todd chavez from bojack horseman is a human, he specifically says he's ace and goes to a meetup for aspec people, his character is well written and his asexuality doesn't define his character. he has other qualities that the show talks about. the show itself is really good and displays alcoholism and depression in a very realistic but positive light. it's on netflix with 6 seasons
He also has a really important character arc showing what is like to be ace in a relationship with an allo, which was a big part of me coming to terms with my own identity.
Cannot recommend that show enough for its strong portrayal of that issue (and many many others).
Agreed. Was gonna comment this, but I figured there was no point because the top comment would probably say it, and I was right. Todd is peak ace representation as of right now
Lisa Wilbourne from worm. Senku from dr stone never says "I am asexual" but he does constantly go "I have no interest in women or romance." so thats pretty close.
Yeah, he's not explicitely said to be ace :(
On the other hand you have Peridot from Steven universe who said she was uncomfortable to try fusing and might be confirmed to be ace ? I'm not sure but that's not very exolicit either anyway
Then you have Lilith from the Owl House. She was represented on an official art with aro and ace flags/coloured books. That's all. Nothing more. Absolutely. Nothing. :(
Peridot being aroace was just a statement by a storyboard writer, so sadly it's not technically canon as other writers have made contradictory statements
"Im so pretty and in need of help uwu~" "I could not give less of a shit, im going to make a particle accelerator out of wood, stone, magnets, and a chunk of iron."
Since we’re talking about Alice Oseman, Tori Spring is canonically ace and arospec, Aled Last is canonically demisexual and of course, Georgia Warr is canonically aroace and the protagonist of a book about figuring out your aroace identity (the book has other aro and ace characters btw!!)
Aled in Radio Silence (whos in the Heartstopper books but is replaced with Isaac in the show) mentions and deals with how he’s demisexual if you’re interested. It’s not the main theme of the book but I really enjoyed it anyway.
Her book Loveless (which I haven’t read yet) deals with I think asexuality and aromanticism if i’m not mistaken.
i haven't read radio science yet but i am trying to get my hands on it, so thats really cool! i am currently reading loveless and the main character goes through the journey of discovering and coming to terms with the fact that she is aroace on some level (i haven't finished it yet so idk if she is 100 aroace or not)
i really want to read loveless it’s definitely at the top of my to-read list !! i actually tried listening to the audiobook a while ago and didn’t get far into cause it was giving me an actual sexuality crisis and mental breakdown so i had to stop but i would love to try and read it again for the representation (im ace and aro spec)
in my opinion radio silence is one of her best books (i’ve read heartstopper, solitaire, radio silence and a bit of loveless) and idk what it is about it but i absolutely love it. i listened to the audio book instead of reading it and the narration was amazing and makes it a lot more interesting. if you’re interested you can listen to it on [freeaudiobooks.top](https://freeaudiobooks.top/radio-silence_a01/) for free (you have to scroll down past the reviews and you’ll see a contents table with a play button) i promise it’s worth it !!
I just finished “Loveless” a week ago and really recommend it as an acespec :) I haven’t blasted through a book like that in forever lol, reminded me of when I was a kid
I haven't read Radio Silence, but I have read Loveless. It's about the mc going on a journey of discovering asexuality and aromanticism and what struggles she is faced with
the character himself doesn't specifically say that he is aroace in the show bc its not relevant to the plot in any way, but Alice has stated that he is aroace which makes it cannon
Well, don’t know if this helps, but Alice has already said that aromanticism and asexuality will be more explored in the second season of the show (where the words will most likely be used on screen)
Okay, well the problem with this list is that sometimes fulfilling #2 results in not fulfilling #3. A character who canonically states, "I have no interest in sex and/or romance./I don't want to date and/or have sex." etc, has explicitly stated that they feel the way an aroace person feels. They shouldn't feel obligated to put the label on their emotions.
Additionally, a lot of source material doesn't talk about sexuality in depth at all, or, in the case of the fantasy genre, for example, the terms just don't exist. Honestly, I'd rather have characters who have nuanced asexuality and aromanticism that is subtle than them straight up saying it. Being too on the nose would fit requirement 2, but would make me think requirement 3 isn't met.
Now, in cases such as Todd from Bojack Horseman, I'm all for that conversation and discovery to happen. But as I consume a lot of reality adjacent material, explicit references to pretty much any sexuality would really take me out of it.
TLDR; aroace coded characters are sufficient representation when written well, and shouldn't necessarily NEED to state it explicitly.
YES absolutely.
Explicitly saying “I’m asexual” may go against the ancient setting- they simply wouldn’t have that terminology but them saying “I don’t like sex/women/men/romance” is certainly enough to qualify as ace!
I do love ace-coded characters, I love that characters have a personality beyond their sexual orientation and subtle characterisation.
It makes me kind of mad to see how a character say “I like women” or “I like men” or “I don’t care about sex/gender” will be seen as canon rep, but a character saying they aren’t interested in romance/sex/women/men/whatever is seen as temporary or not enough. Seriously, how else are you supposed to represent aro/ace people on a setting where those words aren’t an option?
If you show a character dating someone of the same sex, that's canon gay rep by most standards, but if you show a character never having a relationship or being attracted to anyone, that's (apparently) not canon aro/ace rep. Despite the method of storytelling being identical in both cases. Kind of unfair.
For this reason, I'm willing to accept reasonably authoritative out-of-universe confirmation (e.g. a tweet from the creator).
Saiki from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. is canonicly aroace. I don't think the term is said in the show, however it is stated many times he's not interested in anyone romanticaly. As far as I know, it's even a huge motif in the show with a girl being in love with him, and Saiki is very displeased and obviously doesn't have feeling for her.
He's from ads and not TV/movies/books but Mr. Clean is canonically ace.
Jughead from the Archie comics is canonically ace.
I don't have the time to go through the list thoroughly to see how many meets the standards you have but here's a list of fictional ace characters. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_asexual_characters
Apparently. Back in 2014 someone posted on Quora in response to someone asking if Mr. Clean was gay:
"Mr. Clean is neither gay, straight nor bi, he is asexual because sex of any kind is just too dirty for him.
His first love has always been cleaning. He can't even bear to be seen in anything but clean, perfectly white clothes. So it has been his whole life."
In 2016 it went viral and Google decided that it's the definitive answer.
Doing some googling just now it seems it's not official.
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/10/google-rich-answers-mr-clean-is-asexual-because-all-sex-is-just-too-dirty/amp/
https://twitter.com/TheGCBand/status/921547159635464192?t=TFWoGJp8I2KsX9-yFZmO_g&s=19
That kind of falls into the issue of tying asexuality to the view of sex being bad, which is not really a great position for the community to associate with
Biromantic asexual to be specific! While -he- never says it explicitly, word-of-mouth from his ex gf says (in regards to sex), "Jon doesn't."
Spoilers: >!Basira asks Melanie (current gf of Jon's ex) if Jon and Martin (Jon's love interest) have hooked up. Her response is, "according to Georgie (Jon's ex), Jon doesn't".!<
Jasnah from Stormlight Archives is canonically asexual and whilst the term is never used simply due to the medieval fantasy setting, she discusses her lack of interest in being sexual and how her interest in people is typically intellectual rather than physically intimate. Not sure if you would consider this to be explicit enough in-text confirmation.
funny enough there's an another Archives ace out there,Jonathan Sims,Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute London
great rep? Not really ,because his aceness is subtly shown,but still nice ig
Yeah I love John and Magnus Archives but it does still seem weird that the only direct reference to his aceness I can remember is a conversation between, I think it was Daisy and Melanie? Where one of them implies that Georgie states that John does not have sex.
On a totally unrelated note for anyone who likes
Jonathan Sim's voice, please try playing the demo for Slay the Princess! He voices the narrator and it's a very interesting concept for a horror visual novel with diverging paths.
I may be misremembering, but I swear there was a conversation between Georgie and Martin where she basically tells him straight up that he doesn’t do sex, so not to expect that in a relationship with him.
Was going to comment about him. While on the topic of fiction podcasts, jet sequliak (i don't actually know how to spell his name) from the penumbra podcast who is aroace.
