Last year in July, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they had licensed a bunch of new novels and manga, but only one of them really stood out to me. That manga was an anthology called My Brain is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental Disorders, and it promised to explore stories of people dealing with neurological conditions such as autism, ADHD, and so on. Being autistic myself and having struggled with things my neurotypical peers and even family had no problems with, I was all in. Of all the manga Seven Seas licensed, this was the one I was looking forward to the most, to the point that I bought the book the second it came out. Anyone who's talked to me at all knows that my favorite manga ever is With The Light: Raising an Autistic Child, and media representation of autism varies wildly, from genuinely good (This and as of recently, the Netflix cartoon Dead End Paranormal Park) to flat-out bad (Sia's film Music and the TV show Atypical). Sadly, companies like Autism Speaks still contribute to the stigmas and discrimination that autistic people face on a regular basis, what with their emphasis on trying to find a cure and making autistic people out to be nothing more than brain dead manchildren who cause their family endless misery. Blech. Thankfully, My Brain is Different, while it's a pretty heavy book, is far smarter and more respectful towards its subject matter. I mean, it has to be, since the creator, Monsuzu, actually has ADHD herself and two sons who have it. I myself was diagnosed as a toddler, long before Autism Speaks ever became a thing, and thankfully, my parents have always loved and accepted me for who I am.
My Brain is Different is also an autobiographical manga, telling not just Monsuzu's story, but the stories of others going through the same struggles. Basically, the manga was first conceived when Monsuzu found out that her firstborn son wasn't meeting his developmental milestones, so she took him to a pediatrician, who suggested he may have a neurological condition like autism or ADHD. Curious to know more, Monsuzu did some research on her own and was shocked to find that the symptoms of ADHD describe not just her child, but herself to a T. She also found that the popular narratives trying to highlight these neurological conditions were overwhelmingly negative. Rather than just accept things as they are, Monsuzu decided to reach out to other people dealing with similar struggles and learn their stories, whether they cope with it themselves or have loved ones who do. Monsuzu herself would eventually receive an ADHD diagnosis, but only in late adulthood, so she struggled a lot throughout her younger years, which is the focus of the first story in this collection of nine stories.
If you do plan on reading this anthology manga, do be warned that it has a lot of triggering content in it such as bullying, abuse, suicide, drug use, and so on, all of which are recurring themes in the book, though not everyone Monsuzu highlights deals with each one. Being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world is difficult—I should know, I myself am autistic—and in a country like Japan, which is a culture that demands conformity and adhering to societal norms (Though far from the only one), I can only imagine it being more so. Many people who are neurodivergent, such as the people Monsuzu consulted for her book, often have trouble with things Japanese society values highly, such as hygiene, punctuality, tidiness, and reading the atmosphere. While some such as myself were diagnosed as infants or children, there are just as many people who didn't receive official diagnoses until adulthood, and by then had faced dire social, academic, and professional consequences for parts of themselves they couldn't change or understand. But these struggles are very real no matter what country you come from. My Brain Is Different is not interested in depicting a rosy picture of dealing with neurological disabilities, but it also has no interest in simply dramatizing them and making them, and the people who deal with them, into flat-out tragedies. Interestingly, Monsuzu, by her own admission, said that she mainly selected the stories of people who struggled very hard and hit rock bottom before things improved for them, and that while she received letters from people who received their diagnoses young and didn't face much in the way of difficulties, those stories can be hard to translate into something people would want to read.
Following up on this, one thing that My Brain Is Different absolutely nails is empathizing that the stories of neurodivergent people do not conform to a singular narrative. Not every story in the book follows the same arc. Iku struggled with life until her Strattera medication helped her find peace. Matsubokkuri dealt with years of abuse, ableism, poverty, self-neglect, and spending a good portion of her life taking care of her sick mother, all of which ruined her self-confidence, before her younger brother suggested she might be neurodivergent and began finding her own path. Tommy hasn't always been very sympathetic to her daughter Risa's struggles, often trying to force her to be more neurotypical, and even though their relationship has improved over time, they don't always see eye to eye. My favorite of the chapters is the one starring Hanako and her autistic son Taro, because it frankly dispels and goes against every single negative stereotype about autism and how to deal with autistic people. Hanako does all she can to accommodate her son's needs, even though her extended family gives her a lot of pushback for it, and Taro himself, through trial and error, grows up into a well-adjusted adult who happily embraces his authentic self. Hanako even tells Taro about his being autistic at one point when he was a child and explains in detail what it entails for him, something that is explicitly shown as being good for the both of them in the long run, something I wish more parents would do with their autistic kids. Another favorite of mine is the last chapter, about Yoshiko, who dealt with years of bullying and abuse despite her best efforts to conform to people's expectations, only finding happiness after she became a teacher for special needs kids, being diagnosed as autistic, and finally finding people who understood the pain she went through. A common thread throughout all of these stories is that these people struggled to get people to understand them, and after receiving their diagnoses, they learn to understand themselves and their own needs, even if the world around them doesn't share that understanding, and that proper accommodations, support, and people who really take the time to be patient, listen, and truly help them can do wonders for their overall happiness.
