Webcomic / Life of an Aspie

The aspie in question just in case it wasn't already made clear.

Life of an Aspie is an ongoing indie shoujo inspired slice of life webcomic on Webtoon. Created by user Aspie Gamer, Life of an Aspie revolves around its main character, Susan Elizabeth Graham, a young American redheaded woman with Asperger Syndrome living in Japan with her grandmother who runs the boarding school she attends, Fukuzawa High.

After being accidentally humiliated by the popular guy just hours after arriving at her new school, Susan decides to take a vow of "chastity" (read: no contact with guys that's anything more than casual everyday conversation period) that will last for the next three years of her education.

What follows is a tale of an autistic young woman trying to find her way in Japanese High School culture.

Life of an Aspie can be read on LINE WEBTOONS.

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This series contains examples of:

• A Day in the Limelight: Arc 2 has this for three of its six chapters
  • Chapter 8 focuses on Eiji and Takeshi in its first half and then Hiroshi in its latter half
  • Chapter 9 is a focus chapter centered on Risa showing that there is more to her than being an Alpha Bitch revealing that she has her own problems to deal with.
  • Chapter 10 is one for Daisuke and his infatuation with Mizuki and his search for advice on girls.
  • Chapter 12 is a stealth fourth focus chapter for Tachibana and her side of events leading up to Chapter 12 mainly how guilty she feels for accidentally upsetting Mizuki back in Chapter 4 and unwittingly giving Risa and Ayame an opening in which to trigger the poor girl further.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Chapter 4 takes place from Jeong's perspective as he gathers snippets about Susan's nasty one-sided fight with Ayame from his peers.
• Berserk Button: People who call Susan "retarded" because of her Asperger's is one for her. People making fun of what's in her diary seems to be another. It's shown in passing that said diary is dedicated to the memory of her late parents who passed away sometime prior to the start of LoaA.
• Bettyand Veronica: The name of Ch. 16 which plays around with the trope itself. Namely how Daisuke initially views Mizuki and Tachibana viewing the former as a Betty and the latter as a Veronica until his masculine subconscious informs him it's actually the other way around. Later in the same chapter, Yumi is established as a chilled non-judgemental Betty despite having the looks of a Veronica while her roommate Miwa has the gossipy judgemental temperament of a Veronica while having the unkempt looks of a Betty.
• Big Brother Instinct: Hiroshi quickly puts Eiji in his place when the latter makes a tasteless joke about Asperger Syndrome that only *he* finds funny.
• Childhood Friend: Hiroshi is this to Susan. According to the latter's grandmother, He's the *only* friend Susan's had her whole life.
• Old Maid: Discussed between Yamada and Susan in Chapter 13 though Yamada admits she's more worried about "New Year's Noodle" at her age thus leaning into the modern version of the otherwise archaic trope formerly known as "Christmas Cake".
• Cold Opening: The webcomic starts with the PC from Dragon Age: Origins giving orders to the party following an off-screen battle with the darkspawn before flirting with Alistair, the game's straight option for female Grey Wardens. Those who've played Dragon Age know that the PC is mute hinting that someone is talking to the game instead.
• Comic-Book Time: Life of an Aspie began in 2015 and five years later is still ongoing, but in the comic itself, only about a month has passed since Susan began high school.
• Dull Surprise: Pretty much Susan's reaction to Mizuki seeing her naked in Chapter 5.
  Mizuki (Sees Susan butt naked): W-were you about to take a shower?
  Susan: Yeah. That was the plan.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Risa and Tachibana are initially just two random girls shown in passing during Chapter 1 when the following chapter would later establish them as part of Ayame's posse which makes it slightly confusing as to why the girls don't sit with her, Eiji, and Takeshi during Chapter 1 when they are in the same room.
• Establishing Character Moment: The Cold Opening mentioned above serves as this regarding Susan's Asperger's.
  • Hiroshi gets his by acting as the sane man to Susan's Asperger's.
  • Takeshi is quickly established as a calm and collected "ladies man" while Eiji acts like an abrasive tool in a counterpart example of the relationship Susan and Hiroshi have with each other personality-wise.
  • Ayame vocally announces her displeasure of our heroine marking her as the Alpha Bitch of the comic.
  • Chapter 15 introduces the Ishikawa Twins who had previously been a very minor footnote in the comic with Etsuko as the energetic giddy twin and Fumiko as the more reserved and terse twin.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Susan's casual albeit accidental nudity in Chapter 5 goes on to serve as inspiration for a body positivity comic Mizuki later unveils concept art for to Susan and friends during Golden Week in Chapter 14.
• Hates Being Touched: Susan. Whether you gently tap her or pat her on the back, she doesn't like it all the same. Truth in Television though. Many autistic people are sensitive to being touched in general.
• Imagine Spot:
  • Takeshi has one about a beautiful girl whom Eiji suggests he imagines to help him finish his final set of heavy bench pressing at the school's rec center.
