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Susan Graham
""
The aspie of Life of an Aspie
Tropes associated with Susan:
- Adorkable: We first see her really getting engrossed in ''Dragon Age: Origins. This serves as an Establishing Character Moment for her as an aspie since the player character in that game is a Heroic Mute. Her being passionate about manga in the third chapter also counts as this.
- Berserk Button:
- Just because she has Asperger's does NOT mean she's quote unquote "retarded" by any stretch of the word.
- People laughing at what she wrote down in her diary. Downplayed, as the only thing in her diary that she truly cares if people laugh about is the "dedicated in the memory of" page dedicated to the memory of her deceased parents.
- Childhood Friends: Is stated to be this with Hiroshi.
- Hates Being Touched: Like some autistic people, Susan isn't fond of anybody touching her.
- Fish out of Water:
- She along with her grandmother are the only Caucasian characters in an otherwise Japanese setting. Downplayed, as it's mentioned that Susan has known Hiroshi since childhood and therefore had to have learned both the language and some of the country's customs.
- In a country that's behind on their knowledge of autism and its various forms, Susan and her Asperger's technically counts as this trope.
- Literal-Minded: Another consequence of her autism. Case in point, Susan interprets receiving a pink letter in her locker in Chapter 7 and the message contained within as a lesbian student trying to confess to her rather than somebody from her class trying to reach out and apologize to her and Mizuki
- My God, What Have I Done?: How she feels about beating the hell out of Ayame though to be fair, the latter had it coming being an Alpha Bitch and all. Her worrying that her grandmother will possibly lose her job because of her seals the deal.
- No Social Skills: As expected with someone on the autism spectrum. Like most aspies, Susan doesn't pick up on sarcasm all that well. She also says whatever is on her mind regardless of whether or not it's something that should be said at all in polite company.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Strips naked in Chapter 5 without thinking about her being in the same room as Mizuki and is somewhat bemused when her roommate asks if her intention was to take a bath.
- Tomboy: Susan acts anything but girly cute from what's been shown thus far. Plus so far, her normal attire seems to consist of either jeans and a t-shirt or athletic shorts and a t-shirt
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: As already mentioned above, Susan is the tomboy with Mizuki picking up the girly girl end of the trope.
Matsuo, Hiroshi
The neurotypical Foil to Susan's asperger's. Hiroshi seems to be a typical young Japanese man favoring hard work and academics compared to Susan's niche interests.
Tropes associated with Hiroshi:
- Big Brother Instinct: Very angrily tells Eiji to apologize to Susan when the former makes a rude crack about the latter's condition.
- Childhood Friends: With Susan.
- Only Sane Man: He seems to be able to handle a person like Susan better than most people his age. Justified in that he's known her since they were both little.
Aono, Takeshi
The resident ladies man of Fukuzawa High. Is on the receiving end of a beatdown by Susan early on the story for being mistaken for reading her diary. Is friends with the crude yankii Eiji Onizuka.
Tropes associated with Takeshi:
- Foil: Acts as the sane person to Eiji's abrasive behavior similar to the relationship Hiroshi has with Susan
- Likes Older Women: Calls Susan's grandmother Helen "beautiful" after she flirts with him calling him "handsome" when the former does a double-take comparing a picture of a much younger Helen to the present-day Helen standing right in front of him.
- Nice Guy: Unlike his idiot friend Eiji, Takeshi doesn't make rude remarks about Susan's Asperger's. That said, he does use sarcasm at one point in Chapter 2 in response to something Susan said. (Which flies over the latter's head.)
Onizuka, Eiji
Takeshi's crude abrasive friend.
Tropes associated with Eiji
- Jerkass:
- Calls Susan "retarded" (though not to her face) because of rumors he's heard about her. He's also mentioned in passing to have been the one to actually read her diary.
- Smacks Daisuke for snitching on him in Chapter 3 when he shouldn't have had his phone out during class in the first place!
- In Chapter 2, he calls her condition "Ass Burgers" which gets him an angry response not from Susan, but from Hiroshi.
- Troll: When Susan mentions she doesn't like using her condition as a "get out of jail free card" if she can help it, Eiji runs with it and tries to imply that she ''does in fact use it". This leads to an angry outburst from Susan that the entire class overhears. (Though this does also lead to Eiji being told to get up and move to another table by the teacher.)
Kyouko Mizuki
Susan's cute and sweet roommate.
Tropes associated with Mizuki
- Broken Bird: Is revealed to have PTSD from being bullied a lot prior to the events of Loa A. Though she's sweet as can be on a good day, it's shown she has self-esteem problems stemming from a surgical scar on her chest.
- Break the Cutie: Ayame and Risa's verbal hazing of her in Chapter 4 did a number on her psyche in the week between chapters 4 and 5 resulting in her being hyper-vigilant, emotionally volatile, and having a gruesome nightmare to top it all off along with the usual signs of being bullied i.e depression, low self-worth.
- The Cutie: Cute face. Check. Happy demeanor. Check.
- Tomboyand Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Susan's Tomboy. Even out of uniform, Mizuki opts for traditionally feminine clothing from a skirt and a long sleeved shirt to pajamas. Mannerisms wise, she's far more feminine that Susan.
Keichii and Daisuke
Two nerdy guys Susan meets in her Manga class. Keichii's the scrawny one with glasses. Daisuke is the big guy.
Tropes associated with them
- Big Guy: Daisuke
- Those Two Guys: Pretty hard to mix them up with any other male duo
Ayame, Risa, and Tachibana
Three girls who give Susan and Mizuki trouble. Well actually only two of them.
- Alpha Bitch: Ayame is portrayed as an aggressive type openly belittling Susan for her Asperger's and later making fun of Mizuki for her chest scar. This bites her in the ass come Chapter 4 and come Chapter 9, she clearly regrets making fun of Mizuki as does Risa.
- Risa also has shades of this trope though she more fills the role of a lackey to Ayame prior to Chapter 4.
- Asshole Victim: Yes, Ayame was a bitch towards Susan thrice, but she sure didn't deserve to have the hell beaten out of her in Chapter 4 by the very person she mocked for being different.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Neither Ayame nor Risa think highly of Susan which isn't entirely unwarranted from their point of view given how she gives Takeshi a black eye for accidentally reading her diary and later, beats up Ayame and on top of that, causes Ayame to switch schools pissing her and Risa off that much more.
- Girl Posse: At first, however with Ayame switching schools between Chapters 4 and 5 and Tachibana being shunned by Risa only to end up joining Susan's inner circle in Chapter 13, this becomes an averted trope.
- Token Good Teammate: Despite being friends with two Alpha Bitches, Tachibana feels horrible for accidentally starting the sequence of verbal hazing that Risa and Ayame put poor Mizuki through.
- She's shunned by Risa in Chapter 4 for even suggesting Ayame might have brought the events of the chapter onto herself and spends a couple of weeks angsting about her part in Mizuki's hazing before reaching out to her and Susan.
