That's My Atypical Girl (Asper Kanojo) is a Slice of Life manga written by Hagimoto Souhachi and illustrated by Morita Renji, which was serialized in Comic Days from 2018 to 2021 for 100 chapters. It is licensed in English by Kondansha USA.
Yokoi is a manga artist who spends his nights delivering newspapers just to make rent, since his original works just don’t seem to sell. Suddenly, one day he gets a visit from Saito-san, a self-proclaimed fan of Yokoi's work who made the long journey to meet him.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Saito's family is abusive toward her.
- Accidental Pervert: Saito is unaware of how awkward it is to bring up sexual topics in casual conversation.
- Accomplice by Inaction: Saito's mother disapproved of her being abused, but tried to keep the peace by remaining neutral. Even after helping Saito in a legal battle against her childhood bully, Saito still hasn't forgiven her.
- Adopted to the House: The whole story kicks off with Saito tracking down Yokoi and staying the night because she doesn't want to go back to her abusive family. Then she just sorta never left.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Yokoi has scruffled Saito's hair on occasion.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Saito while growing up would receive incessant abuse both at home and at school.
- Beta Couple: Aizawa and Kosuke, representing how our protagonist would be in the future.
- Birds of a Feather: Saito and Yokoi are shown to share a lot of quirks.
- Birthday Hater:
- Saito hates her birthday, seeing it as only a day where she had to force herself to eat cake together with her abusive family.
- Downplayed Trope with Yokoi, who forgets his own birthday every year.
- Bullying the Disabled: Saito was the subject of intense bullying both at home and in her school life growing up because of her autism, leaving her with all sort of mental problems.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Yokoi is this to Saito, helping her develop healthier coping mechanism and bridging between Saito's and other's communication styles.
- Delayed Diagnosis: Discussed Trope. While Yokoi does not have any official diagnosis, he has a number of behavorial quirks suggesting he may be on the spectrum and has discussed the fact with Saito.
- Doesn't Know Their Own Child: By the time they return in Saito's hometown Yokoi knows more about Saito and how to communicate effectively with her after barely a year than her own mother after 18 years.
- Eyes Always Averted:
- Yokoi, in his own words, can't even look at a stuffed bear in the eyes, let alone the person he is talking to.
- Inverted Trope with Saito, who stares at people's eyes to avoid being left abandoned.
- Friendless Background:
- Saito has absolutely no friends before befriending Yokoi.
- Yokoi himself has very few friends and tires quickly if he has to socialize.
- Hates Small Talk: Yokoi, to the point of almost physical pain.
- Lonely Together: Saito and Yokoi both suffer severe mental health problems, letting them better understand each other.
- Mental Health Recovery Arc: The entire manga is one for Saito.
- Mundane Luxury: Yokoi lives in a crappy apartment with few modern luxuries, but a boyfriend who understands and take care of her is sufficient to make it the best time of Saito's life.
- Neat Freak: Zigzagged Trope. Saito shower at least three times per day nor can touch anything used by strangers, as the trauma of being confined in the dog house interact with her OCD. Interestingly she does not mind Yokoi's filth nor kicking bugs in her socks, but does mind his fart fetish.
- No Social Skills: Saito, due of a combination being on the autism spectrum and her horror show of a childhood causing other mental issues.
- Only Sane by Comparison: Yokoi avert almost any sort of human contact if possible because he is unable to keep interest in small talk, barely makes meet end, and yet he comes off as a rock of mental stability compared to Saito.
- Percussive Therapy: Saito has a mangled teddy bear named Hiroki after her brother that she repeatedly punches and stomps when she needs to let out anger.
- Photographic Memory: Saito has an excellent memory for images that does not forget, including all the abuse she's been subjected to. It also does not make her a genius, having trouble with math.
- Self-Harm: Takamatsu and Shimizu have scars from cutting their wirsts due to past and present emotional problems. The titular character has cut her wrists as well, but those go beyond self harm and were failed suicide attempts.
- A Shared Suffering: The Central Theme of the manga. Yokoi is able to relate to Saito as they share a history of not being able to bond with people. Similarly it is shown that, as most people do not share her neurotype nor her abusive history, they are as unable to relate with Saito like Yokoi.
- Sherlock Scan: Saito sometimes is able to intuit other's mental illness, although she often would react inapropiately to such realization.
- Shown Their Work: Actually autistic reviewers praised the good and nuanced depiction of Saito's autism
. - Strange Minds Think Alike: Sometimes Saito and Yokoi have a similar reaction to a situation or a person, often being overwhelmed by more extroverted people.
- There Is Only One Bed: Played for Drama. While Yokoi has a spare futon, he and Saito resolve to sleep together to avoid her cutting herself in her sleep.
- Translator Buddy: Yokoi has taken this role to Saito. While they both speak Japanese, Saito has difficulties understanding subtext and non autistic people in turn tend to interpret her blunt way of speaking in the worst way possible. Yokoi meanwhile can understand both communication styles.
