Neurodiversity in Anime 1 - Kamille Bidan

Yeah, I'm posting about Gundam again

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A friend of mine asked me to contribute to their zine! It’s about finding neurodiverse representation in entertainment media and pop culture in general with a specific focus on autism spectrum disorder. I myself am not on the autism spectrum; I don’t believe “watching too much anime” is part of the diagnostic criteria for that anymore. I do find it funny, though, that it is often ASD coded characters that I gravitate towards strongly in the anime that I enjoy. As such I have a lot of thoughts about the matter. I’m very pleased to be able to write about this subject and hope it can reach folks who take comfort in seeing someone like them on-screen. Half the fun of anime is finding new characters to fall in love with!

This post was meant to be a submission for the zine. Since it was about Gundam, I found myself getting a bit carried away in the area of word count. It’s now twice as long as what the submission guideline recommends so I’m going to post it here instead. I might submit it after some heavy editing, but more realistically I thought I’d be better off just writing another one. I’ve already written one new entry. Each time I sat down to think who to write about, so many characters sprang to mind. I will probably post those here as well.

It’s a bit of a cliché - as made extra apparent by my terrible humour - that ASD folks tend to enjoy anime. I’d love to find out why that cliché exists. I have some ideas, but I am underequipped to explore them properly right now. I wonder just how much the reasons I enjoy anime might overlap with the reasons for folks along the autism spectrum.
In the meantime, what I can do is tell you about some of the anime I’ve watched and the characters I love. Perhaps they may seem familiar, perhaps they won’t! I look forward to hearing the perspective of neurodivergent folks.

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Kamille Bidan (from Mobile Suit ZETA Gundam, 1985)

Gundam is a franchise that has been active for over 41 years with many entries across anime, manga, cinema and videogames. As such, it is difficult to encapsulate just what Gundam is about exactly. I'm going to give it a fair shake here though. 

They're stories about conflict. Clashes of factions and ideologies that take place on Earth, in near-Earth orbit and beyond. As the burgeoning populations of Earth emigrate en masse to the colonies of space, new systems of oppression arise as well as new vectors for rebellion. These conflicts are fought in cataclysmic wars by 18 meter tall armed, humanoid robots called Mobile Suits. They’re piloted by people in the same way one might pilot a jet fighter or a tank. There are even more powerful variants of these Mobile Suits in existence called Gundams, these are often piloted by the heroes in these stories. Imagine Star Wars with some drama and aesthetics drawn from World War 2, with giant robots of course.

Of interest to anyone looking for ASD/neurodiverse representation in Gundam are Newtypes. Gundam explores the fictional evolutionary possibility - as humankind moves out further into space - of developing a sixth sense. People who have developed this sixth sense are called Newtypes. How this evolution takes place and what the results may be are rather ambiguous, even changing from show to show. There are theories and in-universe lore, but even these can be contradictory in some cases. We are able to make some suppositions based on what we learn about the Newtypes portrayed in the various shows. 

We’re shown, for example, that a lifetime spent in low gravity has greatly adapted new types to coordination and navigation in these spaces. They’re shown to be able to manoeuvre in zero-g as if they have eyes in the back of their head, due to their advanced spatial awareness. Newtypes are also shown to have an increased aptitude for technical and mechanical subjects. They are drawn to computer technology and robotics in a way that would be quite useful for piloting a giant war machine. They are said to be able to grasp these matters intuitively, seamlessly transitioning between theory and the application thereof. These feats of computational alacrity are often shown as Newtype pilots performing advanced and strenuous manoeuvres, pushing their Mobile Suits to their technical limits. Newtypes often seek pursuits in science and research, when they aren’t press-ganged into the war effort. 

Most notable, however, is the cosmic connection that Newtypes seem to share with each other and certain Oldtypes, as they are called. They are capable of a form of limited telepathic communication over long ranges. They are rarely able to converse in full sentences, instead they appear to transmit their emotional state via a sort of empathetic link. This usually happens in high stress situations such as Mobile Suit combat, but it may also be triggered by the presence of powerful Newtype “auras”. Most importantly, these telepathic events seem to take place entirely involuntarily in many instances. This is often accompanied by significant mental anguish. The Newtype can feel overwhelmed, drained and emotionally vulnerable as a result of these links. They may sometimes even feel violated and lash out. 

