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I don't get it. I don't get the hype around this.

The art is fantastic, and the writing is... fine I guess, but what's the point? What is the author trying to convey with these endless chapters of tragedy?

There is no catharsis, and there is no oblivion either. Just page upon page of the cynical outlook of someone who seems to have a very bleak outlook on the human condition; one that I quite frankly do not share.

Many people have rightfully called this manga "depression porn", because that's exactly what it is. Oyasumi Punpun is too unrealistically cynical to be relatable or really carry any meaningful ... point with its characters, and yet too mundane to carry any other kind of amusement with it.

The end product is a 100+ chapter grind of a manga that constantly feels like it's going to get to the point but never does.

If YOU think this is an accurate depiction of human life, you seriously need to look inwards, and fast. I was sitting through this entire thing thinking "why", "this could be avoided" and "who would actually do this?". I've never witnessed manga characters more in need of God's mercy than in Oyasumi Punpun.

I sadly cannot recommend it. I REALLY did not enjoy it. It was a slog to read.

This is seriously revolting.

As another reviewer noted, it has similar distasteful relations with underage minors (7 years old in this case) as Jobless Reincarnation, but it has the added bonus of having insane gore scenes that were sufficient to make me wince more than once while reading.

I'm not even really sure where this is going... I'll keep reading for now because I'm morbidly curious but I have serious doubts that this is going anywhere good. Especially since the titular little sister gets slammed in basically the first 2 chapters. Then it sort of transitions into a weird harem-like setting.

It really is like Jobless Reincarnation, huh?

Not ... recommended.

AHAHAHHAHA WHAT IS THIS

Man this is some of the weirdest stuff I've read in a long time.
I think it's best to not go in with much expectation for serious content, but all I can say is that the humor in this manga is absolute top-tier.

The story makes no sense and seems to be going nowhere but I couldn't care less, I want more of this comedy and ASAP!

Highly recommended, but do keep in mind the art gets a bit lewd sometimes. The situation is always comedic though so it's not so bad.

"Did you piss yourself Jersey-kun?"
... "That's right, punk"

Best quote I've ever read in manga history,

A story about broken relationships. This was a nail-biter from start to finish, and although the ending left a little to be desired, I still have to say that this was a pretty good read.

Musume no Tomodachi, or My Daughters Friend, is a story about a miserable man, and the miserable people he's surrounded by. His dead wife has left a hole in both him and his daughter's heart, and he tries to fill the void with work, selfishly escaping his responsibility as a father by destroying himself from overwork.

He finds solace in another miserable person, the titular Daughter's Friend, who I think sympathizes with ... the MC's inability to truly face responsibility. They bond over this. The manga is about this relationship.

This is not a wholesome story at all. This is a story about two people trying to repair the hell that is their life, and doing so through imperfect ways. It's frustrating to watch, but I think I can say they end up doing a decent enough job at it.

What matters is that the writing of the manga is done in a way that doesn't seem to condone this behavior. We see a realistic depiction of a very troubled situation, and the rest is sort of left to the viewer. It is not played for fan-service or anything along those lines. and that's what makes it good to me.

That being said, the content still left a bad taste in my mouth, even if it was well written.

I got suckered into this because of its popularity, despite my usual ban on anything harem related.

Yeah, unless you're looking for some foreplay before you open a porn website, this manga is absolute garbage. The story and setting is painfully generic, and honestly boring. I'll bet my ass that 90 % of the people reading this are just skipping pages to get to the sex scenes, as there is really no other way to enjoy this.

I mean, the main heroine (I didn't read far enough for the harem to start) is cute and all, but she is so unrealistically submissive. Not to mention the whole ... slave angle. The girl is a SLAVE and she is falling in LOVE with some random dude that bought her.

It's a sad, sad, sad power fantasy. Don't ready if you're not interested in horny.

A curious piece this. First off, don't be too scared by the seemingly very 18+ appearance of this manga. Surprisingly enough, it is not very sexual at all, and mainly revolves around relationships, with sex being used mainly as a tool rather than as an end in and of itself.

The stories told DO leave you thinking. They are well-paced, have interesting premises and are written pretty well in my opinion. For the most part, all of them revolve around how to find the right relationship and whether its even possible.

Many of the stories go about this in pretty interesting ways, so it is definitely worth ... a read in my opinion.


However, to not be too rosy, I will say that the art is pretty bland. The big limiter on my enjoyment however, is how realistic most of these stories really are. It kind of hurts that society both here, and I imagine especially in Japan, has devolved to the point where the things the characters think are actually things that real people think to themselves sometimes.

Oh well. That may just be me.

In general I can highly recommend checking this out. It does get slightly explicit, but it's really nothing compared to your average fantasy shounen. The real 18+ here is the content. You just won't get it as a kid I think.

I did it. I found another!

I DID IT!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

The protagonist is:
- Middle-aged, no high-schooler nonsense
- Retarded and kind, the perfect himbo
- Upstanding person with good morals

I was just about to drop this when he got a 15-year old ogre-girl as a wife, until the man sat down and started planning how long he'd have to wait until she was 18. This guy is too good for this genre I swear.
...
Anyhow, this is a super wholesome story. It's not an isekai, the characters are great and everything is just fantastic. I love it. Only bad thing from an objective standpoint is how simple the story is, but I just can't fault it. It keeps things fresh and wholesome at all times. WOULD RECOMMEND!

