When I first read this in 2017, it disgusted me and I rated it a 1, thinking that it's a story targeted at adults who're somehow proud of their shitty lives. Time has either broadened my view on life, or I've become such an adult.
The character to the story to the art, the author has really done everything to get his feelings across. Sometimes I just stare at a panel and wonder how the author managed to do that. Everything in this story is a reflection of reality, it's just not a direct reflection. It's a reflection distorted in such a way that all the
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ugliness is magnified (you can mainly see that in the side characters, who are clearly caricatures). It's Punpun's view of this world. It may differ from mine, or maybe yours, but we can more than clearly recognize it.
Since there are already a lot of general reviews, I want to skip that and give my analysis of specific parts of the story. From now on there may be SPOILERS (though not huge).
-My favorite character is Punpun's mom. Her inability to show love for her son isn't because she doesn't love him nor because she doesn't know the importance of it, but because of stubbornness. And stubbornness sounds childish ("stop being so stubborn"), but sometimes it's really something uncontrollable. She has abused Punpun throughout his life, and now showing love is like lowering herself and showing vulnerability. No matter how logical it seems that saying "sorry" and "I love you" is the right thing, it's just impossible sometimes. That tragic stubbornness can be traced back to her childhood, in which she had the responsibility of bringing up her little brother while bearing the sexualization of the kids around her. The weight of all that made her stubborn, or rather "strong-willed". It also made her lack love and desperate to be cared for. She could only find that care in offering the body she was sexualized for through her childhood. In the end, she didn't find a family to receive that care from, which causes her to break down, releasing the pain on her son. A stupid woman, but that stupidity is inevitable.
-The author's choice to draw Punpun and his family as penguins somehow made them more understandable. Partly because the author has no limits with showing their emotions by changing their design, partly because they are removed of their human shells.
Punpun's design changes based on Punpun's mentality. I can barely remember when the first drastic change was (was it the triangle?), but it pains me to realize how he stayed a white penguin throughout his abusive childhood. No matter how tragic life is, when we were young we could find happiness everywhere, even if it's only very small. Now, it's sometimes nowhere to be found.
-I didn't like the "pre-ending" storywise, the part where he ran away with Aiko. It suddenly felt so rushed, but maybe that's due to my inability to relate to the situation.
But I did like Punpun's change in behavior. His dreams as a child have become faded. He has become like the people who made his life (this manga) so f*cked up since childhood. Aren't we all in a never-ending cycle of mass production in this society, as society molds kids into adults in similar ways? Haven't we all become someone we used to detest?
Why do we even have children? Can children of miserable people even be happy, since they'll mainly be influenced by their parent's misery? We keep taking part in the production of misery solely due to tradition.
-I did like the ending for a few reasons:
1)I somehow really liked it when we saw Punpun turning back to a white penguin at the crosswalk, waving. He'll probably never be fine, but he's better now.
2) It touched upon the futility of individuals. Nothing changes in the end, not due to Punpun's experiences, not due to Pegasus' actions. The universe keeps moving forward.
3) We view the world through the eyes of another character (let's call him A). A's world is still the same as Punpun's, but it's clearly less dark. We all live in the same world, but we view it differently. Punpun's world might be a bit unfamiliar, but it's definitely the same world we live in. At the very end we see children in primary school, discussing the same things Punpun and his friends discussed back then. Somehow, through Punpun's eyes it all seemed f*cked up, but through the eyes of A it's all so innocent.
This world is much darker than we think, but life has hope as long as you believe in a brighter world.
In conclusion, this is a wonderful manga through which the author is able to convey complex emotions through inner dialogues and pictures. Right now I only wish for a future where everyone is required to go a psychologist, funded by the state.
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Mar 2, 2021
Oyasumi Punpun
(Manga)
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When I first read this in 2017, it disgusted me and I rated it a 1, thinking that it's a story targeted at adults who're somehow proud of their shitty lives. Time has either broadened my view on life, or I've become such an adult.
The character to the story to the art, the author has really done everything to get his feelings across. Sometimes I just stare at a panel and wonder how the author managed to do that. Everything in this story is a reflection of reality, it's just not a direct reflection. It's a reflection distorted in such a way that all the ... 
Dec 25, 2020
The Knight and Her Emperor
(Manga)
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Story:
The story is pretty decent. It's basically just about Paulina helping the emperor deal with stuff as his loyal knight. The storyline isn't anything special and there isn't anything too memorable, but it's a pretty enjoyable read. The outstanding part is the way the author portrays sexism. We follow Paulina through her way to prove everyone that she, a woman, can do things just as well as any other male knight. No "female character casts the men that made fun or her a look and the men are overwhelmed by her presence" bullshit. Paulina has to deal with sexism over and over again, and though she ... 