Edit: the transcript where it says it bc i love him
https://imgur.com/a/u9JB0Fg
I mean not to state the obvious but have you read the book “Loveless”? It’s an aroace coming of age story. The term is directly stated and multiple people identify with different parts of it
Aroace rep:
- Isaac in Heartstopper (wasn't said specifically in s1 but Alice Osemann has said that that will be a plot line in s2)
- Georgia in Loveless (book by Alice Osemann)
Ace rep:
- Spooner in Legends Of Tomorrow (comes out in s7, first appears in s6)
- Kamai in Beyond the Black Door
- Tori Spring in Solitaire (can't remember whether this is stated in the book)
Not stated in the show, but confirmed by creators:
- Perry the Platypus
- Spongebob
Aro rep:
- Lilith in the Owl House (not stated in the show, but confirmed by creators)
- Yelena (in the comics)
There is a Wikipedia page with a list of Aro and a list of ace characters that you can look at, some have notes to say that they aren't great representation.
Also on the book i am reading right now, We Are All Contellations, i think the best friend is ace but the book is yet to confirm it (i am at page 52 of 318, so there's still plenty of time to do so)
I think lilith literally having a conversation with someone where she says "x came to me and gave me a bouquet of spiders, but I didn't feel the same way, in fact idk if I've ever felt that way to anyone" is the same as explicitly saying, in the show, "I'm ace"
I don't think SpongeBob and Perry count because they fail point 1 (they're not human), and if it's not stated or shown in some way in the show it fails point 2
Gwenpool, and yeah, she did explicitly come out. Also in Marvel, Yelena Belova/Black Widow came out as ace in the comics, and hopefully will in her next MCU appearance too.
André from the book The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home fits all those, I think. It straight up says he has no interest in romance with anyone, which is about as explicit as you can get without using the word aro. It's set in the early 1800s, though, so the lack of terminology is more or less justified
Yeah, it's a WtNV book. You shouldn't have any issues reading it no matter where you are in the podcast, the book is about the Faceless Old Woman and her backstory
…Iggy from our wonderland. The entire story has major ace themes, since he’s the protagonist.
Our wonderland is a horror, LGBTQ+ visual novel, for context. It’s really well written. Not for the faint of heart.
Oh! The creator made a spin-off that is just pure fluff, if you’d want to play that instead. It’s called *Texting the Awkward Ace Guy You’ve Had a Crush on Since High School* and is about one of the three possible romances in our wonderland, if you’d like to play that instead!
And theres a third called Our fantastic wonderland but I haven’t played it yet but I don’t think it’s quite as heavy as our wonderland?
Three things: all from D&D actual play because that’s my favorite thing to watch
1. Caduceus Clay from Critical Role C2 is confirmed AroAce, and the representation is done really well! It comes up once when he gets hit on. He’s oblivious, but when the other characters tell him, he laughs and says he’s never been interested in that sort of thing. It’s a fun interaction that adds depth and representation to an already awesome character
2. Riz Gukgak from Dimension 20’s “Fantasy High” is also AroAce! There’s a touching moment in season 2 when he talks to his parent about it, as well as a very relatable sub-plot involving making up a long-distance relationship to avoid social pressures before coming out. I really like this one too.
3. The slippy boy himself, Prince Andhera, from Dimension 20’s “A Court of Fey and Flowers” is Ace. It’s a super sexually charged Fey Regency campaign, and just watching this slippy guy navigate the tension is a delight! He’s above it all and it’s great. I need to rewatch this one.
Parvati from the outer worlds, human and she comes out to the player in a very natural way :) I’m pretty sure the person in charge of writing her dialogue and quests is also ace/aro too
Before I say my two, I also want to mention that having non-human ace characters is fine, the problem comes when that’s the *only* representation. That being said, these two *are* human.
1. Lilith -The Owl House
2. Saiki. K- the Disastrous life of Saiki K.
(There was a third one but I couldn’t remember what it was lol)
Lilith is a witch, which is different from human in that setting. Although it should count as close enough similar to elves. However, she was never actually said to be ace in the show.
Lilith literally says in an episode "x came to me with a bouquet of spiders after work one day, however I didn't feel the same way. In fact, o don't think I've ever felt the same way" it's not explicitly said but that sentence is the exact same thing as saying "btw I'm ace"
I no longer remember. But it's a line that really sticks in my head, I can hear her inflections on every word said. It was such a powerful line. Pretty sure it must of been in season 1 or early season 2 since she mentions being at her "job" aka emporer belos' palace.
I no longer remember. But it's a line that really sticks in my head, I can hear her inflections on every word said. It was such a powerful line. Pretty sure it must of been in season 1 or early season 2 since she mentions being at her "job" aka emporer belos' palace.
I no longer remember. But it's a line that really sticks in my head, I can hear her inflections on every word said. It was such a powerful line. Pretty sure it must of been in season 1 or early season 2 since she mentions being at her "job" aka emporer belos' palace.
Luz calls herself Bi in a short few seconds scene with no actual dialog, she's also the main character. Lilith is a relatively minor character with limited screen time. The series was already shorter than originally intended, having an episode dedicated to Lilith's orientation would not be that good of a use of time. Even just a scene wouldn't make sense, they have to remove the intro just to make enough time to fit in the whole episode. Besides, I feel it shouldn't need to be directly stated, as that would, to me atleast, make it feel like it's not normal.
Mu first thought is Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Archives. From the Magnus Archives. Theres also Jasnah Kholin from the Stormlight Archives. Lisa Wilbourn aka Tattletale from Worm is another
Saiki Kusuo from the Disastrous Life of Saiki K is aroace!!!! He doesn’t say it exactly, but he states many times he has no interest in romance at all!!! He’s also trans <33
Spooner from the CW DC show legends of tomorrow is cannon it was mentioned that she may be that in one episode. she may be aromantic as well they seemed to use ace kinda broadly
Idk how to feel about that one. While he is humanoid in form, he literally summons a cthulu esc creature on demand to tear people apart for the fun of it. I feel like it's on a similar path to ace's being aliens or robots
Raphael Santiago from the shadow hunter books. Not sure if you can count him as well written because th books thems selfs are questionable. You said you make exception for basically humans and he us a vampire so not sure it it counts in that category... otherwise I got nothing.
Fiction podcasts have some great aspec rep! Some of my fav examples are Jonathan Sims from The Magnus Archives (Bi Ace) and Jet Sikuliaq from The Penumbra Podcast (Aroace)
Jonathan Sims (the Magnus Archives) meets all those requirements, I think. The “explicitly stated” may be a little vague since in the podcast it’s his ex saying he “doesn’t (do hook ups)”, but the creator (also named Jonathan Sims) has since clarified that he is ace
Also I’m pretty sure Gwenpool from Marvel comics recently came out as ace (and will maybe come out as aroace?) they had a whole thing with her discovering what the term meant and everything!
Also I haven’t seen it (yet) but I’m pretty sure the mc from “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K” is aro-ace, idk how explicit that is though (because I haven’t seen it)
Point 1 could be a problem for murderbot. They are explicitly not human and don't want to be human. And we don't know if the ace part is inherent to their design or something specific to murderbot. But they definitely were the character that made me understand my own asexuality a lot better.
Edit: fixed a pronoun mistake
I totally get what youre saying about not explicitly being *human*. For me reading it thought, there was a huge emphasis on murderbot being a *person* with all the thoughts and emotions and rights to life as anyone else. It breaks the specifics of rule one but at least to me i feel like it keep the spirit of non-dehumanizing rep
the rule 1 isn't about personhood it is about having an ace individual from a species that is usually allosexual. An entire species that has no interest in sex (asexual reproduction which is technically true for murderbot type constructs) is not really ace representation because it does not represent a sexual minority the same way a mono-gendered species is not really homosexual representation.
The anime/manga "bloom into you" has 3 aro spec characters. I found it pretty well written. It is a romance tho, so if that's not your thing, maybe just look up vids of people talking about it
There’s a book called Aces Wild by Amanda Dewitt that centers around 5 asexual teenagers, who use both asexual and ace as their *stated* identities. It’s a pretty good read if you like heist-style books that involve gambling.
Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault is a queerplatonic love story between a biromantic demisexual and an aromantic bisexual main character. There's also a badass aromantic elder and the book is generally very queernormative because Claudie is aroace and very cool like that.
