Sandbox / Ambiguous Disorder

Examples of in-universe or invoked "something is up with this character" examples found during Ambiguous Disorder/Diagnosed by the Audience cleanup

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Anime & Manga

• Azumanga Daioh: Osaka's unusual ways of thinking and odd behavior, while emblematic of a cloudcuckoolander, also heavily imply a neurological disorder. She has heightened reactions to stimuli (seeking out ones she likes and avoiding ones she doesn't), highly specific interests that she often talks about at length, and an unusual perception of language which often involves mixing up similar concepts and repeating phrases she likes. In the "Osaka's Half-Day" deluxe chapter, Sakaki suspects that Osaka's persistent case of hiccups might be the result of her being "sick in the brain," which Yomi and Tomo immediately latch onto as an explanation for her "mental deficiencies" and strange behavior. Osaka is shocked and bristles at the thought of being called dumb, but she doesn't deny her friends' speculation.
• Finder Series: Fei Long seems a bit unstable in the first half of the manga series' plot until he overcomes his traumas. That being said, he is nothing compared to Sudou, who evolves into a madman who is willing to eliminate everyone he hates and deems a nuisance.
• I Am a Hero:
  • Hideo is clearly mentally ill in some way, suffering from delusions and visual hallucinations (that he can tell apart from reality). The exact nature of his illness is never specified, though.
  • Hiromi, to a lesser extent. She sometimes reacts to situations in strange and potentially dangerous ways (ex., approaching a disturbed man with a gun in the forest and staying nearby until he wakes up), notes that she's been told that she needs to make eye contact with people, has apparent difficulty in reading the social atmosphere in a room, and struggles with making and keeping friends. She doesn't suffer from delusions but does seem to be naive in a way that isn't age-appropriate.

Comic Books

• Cammi from Annihilation and Avengers Arena seems incapable of feeling empathy and has absolutely no verbal filter. Numerous characters remark on how incredibly bizarre this behavior is for an 11-year-old girl.
  Nova: Oh, this is Cammi. She says out loud stuff most people just think.

Comic Strip

• One strip of The Far Side features a patient on a couch talking to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist's notes simply read, "Just plain nuts."

Fan Works

• AZRE: Yang and Adam both heavily imply that Ruby is neurodivergent, specifically on the autism spectrum. However, this is never confirmed outright.
• A recurring theme in Gender Confusion, during one arc, is the author attempting to find a credible diagnosis for some of the characters using Zetsu as the resident psychologist. Subverted after a believable conclusion actually is drawn, rather than left ambiguous for the whole story.
• History's Strongest Shinobi: While very competent and of decent intellect, Naruto is hyperactive, has a short attention span, misses obvious social cues at times unless it involves fighting or him getting maimed and/or killed, and has an interest in fighting. At one point, the narration lampshades this by explaining how his friends honestly think that Naruto has an undiagnosed attention disorder.
• Null and Void (NevaraRaven): Izuku theorizes that Kaminari has an undiagnosed learning disability related to his quirk's habit of short-circuiting his brain. Despite the harm it does to him, nothing has been done about it because it's strong and therefor is not worth worrying about.

