The first thing that drew me to Read Goodnight PunPun was the story line of a normal boy depicted as a bird while everyone else is graphically shown as humans (aside from PunPun’s family).
Front cover of Goodnight PunPun, volume 1.
The illustrations within this manga are very well drawn and cast more attention to the way that PunPun is depicted. the contrast of the very graphically characters compared to the doodle like PunPun adds a twist of comedy to the manga.
comparison of how graphically drawn Akio is to the doodle like PunPun.
I wasn’t expecting this manga to be as oddly sinister as it turned out, in the first few pages PunPun’s first crush is seen forcing a fellow school friend to eat dirt in quite an aggressive manner. The sinister story line continues throughout the manga as other events occur such as when PunPun and his friends find an ‘exotic’ movie on the street and the tape has been recorded over with a strange looking man admitting to killing his family and stashing their bodies in an abandoned factory.
Towards the beginning of the manga PunPun soon finds a new love interest in the seemingly innocent Akio which the reader soon finds out to be as dire as his last crush. While Akio is shown to reflect PunPun’s interest she uses this to her advantage; to threaten him and beat him once she has shown him affection. Towards the end of the manga however it is revealed to the reader that this behavior is how Akio protects herself as she wishes to run away from her dysfunctional home life and start anew with school boy PunPun.
Example of how sinister looking the illustrations can be.
Along this narrative PunPun’s home life is far from a happy family his mother is seen to be in hospital for most of the story due to a ‘accident’ with PunPun’s father which later lead to a restraining order and PunPun’s uncle is shown to take over most of the parental duties. As PunPun’s uncle is shown as a 50/50 figure half not caring about his responsibilities and half shown struggling to furfill his duty and manage several things at once I am torn about this character.
Overall I enjoyed reading Godnight PunPun, volume 1 by Inio Asano but may not read the other volumes due to the manga not typically being the genre that I usually read and enjoy.
Back cover of Goodnight PunPun, volume 1.
where to buy this manga:
- Amazon
- Forbidden Planet
- Blackwell’s
- Kindle edition