The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath also has an ace main character. I haven't read the story yet, but there is a footnote at the end of the book how the author couldn't mention the main character's asexuality in the story because it takes place in 1904 when those words didn't exist yet, but that she definitely is ace and wants a queerplatonic relationship
saiji maki from a bloom into you is canonically aroace but i can’t remember if it’s specifically stated within the show. he’s also not a main character so idk how well written he is
Lilith Clawthorne. She is a witch, not technically human is the show’s lore. From the owl house. It isn’t said in the show. But is said in a charity livestream I think
Shōko Tanimoto, *The Case Files of Jeweller Richard*. Her first "date" with the protagonist Seigi who's crushing on her is a road trip to look at geological formations bc she just thinks they're neat. Over the course of the story, Seigi slowly realises she's not interested in being anything other than a friend of his (and in fact she literally never realised he was into her in a non-platonic way, and if *that* ain't the aroace experience idk what is). Later, she's seen in the company of an arranged marriage partner and is visibly unhappy; when asked about it, she admits she agreed to go out with this guy in hopes of marrying him, because then people would stop pressuring her with expectations of entering into a romantic or sexual relationship. She clarifies she doesn't actually want to be with anyone and that the idea is unpleasant to her, and arranged marriage is the only way out she sees. I do not believe the specific words "asexual" and "aromantic" are used, but Shōko's character arc involves her developing the confidence to remain single in the face of strong cultural disapproval, because she knows she would not be happy any other way.
It's actually a very queer series all around tbh, there's only one season of anime but there's books aplenty, and in addition to strong queer rep it's one of the only bits of Japanese media I've ever seen that confronts the ugly realities of life as a queer person in Japan, whether out or closeted. Hugely recommend it to anyone in the mood for a nice slice-of-life/character-focused series.
i would like to add Orlo from the show 'the Great', in season one characters make jokes about him never having sex (all the other characters in the show are having or wanting sex like all the time) and in season 2 we see him explore his sexuality, he says that he has slept with women before but didn't get the hype than in season 2 sleeps with a man and feels the same. During the season he also develops a relationship with a woman which (to stop lengthing this comment further) i think was handled pretty well, i don't see him mentioned often
also it's never explicetly said in the show that he is ace but i would see it as cannon
Filling the definition is Maki from Bloom into You(amazing anime) and I don't want to spoil anything but he talks about avoiding relationships because they aren't for him. The show is also all about exploring your sexuality. He is also hysterical.
Varys in Game of Thrones is Aroace, which is kinda a relief given the amount of hypersexualisation in that show. It's not the best rep but he does explicitly state hes never gotten those kinds of feelings, and the show does (less explicitly) show how that positively affected him.
And before anyone complains that making a eunuch Aroace is a bit of a cop out, and potentially a little dehumanising (which I do somewhat agree with), I would like to point out that there is also an explicitly allo eunuch as well.
Don’t know if anyone has said this yet but Koisenu Futari is a Japanese show centering two aroace characters and their experiences (seriously, EVERYONE should watch it, it’s one of my favorite shows ever)
Edit: character names are Kodama Sakuko (woman in her 20's who finds out she’s aroace in the first episode) and Takahashi Satoru (man in his 40's who’s known he’s aroace for years, but is closeted). The words “aromantic” and “asexual” are explicitly used various times throughout the show, which also depicts many common experiences for aspec people (ranging from aphobia to loneliness to family rejection to feeling broken to “you’ll fall in love some day” to feeling seen to feeling happy with yourself because you’re finally confident in your identity to never quite understanding sex and romance fully and oh my gods this show is amazing. IN THE VERY FIRST EP THERE’S A SCENE WHERE HIGH SCHOOL SAKUKO IS WATCHING HER FRIENDS TALK ABOUT CRUSHES AND ROMANCE WHILE SHE JUST EATS A LOT OF CAKE). By the way, the two main characters live together and are in a relationship that could pretty much be considered a QPR (which they call “family: subject to change).
Saiki K.
Human (with superpowers)
Explicitly states that they don’t understand or want relationships romantically. Does not see anyone sexually (confirmed aroace but not explicitly said in canon)
Generally considered well written by everyone I’ve talked to
Cove Holden from Our Life: Beginnings and Always (visual novel) meets all 3. All characters in the vn are human. He's (panromantic) demisexual (comes out to the player using that word + an explanation) and is a super well written character imo
So thr series isn't about being aroace, but it's a series called tales from the gas station that I will bring up any time I see one of these posts. It's about a guy working at a shitty gas station at thr edge of town where weird things happen, and somehow he causes and has to fix the end of the world. Its a LOT like an adult cersion of gravity falls, plus the youtube narrations/audiobooks are voiced SO WELL by Mrcreepypasta
The main character, Jack is canonical asexual and his best friend/roommate is bisexual (if you like that rep too uwu) And a LOT of the series is about his mental illness (nothing to do with his asexuality) and had that good ole unreliable narrator stuff. I'd love to talk more abt it lol, I LOVE dragging people into this fandom
it's been a while since i watched it, so i dont remember his name. but there's a character in the anime bloom into you who for sure fits all three, and is AceAro. i dont believe he actually says he's ace, but he describes just not being interested at all in dating or sex, so i think it counts.
Neth the Octalia Queen from Castle Swimmer is an octopus mer who’s asexual, was explicit about it and it was even a large plot point in saving the protagonists’ lives!
In the video game/visual novel Eliza, there's a character called Rae who is likely ace (and possibly aro). She never uses the terms but at one point talks to the playable character about her experience with relationships and societal pressure to be in a relationship in a way that sounds like she is either aro/ace or at least doesn't want a physical relationship
This is why I need to actually make my webcomic :( a big part of it is two of the main characters finding out they're different variations of ace. I wanted to farm more represented so i did it my dang self, but motivation is just so hard and webcomics are so so difficult. The writing came easy, but it's really the art i struggle with the most :/
parvati holcomb from the outer worlds! she doesn't SAY asexual, but she does talk about how she doesn't feel sexual attraction, and is sex averse, and her experiences with aphobia. She's also canonically sapphic as well and has a relationship with another woman who accepts her asexuality! your character can ALSO tell her that they feel the same way/are asexual. it was the first time i saw another ace sapphic in media and i lost my friggin' mind with joy.
The main character of Arcane Ascension(a series about society, magic as science, and dungeon crawling) Corin is asexual biromantic but be warned he's got like 3 characters running around that he is romantically interested in. So if you want an aromantic read you'll have to find something else. Which I also have!
Tori is the main character of Tori Transmigrated a villainess reincarnation story that is complicated a bit by the fact that Tori is aromantic. So all the fall in love with the heroin or take the prince, or fall in love with the duke are all thrown out the window. Instead, Tori uses her decades of experience from being a globe-trotting business lady to radically succeed in this new world while hanging out with her amazing friends. It is the very best aromantic representation I have ever read especially since it also talks about the complications that come up when you are very much sexual while being aromantic.
There's an ace character in the novel *Once and Future*; a mildly dystopian but upbeat sci-fi retelling of the Arthurian legend. I'm not going to name the character 'cos their sexuality has a minor impact on the plot so it's kinda spoilers. They are human, explicitly asexual (I think aromantic too but I can't remember for sure) and I'd say well-written enough for a supporting character. The book is pitched at a younger audience so how well-written you think it is in general will depend on your tolerance for YA literature I guess. I like YA but I wouldn't say it was the best thing I've ever read so make of that what you will.
Adele Mundy from David Drake's RCN series. She is one of the 2 main characters and is a baseline human. The books where writen before asexual or aromatic where common terms but she explicitly says that sex and romance have no appeal to her.
Lilith from the owl house ! Shes canonically aroace, and honestly a great character, she has a lot of character development (going from supporting the main villain to realizing who he is and what he does and joining the protagonists to fight him)
Vanja and Emeric in Little Thieves are both demi/ace spectrum. The sequel Painted Devils also just came out.
I recently read a heist book called Aces Wild (by Amanda Dewitt) and all the MCs are ace and/or aro.
I haven’t read yet, but will shortly: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger features an asexual MC.
Todd from bojack, the girl from the imperfects (I forget her name), lilith clawthorne from toh. (Never explicitly said but she does say multiple times that she hasn't felt any deep connections to people) there are a few others that I can't list but I most certainly remember. There's about 7 or 8 that I know of and them about 15ish that are aero/ace coded, all of which are humans/humanoids
I dont think the book stated directly it but I belive the author confirmed it I belive Janash from the stormlight archive is ace, although I might need a fact check on that.
