Manga Review: Goodnight Punpun, Volume 7, by Inio Asano

Rating (Out of 5): ~1.5

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: 2017

Volumes: 7.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 5.

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.

This is the end, Punpun.

Review:

I missed the previous volume, and I could tell as I started this one, that I had missed some important scenes. We find Punpun in a very different place as this volume starts, and it only goes downhill from there.

Punpun seems to be struggling with his identity, with what his purpose is and what has been happening in his life. The story follows him and Aiko for a while, but then it also skips over to his old friends and what they're doing.

During all of this, we're also getting snippet of information regarding the politics happening and whether the world is ending and there are stars falling at one point.

This series definitely feels like a book I'd be given in college to analyze to death. I'm sure there's a lot of deeper meaning to everything that's happening in this series. (I'm sure not reading the whole series doesn't help, either.) There's definitely a lot of underlying messages, psychological reasons for why we're seeing Punpun in the image he is, how he talks differing from how other people talk, and everything to do with that ending and what led up to the conclusion of Punpun and Aiko's relationship.

There's a lot here, but honestly I think I just hated all of it. It's all deeply disturbing and depressing, and there aren't any even slightly good endings here. It's also kind of a mess to follow, and I don't know what's supposed to be real or metaphorical or what any more.

While I have found some of Asano's manga interesting, this was not one that I enjoyed in any way. It was not for me, at the least.

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

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!