  • Susan has one about her being a superhero during math class.
  • She also has one during Chapter 4 when she's grieving about how she's really crossed the line this time with her actions.
• Late for School: Susan is subject to this trope at the start of Chapter 2 despite having her roommate Kyouko, Mizuki wake her up ahead of time.
• Locker Mail: In Chapter 7, Susan receives a pink letter in her locker that she misinterprets as a lesbian love letter.
• Mistaken for Gay: Initially, the pink-colored letters Susan and Mizuki receive throughout Arc 2 are assumed to have been sent by a lesbian student trying to reach out to the two girls. However, the end of Chapter 11 and all of Chapter 12 reveals that it was really just Tachibana, the Token Good Teammate of the two alpha bitches, Ayame and Risa, reaching out to Susan and Mizuki so she could formally apologize for accidentally triggering Mizuki's PTSD back in Chapter 4. Also, the pink-colored parchment is revealed to be just that and not a sign of Tachibana's sexuality as Susan had thought
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Chapter 5 shows Mizuki acting abnormally in comparison to her normal sweet demeanor. Namely, she acts jumpy over the slightest things, blows up in Susan's face when she presses her on what's the matter, and is going through a bout of artist's block. In addition to all that, she also has a terrifying nightmare about her low self-esteem regarding her body.
• Product Placement: A PlayStation 3 is referred to by name instead of some clever name spoof.
• Sex Dressed: How Miwa finds her roommate Yumi in Ch. 16 after a passing comment Eiji had made about "sweets" therefore confirming her suspicions about what Eiji actually meant by that
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Susan
• Schedule Slip: In-Universe: The trope is discussed when Eiji thinks he can get away with doing the bare minimum and still pass in Manga 1 to which Keichii and Daisuke both correct him before Susan brings up the fact that the only way Eiji could slack off and still get paid in the ruthless world of the manga industry would be if he was Yoshihiro Togashi, a real-life mangaka who's current long-running work, Hunter X Hunter is often more on hiatus than it's not; Often lasting up to a full year at worst.
• Shout-Out:
  • The first few pages of the first chapter's Cold Opening show Susan playing Dragon Age: Origins. Most notably as a female Human Noble Gray Warden romancing Alistair.
  • Combined with Shown Their Work, the competitive side of the Super Smash Bros. community gets a shout-out when Susan complains about losing to a little kid playing as Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros For 3DS while she was playing as Captain Falcon who is usually a high tier character compared to the former.
  • And speaking of the good captain, no discussion about his signature move Falcon Punch is complete without referencing the iconic scene from the otherwise forgettable FZero anime.
  • Marvel Comics fans ought to recognize who Susan is dressed up as during her superpowered daydream in Chapter 2.
    • Said superheroine makes another appearance in Chapter 6 when Susan gives a "superhero origin" regarding how she grew up being undiagnosed.
  • At one point while Ayame is being a bitch to Susan, a star shaped object pops up causing Susan to verbally rip Ayame a new one.
  • Invoked in Chapter 3: Manga 101 where references to existing works of fiction are made during a manga class. Notably, Eiji compares Yoshihiro Togashi to George R.R Martin when discussing the former's chronic case of schedule slip mentioned above.
  • Susan mentions to Yamada in Chapter 5 that she practices her writing chops typing up fan-fiction for Fairy Tail.
  • Susan plays The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons to help sort out her emotions in Chapter 5 following her (verbal) fight with Mizuki.
  • Daisuke and Tachibana watch a Music/BTS music video specifically the one for I Need U in Chapter 16
• Take That!:
  • Eiji and Takeshi give one to crazy social media "feminist" extremists in passing conversation.
  • Susan has one towards the First Girl Wins trope in harem series.
  Susan (while talking about Harem Genre clichés with Keichii): "I mean, what the hell is the point of the other girls then if the main lead is just going to wind up with either the childhood friend, school beauty, or the magical girl in some cases? In real life, people often date or screw around with other potential mates before making an informed decision on whom they wish to settle down with and raise a family!"
  • The cover and title for Ch. 16 is a direct homage to Archie Comics, but can be seen as a skewering of the wholesome family-friendly teen romance comic given that Daisuke has sexual (but somewhat tame) thoughts about him and Tachibana at one point whereas later on in the chapter, Eiji not so subtly comments about "a sweet pick-me up" to Miwa tipping her off that her roommate Yumi had physical relations with him.
    • Moreover, the cover has a small white stamp with the saying "approval is for dogs" and a canine's paw in the upper right corner, therefore, mocking the now defunct Comics Code Authority who most certainly would not have approved of the aforementioned teenage shenanigans mentioned above!
• The Cutie: Mizuki
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Susan easily qualifies as the tomboy to Mizuki and Tachibana's girly girl.
  • Yamada is revealed to have been the tomboy among her more feminine school friends growing up in Chapter 13.

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