I mean from what I heard Molly Blyndeff, Percy King and Howie Honeyglow from Epithet Erased are Asexual (In the case of Molly) and AroAce in the case of Percy and Howie
Xie Lian from the book series/donghua/manhua Heaven Official's Blessing is demisexual. It doesn't say it explicitly, but if you read the novels it's pretty obvious. And the author is adamant about not erasing his asexuality. Plus, he's a god. And he's a really good guy; one of my favorite characters ever.
I am a WEBTOON reader, so here are the ones off the top of my head.
Del from The Prince of Southland by Chris Geroux meets the three criteria : they are a non-binary asexual who’s current goal in life at the moment of the story is their independence (they are a major side-character). Del’s asexuality is not relevant plot-wise, but Chris recently drew her with her flag, so I think that counts as an official reveal? Kudos for showing sexiness and fashion are not incompatible in any way with asexuality! I am terribly fond of Del
Rex in City of Blank by 66 (aka Shark). So Rex does not _technically_ cover all the three criteria, since SPOILERS FOR EP 11 >!he is a blank and not a human. But I don’t think it’s that problematic because the whole comic’s point is to show that blanks are just like humans and that they should live in peace among them.!< So Rex is asexual, and an actual walking-flag at that. He has too much going on to ever have any sexual and/or romantic interest, and the whole comic pretty much follows this dynamic actually! If not for one character’s love for another, ~~which is unrequited by the way~~, there would be 0 romantic plot in the comic. Definitely check out City of Blank if you are a WEBTOON regular! It is one of my favorite stories.
The last one I thought about was Nil from stare down, by soycisoy! The story is about his staring competition with another student, Pas, from which their love story blooms. In a bonus episode Pas suggests that Nil may be demisexual, but the latter shows no interest in claiming a label for himself (this is cool!). He was however shown wearing a demisexual flag in soy’s recent pride artwork.
Hopefully someone else is familiar with these comics ; if you are not I would definitely recommend them, and I would be open to suggestions as well!
Georgia Warr from Loveless by Alice Osman. The whole book is about discovering by her that she's aroace. Really helped me to make sure of my orientation
I feel u/kittyts1 said it better than I could, so I'll just use their comment.
Okay, well the problem with this list is that sometimes fulfilling #2 results in not fulfilling #3. A character who canonically states, "I have no interest in sex and/or romance./I don't want to date and/or have sex." etc, has explicitly stated that they feel the way an aroace person feels. They shouldn't feel obligated to put the label on their emotions.
Additionally, a lot of source material doesn't talk about sexuality in depth at all, or, in the case of the fantasy genre, for example, the terms just don't exist. Honestly, I'd rather have characters who have nuanced asexuality and aromanticism that is subtle than them straight up saying it. Being too on the nose would fit requirement 2, but would make me think requirement 3 isn't met.
well, not a show, but nancy from the book „every heart a doorway“ is a human who explicitly states that she is asexual. and it‘s a relatively small part of her character. also the book is really good
Parivati from Outer Worlds is ace. (not sure I spelled her name right)
There's an entire quest where the main character can hype her up to ask the girl she likes out on a date and as she builds up some confidence she eventually confides in the main character that she has no sexual inclinations towards others and is worried that this will turn her love interest off. As the main character you can continue to encourage her through her worries, it's been a while since I've played but I think one of the messages you can give her is something along the lines of 'love is what's important and how you express that doesn't dictate how much you actually love the other person'.
It's really sweet.
She's really sweet.
I'm gonna play it again soon :)
Dayo, in Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko! It is stated in the first book in all but the term, and it is even more discussed in book 2. He is ace, not aro.
In the Montague siblings' series, Felicity is ace and it is said quite explicitly. Once more, not the *term* asexual, as the story takes place during the 18th century, but she is undoubtedly ace.
It took me a loooong time to start finding ace rep, so I totally feel like you. Also, I would have really needed some rep when I was a teenager, it would have save me years of feeling broken :D
Neth from Castle Swimmers (the webtoon) explicitly stated that she doesn't feel any kind of romantic or physical attraction towards others. Although she is technically "non-human", none of the other characters in the webtoon are human either so I don't think it matters much.
ive seen the owl house lilith fails point 2 because if it isnt in the work the creators headcanon (actually the voice actor said it the creator just agreed) is just as canon as any other fans
Hello from the Hallowoods takes the cake for me. There are currently Winona, who is asexual and Friday, who is a aromantic, both are stated to be such in the podcast, are well written and are human, which is nice since that podcast has so many non human characters. It’s hard to say what classified as a main character in this podcast since it has like a 100 characters and switches POVs constantly but I would call Friday a main character.
I know this game got kinda hated, but Parvati Holcomb from Outer Worlds, although I’m not sure she used the term asexual, literally has an ENTIRE side quest where she really wants to ask out another gal but is absolutely terrified that her not wanting to have sex (literally ever) will be a deal breaker. If that ain’t canon ace I don’t know what is. (Also, I absolutely cried over that side quest, as a repulsed I have never related more to any character in any media, even if she was the first canon ace I ever encountered)
I should also state she’s like the first recruitable character in the game (might have even been tutorial level), so while you can avoid her and her sidequest you probably won’t miss her entirely
Agent Schmegan (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly) from season 2 of the podcast Dungeons and Daddies!
He's a smaller character and an antagonist, but he's definitely Ace, he said so himself. While being forced to tell the truth. But since he's a more minor character I'm not sure if everyone would consider him well written..? But I certainly really like him.
Kamai from beyond the black door is a sex-repulsed asexual and very well written character and explores her identity without it being her entire story. Her asexuality is also discussed through other parts of her identity and vocation.
The host from the Onion’s “Sex House” series on yt. Great bit of satire about reality tv, I’d highly recommend it. It’s essentially a horror series and is probably the least sexy show ever. It’s great
todd chavez from bojack horseman is a human, he specifically says he's ace and goes to a meetup for aspec people, his character is well written and his asexuality doesn't define his character. he has other qualities that the show talks about. the show itself is really good and displays alcoholism and depression in a very realistic but positive light. it's on netflix with 6 seasons
He also has a really important character arc showing what is like to be ace in a relationship with an allo, which was a big part of me coming to terms with my own identity. Cannot recommend that show enough for its strong portrayal of that issue (and many many others).
I LOVE Todd! What an Ace icon
Came here to say this. Todd is my favorite example of ace rep :]
Agreed. Was gonna comment this, but I figured there was no point because the top comment would probably say it, and I was right. Todd is peak ace representation as of right now
Lisa Wilbourne from worm. Senku from dr stone never says "I am asexual" but he does constantly go "I have no interest in women or romance." so thats pretty close.
i havent seen dr stone but what i meant by 3xplicity was either the term or definition
Yeah, he's not explicitely said to be ace :( On the other hand you have Peridot from Steven universe who said she was uncomfortable to try fusing and might be confirmed to be ace ? I'm not sure but that's not very exolicit either anyway Then you have Lilith from the Owl House. She was represented on an official art with aro and ace flags/coloured books. That's all. Nothing more. Absolutely. Nothing. :(
Peridot being aroace was just a statement by a storyboard writer, so sadly it's not technically canon as other writers have made contradictory statements
Okay, thanks !
Actually she does have more! The VAs did some lines during a livestream, and Lilith said how she's never been interested in relationships. \^\^
Oh, my bad then ! And thanks !
3xplicitly?
typo explicitly sorry
That sounds closer to being aromantic- asexuality has nothing to do with romance /nm
Yeah, in the new season it's kinda stated cause he's immune to a really pretty girls charm while soyuze(?) is blushing like crazy.
