I won't express my opinion about whether or not he has that diagnosis, but I cannot agree with this part of what you wrote at all "Even though we the readers know by now that Doumeki feels absolutely and very strongly for Yashiro, but he doesn't externalize those feelings. Again, we only know this because as readers we are privy to Doumeki's internal self."
Doumeki vocally expresses his admiration and love for Yashiro to Yashiro himself, to Nanahara and to Nanahara, Sugimoto, Kageyama and Kuga. He is very expressive about that and definitely not only in his internal self.
He expresses to Nanahara and the others his respect and loyalty for Yashiro, and to Yashiro he expresses his devotion, continuously begging Yashiro to allow him to stay by his side, but only the reader understands the maelstrom of emotions, the true scope of what Doumeki feels for Yashiro. What you are describing, what Doumeki has expressed are pieces of emotions that people Nanahara and even Yashiro have taken at face value. They've only seen pieces of the much grander puzzle.
As a person with autism, I disagree completely. Doumeki is clear that he chooses to ice his sister out because he picked up on her inappropriate love for him, which combined with her silence, prevented him from noticing she was being sexually abused by his father. Being shy or liking sports has nothing to do with autism, nor does his severe traumatic emotional reaction at the thought of being like his father and hurting those he is sexually attracted to. He is a serious guy but he never has issues showing his affection for Yashiro, and everyone around them is capable of picking up on his emotions. He also understand what Yashiro truly needs (although he didnt like the result) and understood that he isnt really a masochist but that he had simply been raised to believe he deserved abuse and did not know how to function away from that. Doumeki's faithfulness isnt a sign of autism either, he simply has always known his feelings and was honest about them. Yashiro basically pulled the old "throw rocks at the beloved dog" trope by shooting him to keep him away from Yakuza life and protect him from worse harm, then ran away when he realized Doumeki really would risk death to do anything for him. Because remember, Yashiro hates himself and does not believe he deserves anything good, kind or beautiful, so the pure and naive Doumeki could never be enough for him.
BTW, I have a podcast about autism, sex and manga, and we are gonna be reviewing this manga next week for a show on BDSM. You can find it on Spotify if you search for "Rotten Girls Guide" (rotten girl=fvnv (chinese)=fujoshi)
I also disagree. I don't think Doumeki is on the autistic spectrum at all, I think he's just very reserved and even moreso around people he doesn't know well or doesn't feel very warmly towards. And when has he shown an obsessive tendency about Kendo? He took Kendo as a sports because it made him feel good and like with everything he does, he seems to have been serious about it. That doesn't mean he was obsessed with it. I think Kendo helped him bury his feelings since he wasn't allowed to complain to anyone.
He said it himself, his parents didn't really allow him to be a child so it's no surprise to me that he has trouble letting go and is overall emotionally repressed. His family situation wasn't good. His parents were rather cold towards him and his sister was oddly attached to him (understandably, because of reasons we know now but he didn't at the time and it made him feel uncomfortable). He never had any room to express himself. He couldn't wait to run away from home, which is why he enrolled in the police right after highschool, only to find out that his dad was a rapist, process to beat him half to death and end up in jail. He's full of trauma and I think that similarly to Yashiro, but in his own way, he developped this appearance of "stoicism" as a coping mechanism for everything that was happening around him. But look how much he's changed since he came to know Yashiro. It's like meeting him gave him the freedom to express his desires and be himself.
And yes, Saezuru is a love story and it also has a rather detailed Yakuza plot but for me, the core of the story is this: two very traumatised people overcome their difficult childhood together and free themselves from the shackles of the past.
Hi, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I'm not autistic but studied the subject as part of my major and interacted with autistic adults in various settings, and that is why I stand by my position, because I know there are people on the Asperger' spectrum that manifest many of the characteristics that Doumeki does, to a lesser or greater extent because symptoms vary among individuals. I agree that being shy or liking sports does not imply being autistic, but Doumeki is not portrayed as being just a shy; kid; he is explicitly portrayed as having difficulty in expressing or recognizing emotions, and he used Kendo as a tool of focus, it helped him find balance as a child. I recommend you go back to that particular scene. Doumeki was not a typical shy kid, his condition was more atypical.
Also very important, when Doumeki made love to Yashiro, he didn't really understand Yashiro even though he thought he knew what Yashiro needed. It was Nanahara at the hospital, when he was telling Doumeki that Yashiro didn't remember him, that he gave Doumeki insight into what could be the root of Yashiro's masochism. In that scene Doumeki is clearly shocked at that realization, because before that point Doumeki had never considered that Yashiro's masochism was a self-defense mechanism as a result of trauma. In that moment we are able to infer that Doumeki realizes he hadn't reallly understood Yashiro.
Another point where our views differ is that I argue that Yashiro didn't reject Doumeki because he recognized Doumeki was in love with him,;Yashiro rejected Doumeki out of a sense of self preservation. He is terrified of how Doumeki's death could affect him. Yashiro feels he would be destroyed if something happened to Doumeki, he feels he wouldn't survive losing Doumeki. Yashiro didn't interpret Doumeki's loyalty as Doumeki being in love with him, he only interpreted it as a deep sense of loyalty and understood that Doumeki was willing to die for him, just like Nanahara has proven to be willing to die for Yashiro, but we didn't see Yashiro reject Nanahara, that's because eventhough it would hurt Yashiro to lose his loyal subordinate, Nanahara's death wouldn't destroy him the way losing Doumeki would. Eventhough most readers find Yashiro's actions laudable, worthy of admiration, the truth is that in rejecting Doumeki, Yashiro is being at his most selfish. Eventhough Yashiro is an exceptionally perceptive individual, he's utterly myopic when it comes to Doumeki.
Anyways, thanks for sharing your thoughts and I will definitely check your podcast.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I respect your pov but I have to disagree. I invite you to read my reply to BabyCanteloupe where I expound the logic behind my position.
this has been a really fun and interesting discussion. Thanks everyone.
I've been reading this since day one, and just re-read the whole thing for the 100th millionth time, and as the story progressed it occurred to me that Doumeki is very probably on the light side of Asperger's Syndrome. The author has consistently emphasized Doumeki's difficulty in maintaining close relationships. Since he was a child he had difficulty expressing his emotions and difficulty in understanding the emotions of others. This is why he was enrolled in Kendo as a child. As an adult he is characterized by everyone that meets him as taciturn and detached, emotionless. Even though we the readers know by now that Doumeki feels absolutely and very strongly for Yashiro, but he doesn't externalize those feelings. Again, we only know this because as readers we are privy to Doumeki's internal self. Also, obssessiveness/hyper focus tends to be another trait in the spectrum, and Doumeki has shown an obsessive tendency, first with Kendo as a child as he explained at some point, and then towards Yashiro. Anyways, if such a theory were to be true, it would explain why Yashiro would only be moved by someone like Doumeki. Only a truly pure and extremely unique individual like Doumeki would be capable of breaking through Yashiro's shields.