Films — Live Action

• Burning (2018):
  • Hae-mi is clearly troubled. She's prone to falling asleep in public in an instant, possibly making her narcoleptic. She's also prone to crying rather spontaneously. She has a reputation for telling lies about herself, though the truth of her stories is ambiguous. Her fixation on the "great hunger" of finding her purpose in life might suggest some depression or general dissatisfaction with her life.
  • Ben's newest girlfriend seems incredibly hapless and childlike, suggesting that vulnerable women are his type. It's not clear whether she's just a little dramatic or if she's got actual issues.
• Jenny from Famine. She's clumsy and twitchy, yells at random during conversations, goes on profanity-laced rants, her people skills are sketchy at best, and her demeanor (horrified to nonchalant or hateful to loving in the blink of an eye) jumps all over the place, to the point where a teacher wonders if she is a junkie or suffering from some kind of premature PMS. Oh, and there are bits like this:
  Ms. Vickers: Yeah, Nick just isn't man enough, is he?
  Jenny: Nick is a man! He came on my face!
• Donnie Darko: Dr. Thurman is convinced Donnie is a paranoid schizophrenic based on his visions of Frank.
• The Fly (1986): In the episode of The Projection Booth podcast covering this movie, critic Samm Deighan argues that Seth Brundle could be on the Autism Spectrum when the conversation turns to the screenplay-only detail that he always goes to the fast food place for lunch because he likes the predictable uniformity of the cuisine. Between that and his famously Limited Wardrobe (Einstein-inspired or no), he seems to want repetition and familiarity in his life, a common autistic trait. Other traits he has that are often observed in autistics include his difficulty in making small talk but eloquence in and enthusiasm for explaining his interests and work, his talent for logical thinking, his work virtually defining his life even as he brings Veronica into it, his stuttering/fumfering, his extravagant hand/arm gestures as he speaks, and his straightforwardness (he's an amusingly Bad Liar when he attempts it). Critic Drew McWeeny discusses encountering autistics who love this character in the Screen Drafts episode ranking David Cronenberg's filmography (it was ranked #2).
• Exploited in Parasite (2019) by the Kim family. When interviewing for a job as a tutor for Da-hye, Ki-woo notices that Da-song, the younger son of the Park family, is a bit odd and excitable and that his very naive mother, Mrs. Park, seems concerned about it. So he refers Mrs. Park to an art psychologist to take a look at her son's drawings. Said "art psychologist" is actually just Ki-woo's NEET sister, Ki-jeong, who proceeds to take Mrs. Park for a ride and convinces the boy's mother that her son is not merely neuroatypical, but psychotic, securing herself a very cushy, well-paying job as Da-song's twice-weekly therapist despite zero qualifications. Ironically, it turns out that Da-song does have a serious, undiagnosed neurodevelopmental condition, though of a much different sort — epilepsy.

Literature

• In the book Changeling by Delia Sherman, it's strongly implied that Changeling has been diagnosed with something, but it's never stated what.
• A side story in The Dresden Files, told from Murphy's point of view, makes Harry Dresden an in-universe example of this: From most Muggles' viewpoint, Dresden, a self-declared wizard, has a tendency to poke around crime scenes, looking or asking for things like toenail clippings or hair straws, mumbling to himself and never looking people in the eyes. In addition to this is his at-times-dubious personal hygiene, Manchild personality, near-pathological need to snark at and gainsay authority figures, and Nerves of Steel that makes it unnerving when he seldom shows outwards reactions to things normal people would lose their wits over. The end result is that it makes him seem, at best, very eccentric. By reading most of the books (which are from Harry's point of view), most of these behavior patterns are explained logically, but that doesn't make him seem any less weird to the muggles he must uphold The Masquerade to.
• Fate/strange Fake: Several characters bring up the possibility that the True Saber is mentally ill, and even Saber himself readily entertains the idea. Of course, being from an era centuries before modern psychiatry came into practice, he hardly has an official diagnosis.
• In Fer-de-lance, Mrs Barstow has an ambiguous disorder. She, her daughter, and her doctor are all quite open that there's something wrong with her, but the audience is never told what it is, beyond that it negatively affects her attitude toward her husband. The family doctor indicates that he believes it will cease being an issue after her husband is killed. The closest thing to an identification the audience gets is "neurosis".
• In My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Catarina's family and friends pretty much all agree she's not normal by any stretch of the imagination, and they find it charming and frustrating in equal measure. She acts on impulse, is oblivious to subtext, can be spacey and absent-minded, is easily distracted, has a short memory span towards anything she has little interest in, has only a few things she's interested in trying to learn, frequently forgets or puts off her homework, isn't good at long-term planning, takes time to absorb information, seems immune to lectures, etc. She did, after all, take a nasty blow to the head as a child. Her having some form of dysmnesia from her fall is even suspected, mostly by her parents and maids.
• The Wake: Because the story is set in the middle ages, it's never made clear what Buccmaster's mental illness is. Even before his delusions become more pronounced, he has a violent temper and a massive ego.
• The Wildflowers:
  • Most of the girls, especially Cat and Star, are hinted to have PTSD, or similar conditions, as well as anxiety and depression.
  • Craig has clearly got mental issues of some kind, being very delusional and seeing nothing wrong with imprisoning a teenage girl, though it's not made clear what exactly is wrong with him.