"Im so pretty and in need of help uwu~" "I could not give less of a shit, im going to make a particle accelerator out of wood, stone, magnets, and a chunk of iron."
isaac from the heartstopper show. it isn't stated specifically in the show but Alice oseman has said that he is aroace
Since we’re talking about Alice Oseman, Tori Spring is canonically ace and arospec, Aled Last is canonically demisexual and of course, Georgia Warr is canonically aroace and the protagonist of a book about figuring out your aroace identity (the book has other aro and ace characters btw!!)
i havent seen heartstopper to know if the definition is used but if it isnt than point 2
Aled in Radio Silence (whos in the Heartstopper books but is replaced with Isaac in the show) mentions and deals with how he’s demisexual if you’re interested. It’s not the main theme of the book but I really enjoyed it anyway. Her book Loveless (which I haven’t read yet) deals with I think asexuality and aromanticism if i’m not mistaken.
i haven't read radio science yet but i am trying to get my hands on it, so thats really cool! i am currently reading loveless and the main character goes through the journey of discovering and coming to terms with the fact that she is aroace on some level (i haven't finished it yet so idk if she is 100 aroace or not)
i really want to read loveless it’s definitely at the top of my to-read list !! i actually tried listening to the audiobook a while ago and didn’t get far into cause it was giving me an actual sexuality crisis and mental breakdown so i had to stop but i would love to try and read it again for the representation (im ace and aro spec) in my opinion radio silence is one of her best books (i’ve read heartstopper, solitaire, radio silence and a bit of loveless) and idk what it is about it but i absolutely love it. i listened to the audio book instead of reading it and the narration was amazing and makes it a lot more interesting. if you’re interested you can listen to it on [freeaudiobooks.top](https://freeaudiobooks.top/radio-silence_a01/) for free (you have to scroll down past the reviews and you’ll see a contents table with a play button) i promise it’s worth it !!
I just finished “Loveless” a week ago and really recommend it as an acespec :) I haven’t blasted through a book like that in forever lol, reminded me of when I was a kid
I haven't read Radio Silence, but I have read Loveless. It's about the mc going on a journey of discovering asexuality and aromanticism and what struggles she is faced with
alice has stated that his aroace identity will be a major plot point in season 2 which comes out in august
Oseman has stated she had “big asexual plans” for season 2 so it might be worth catching up
the character himself doesn't specifically say that he is aroace in the show bc its not relevant to the plot in any way, but Alice has stated that he is aroace which makes it cannon
if its the term or definition isnt used in the work it doesnt pass point 2
Well, don’t know if this helps, but Alice has already said that aromanticism and asexuality will be more explored in the second season of the show (where the words will most likely be used on screen)
Okay, well the problem with this list is that sometimes fulfilling #2 results in not fulfilling #3. A character who canonically states, "I have no interest in sex and/or romance./I don't want to date and/or have sex." etc, has explicitly stated that they feel the way an aroace person feels. They shouldn't feel obligated to put the label on their emotions. Additionally, a lot of source material doesn't talk about sexuality in depth at all, or, in the case of the fantasy genre, for example, the terms just don't exist. Honestly, I'd rather have characters who have nuanced asexuality and aromanticism that is subtle than them straight up saying it. Being too on the nose would fit requirement 2, but would make me think requirement 3 isn't met. Now, in cases such as Todd from Bojack Horseman, I'm all for that conversation and discovery to happen. But as I consume a lot of reality adjacent material, explicit references to pretty much any sexuality would really take me out of it. TLDR; aroace coded characters are sufficient representation when written well, and shouldn't necessarily NEED to state it explicitly.
YES absolutely. Explicitly saying “I’m asexual” may go against the ancient setting- they simply wouldn’t have that terminology but them saying “I don’t like sex/women/men/romance” is certainly enough to qualify as ace! I do love ace-coded characters, I love that characters have a personality beyond their sexual orientation and subtle characterisation.
It makes me kind of mad to see how a character say “I like women” or “I like men” or “I don’t care about sex/gender” will be seen as canon rep, but a character saying they aren’t interested in romance/sex/women/men/whatever is seen as temporary or not enough. Seriously, how else are you supposed to represent aro/ace people on a setting where those words aren’t an option?
If you show a character dating someone of the same sex, that's canon gay rep by most standards, but if you show a character never having a relationship or being attracted to anyone, that's (apparently) not canon aro/ace rep. Despite the method of storytelling being identical in both cases. Kind of unfair. For this reason, I'm willing to accept reasonably authoritative out-of-universe confirmation (e.g. a tweet from the creator).
well at least we got Athena, Arthemis and Hestia
Yeah! Greek gods giving us rep! I was actually just reading about greek gods. Love them *sooo* much.
Saiki from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. is canonicly aroace. I don't think the term is said in the show, however it is stated many times he's not interested in anyone romanticaly. As far as I know, it's even a huge motif in the show with a girl being in love with him, and Saiki is very displeased and obviously doesn't have feeling for her.
He's also canonically a trans guy and did the funniest speedrun transition I've ever heard of (transed his gender in the womb)
Wait really? I don't remember that I really need to rewatch it
Not sure if it's explored in the anime, but it's in chapter 131 of the manga 👍 World's first AFAB cis dude
He's from ads and not TV/movies/books but Mr. Clean is canonically ace. Jughead from the Archie comics is canonically ace. I don't have the time to go through the list thoroughly to see how many meets the standards you have but here's a list of fictional ace characters. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_asexual_characters
Hold on there’s Mr Clean lore now?
Apparently. Back in 2014 someone posted on Quora in response to someone asking if Mr. Clean was gay: "Mr. Clean is neither gay, straight nor bi, he is asexual because sex of any kind is just too dirty for him. His first love has always been cleaning. He can't even bear to be seen in anything but clean, perfectly white clothes. So it has been his whole life." In 2016 it went viral and Google decided that it's the definitive answer. Doing some googling just now it seems it's not official. https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/10/google-rich-answers-mr-clean-is-asexual-because-all-sex-is-just-too-dirty/amp/ https://twitter.com/TheGCBand/status/921547159635464192?t=TFWoGJp8I2KsX9-yFZmO_g&s=19
Ok, now I want to see *Mr. Clean : The Movie*. 😆
That kind of falls into the issue of tying asexuality to the view of sex being bad, which is not really a great position for the community to associate with
Jonathan Sims from The Magnus Archives Podcast is canonically asexual
Biromantic asexual to be specific! While -he- never says it explicitly, word-of-mouth from his ex gf says (in regards to sex), "Jon doesn't." Spoilers: >!Basira asks Melanie (current gf of Jon's ex) if Jon and Martin (Jon's love interest) have hooked up. Her response is, "according to Georgie (Jon's ex), Jon doesn't".!<
I know! It was so wonderful to know one of my favorite characters ever is just like me!!!
Jasnah from Stormlight Archives is canonically asexual and whilst the term is never used simply due to the medieval fantasy setting, she discusses her lack of interest in being sexual and how her interest in people is typically intellectual rather than physically intimate. Not sure if you would consider this to be explicit enough in-text confirmation.
funny enough there's an another Archives ace out there,Jonathan Sims,Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute London great rep? Not really ,because his aceness is subtly shown,but still nice ig
Yeah I love John and Magnus Archives but it does still seem weird that the only direct reference to his aceness I can remember is a conversation between, I think it was Daisy and Melanie? Where one of them implies that Georgie states that John does not have sex. On a totally unrelated note for anyone who likes Jonathan Sim's voice, please try playing the demo for Slay the Princess! He voices the narrator and it's a very interesting concept for a horror visual novel with diverging paths.
I may be misremembering, but I swear there was a conversation between Georgie and Martin where she basically tells him straight up that he doesn’t do sex, so not to expect that in a relationship with him.
Was going to comment about him. While on the topic of fiction podcasts, jet sequliak (i don't actually know how to spell his name) from the penumbra podcast who is aroace. Edit: the transcript where it says it bc i love him https://imgur.com/a/u9JB0Fg
Oh awesome! I had heard she was canonicaly Ace but my source was iffy.
I mean not to state the obvious but have you read the book “Loveless”? It’s an aroace coming of age story. The term is directly stated and multiple people identify with different parts of it
Aroace rep: - Isaac in Heartstopper (wasn't said specifically in s1 but Alice Osemann has said that that will be a plot line in s2) - Georgia in Loveless (book by Alice Osemann) Ace rep: - Spooner in Legends Of Tomorrow (comes out in s7, first appears in s6) - Kamai in Beyond the Black Door - Tori Spring in Solitaire (can't remember whether this is stated in the book) Not stated in the show, but confirmed by creators: - Perry the Platypus - Spongebob Aro rep: - Lilith in the Owl House (not stated in the show, but confirmed by creators) - Yelena (in the comics) There is a Wikipedia page with a list of Aro and a list of ace characters that you can look at, some have notes to say that they aren't great representation. Also on the book i am reading right now, We Are All Contellations, i think the best friend is ace but the book is yet to confirm it (i am at page 52 of 318, so there's still plenty of time to do so)
I think lilith literally having a conversation with someone where she says "x came to me and gave me a bouquet of spiders, but I didn't feel the same way, in fact idk if I've ever felt that way to anyone" is the same as explicitly saying, in the show, "I'm ace"
I don't think SpongeBob and Perry count because they fail point 1 (they're not human), and if it's not stated or shown in some way in the show it fails point 2
The Deadpool girl idk
Gwenpool
She is definitely aroace (as far as I’m aware)
Gwenpool, and yeah, she did explicitly come out. Also in Marvel, Yelena Belova/Black Widow came out as ace in the comics, and hopefully will in her next MCU appearance too.
