#nd rep

[theshippingnews]

"Tact is just not saying true stuff."

- Cordelia Chase, definitely autistic

[egodb]

Read Ikoku Nikki, y'all!

Thirty-five-year-old novelist Makio Koudai never had a good relationship with her older sister Minori, who always berated her for being different. Due to this, Makio is not stricken with grief upon hearing the news that Minori and her husband die in a car crash. But when Makio is asked to identify their bodies, she runs into her 15-year-old niece, Asa Takumi, whom she has not seen in years.

Struggling to process her parents' death, Makio reassures Asa that her complicated feelings are valid and suggests that the teenager start writing in a diary as a way to cope with the loss. Upon learning that no other relatives wanted to take in Asa, Makio decides to become her guardian despite her lack of experience. In a world full of uncertainty, the novelist and teenager must learn to live with each other while figuring themselves out.

(^ from MAL)

Ikoku Nikki (Journal with Witch) | Manga - MyAnimeList.net

This manga of 54 chapters (~11.5 h read) ascended to the top spot in my personal manga rankings within the first few chapters. Oh, what it feels like to be SEEN! I didn't cry at Luz's "I want to be understood" for no reason.

This is a fascinating story about acceptance and grief. I have not related to a piece of media this hard ever, and am compelled to recommend it,

SPOILER WARNING

We have:

Neurodivergence Representation

I'll not go into all the ways neurodivergence is hinted at, because really I want y'all to read this manga. It's absolutely definitely worth it.

Right from Chapter 3, we're shown aspects of one of the protagonists, Koudai Makio, which are neurodivergent, likely ADHD. It is present in all but name (even being indirectly referred to as a developmental disorder). However, even if it is a character trait, it is not the story! It is something that just is, and is separate from this beautiful journey of finding oneself and dealing with grief.

Chapter 15 introduces a lawyer who is autism-coded, and explicitly has a lack of empathy. He's upfront with it, and it actually feels like he is doing his best dealing with it, instead of exaggerating any aspect.

LGBTQ+ Representation

Koudai-san is aro-coded and has an unlabelled close relationship with one of the supporting characters.

One of Koudai-san's school friends is canonically a-spec.

One of Koudai-san's colleagues and friend is nonbinary.

The lead protagonist's best friend and important supporting character is lesbian.

Seriously, don't sleep on this manga.

[lil-tumbles]

Y'all Amphibia is awesome!! Marcy is totally an ADHDer and you can't convince me otherwise- it's made pretty obvious! This is actually good rep, at least in my opinion. Hell yeah!!!! Come get your Nd rep!!!!

[thatgirlwithadhd]

The Mitchells vs the Machines is sooo good!!!

I’m probably gonna rewatch it so I can scream about it in more detail but it is the BEST representation of a neurodivergent family I have EVER seen. It felt like my family!!! I have NEVER seen that on screen! The kids, the mom, the dad, NONE of them are neurotypical! The whole message is “We’re gonna save the world BECAUSE we are weird and different and that’s why we’re AWESOME!” And the queer rep was the cherry on top!!! Obvious enough that early on in the movie I was like “ok yeah she definitely is crushing on that girl,” confirmed in dialogue toward the end, and yet mild enough that my conservative religious family had nothing but good things to say about the movie! And the memes!! THE MEMES! The frickin furby scene oh my stars. The robots they adopt. The dog. Also if your family is like mine and 80% of your communication is movie quotes, you will find PLENTY of new material in this movie.

Please watch it, it is pure GOLD and I want everyone raving about it so the people who make movies will make more like this one