EDITED AFTER FINISHING:

Yikes, this really did hurt.

At the end of the day, this story is a cautionary tale about keeping secrets in your relationships and about holding back when it comes to love.

God's plan often comes at you sideways, and this manga illustrates that very well. It also illustrates the importance of taking those blows standing, because in the end, you'll be happier that way.

Sadly, our protagonist doesn't do this. He comes close, but at the end of the day, his inhibitions and secret-keeping get to him, and he ruins what was given to him.

It's tragic, but in a good way. A cautionary tale that ... I would recommend reading. It's also very short.

Ahhhh... I love manga like these. Why aren't there more of them?

At first I was a bit on guard, due to it being marked as suggestive on several sites, but I don't really see why this marker was here at all. The art is not lewd at all, and the story is as wholesome as it gets. Plus, it feels like it's actually going places.

This is peak romance manga for me. Not that this manga is perfect, but the way this is done is just perfect for me. Let me list why:

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-- Believable, but not realistic --

Obviously, this is a reverse isekai with magic, so ... it's not going to be realistic. However, IF something like this were to happen IRL, the consequences of it depicted in the manga really make a lot of sense. How many isekais can say that the feds get involved because of the inter-dimensional interloper?

In addition, the other world does not disappear. It has a recurring role, and you get the sense that it will have a direct role in the story soon. It keeps the stakes high, even if those stakes are literally in separate dimension from the main plot.
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-- Sweet characters, small cast, and believable romance --

This is the most crucial part really, and it's very well done. Almost the entire manga takes place in the country-side, with the nearest neighbor being a little over 2 km away from the protagonists house. This means that the cast of characters is necessarily quite small, at least in the beginning. It grows organically and sensibly, and you never feel overwhelmed by the amount. They are also all relatively distinct, and well characterized.

The main character is genuinely a pretty charming person. He is not some shut-in neet like most protagonists of this genre, but a man with a commitment to his fathers profession who, out of circumstance, doesn't have a partner. He is a hard worker, and a very good guy.

This pairs really well with the heroine, who is a medieval fantasy knight. She is also a hard worker, dedicated to the family craft, who has to deal with her new situation.

I will say that they could have done more with the main heroines backstory. Without going into spoilers, I can say she has some traumas that they do play around with in the main plot, but I really do feel like they could have gone further.
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Either way, so far so good. I can heartily recommend this manga to anyone looking for a decently paced romance story that isn't just the mangakas excuse to but nude breasts on screen. Very nice!

So this was a really pleasant surprise! I went into this expecting some really cheesy fan-service excuse for a plot, but it really goes a lot further than that. Minor spoilers ahead.

Here's what's good about this manga:
_______________________________________________________________________
-- Interesting premise that is used for more than just gags --

Basically, the main heroine has a split personality. Initially I was groaning, but now I'm not so sure. Essentially, the main heroine is some sort of advanced tsundere, who has developed this split personality because of her insecurities concerning her unapproachable main personality. I actually think this is quite interesting.
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-- The main character isn't a wet noodle --

Protagonist ... actually goes on the offensive regularly, and pretty quickly. This means we have actual plot progression in a romcom (shocking, I know). We're only 3 volumes in and we're already pretty far ahead in the relationship. Which leads me to the next point.
_______________________________________________________________________
-- No sitting through 10 volumes of filler to see the main relationship develop --

This has to be the biggest one for me. Unlike something like Love is War, or the billion other rom-coms populating the market right now, both heroine and protagonist are active participants in the relationship almost from the beginning. It seems very strange initially that the heroine asks the protagonist out basically without knowing him, but this makes a lot more sense later down the line imo. Point is, things happen at a very nice pace.
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-- Minimal (pointless) horny --

This one sort of connects with the above. A lot of rom-coms (Uzaki-chan and Nagatoro immediately comes to mind) pad out their volumes with incredible amount of horny. Insane out-of-the-blue sexual situations which somehow still never advance the plot in any way. This manga has basically none of that. The most explicit we got so far is the heroine in a swimsuit, and that's for 2 panels basically. It's really quite bearable, even for someone like me.

Now, the horny that is there ALWAYS advances the plot. That swimsuit scene? It's a CENTRAL PLOT DEVICE FOR THE REST OF THE VOLUME. It doesn't go to waste! It's not like Please go home, Akutsu-san where the heroine gets to be literally inches from the MC's exposed privates and they are still back to square 1 afterwards.
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-- The bad and the neutral --

Very minimal cast of characters. This can be a pro or a con depending on how you lean. I quite like it. Basically the cast is about 4 people. All the attention is spent on them. I think this is good personally, but to each his own.

Art is very basic. I'd compare this to Love is War in terms of the complexity of the art, but sadly this lacks the stylistic artstyle of Love is War, so the end result is just that the art is merely serviceable. But really, it could be worse.

Highschool setting. I hate highschool settings, but I like romance. Sadly the two seem basically inseparable. At least this is one of the better ones.