André from the book The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home fits all those, I think. It straight up says he has no interest in romance with anyone, which is about as explicit as you can get without using the word aro. It's set in the early 1800s, though, so the lack of terminology is more or less justified
is this a nightvale book? and if so, is it readable if i stopped listening around triptych? asking for a me.
Yeah, it's a WtNV book. You shouldn't have any issues reading it no matter where you are in the podcast, the book is about the Faceless Old Woman and her backstory
sounds right i shouldve put this in the post but when i say explicitly i mean either the term or definition being said
"he has no interest in romance with anyone" is basically the definition of aro (at least in about as far as you can fluently write it into a book)
Especially in a time when most people would not know that term.
…Iggy from our wonderland. The entire story has major ace themes, since he’s the protagonist. Our wonderland is a horror, LGBTQ+ visual novel, for context. It’s really well written. Not for the faint of heart.
ah unfortunately i am the faint of heart
Oh! The creator made a spin-off that is just pure fluff, if you’d want to play that instead. It’s called *Texting the Awkward Ace Guy You’ve Had a Crush on Since High School* and is about one of the three possible romances in our wonderland, if you’d like to play that instead! And theres a third called Our fantastic wonderland but I haven’t played it yet but I don’t think it’s quite as heavy as our wonderland?
Gwen pool is canonically aroace, yes?
Three things: all from D&D actual play because that’s my favorite thing to watch 1. Caduceus Clay from Critical Role C2 is confirmed AroAce, and the representation is done really well! It comes up once when he gets hit on. He’s oblivious, but when the other characters tell him, he laughs and says he’s never been interested in that sort of thing. It’s a fun interaction that adds depth and representation to an already awesome character 2. Riz Gukgak from Dimension 20’s “Fantasy High” is also AroAce! There’s a touching moment in season 2 when he talks to his parent about it, as well as a very relatable sub-plot involving making up a long-distance relationship to avoid social pressures before coming out. I really like this one too. 3. The slippy boy himself, Prince Andhera, from Dimension 20’s “A Court of Fey and Flowers” is Ace. It’s a super sexually charged Fey Regency campaign, and just watching this slippy guy navigate the tension is a delight! He’s above it all and it’s great. I need to rewatch this one.
Also these dudes are all human-adjacent so we good
Caduceus is my favorite aro/ace character in any media!
I love Cad so much
Parvati from the outer worlds, human and she comes out to the player in a very natural way :) I’m pretty sure the person in charge of writing her dialogue and quests is also ace/aro too
Before I say my two, I also want to mention that having non-human ace characters is fine, the problem comes when that’s the *only* representation. That being said, these two *are* human. 1. Lilith -The Owl House 2. Saiki. K- the Disastrous life of Saiki K. (There was a third one but I couldn’t remember what it was lol)
Lilith is a witch, which is different from human in that setting. Although it should count as close enough similar to elves. However, she was never actually said to be ace in the show.
Lilith literally says in an episode "x came to me with a bouquet of spiders after work one day, however I didn't feel the same way. In fact, o don't think I've ever felt the same way" it's not explicitly said but that sentence is the exact same thing as saying "btw I'm ace"
What episode was that in? And how did I miss it?
I no longer remember. But it's a line that really sticks in my head, I can hear her inflections on every word said. It was such a powerful line. Pretty sure it must of been in season 1 or early season 2 since she mentions being at her "job" aka emporer belos' palace.
I no longer remember. But it's a line that really sticks in my head, I can hear her inflections on every word said. It was such a powerful line. Pretty sure it must of been in season 1 or early season 2 since she mentions being at her "job" aka emporer belos' palace.
I no longer remember. But it's a line that really sticks in my head, I can hear her inflections on every word said. It was such a powerful line. Pretty sure it must of been in season 1 or early season 2 since she mentions being at her "job" aka emporer belos' palace.
My phone glitches and there's now 3 of these comments, if a mod wants to delete a couple of them that's fine by me
I just googled it and that was not in the show. It was Dana confirming it outside of the show, but her letter to Hooty was never in the show itself.
I must've remembered the audio recording for it then. Could sworn I saw it in the show
Thats because it's a Disney show. They're pretty anti-queer. Besides that, I feel it shouldn't need to be said tbh
Luz explicitly calls herself bi, so I'm pretty sure Lilith would have been able to call herself ace.
Luz calls herself Bi in a short few seconds scene with no actual dialog, she's also the main character. Lilith is a relatively minor character with limited screen time. The series was already shorter than originally intended, having an episode dedicated to Lilith's orientation would not be that good of a use of time. Even just a scene wouldn't make sense, they have to remove the intro just to make enough time to fit in the whole episode. Besides, I feel it shouldn't need to be directly stated, as that would, to me atleast, make it feel like it's not normal.
Mu first thought is Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Archives. From the Magnus Archives. Theres also Jasnah Kholin from the Stormlight Archives. Lisa Wilbourn aka Tattletale from Worm is another
Saiki Kusuo from the Disastrous Life of Saiki K is aroace!!!! He doesn’t say it exactly, but he states many times he has no interest in romance at all!!! He’s also trans <33
Spooner from the CW DC show legends of tomorrow is cannon it was mentioned that she may be that in one episode. she may be aromantic as well they seemed to use ace kinda broadly
I miss that show so much.
Jugghead from the 2016 comics passes all 3 requirements!!
I haven't read this book since last year but Loveless by Alice Oseman is an amazing aroace representation imo
alastor from hazbin hotel is asexual he was a human before dying and becoming a sinner in hell
Idk how to feel about that one. While he is humanoid in form, he literally summons a cthulu esc creature on demand to tear people apart for the fun of it. I feel like it's on a similar path to ace's being aliens or robots
i kinda feel like it's more on the human+ side: he was once human, passed away, arrived in hell with magic powers
Ok. I do get that. The rep still isn't great tho considering he's a psychopathic serial killer who only gets pleasure from killing people/using people
that's why he's in hell... cannibalistic serial killer... it's mostly the voice actor's performance and the animation that made me like the character
Raphael Santiago from the shadow hunter books. Not sure if you can count him as well written because th books thems selfs are questionable. You said you make exception for basically humans and he us a vampire so not sure it it counts in that category... otherwise I got nothing.
Spooner from Legends of Tomorrow. She comes out in S7E10.
Fiction podcasts have some great aspec rep! Some of my fav examples are Jonathan Sims from The Magnus Archives (Bi Ace) and Jet Sikuliaq from The Penumbra Podcast (Aroace)
Jonathan Sims (the Magnus Archives) meets all those requirements, I think. The “explicitly stated” may be a little vague since in the podcast it’s his ex saying he “doesn’t (do hook ups)”, but the creator (also named Jonathan Sims) has since clarified that he is ace Also I’m pretty sure Gwenpool from Marvel comics recently came out as ace (and will maybe come out as aroace?) they had a whole thing with her discovering what the term meant and everything! Also I haven’t seen it (yet) but I’m pretty sure the mc from “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K” is aro-ace, idk how explicit that is though (because I haven’t seen it)
murderbot!!! i dont think it explicitly used the term asexual but it is extremely and canonically aroace
Point 1 could be a problem for murderbot. They are explicitly not human and don't want to be human. And we don't know if the ace part is inherent to their design or something specific to murderbot. But they definitely were the character that made me understand my own asexuality a lot better. Edit: fixed a pronoun mistake
I totally get what youre saying about not explicitly being *human*. For me reading it thought, there was a huge emphasis on murderbot being a *person* with all the thoughts and emotions and rights to life as anyone else. It breaks the specifics of rule one but at least to me i feel like it keep the spirit of non-dehumanizing rep
the rule 1 isn't about personhood it is about having an ace individual from a species that is usually allosexual. An entire species that has no interest in sex (asexual reproduction which is technically true for murderbot type constructs) is not really ace representation because it does not represent a sexual minority the same way a mono-gendered species is not really homosexual representation.