Live-Action TV

• Occurs in-universe in an episode of 30 Rock, when Pete and the writers become concerned that Jenna might be a sociopath when she passes a supposed test. At the end of the episode, she shows that she's capable of empathy and it's concluded that she's not a sociopath, just highly narcissistic.
• Cobra Kai: Eli (before becoming Hawk) outright states to Johnny that he could be on the autism spectrum. While it's never fully confirmed, he does show traits of the disorder, such as intense interests (he embraces the Cobra Kai creed the most, at least prior to his defection), poor emotional control (for example, attempting to beat up Demetri over a Yelp review), and insecurity (he'll be easily offended if someone mocks his "Hawk" persona).
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend:
  • Naturally, this show has this in spades with its title character Rebecca Bunch, a deconstruction of the Psycho Ex-Girlfriend trope and of romcoms in general. She's prone to wild mood swings and deep depression, is obsessive about the people she fixates on and often totally ignores anyone else, and has a tendency towards very extreme impulsive actions — the plot of the series itself kicks off when she totally abandons her successful career in New York to move across the country just because she encountered her ex-boyfriend and found out that he was living there. Her erratic behaviour is commented on by a number of characters throughout the show, and she's explicitly linked to depression, but in Season 3 this trope is done away with as she is formally diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.
  • Subverted in "I Want to Be Here", where Josh is certain that he must have one condition or another that explains his obliviousness and immaturity. It turns out that no, he really is just oblivious and immature — not every character flaw is an undiagnosed disorder.
• Firefly: The speed in which Saffron's demeanor goes from meek to manic depending on who has got the upper hand, leads some characters to suggest she honestly might be mentally ill.
• Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Beatrice Mason, one of the suspects in "The Blood of Juana the Mad", is generally agreed by most characters to be suffering from some kind of "mental affliction", but it's never made clear what.
• Travelers: Original Marcy's disability is described as a "congenital underdevelopment of her brain", which, despite being a meaningful diagnosis, could refer to any of dozens of disorders.
• Inside No. 9: Lampshaded: in "Nine Lives Kat", Kat is jealous of Barnabus' character because he gets the limelight for having that popular "unspecified mental illness".
• Aquarius: The series goes to great lengths to leave it unclear whether or not Manson or any of his family members are genuinely delusional and psychotic or merely playing it up to disguise their much more mundane motives. Manson in particular is shown developing an extreme, violent reaction to The Beach Boys changing the wording of his lyrics, complaining that it completely changes the meaning of the song. Soon after, Dennis Wilson kicks him and the Family out of his mansion in a particularly humiliating episode, and exactly which of these was the greater insult is not clear. Likewise, the series provides evidence both that the Tate murder was due to his hatred of Terry Melcher and desire to get revenge on him, or that it was to spark the race war he rambled about constantly.
• The Sinner: In Season 2, Julian is prone to panic attacks and extremely violent outbursts. It's established as the story goes on that it's likely the result of his traumatic childhood.

Video Games

• Tryggvi of The Banner Saga has random mood swings, frequently misplaces things important to him, talks in jumbled-up sentences that don't make much sense, and is generally very forgetful and perpetually confused. In The Banner Saga 3, he has a conversation with Alette in which he is uncharacteristically lucid and straightforward for a moment before reverting to his usual self. During this conversation, he confides in Alette that he knows there's something wrong with him and that he attempts to treat his condition by focusing on objects of personal importance.
• Mother (Irwin Segarane): The doctor doesn't name what illness Mary needs her prescriptions for, but states that the pills "will help appease her emotional state" when taken. Mary suffers from insomnia and, seemingly, panic attacks as well as vertigo.
• Alexa from Xenoblade Chronicles X is obsessed with Skells to the point where she has a hard time focusing on or caring about anything else. She also seems to have a hard time reading people, at one point needing a colleague's feelings spelled out to her when the situation is obvious to everyone else involved. An optional conversation reveals that she's speculated In-Universe to have some kind of disorder, but that's all that's said on the matter.

