"When a beautiful girl asks her childhood friend out, his response is a shocker: 'You're too perfect.' What's a girl to do, except transform into a giant caterpillar and try, try again?"
Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy (芋虫少女とコミュ障男子, lit. Catepillar Girl and Bad Communication Boy) is a single volume manga (8 chapters) created by Sanzo. It began on Pixiv and was eventually published by Kadokawa (in Japanese) and Yen Press (in English). The original run of the story concluded August 2018.
Akane is probably less than your average Japanese student: pathetic, cowardly and all around messed up. Compared to Suzume Kikuo, the smartest, most beautiful and popular girl at school, he's good-for-nothing. It's worse when despite that, Suzume insists on being friends with him and eventually even asks him out. His response? Being around her makes him extremely miserable by comparison. The next day, she goes missing.
A month later, Akane finds Suzume again but drastically changed. She's now a giant fuzzy caterpillar and she asks if she's disgusting and pitiful enough to be his girlfriend now. What follows is Akane's quest to find a way to make Suzume human and to examine the feelings of others and his own.
Tropes relating to Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy:
- Abusive Parent: Akane's mother, of the neglectful and manipulative kind. She got into fights with his dad and sister a lot, and would sometimes spend days away from home. Akane thinks it might have been because she was with other men. Whenever things got bad with the rest of the family, she'd use Akane (who's younger than 8-years-old at this point) as a shield. When she finally divorced his dad, he wanted to go with her. But she basically called him useless, left him behind and never came back.
- The Ace: Suzume, great at everything and loved by everyone. Actually, the reason why she's so perfect is because she wished to be so at Yutaka's shrine. The kicker? She made those wishes to become someone Akane would want to date.
- Broken Ace: Being a caterpillar really wasn't kind to her. Not only is she unable to do normal everyday tasks anymore, she ends up losing the ability to read and write, growing to hate everything she experiences and can only eat trash because normal food is disgusting to her.
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: Yutaka tells Akane a story about a child who wanted to be loved so much, she became a god that granted wishes.
- Beady-Eyed Loser: Akane, who also wears glasses to accentuate this.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Suzume's wish to become a caterpillar so that she can date Akane. More specifically, her wish was "to become the most miserable thing".
- Yutaka as well, who became a god because she wanted to be loved. It backfired horribly on her.
- Bigger on the Inside: Downplayed. The box shrine, which is small enough to easily fit on the lap on the outside. Inside is a dingy little room that's still big enough to fit two people or one person and two giant caterpillar-like creatures.
- Bittersweet Ending: Yutaka dies, finally getting her wish of dying when she feels truly happy. Akane is able to make Suzume normal again by using Yutaka's ribbon but Suzume is no longer human. She can no longer relate to other people, can't eat normally and can't read or write. Neither of them are happy, but Akane promises to stay with Suzume and help her, having come to understand his and her feelings. And Suzume knows, despite everything, she wants to stay with him too.
- Brutal Honesty: Oh man, Yutaka, straight up saying she hates Akane's guts when the two have only just met and not telling him why. It's because he disregarded Suzume's feelings after all those wishes she made for him.
- Classic Anti Hero: The story is just as much about Akane coming to terms with his worth as a person and the value of other people's feelings as it is about undoing Suzume's transformation.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Attempted by Suzume with Akane. Goes very, very poorly.
- Does Not Like Spam: Downplayed. Akane doesn't like coffee because the acidity makes his stomach hurt. Guess what Yutaka immediately buys for him.
- Extra Eyes: Suzume and Yutaka's true form have six eyes, three on either side of their head.
- The Faceless: For one chapter, Akane sees everyone with their faces or eyes scribbled out, to represent how he's too paranoid to look at anyone. He's afraid of inviting attention and then having to be faced with rejection. That, and the fact that having a fever probably affected his vision.
- Foil: It becomes apparent later on that Yutaka is who Akane would have become had he never undergone his Jerkass Realization and subsequent Character Development. They are both responsible for accidentally harming people they care about and experiencing great guilt as a result: Akane motivating Suzume's transformation and Yutaka granting harmful wishes for the villagers. While Akane realizes that blaming and guilt-tripping himself solves nothing, and resolves to be more considerate of other people's feelings by being more considerate of his own, Yutaka never dragged herself out of her guilt spiral and consistently acts in ways to justify it. She's generally abrasive and chooses to be the villain in Akane and Suzume's dilemma instead of honestly admitting the limits of her powers. As a result, Akane is able to move on with his life with Suzume, whereas Yutaka passes away.
- Forced Transformation: Happens to Suzume, who is turned into a giant fuzzy caterpillar. Yutaka also, though she did it to herself.
- Freudian Excuse:
- At least a large part of Akane's lack of self-esteem stems from his mom calling him useless to his face and more or less abandoning him with the rest of the family.
- Yutaka wanted to be loved, so she became a god. When the wishes she granted led to people suffering or dying, the village turned on her, calling her a monster and sealing her away in the shrine. This also led to her lack of self-esteem and abrasiveness.
- Goo-Goo-Godlike: When Yutaka first became a god, she was still young, calling herself a child at the time. She granted any and all wishes she received, even the ones with malicious intent. She was just so happy to be noticed that she didn't know to differentiate them.