We are also shown cases where these empathetic links can create a deep understanding between individuals. Combatants on opposing sides of a skirmish, having never met each other, can suddenly come to a fully developed empathetic union with one another. This can either be enlightening and empowering of both individuals or it can be turbulent, all-consuming and tragic. The degree to which a Newtype has any control over these abilities varies, but in most cases they have no control at all. 

Despite this enhanced capacity for empathy and understanding, certain Newtypes are shown to struggle in discerning the immediate emotional state of others in their day-to-day lives. They are capable big picture thinkers - but keeping track of the shifting political and romantic relationships aboard a battleship, for example, can leave them confused and frustrated. 

They have difficulty picking up on social cues or engaging in small talk. They often have a strong sense of morality and justice but have difficulty reading the feelings and intentions of others. This leads to Newtypes being manipulated and instrumentalised by nefarious forces above them. 

It is not difficult to find neurodiverse representation in anime. As a medium that thrives off of exaggerated anatomy and other marked stylistic liberties to convey emotional information, often the accompanying personalities can be outsized as well. Characters are given certain affectations and eccentricities without necessarily meaning to associate them with any particular neurotribe. In some cases this may cause offence, but it can also be a feast for anyone seeking to claim/reclaim and further fictionalise these fictional contexts. It is rare for a character to come out and establish, for example, that they are autistic. But this was exactly the case for Kamille Bidan, the Newtype protagonist of the 1985 series Mobile Suit ZETA Gundam.

By episode 9 of ZETA Gundam, “A New Bond”, Kamille has become the newest recruit of the Anti-Earth Union Group. He has very little choice in the matter, after severe personal tragedies and no small amount of coercion eliminates the possibility of a civilian life for him. Placed in new surroundings, aboard the cutting-edge space battleship Argama, he is disoriented at the new expectations his commanding officers have of him. He is dressed down, alienated and subjected to disciplinary beating. He looks to his superiors for reassurance but there are some that benefit from keeping Kamille in this state of helplessness and dependence. After this long day of hardship Kamille breaks down. In denying his newtypeness and seeking pity from the person he feels closest to on the ship, he states “I’m nobody special, I’m an autistic child.”

Some members of the Autism Society Japan have taken issue with this statement after ZETA Gundam was rebroadcast in 2009, pointing to the Gundam creator’s misunderstanding of autism in the past. It is true that, in Japan and elsewhere, autism was thought to be contracted or caused by parental neglect up until the 1980s. Gundam’s creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, did conflate autism with societal withdrawal and depression in interviews from the 80s. A view he would come to correct much later. Production notes showed that Kamille’s “autism” was an intentional part of his character. 

I do like to point out that, though Tomino was responsible for creating Gundam, it is the effort of many writers and artists working together that eventually shape the characters into what they are. How many of them shared Tomino’s view of autism? How many were able to see Kamille’s portrayal, and the portrayal of Newtypes for what they were? What they could be? We can never know for sure. It’s up to you to have a look and decide for yourself.

I feel strongly about Kamille as a character. He is multi-dimensional and flawed in interesting ways. Episode 9 of ZETA Gundam seeks to impress on you the helplessness of Kamille in his new surroundings, ripped from the comfort and routine that he once had. It is a shame that autism is here misused as a pitiable trait, but Kamille’s alienation is relatable. He is gifted with abilities not fully understood by the people around him, he is sometimes even feared. Those with power seek to control him in order to attain more power. Kamille, on the other hand, is desperate to forge his own path. To create a family from the people he’s found himself amongst, and find peace of mind amidst the chaos of war. 

Gundam is a dramatic narrative that draws on the spirit of the time it is made in, to populate the battlefields of the conflict it portrays. In 1985 they chose to write a story about a misunderstood peoples that can be read as neurodivergent. When they aren’t shunned they’re used to fight the unjust war of the ruling classes. Under different circumstances, through cooperation and unity, Oldtypes and Newtypes could create a better future. 

With each generation that passes we have the opportunity to lift the yoke of oppression together, but we can not do this unless we know each other and understand the depths of each other’s struggles. Newtypes are a way of showing us how this might be possible. And Kamille shows us that no matter how you are misunderstood, it is possible for someone to see you for who you are.