smash like for the cuties

D Gray Man stickers

Reunited at last

I have started watching D.Gray-man recently

Full piece done for the YULMA zine back in 2020 💖

this moment is so heartbreaking

Kanda Yuu

--100 Days of Fanart (Day 11)--

Steps:

Gumroad / Mentorship / Buy me a coffee

Been way too long since I made a DGM post. Anyways...

As an Autistic person, I've always had my suspicions that Kanda could technically be classified as Autistic. Why? Well...

He literally eats the same food every meal of everyday- soba. Now you can do a lot with soba and I'm sure Jery does, but chances are that Kanda won't eat it unless it is soba. He had it once and that's his go to meal. Many Autistic people have a limited pallet and have go to meals they like to eat often.

He has trouble expressing his emotions (other than seemingly anger). He was "born" a very angry boy. Now granted- he went through a lot of trauma and was well... someone else at one point- but even so he rarely emotes despite feeling strong emotions. This could be because he holds a lot in to seem like he's okay with the environment he's in or to seem chill. You'd be lucky to get a smirk or a "tch" out of him. In Autistic/neurodivergent terms, this is very similar too if not exactly what masking is. Also, sometimes some autistic people just don't always emote their feelings as much as other people which leads people to think that they are stoic or lack emotions when they do indeed have stronger or deeper emotions than most people. Sound familiar?

He has trouble understanding other people's emotions or why they do things. Not all the time, but enough to where the DGM community has made a couple jokes about it. He also doesn't always understand correct behavior which could be a product of his past and some of the toxic mentalities of the Order. When Allen meets him a second time, he demeans a Finder for being lesser than he is (as Exorcists are often put on a pedestal) and believes he's just fodder. Kanda may not have actually meant that, but it's most likely he said that since that is what someone such as Lvellier promotes and the best way Kanda knows how to get people to leave him alone is by behaving either standoffish or violently towards them.

He likes to be alone. Again- one could attribute this to his trauma, but even when we see his "birth", he behaved violently towards Alma because he was being "too friendly". The two eventually became close (as do most of Kanda's friends and associates), but Kanda still acts mostly standoffish. He doesn't always hate the people he's with (such as Lenalee, Tiedoll, and Marie who are kind of like family to him), he just wants time to meditate or garden or eat in peace. Autistic people often feel this way too- they need space and time to decompress and especially after trauma, it can be hard to learn how to socialize properly. Sometimes even scary in fear of losing someone they were close to (much like Kanda). People who know him know that even though he's a grouch, he still appreciates them and shows them care usually by insulting them or acting slightly less bitter at them. We also see a bit more of Kanda opening up his compassion and reducing his bitterness after the Alma Karma arc and overcoming some of his trauma.

He can be blatantly honest. He isn't afraid to admit he hates you or that your appearance is terrible. This is a typical Autistic trait that is definitely a "quirky Kanda trait" people in DGM poke fun at him for. He will even nickname people after traits he's associated them with, especially when he's mad at them.

I'm sure we could include his stubbornness, but that sort of just ties into everything already sort of discussed (including the trauma part). Kanda is still an awesome character who is quite a quick-tempered hot head, but nonetheless, he could easily be seen as a bit of Autistic rep even unintentionally. One could argue that because technically he's a 9-10 year old in a 18 year old's body he has a lot of "childish" traits (which he does- don't get me wrong), but these in particular have just always felt more like Autistic traits.

In the end- Kanda is Kanda and we love Kanda for just being Kanda. And I wouldn't mind headcannoning him Autistic because that just makes for cool Autism rep.

is this really a yullen art in the year 2022? no way

I don't know what's going on with the manga anymore, but I drew Kanda 😭

I wanted to do some prints but

Kanda Yuu is so Halloween coded to me 🥰

The fun thing about realizing Kanda and Giyuu share the same japanese va is that they have the same problem when interacting with the rest of the cast

And I mean that they're often perceived by others as rude assholes who think they're too good to meddle with the rest of them, when in reality they care. They care sm they make sure to keep everyone at arm's length bc, with the jobs they have, is it even worth it to become close to someone that might not make it tomorrow?

Though Kanda isn't as funny as Giyuu. The idiot genuinely believed they were all friendly despite his cold and aloof attitude lmao

I love them, especially Allen and Kanda