Web Animation

• Manga-Waido: The protagonists of two stories are subjected to Bullying the Disabled due to traits associated with their properly diagnosed developmental disorder. However, neither of them specifically names the exact disorder they're having.
  • Ryutaro from "I was left out on the company trip but I had a trick up my sleeve" was extremely restless when he was a child except when he watches train shows, and in Present Day (when he's a working adult) requires the use of multiple tools to help him from excessive hyperfocusing.
  • Kazuki from "My father-in-law left me in the mountains, but then…" has No Sense of Direction since he was a child, being Innocently Insensitive occasionally, and often can't clean up after himself. He was diagnosed as a young adult when his college colleagues suggested he might have some kind of disorder.

Web Comic

• Growth Spurt: In this strip, Whimsun bluntly tells Asriel he sounds neurotypical after the latter explains he walks every day to help deal with stress.

Web Video

• Arby 'n' the Chief: Chief's mental health is often debated In-Universe due to just how unbelievably immature and simple-minded he is. Some believe that he legitimately suffers from an intellectual disability, while others take him to be a guileful sociopath who is merely feigning stupidity.
• Screen Rant Pitch Meetings: In the Joker pitch meeting, the Screenwriter says Arthur has "several mental illnesses," which are vaguely defined but cause him to have violent outbursts.

Western Animation

• Bob's Burgers: Tina speaks in a Creepy Monotone, expresses distress through long groans, has No Social Skills and awkward body language, and "Hamburger Dinner Theatre" suggests she struggled to meet developmental milestones (primarily speaking). It's actually discussed whether or not she's autistic in the first episode—Louise and Gene believe she is, while Bob says she isn't (between this and the aforementioned developmental milestones part, it's possible if not probable he's actually gotten her tested); to "confirm" this theory, Gene dumps three toothpicks onto the floor and tells Tina to count them to which she replies "a hundred"; she then actually does say "three"... after Gene has blatantly dropped a fourth toothpick on the floor.
• Human Resources (2022): Claudia is clearly mentally ill, but it's unclear what exactly is the matter. She appears to have manic periods obsessing over her apartment's appearance and getting attached to Sonya, and then has an existential anxious breakdown about the world where she doesn't eat or sleep, which is what convinces Sonya to call off the relationship. While exposing Claudia to the secrets of the universe triggered Claudia's spiral, Sonya wonders if Claudia only saw Sonya's light in the first place because she was "sick." Claudia stops being able to see Sonya after Claudia gets help from her sister.
• Inside Job (2021):
  • Reagan has several traits that suggest she might be on the autism spectrum: hyper-focus on her interests, No Social Skills, and obsession with routine ("TIME CARDS!"). To the point where her mom straight up says she thinks Reagan has Asperger's. She has difficulty making eye contact, alienates her coworkers frequently due to her lack of tact, and when Brett attempts to hug her she panics and reflexively punches him in the face (though this is also implied to be a trauma reaction). In addition, she takes a lot of Adderall, a medication typically used to treat symptoms of ADHD or narcolepsy.^note Though it's also used off-prescription by neurotypical workaholics pulling all-nighters, which also fits Reagan's personality.
  • Brett may or may not have some sort of intellectual disability, since he responds to the question of if he has brain damage by saying that it's something not even his doctors can figure out.
• Total Drama: Izzy is repeatedly referred to as a "psycho," but this seems to generalize several different symptoms to make her a generic "crazy" character. She has pyromaniac tendencies, compulsively lies about her history, and sometimes behaves in an animalistic manner. She might have a Split Personality thing going on, but it's unclear if her personas are just her being a great actor, though getting hit in the head briefly turned her into a legitimate super genius.

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