With him already thinking/considering what his next work would be and to even have such plans of collaborating with another artist, it might be safe to assume that Punpun may have already reached its climax; or in other words, may be nearing its inevitable conclusion. Whichever the case, I’d definitely be reading his next project, regardless of his official gender by then. XD
Oh yeah, well, it would be my pleasure to exchange and share my ideas with you. Your words are too kind for me, seriously. ;p
We are quite fortunate indeed to have such dedicated people—scanlators—scanlating manga of all shapes and sizes—of every kind; though clearly not as fortunate as the French comic aficionados, unfortunately. ;p
How very considerate of you. At any rate, I don’t think anyone would bother to complain considering only eavesdroppers would likely be spoiled by reading comments which aren’t meant for them, anyway. Needless to say, putting up a spoiler warning only begs for more needless attention and perhaps temptation/intrigue as well.
As for your question, I certainly didn’t expect that the situation would escalate to such a point where Aiko’s mum would lose her mind and attempt to murder her own daughter, in the presence of an outsider (Punpun) for that matter. I didn’t think her mother was that mentally unstable considering how she was able to fake her disability (which I suspected to be the case) and fool/(ab)use Aiko all these time. Then again, “fooling Aiko”—does it even take a sane person? XD
My joking aside, my answer to your question would be no. No, I wasn’t the least bit surprised that he did. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, anyway as I’ve always believed he had all the makings of a psychopath. His past actions such as using one or more fake identities to pursue intimate relationships w/ unsuspecting women to ultimately satisfy his sexual urges (and justify his very existence by it), would only suggest his potential. He’s so used to being lied to that lying has become a second nature to him.
You might think that lying and killing are 2 entirely different things, but to someone like Punpun, who can even deceive himself into believing whatsoever justification he can come up with, he easily sheds/frees himself of any guilt or remorse and murder simply becomes another means of living—no different from internet “trolling”. In the end, all he really needed was a trigger-- and that trigger happened to be Aiko.
We can argue all day whether or not what he did was the right thing to do given the situation, but I have to say his action(s), as instinctive and irrational as it may seem, had perfect justification. It probably wouldn’t count as self-defense, but what’s important to note is that he did it not out of spite or hatred—he did it in order to survive. I believe Asano had it firmly established in the previous volume how Punpun has finally realized or found his raison d’être after a long, long time of (soul)searching and how he had resolved to live on, for better or for worse, from here on out. Sure, it fairly sounded like another wishful thinking on Punpun’s part, but what struck me to be different from all those previous times he had arbitrarily thought so—running away, isolating himself, and leaving everything else behind—is that this time, he truly has a dedicated companion, Aiko, whom, unlike Sachi (who would never commit to him), actually relies on him and needs him.
And while he could have survived that incident w/o resorting to murder, Aiko’s death might very well have killed him as I doubt he could live with himself knowing that he’d let such a thing happen, let alone right in front of him, when he could have easily done something to prevent it.
I’m not sure much has changed in the art department, surreal or not, but if you ever do find that particular panel, please do provide me with a link to it.
From what I’ve known, a Daruma doll is more popularly known to be a wishing doll of sorts. In fact, these dolls are sold “eyeless” meaning the owner/buyer is meant to actually draw its eyes. Initially, the owner draws but a single eye upon deciding on a particular wish or goal. Only then is the second eye drawn upon the fulfillment of that wish or goal, signifying the owner’s gratitude w/ the promised set of “vision/sight” which he would then give the Daruma in return for his wish in which (they believe) the Daruma had granted.
For more on these, it may be best to read this instead. ;p
I believe there have been plenty of instances in the span of the series where a daruma, if not that exact same one, literally reared its ugly head. XD So as to which significance were you referring to, I can’t answer exactly. To be honest though, I haven’t payed much attention to them so even I can’t tell where those instances took place, nor have I really bothered to analyze their meaning/symbolism. But if you meant the one at the beginning of the most recent volume (11)—the one falling off from outer space, going by everything that I said, my safest bet would be on an impending downward spiral of destruction to those who wishes for it.
Btw, if you happen to recall where these Daruma dolls have appeared, please do share your memory with me.
