Manga Review: Goodnight Punpun, Volume 5, by Inio Asano

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: March 2017

Volumes: 13 / 7 Omnibus.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 4. 6.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A dark coming-of-age tale where slice-of-life slices back.

This is Punpun Onodera’s coming-of-age story. His parents’ marriage is falling apart. His dad goes to jail and his mom goes to the hospital. He has to live with his loser uncle. He has a crush on a girl who lives in a weird cult. Punpun tries talking with God about his problems, but God is a jerk. Punpun keeps hoping things will get better, but they really, really don’t.

Punpun finally has a plan. But it gets shattered. He wants the world to shatter too. And it does. How can he live with himself? Maybe you just need to find a different life, Punpun.

Review:

I have only read a few things by Inio Asano. I've definitely been warned about their books, but the few volumes I've read haven't been quite as disturbing as I expected. I think I can safely say that changed with this volume. It was a bit of a ride more than I expected.

With zero knowledge of this series, I had different expectations. I thought Punpun was just an odd character in a normal world, but there's a lot of plot with normal humans. And what Punpun does is disturbing, his presence is odd, but it also feels like his image might just be symbolic of something more. He might just be representing a more psychological thing, possibly not so literal. But then again, it's hard to tell with this author. He might also be an alien taking over different people's lives?

This volume was disturbing in a few different ways. Firstly, there's some very graphic detail, some weirdly crude and sexual language and scenes that I didn't expect. There's definite political undertones, and even clear preaching from some crazy guy on the sidelines a few times. What takes the forefront of the story, though, is the drama regarding Punpun's friends and, as they attempt to publish a manga, the relationships changing around that.

This was an odd volume, to say the least. I don't know if I would ever go out and read Asano's stories on their own, but I definitely understand why people do, and must admit that sometimes the subject feels important and is being done in a very weirdly purposeful way.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!