is related to anime.

Yes, Speed Racer was definitely anime, as was Astro Boy, which I was a big fan of as a child in the early 1960s (I even have Astro Boy depicted in a tattoo). My sister was big on Speed Racer when she was a kid (other than a touch of dyslexia she's NT), but it never did anything for me - I found the gasping, grunting and otherwise over the top emoting of the characters to be annoying. Most Anime and Manga seem a little simplistic and over stylized, to the point I can't really distinguish one artist's work from another.

As a young artist, I was always more impressed by the work of the great comic book maestros - Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Bernie Wrightson - one of my personal heroes was Jose Gonzalez, who did Vampirella work for Warren.

In any case, I think its as much a generational thing as anything else. My daughter (also NT) is a lifelong Pokemon fan and has multiple Poke-themed inkworks and I've never been able to fathom the appeal. To each their own.

I have really severe Asperger's and I don't care much for Anime. I've tried to get into it and I just can't. I've maybe seen 20-25 episodes from a couple different series and not enjoyed it. Some of it I watched with my mother because she likes it. An NT girl from my high school used to love anime. As a matter of fact, she was the one who suggested it on Facebook (back when I had a FB) and my mother saw it while stalking my page and decided to give it a try.

Really, for me it's escapism. In anime, I can sit back and have a laugh with the characters if I choose, or I can cry with them, or feel happy for them, or what have you. I choose what emotions I want to feel when I'm watching an anime. For example, if I want to feel happy, I can choose to watch an anime that is humorous or uplifting. If I feel like experiencing a stronger emotion, I can choose to watch an anime that is more sad or exhilarating. If I'm stressed-out, I can choose to watch an anime with a relaxing atmosphere.
There is also the fact that, for me at least, many anime have interesting plots. I find many anime characters to be relatable and likeable, or at the very least interesting and intriguing.
Of course, not all anime are enjoyable for me to watch. Some anime are just plain bad or stupid and should never be watched by anyone. I do recognize that most anime are not perfect and that people can choose to watch what they want, even if it's not anime. I also enjoy many mediums that are not anime, for example video games or books.