Chainsaw Man: Is Asa Autistic? Here Is What We Know!
The characters of Chainsaw Man are truly fascinating. We know that the Chainsaw Man series is one of the weirder ones you’ll encounter in your life, but that makes it so special, and that is why this series has become so popular. The focus of this article is going to be Asa Mitaka, the War Fiend and the current main antagonist in the manga. She is an odd character, and in this article, we are going to discuss the possibility of Asa Mitaka being autistic in the series.
Officially, Asa Mitaka has not been confirmed as an autistic character. Her behavior is certainly unusual, and she does manifest some signs of possibly being autistic, but this is simply a fan theory, and it could be that Tatsuki Fujimoto simply decided to write her as a very specific female character and that she is not, really, autistic. Only time will tell.
The rest of this article will elaborate on whether Asa Mitaka is autistic in the Chainsaw Man manga and anime. These facts seem important for fans online, which is why we will bring you as many details as possible, so you know the whole story. Some spoilers might be present, so watch out.
Asa Mitaka is a great and dangerous new antagonist
Asa Mitaka is a high school student who became the host of the War Devil. She was first introduced in the second part of the manga. Asa is a high school girl of average normal height and frame. She has black hair that is occasionally colored purple, along with brown eyes. Before the War Devil possessed her, she wore her hair in two pigtails, which is just past her shoulder length. Asa Mitaka is one of the most interesting female characters in Chainsaw Man.
Her hair is down now that she has become the Wari Fiend. Her eyes feature a spiral pattern similar to Makima’s, and she also has scars on her face and left cheek. Like the other females in her class, she wears the same school uniform. A long-sleeved button-down shirt with a bow at the neck, a wide belt around the waist, and black knee-high socks make up the uniform, which is worn underneath an apron-style dress with a pleated skirt that falls just below the knee. And she’s got sneakers on all the time.
Asa Mitaka is a Fiend. A Fiend is a Devil that has taken over the body of a human. Fiends have the personality of the being who took possession of the corpse. They can be easily identified due to their heads having distinct shapes, such as Power’s horns or the Chapter 4 Devil that had pincers in its face.
On the other hand, Hybrids are humans who can take the form of a Devil, and it happens very rarely that a human can merge with a Devil; furthermore, the only known method to become a Hybrid is through a contract. Hybrids have human appearance and consciousness but are able to transform into specific Human-Devil hybrids and are able to manifest their powers and abilities in such a manner.
They are indistinguishable from normal humans as opposed to Fiends, as long as they don’t transform into devils. The Chainsaw Devil erased the official name of the Hybrids. However, the hybrids managed to survive, although they have been erased for unknown reasons. Knowing this, we can easily deduce that Asa Mitaka is a Fiend. She cannot actually transform into the War Devil, but the War Devil has taken possession of her body and is part of her. This means that she can manifest his powers, and in the next paragraph, we are going to explain these powers and abilities.
Asa Mitaka could very well be autistic
Now that we have introduced Asa to you, we can tell you about the theories that she is actually autistic. Now autism is a term that is used for a whole specter of neurodevelopmental disorders that range from highly functional autism to almost completely dysfunctional; among others, the most pronounced traits of autistic people are difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and often repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Officially, WHO defines, in ICD-11, it as:
Autism spectrum disorder is characterised by persistent deficits in the ability to initiate and to sustain reciprocal social interaction and social communication, and by a range of restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behaviour, interests or activities that are clearly atypical or excessive for the individual’s age and sociocultural context. The onset of the disorder occurs during the developmental period, typically in early childhood, but symptoms may not become fully manifest until later, when social demands exceed limited capacities. Deficits are sufficiently severe to cause impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and are usually a pervasive feature of the individual’s functioning observable in all settings, although they may vary according to social, educational, or other context. Individuals along the spectrum exhibit a full range of intellectual functioning and language abilities.
(Source)
Now, Tatsuki Fujimoto, the author of Chainsaw Man, has not said anything officially about Asa being potentially autistic, nor has he provided us with any other information save for the clues we’ve seen in the series. Still, these have not, at least officially, been recognized as proof of Asa’s autism. What are we talking about anyway?
Well, Asa is definitely a person that could, on the surface, be autistic. She is introverted, she has a lot of trouble with daily social interactions, and her communication skills are not the best. She also seems to have a restricted set of interests, although she is highly intelligent and capable of planning. She can also be extremely determined, to the degree that some might label as unhealthy, focused on a task, and plan it meticulously, which is also a trait of people that fits the specter. Her body language is definitely closed off, and she doesn’t seem to have a normal range of emotional reactions, meaning that she doesn’t necessarily react like one should in a certain situation. She is, though, pretty functional in that manner.
One of the best examples of her autistic traits is her date with Denji. Although Asa has some ulterior motives, being the War Fiend and all, her date with Denji was as clumsy as you’d expect. Out of all the places, she picked the aquarium, where there is a lot of solitude and silence. She meticulously planned each part of the date, even how much time they should spend in front of a certain fish. Now, all of this could simply be an awkward date, as neither Asa nor Denji has too much experience with dating. Plus, it could also be part of a larger background plan.
We have to say here that the idea that Asa could be autistic has come from Chainsaw Man fans who, as per their own Tweets, are autistic themselves and have managed to identify certain behavioral patterns of their own autism in Asa. Officially, though, this does not have to mean much, as each character is created in a certain way, and the fictional environment allows the author to create a character that behaves autistically but is not actually autistic. This could very well be the case with Asa, as Tatsuki Fujimoto has said nothing official about her.
Asa is clearly functional, and her autism is, at this point, still a matter of interpretation. While it cannot be denied that she does exhibit some autistic behavioral traits and patterns, this does not have to mean anything officially.
