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Minoru Furuya's Ciguatera is a cynical slice of life story about an average boy in high school who gets bullied, but relies on his passion for motorcycles to get him through the day. The thing I liked best about this manga is that it's real while still being entertaining the story is slow moving but at the same time has rapid character development and some unexpected events. It's also a manga that sneaks up on you where you might read it and just like it but you keep thinking about it weeks later.

The characters are a bit hard to love. First you have the main character, a normal high school boy who is humiliated by getting bullied along with his best friend. They start out as kind of under dogs you could relate to and have sympathy for but they drastically change as the story goes on and although they both find different niches neither of them gain any confidence so they just seem a bit timid the whole story. Then you have the asshole bullies who make their life hell and the leader of the pack only continues to taunt the main character more personally as the story goes on. But at the end I think the author did a good job at kind of just putting them in their place as the kind of realistic people who actually exist in this world that we just have to accept.

I enjoyed this manga very much. It's very entertaining and even though it has my favorite aspect of slice of life being slow and realistic it still has some thrill. So I can see this being liked by all different kinds of people as long as they are old enough to understand and appreciate mature content. read more

Oyasumi Punpun is one of the greatest coming of age stories told in any form of media. This story is a very relative tale of alienated youth riddled with heavy accuracy. The story is very well developed and is partially due to its long timeline spanning from Punpun's life in elementary school to his early 20's. It deals with many mature issues like sex and depression all told in a frank manner that is coated with a strange dark sense of humor and supreme melancholy. There is a lot going on including a couple of side stories involving people that are or were once in Punpun's life, like his uncle and his old classmates. There is also a side story about a strange cult that has been foreshadowed in the very first volumes and is slowing becoming bigger and more important to the story. Inio Asano's storytelling talent is probably best showcased in this series. He manages to keep the story strikingly relatable while throwing wacky surrealism in and weaving together one huge moving piece with many plots and characters.

The art is absolutely gorgeous. The speechless panels of messy rooms and hopeless youth crying in bed has never looked so glamorous. The obvious and most interesting aspect of the art in this manga is how the main character and his family are drawn. The idea of Punpun and his family being depicted as a poorly drawn cartoon birds is absolutely genius! You have to understand that these people aren't really cartoons walking around in an oblivious world but are physical manifestations of how Punpun feels about himself and his family. You really get a sense of how important that theme is in later volumes where his appearance starts to shift and understanding why that is.

The characters in this manga are really great. Asano is very good at creating solid characters, and again with the timeline, they have ample time to develop smoothly. The only thing negative I would say about the characters is that they are extreme and there is no effort in making them "likeable" because they are too busy proving how genuine they are with their actions and words. So you either you love them or hate them, It might irritate some people who don't like when characters are a little too pitiful or preachy, like people who don't like The Catcher in the Rye because Holden Caulfield "just whined the whole time."

This story can really throw you through a loop. It's very long and twisting and silly and serious at the same time so it's a not a "light read" by any means. the word enjoyment is a little off but I would definitely say this manga affected me. There are times where you will laugh and times you will feel really depressed. But all in all It's very smart, real, and stylish so if you can handle depressing stories it's well worth it. read more