Jul 13, 2021
Oyasumi Punpun is one of the most iconic seinen bildungsroman manga out there. Digging deep into psychology, childhood, adulthood, grief, depression, hopes, and fears; this story follows the growth of Punyama Punpun from boyhood to adult.
STORY & CHARACTERS
Naturally, this character-driven story covers not only Punpun but also the people around him. Ironically, like some reviewers here, I did find that the supporting cast was much more compelling than Punpun himself. Nanjou Sachie, Manager Shishido, Seki Masuo, Onodera Yuuichi, Ookuma Midori, Mrs Punyama were great character studies with unique voices and circumstances to name a few.
Punpun himself, while was not outright bad, could come across
...
as hollow and boring. Don't get me wrong; Yuuichi, Punpun's uncle, underwent very similar bouts of depression and dark periods of life, just like his nephew. However, Yuuichi himself had an interesting narrative voice, personal interests and aspirations, also an equally interesting love interest. It was unfortunate that we didn't get to see him spend more time with Punpun.
Meanwhile, for most of the series, our main character was like a walking ennui. He tried one thing and another, but never developed a full interest. He was detached from his parents for several good reasons. He did have several flings and friendships which turned out to be meaningful, but that opened another set of problems. People around him always said that Punpun was nice and insecure, but that was it. Nice and insecure described him and no more.
At some parts of this series, it got harder to suspend belief that some girls were truly attracted to Punpun for merely his niceness. It was not like his looks were praised either, as his true appearance was always obscured by his bird avatar. It also didn't help that Punpun behaved like an aggressive incel at times with his obsessions on sex and childhood love interest, which to be fair was still somewhat understandable considering his upbringing and circumstances. At one point, it was lampshaded in the story that Punpun only dragged down people around him, which was quite meta in my opinion.
Unfortunately, this circle of miseries also occurred to some other supporting characters, turning the series into self-indulgent misery porn at times. This is my usual problem with grimdark, cynical, We-Live-in-A-Society character-driven stories. Everyone wallows in despair, bad things happen just because, and there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Oyasumi Punpun did get brighter occasionally, but the gratuitous misery took some enjoyment out of me, especially when there was little to no nuance. Inio Asano once criticised the notion of escapism, but I do think he sometimes simply went to the opposite pole of escapism just for the sake of it, again while sacrificing nuances.
The other big problem which took out a star from my book was Pegasus' doomsday cult subplot. It did involve some of Punpun's friends and their personal character arcs which were nice, but for most of the time, Pegasus' self-indulgent monologue was a repetitive, grating, and vapid rant of We Live in A Society. The ultimate slap in the face was that this space-hogging subplot amounted little to the main story as it could be read as a totally separate story divorced from Punpun and the people closest to him.
ART & IMAGERIES
Now that I got the bad things out of my system, I could talk about more interesting things. I think aside from the often-mentioned masterful rendering of characters and backgrounds, Inio Asano was a master of symbolic imageries, as there were truly engrossing imageries and parallels that corresponded to the main themes, like the one-eyed Daruma (a red Buddhist doll symbolising the sight for purpose and the pursuit of happiness). This imagery got invoked multiple times in the series when the characters got injured in one eye or got one of their eyes covered, symbolising their loss of sight to the future. Another striking set of imagery was the Tanabata Festival, the Milky Way, and the shooting stars; symbolising wishes, separations, and memories that the characters experienced.
It is also worth noting that Punpun's avatar changed several times throughout the series, marking his growth and changes from a boy to an adult. Sometimes it was spiky and prickly, noting Punpun's personal thorns and defensive mechanisms, and whenever it reverted to the good old bird, most of the time it showed Punpun's innermost child-like side.
ENJOYMENT
Despite my complaints, I thoroughly enjoyed the masterful artwork of Inio Asano, along with his twisted sense of humour and great character studies. If you're into psychological stories, character-driven dramas, and bildungsromans, or any combination of them, this is a must-read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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