As for Monsuzu's art, it's very simple and clean, but still manages to be expressive and poignant in its simplicity. Monsuzu, by her own admission, claims she's not a very good artist and only got into drawing later in life, having previously hated it before. Personally, I abide by the philosophy that it doesn't really matter how bad or good one's art is as long as they love what they do and are having fun with it. Besides, Monsuzu's art is more of a scaffolding to the stories told by the people who live with their neurological conditions every day, and I think, in this case, the minimalism and simplicity works very well. My Brain Is Different's biggest strength is the fact that neurodivergent people are telling their own stories in their own words. To quote another reviewer, It's all too common for organizations to claim to speak for people with developmental disorders, especially autism, and instead speak over them. The conversation around developmental disorders tends to be controlled by neurotypical people, privileging the perspectives of people who feel inconvenienced by us or treat us with smiling patronism or as inspiration porn. The stories Monzusu highlights are simple and quiet, with no grand triumphs or overcoming the odds, and nobody stands up and claps at the end. But seriously, as flawed as Japan's own treatment of neurodivergent people is, it still says a lot that stuff like this manages to provide far more nuanced and thoughtful depictions of neurodivergents than the professionally made movies, shows, and books that we filthy Americans put out. Don't even get me started on those so-called "autism warrior parent" memoirs that are constantly churned out and praised for being "honest and funny" showings of what it's like to raise an autistic child. Looking at you, To Siri With Love.
I don't have much in the way of complaints about the anthology, except for one: Matsubokkuri is said to have schizophrenia, but that never really comes through in the manga, and by that I mean she doesn't show a lot of the symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations, delusions, psychosis, or the like. At least, the manga doesn't show it. Maybe Monsuzu wanted to focus more on their ADHD, or maybe Matsubokkuri requested that her schizophrenia not be the focus. Who knows? Since these are real people telling their stories through Monsuzu's art, I'm not in a position to judge how much a person wants to disclose, and I can understand not wanting to disclose certain aspects of their condition for a variety of reasons. Plus, the manga uses some outdated terminology, such as referring to Autism as Asperger Syndrome, though you have to take into consideration that Japan hasn't made the same strides in understanding mental illness and certain neurological conditions like the US and Canada have. The DSM absorbed Aspergers into "Autism Spectrum Disorder" in 2013, while the ICD, which is used outside the US, still lists it as a separate diagnosis. Even referring to ADHD and Autism as disorders is considered controversial in some circles. Some notes in the manga do acknowledge this, and only kept the outdated terminology in tact out of respect for the people who use them themselves, even if it may be considered problematic to us. Plus, since Japan is a very different culture than, say, America and Canada, the people featured in My Brain Is Different are real people who experience their neurodivergence differently from people reading the book under a different translation. Hell, Highroad flat-out says that Japan still isn't flexible enough to accept other people's values like the West does, which is harsh but apt. Plus, several of the stories in My Brain is Different end very abruptly, and I'm sure there are quite a few readers who won't appreciate this, especially if they like something with neat, tidy resolutions. I personally didn't mind this, as the stories are clearly based on real people, and real life doesn't always come with neat resolutions with bows on top.
So yeah, My Brain Is Different is pretty awesome, and I feel it absolutely deserves to be seen by more people, and its messages are pretty important and relevant no matter which country you hail from. The world has come a long way in understanding and accommodating the needs of the disabled and neurodivergent, but there's also a long way we still need to go. The book could be a very useful tool for helping people understand themselves and others. Seriously, if this had come out when I was a kid, I would have devoured it. Stuff like My Brain Is Different is the best way to depict the neurodivergent experience, not the crap perpetuated by companies like Autism Speaks or those autism warrior parent books that constantly shill abuse as the best way to raise a neurodivergent child. If the rating is any indication, did My Brain Is Different become one of my favorite manga ever? Well, it's certainly amazing, and what little flaws I mentioned don't detract from my enjoyment of it, but those flaws do prevent it from placing higher in my favorites. Still, a spot on my top ten favorite manga of all time has most definitely been conquered, and I adore stories that manage to get a huge emotional response out of me, this being one of them. If you're looking for genuinely authentic, relatable depictions of neurodivergent people that don't lean into non-stop tragedy or inspiration porn, please, do yourself a favor and read My Brain is Different.
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