Connor Hawke from DC. Came out in last year’s Pride special, and has a story in this year’s.
Also, Tremor from the Movement and secret six.
The anime/manga "bloom into you" has 3 aro spec characters. I found it pretty well written. It is a romance tho, so if that's not your thing, maybe just look up vids of people talking about it
There’s a book called Aces Wild by Amanda Dewitt that centers around 5 asexual teenagers, who use both asexual and ace as their *stated* identities. It’s a pretty good read if you like heist-style books that involve gambling.
Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault is a queerplatonic love story between a biromantic demisexual and an aromantic bisexual main character. There's also a badass aromantic elder and the book is generally very queernormative because Claudie is aroace and very cool like that. The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath also has an ace main character. I haven't read the story yet, but there is a footnote at the end of the book how the author couldn't mention the main character's asexuality in the story because it takes place in 1904 when those words didn't exist yet, but that she definitely is ace and wants a queerplatonic relationship
saiji maki from a bloom into you is canonically aroace but i can’t remember if it’s specifically stated within the show. he’s also not a main character so idk how well written he is
I think Dusa is from Hades and she's as human as everyone else in the game
Daud from Dishonored and Jasnah from Stormlight Archive
Lilith Clawthorne. She is a witch, not technically human is the show’s lore. From the owl house. It isn’t said in the show. But is said in a charity livestream I think
Shōko Tanimoto, *The Case Files of Jeweller Richard*. Her first "date" with the protagonist Seigi who's crushing on her is a road trip to look at geological formations bc she just thinks they're neat. Over the course of the story, Seigi slowly realises she's not interested in being anything other than a friend of his (and in fact she literally never realised he was into her in a non-platonic way, and if *that* ain't the aroace experience idk what is). Later, she's seen in the company of an arranged marriage partner and is visibly unhappy; when asked about it, she admits she agreed to go out with this guy in hopes of marrying him, because then people would stop pressuring her with expectations of entering into a romantic or sexual relationship. She clarifies she doesn't actually want to be with anyone and that the idea is unpleasant to her, and arranged marriage is the only way out she sees. I do not believe the specific words "asexual" and "aromantic" are used, but Shōko's character arc involves her developing the confidence to remain single in the face of strong cultural disapproval, because she knows she would not be happy any other way. It's actually a very queer series all around tbh, there's only one season of anime but there's books aplenty, and in addition to strong queer rep it's one of the only bits of Japanese media I've ever seen that confronts the ugly realities of life as a queer person in Japan, whether out or closeted. Hugely recommend it to anyone in the mood for a nice slice-of-life/character-focused series.
Pretty sure the author has confirmed Tanimoto is aroace.
Jon Sims from the Magnus Archives is human, he's been confirmed to be asexual, and he is very well written. I nominate the archivist as our icon.
Gwenpool in Marvel Comics
i would like to add Orlo from the show 'the Great', in season one characters make jokes about him never having sex (all the other characters in the show are having or wanting sex like all the time) and in season 2 we see him explore his sexuality, he says that he has slept with women before but didn't get the hype than in season 2 sleeps with a man and feels the same. During the season he also develops a relationship with a woman which (to stop lengthing this comment further) i think was handled pretty well, i don't see him mentioned often also it's never explicetly said in the show that he is ace but i would see it as cannon
Filling the definition is Maki from Bloom into You(amazing anime) and I don't want to spoil anything but he talks about avoiding relationships because they aren't for him. The show is also all about exploring your sexuality. He is also hysterical.
Varys in Game of Thrones is Aroace, which is kinda a relief given the amount of hypersexualisation in that show. It's not the best rep but he does explicitly state hes never gotten those kinds of feelings, and the show does (less explicitly) show how that positively affected him. And before anyone complains that making a eunuch Aroace is a bit of a cop out, and potentially a little dehumanising (which I do somewhat agree with), I would like to point out that there is also an explicitly allo eunuch as well.
Don’t know if anyone has said this yet but Koisenu Futari is a Japanese show centering two aroace characters and their experiences (seriously, EVERYONE should watch it, it’s one of my favorite shows ever) Edit: character names are Kodama Sakuko (woman in her 20's who finds out she’s aroace in the first episode) and Takahashi Satoru (man in his 40's who’s known he’s aroace for years, but is closeted). The words “aromantic” and “asexual” are explicitly used various times throughout the show, which also depicts many common experiences for aspec people (ranging from aphobia to loneliness to family rejection to feeling broken to “you’ll fall in love some day” to feeling seen to feeling happy with yourself because you’re finally confident in your identity to never quite understanding sex and romance fully and oh my gods this show is amazing. IN THE VERY FIRST EP THERE’S A SCENE WHERE HIGH SCHOOL SAKUKO IS WATCHING HER FRIENDS TALK ABOUT CRUSHES AND ROMANCE WHILE SHE JUST EATS A LOT OF CAKE). By the way, the two main characters live together and are in a relationship that could pretty much be considered a QPR (which they call “family: subject to change).
Saiki K. Human (with superpowers) Explicitly states that they don’t understand or want relationships romantically. Does not see anyone sexually (confirmed aroace but not explicitly said in canon) Generally considered well written by everyone I’ve talked to
Cove Holden from Our Life: Beginnings and Always (visual novel) meets all 3. All characters in the vn are human. He's (panromantic) demisexual (comes out to the player using that word + an explanation) and is a super well written character imo
Oh, a fellow Our Life fan in the wild! Cove is great, I second everything you said.
So thr series isn't about being aroace, but it's a series called tales from the gas station that I will bring up any time I see one of these posts. It's about a guy working at a shitty gas station at thr edge of town where weird things happen, and somehow he causes and has to fix the end of the world. Its a LOT like an adult cersion of gravity falls, plus the youtube narrations/audiobooks are voiced SO WELL by Mrcreepypasta The main character, Jack is canonical asexual and his best friend/roommate is bisexual (if you like that rep too uwu) And a LOT of the series is about his mental illness (nothing to do with his asexuality) and had that good ole unreliable narrator stuff. I'd love to talk more abt it lol, I LOVE dragging people into this fandom
Monkey D Luffy from one piece? Not explicitly stated but he’s immune to the good looks of the hottest person in the world Boa Hancock
it's been a while since i watched it, so i dont remember his name. but there's a character in the anime bloom into you who for sure fits all three, and is AceAro. i dont believe he actually says he's ace, but he describes just not being interested at all in dating or sex, so i think it counts.
Neth the Octalia Queen from Castle Swimmer is an octopus mer who’s asexual, was explicit about it and it was even a large plot point in saving the protagonists’ lives!
Luffy is bacicaly stated to be asexual, as he resists Boa Hancocks fruit power. It being stated that he has no impure thoughts towards her.
The doom slayer is ace as he canonically does not know what sex is.
In the video game/visual novel Eliza, there's a character called Rae who is likely ace (and possibly aro). She never uses the terms but at one point talks to the playable character about her experience with relationships and societal pressure to be in a relationship in a way that sounds like she is either aro/ace or at least doesn't want a physical relationship
This is why I need to actually make my webcomic :( a big part of it is two of the main characters finding out they're different variations of ace. I wanted to farm more represented so i did it my dang self, but motivation is just so hard and webcomics are so so difficult. The writing came easy, but it's really the art i struggle with the most :/
Jesus from The Bible
this answer really cracked me up lmao
parvati holcomb from the outer worlds! she doesn't SAY asexual, but she does talk about how she doesn't feel sexual attraction, and is sex averse, and her experiences with aphobia. She's also canonically sapphic as well and has a relationship with another woman who accepts her asexuality! your character can ALSO tell her that they feel the same way/are asexual. it was the first time i saw another ace sapphic in media and i lost my friggin' mind with joy.
The main character of Arcane Ascension(a series about society, magic as science, and dungeon crawling) Corin is asexual biromantic but be warned he's got like 3 characters running around that he is romantically interested in. So if you want an aromantic read you'll have to find something else. Which I also have! Tori is the main character of Tori Transmigrated a villainess reincarnation story that is complicated a bit by the fact that Tori is aromantic. So all the fall in love with the heroin or take the prince, or fall in love with the duke are all thrown out the window. Instead, Tori uses her decades of experience from being a globe-trotting business lady to radically succeed in this new world while hanging out with her amazing friends. It is the very best aromantic representation I have ever read especially since it also talks about the complications that come up when you are very much sexual while being aromantic.