Dec 16, 2020
Chainsaw Man
(Manga)
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While rating this I've pulled out my shounen wow-those-fights-are-so-cool heart in order to review this as fair as possible for the mangaka. Still couldn't give this a high mark.
Story: The story and worldbuilding are so incredibly weak. The mangaka pushes you straight into action and from that point on you're in a rollercoaster that's only going hard downwards with no rest, meaning that there's no time to rest and therefore no time to enjoy the hype (no light without darkness yknow). Towards the end, the story underwent an acceleration. The story that didn't even have anything to offer, underwent a goddamn acceleration. I couldn't even believe ... 
Dec 15, 2020
Story:
Ennead is an adaptation of Egyptian myths about the competition between Seth and Horus for the throne of Egypt. The author's take on the story is original enough, but also doesn't stray too far from the historical sources. I really love how the author rewrites it. (For those who don't know, there's a myth in which Horus impregnated Seth) The story starts as a competition for power, but as the story unfolds, you'll find that there's more behind the characters' motives than it seems. The fights are epic and the mystery is gripping. The only thing that annoys me is the complexity of the dialogues in ... 
Nov 25, 2020
Your Throne
(Manga)
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We've heard of saintesses, who managed to defeat the villainess with her honesty.
We've heard of villainesses who were wronged and managed to get revenge. Now get ready for: a saintess and a villainess understanding and supporting each other. We love seeing women support each other uwu. Story: The story begins from the pov of Medeia, the villainess, so it seemed to be another villainess who wants revenge story. But after she switched bodies with Psyche, the saintess, they'll both discover the difficulties of the other and why the other did what they did. Slowly they'll start to repair their broken friendship and help each other overcome ... 
Oct 29, 2020
The Remarried Empress
(Manga)
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Story:
I just can't put my finger on what the author wants. This whole story is just so frustrating that I'm wondering whether it'll be the start of a theme for masochists exclusively. In the pro-prologue you see the protagonist striving but then you get like around 90 ch of her suffering??? The author can't write anything else besides that for 90 chapters. And it's not even a dark psychological story! It's bright, bright but depressing. It doesn't make sense. (edit: I can't possibly consider this angst since there's nothing to choose between. There's only aimless suffering). And the reasons for the protagonist's suffering are so weak ... 
Oct 25, 2020
Mo Dao Zu Shi Q
(Anime)
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9/10 because, although it's nothing special, it lives up to its marketing. I personally hate cute chibi stuff, but I guess there's nothing else to do when you're obsessed with MDZS.
I really like the length of the episodes. It's quick, light and heartwarming. The sentence "This series hopes to heal the audience who loves the main story of Mo Dao Zu Shi, but were “injured” by the melancholy plot of the drama." is true. It heals with cuteness and gayness. This chibi series is really like f*ck the censorship. I'm not even going to say anything else, just... is nobody going to mention the advertisement ... 
Oct 4, 2020
Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan
(Anime)
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This really surprised me as to how good it is. So the bar had been set by MDZS and TGCF (Heaven's official) is also about to air, and this shit just decided to pop up too with 3D animation... I was so mad.
But I couldn't stop myself from watching it when I came across it on yt, and I ended up binging it all in one go. Story: An isekai-villians-side cliché, but a good one. The humour was what really got to me. What can I say, this is PURE COMEDY. It's hilarious. You might already be familiar with Shen Qingqiu's behaviour because of the novel, but ... 
Jun 2, 2020
Story:
This is a story about subjectiveness, about the different views of different people. The toxicity is what makes this story great due to it being realistic. And while romanticized toxicity will make you frown in disgust, realistic toxicity will ironically deliver goosebumps because you can't help but find it beautiful through the eyes of the characters. This manga is also a great study of humanity and society. How do we behave towards something unknown, something shunned by your surrounding which has been brainwashed? Love, friendship, family, homosexuality, misunderstandings, illness, rape, suicide. So many sides of society are shown, so many kinds of people are introduced. How should ... 
Mar 12, 2020
Dark Heaven
(Manga)
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Story 10:
A combination of sweet romance and dark reality. Most of Dark Heaven is told through flashbacks, so it has the "at that time we never knew we'd become like this" feel to it. You follow the life of two boys who go from friends to lovers, and have supported each other untill one incident destroyed it all. This story doesn't shy away from racism and homophobia, and actually targets it in the right and realistic way. It shows us the reality that is often ignored in mangas/-hwas/-huas that take place in the west. You see how racism destroys people of all ages, which is why baffoons ... |