- Go Out with a Smile: Not exactly a smile, since Yutaka doesn't really have a face to smile with. But in the end, she's able to get her wish and die happy.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Basically everyone. Akane was so envious of how perfect Suzume was that he felt awful being around her. Suzume became one when she became a caterpillar losing her ability to relate to others. Yutaka is probably the prime example though, as she refuses to turn Suzume back to normal because she never had anyone to love her the same way Akane cares about Suzume.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: At the end of the day, that's what all the characters want.
- Innocently Insensitive: Akane tries to gently turn Suzume down, saying that he's no good for a girl like her. Of course, the way that sounds to Suzume and everyone else is that being around her makes him feel like garbage. In fact, Akane is like this to everyone because he's so stuck wallowing in self-pity and self-hatred that he throws away anyone's kindness, thinking he doesn't deserve it. He gets better, though too late.
- In-Series Nickname: Suzume calls Akane Aa-chan, which in Japanese is very informal and familiar. On the other hand, Akane refers to her more distantly and formally.
- Not to mention, Aa-chan has similarities to AAAA, which is considered an extremely generic name for a video game character. Sort of how Akane seems extremely generic in a crowd of other options but Suzume still picked him and only him.
- It's All My Fault: Deconstructed. Akane rightfully blames himself for breaking Suzume's heart and inadvertently motivating her transformation. However, doing so doesn't help anyone, least of all Suzume or him. He thinks things would be easier if Suzume just blamed and hated him for what happened, but at the same time doing so deflects responsibility for his actions. It's only once he accepts what he had done and the consequences of it, he starts to take initiative to help Suzume, accepting his guilt but not letting it control him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yutaka is... prickly and up front about how she can't stand Akane. But she still feels bad when she pretends to be his mom to gain access to his house, not knowing about their relationship. And she does look remorseful when she refuses to turn Suzume back at the end.
- Jerkass Realization: It takes a while but Akane finally realizing what a dick he's been to everyone, disregarding other people's feelings to wallow in his own. In the end, he can't even be happy about his realization because it came about from making Suzume so sad.
- Loss of Identity: Suzume is afraid of this. As a catepillar, she can't live normally or do everyday tasks. She also expresses that she can't taste things anymore and is afraid that, if she stays as she is, she'll lose what makes her "her". In the end, she does end up losing most of her identity and even human attributes. But the one thing she never lost was her love for Akane.
- Mama's Boy: Akane was one when he was a kid and seems to be one in the present day, which contrasts sharply to his sister's reaction to their mother. Subverted when it's revealed that him hugging his "mother" (actually a shapeshifted Yutaka trying to check on Suzume) was actually him restraining himself from physically lashing out.
- Minimalist Cast: The story is basically carried by only three characters.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Initially, Yutaka only knew Akane as Aa-chan as that was how Suzume referred to him in her wishes. Even after learning his name, she calls him Aa-chan-san, probably out of her dislike for him.
- Older Than They Look: Based on Yutaka's flashbacks, it seems she was born prior to the invention of modern technology, meaning she's much older than her teenaged appearance would imply.
- Only One Name: Suzume and Yutaka are referred to by full name, but Akane is only ever referred to by his first name or nickname. It's probably to emphasize how much he doesn't stand out.
- Prehensile Hair: Yutaka, in her true form. You know, due to the lack of hands or arms or any limbs.
- Red Herring: After Suzume voices her fears of losing her humanity and identity, Akane finds a caterpillar-looking creature with horns. It makes him think it's Suzume, who turned after he had to leave her behind to look for the shrine. It's actually just Yutaka's true form and their similarities in appearance seem purely coincidental. Subverted. When Suzume wished to be "the most miserable thing", Yutaka turned Suzume into a smaller version of her true form because the most miserable thing she could think of was herself.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: For Suzume being a giant caterpillar, she sure is cute.
- Secret Test of Character: Akane tries one on his sister, installing a lock on his bedroom door, telling her he doesn't want people to go into his room without him and then telling her where the key to the lock is. He feels bad for doing that to her. It shows his growing self-hatred and paranoia of other people lashing out at him.
- Signature Headgear: Underclassman Yutaka Ouga wears a prominent bow, which helps Akane find her because she was the one who told Suzume about a wish-granting shrine. It also grants her shapeshifting.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: It's heavily implied that the reason Yutaka can't turn Suzume back is because it is literally impossible for her to undo a wish, even if it's the desire of a different wish. That's just the extent of her powers. But the way she tells Akane is more of "I'm not a charity, I don't work like that." Even in the end, she says the reason why she won't help them is because of jealousy and hatred. All because she feels she deserves to be despised.
- In her backstory, she turned into the monster that she is now because the townsfolk she so wanted to help called her that and attacked her. This seems to be the source of her current behaviour.
- 1000 Origami Cranes: How Suzume became a caterpillar. She wrote a wish on a piece of paper, folded it and left it at a small box shrine. In fact, she's been doing it for a long time. The irony is that origami cranes can also symbolize long and happy marriages. However, the wish that can't be granted is a wish to undo another wish, no matter how many cranes Akane tries to fold.
- Tough Love: Zigzagged by Yutaka. She bullies Akane to try and get him to realize the depth of Suzume's feelings and to force him to make a wish to recover from a fever. On the other hand, she straight up can't stand Akane, does things to spite him for no reason and is generally harsh in trying to push people away.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Yutaka is capable of this. By writing with her finger what she wants to be on her ribbon and then tying it to herself, she can be anything she wants. Turns out it's the only way to make Suzume look human, even if she still really isn't.
- Wham Line:It was me.
I was the one walking all over everyone else's feelings.