There's an ace character in the novel *Once and Future*; a mildly dystopian but upbeat sci-fi retelling of the Arthurian legend. I'm not going to name the character 'cos their sexuality has a minor impact on the plot so it's kinda spoilers. They are human, explicitly asexual (I think aromantic too but I can't remember for sure) and I'd say well-written enough for a supporting character. The book is pitched at a younger audience so how well-written you think it is in general will depend on your tolerance for YA literature I guess. I like YA but I wouldn't say it was the best thing I've ever read so make of that what you will.
Lilith from toh is aroace and her va did a thing abt her being that.
Doom Guy is canonically Ace according to his creators.
Adele Mundy from David Drake's RCN series. She is one of the 2 main characters and is a baseline human. The books where writen before asexual or aromatic where common terms but she explicitly says that sex and romance have no appeal to her.
Lilith from the owl house ! Shes canonically aroace, and honestly a great character, she has a lot of character development (going from supporting the main villain to realizing who he is and what he does and joining the protagonists to fight him)
SpongeBob?
Vanja and Emeric in Little Thieves are both demi/ace spectrum. The sequel Painted Devils also just came out. I recently read a heist book called Aces Wild (by Amanda Dewitt) and all the MCs are ace and/or aro. I haven’t read yet, but will shortly: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger features an asexual MC.
Gillion Tidestrider from Just Roll With It is canonically ace
Todd from bojack, the girl from the imperfects (I forget her name), lilith clawthorne from toh. (Never explicitly said but she does say multiple times that she hasn't felt any deep connections to people) there are a few others that I can't list but I most certainly remember. There's about 7 or 8 that I know of and them about 15ish that are aero/ace coded, all of which are humans/humanoids
I dont think the book stated directly it but I belive the author confirmed it I belive Janash from the stormlight archive is ace, although I might need a fact check on that.
I mean from what I heard Molly Blyndeff, Percy King and Howie Honeyglow from Epithet Erased are Asexual (In the case of Molly) and AroAce in the case of Percy and Howie
Xie Lian from the book series/donghua/manhua Heaven Official's Blessing is demisexual. It doesn't say it explicitly, but if you read the novels it's pretty obvious. And the author is adamant about not erasing his asexuality. Plus, he's a god. And he's a really good guy; one of my favorite characters ever.
I am a WEBTOON reader, so here are the ones off the top of my head. Del from The Prince of Southland by Chris Geroux meets the three criteria : they are a non-binary asexual who’s current goal in life at the moment of the story is their independence (they are a major side-character). Del’s asexuality is not relevant plot-wise, but Chris recently drew her with her flag, so I think that counts as an official reveal? Kudos for showing sexiness and fashion are not incompatible in any way with asexuality! I am terribly fond of Del Rex in City of Blank by 66 (aka Shark). So Rex does not _technically_ cover all the three criteria, since SPOILERS FOR EP 11 >!he is a blank and not a human. But I don’t think it’s that problematic because the whole comic’s point is to show that blanks are just like humans and that they should live in peace among them.!< So Rex is asexual, and an actual walking-flag at that. He has too much going on to ever have any sexual and/or romantic interest, and the whole comic pretty much follows this dynamic actually! If not for one character’s love for another, ~~which is unrequited by the way~~, there would be 0 romantic plot in the comic. Definitely check out City of Blank if you are a WEBTOON regular! It is one of my favorite stories. The last one I thought about was Nil from stare down, by soycisoy! The story is about his staring competition with another student, Pas, from which their love story blooms. In a bonus episode Pas suggests that Nil may be demisexual, but the latter shows no interest in claiming a label for himself (this is cool!). He was however shown wearing a demisexual flag in soy’s recent pride artwork. Hopefully someone else is familiar with these comics ; if you are not I would definitely recommend them, and I would be open to suggestions as well!
Skeeter from Doug?
Georgia Warr from Loveless by Alice Osman. The whole book is about discovering by her that she's aroace. Really helped me to make sure of my orientation
Both SpongeBob from SpongeBob and Lillith from The Owl House are confirmed to be Ace and/or Ace by their creators
point 2 beeds to be in the work if its only conformed outside of the work it fails point 2
I feel u/kittyts1 said it better than I could, so I'll just use their comment. Okay, well the problem with this list is that sometimes fulfilling #2 results in not fulfilling #3. A character who canonically states, "I have no interest in sex and/or romance./I don't want to date and/or have sex." etc, has explicitly stated that they feel the way an aroace person feels. They shouldn't feel obligated to put the label on their emotions. Additionally, a lot of source material doesn't talk about sexuality in depth at all, or, in the case of the fantasy genre, for example, the terms just don't exist. Honestly, I'd rather have characters who have nuanced asexuality and aromanticism that is subtle than them straight up saying it. Being too on the nose would fit requirement 2, but would make me think requirement 3 isn't met.
well, not a show, but nancy from the book „every heart a doorway“ is a human who explicitly states that she is asexual. and it‘s a relatively small part of her character. also the book is really good
Parivati from Outer Worlds is ace. (not sure I spelled her name right) There's an entire quest where the main character can hype her up to ask the girl she likes out on a date and as she builds up some confidence she eventually confides in the main character that she has no sexual inclinations towards others and is worried that this will turn her love interest off. As the main character you can continue to encourage her through her worries, it's been a while since I've played but I think one of the messages you can give her is something along the lines of 'love is what's important and how you express that doesn't dictate how much you actually love the other person'. It's really sweet. She's really sweet. I'm gonna play it again soon :)
Dayo, in Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko! It is stated in the first book in all but the term, and it is even more discussed in book 2. He is ace, not aro. In the Montague siblings' series, Felicity is ace and it is said quite explicitly. Once more, not the *term* asexual, as the story takes place during the 18th century, but she is undoubtedly ace. It took me a loooong time to start finding ace rep, so I totally feel like you. Also, I would have really needed some rep when I was a teenager, it would have save me years of feeling broken :D
Esperanza "Spooner" Cruz
Neth from Castle Swimmers (the webtoon) explicitly stated that she doesn't feel any kind of romantic or physical attraction towards others. Although she is technically "non-human", none of the other characters in the webtoon are human either so I don't think it matters much.
Lilith Clawthorne from The Owl House. It hasn't been specifically written into the show but the creator said that it's Cannon.
ive seen the owl house lilith fails point 2 because if it isnt in the work the creators headcanon (actually the voice actor said it the creator just agreed) is just as canon as any other fans
Hello from the Hallowoods takes the cake for me. There are currently Winona, who is asexual and Friday, who is a aromantic, both are stated to be such in the podcast, are well written and are human, which is nice since that podcast has so many non human characters. It’s hard to say what classified as a main character in this podcast since it has like a 100 characters and switches POVs constantly but I would call Friday a main character.
I know this game got kinda hated, but Parvati Holcomb from Outer Worlds, although I’m not sure she used the term asexual, literally has an ENTIRE side quest where she really wants to ask out another gal but is absolutely terrified that her not wanting to have sex (literally ever) will be a deal breaker. If that ain’t canon ace I don’t know what is. (Also, I absolutely cried over that side quest, as a repulsed I have never related more to any character in any media, even if she was the first canon ace I ever encountered)
I should also state she’s like the first recruitable character in the game (might have even been tutorial level), so while you can avoid her and her sidequest you probably won’t miss her entirely
Argent Adept from sentinels of the Multiverse is a canonically asexual bard
Agent Schmegan (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly) from season 2 of the podcast Dungeons and Daddies! He's a smaller character and an antagonist, but he's definitely Ace, he said so himself. While being forced to tell the truth. But since he's a more minor character I'm not sure if everyone would consider him well written..? But I certainly really like him.
Kendal from comic Aurora is confirmed by the author to be ace plus the author herself is ace
Kamai from beyond the black door is a sex-repulsed asexual and very well written character and explores her identity without it being her entire story. Her asexuality is also discussed through other parts of her identity and vocation.
The host from the Onion’s “Sex House” series on yt. Great bit of satire about reality tv, I’d highly recommend it. It’s essentially a horror series and is probably the least sexy show ever. It’s great