Oyasumi Punpun Chapter 147 Discussion

Nordaviento said:
i feel it needed a stronger ending. I mean, it wasn't bad, but Punpun should've definitely commited suicide, at least for honor.

It's not fair he broke poor Aiko's life (even tho she was already miserable, but it all went to hell since meeting punpun again) and still be able to live a normal life. I know this manga is not precisely good for being fair towards its characters, but still all the tension accumulated through these last 3 tomes needed of such an action (punpun's suicide) to end up on its higher note. This way it felt really anticlimatic.

The cultist parts, but they got way too much time than it deserved, as well as some meaningless meandering across tomes 6-9.

AironicallyHuman said:


What I came here to say. It doesn't feel right that Punpun got away clean, free to live his life and unable to even keep his promise to Aiko. The spiral of despair only seemed to affect her, where as Punpun basically shrugged it off and accepted mundane normality. It would've almost been the honourable thing to do to die with her. The saddest thing is Aiko killed herself because she realised Punpun was not like her and that made her feel truly alone.

In Aku Hana I could accept the end - the actions of immature teens during puberty, and Kasuga grew out of it - but in this series the author took his characters so far off the deep-end it felt like there should have been no coming back. Only a few chapters ago Punpun was down with having his eye scrapped out by a sodding fork and had started being psycho-abusive to Aiko, thinking he was a killer, having given up on life.

I don't know: it was an utterly gripping read yet I never got the feeling the author knew what he wanted. The cultist waffling chapters were awful and added/lead to nothing, and side characters like Shio also wasted time adding sodding all. Then we get to the very end and the despair got a... sharp edge (like Punpun saying he's strong now and thanking Aiko for knowing teh despair/wtf). I did get into the PunpunxAiko Romeo & Juliet tragedy once Punpun stopped thinking he was a killer, all 'ardcore, but even then the end left me hollow.

I enjoyed the read immensely yet can't help but be irked by the pacing issues and how... 'tryhard' the DEEP stuff came across at times. Punpun looking more human and less like a bird towards the end just made me wish such a talented artist and drawn him to show his expressions. It might have made his u-turn at the end make more sense.

denpanosekai said:
So, having finished this manga, what should I follow it up with?

I want dark plot twists, murder, suicide and bizarre sex. All on the same page if possible.

ITzDeltacare said:
Can someone kill my doubt, is Punpun the father of Sashi's daughter or Sashi never aborted and is the Ex Husband's daughter?

MilEge said:
What a lot of people aren't realizing is that this is the worst ending for Punpun. He wanted to die but he was saved by Sachi and his wish was never fullfilled. "Living is harder than dying." and Punpun now has to live every meaningless day for the rest of his life. Nothing ever goes Punpun's way and even his death wish never went his way. Asano tried to portray that Punpun had a happy ending but in actuality him continuing in life was the ultimate sad ending for him.

Nemo_Niemand said:
Is it because he finally got free from the tumor called Aiko which had been corrupting his life all the time

Simonian said:
Punpun was a fucking psycho, there's no need to beat around the bush here. He was mentally unstable from the beginning right until the end. I've been through some difficult times in my life and I could even relate, myself being a product of a violent and at times downright psychotic marriage but I've never done or even considered doing half the shit that's portrayed in the manga.

Which brings me to 2 very important points. First one is that Punpun really didn't love Aiko. He was just obsessed over her, thinking he could own her like a dog, albeit in a violent and rapey kind of way. I think that's what Asano was trying to portray. The last few chapters when they finally get together again are a testament to that. As soon as he started mutilating her and using her like a blow up doll I just couldn't take him seriously anymore.

And the second one is that this manga is not really about the drama and tragedy of Onodera Punpun. Ironically enough, it's about the tragedy of people who had to put up with him. The ending, as some posters have mentioned is an unhappy one. Unhappy because a woman committed suicide for a guy that one year later forgot what her real voice sounded like and also unhappy because that psycho was still at large in the end. I cringed when I saw him touching Sachi's daughter.

That's my take on the manga but it is a masterpiece regardless. My strong dislike for Punpun's character has nothing to do with the fact that Asano's storytelling is flawless and painfully depicts life as it truly is.

andyrew93 said:
I'm pretty late to this thread so I don't know if anyone will get a chance to read this. But from reading the posts here I think a lot of people misunderstood Punpun in a big, big way.

I noticed a lot of people didn't quite understand why Punpun was an "asshole" to Aiko. But, actually the truth is Punpun loved Aiko. Even though he was a jerk at times, there were some very affectionate moments between the two of them because he truly did care for her. He didn't hate her, he wasn't mad at her, he was just broken... Punpun never really had a chance to express himself his whole entire life. He lived as someone that he wasn't, his personality was so passive that he never got a chance to express his anger or his sexual desires. Those unexpressed feelings and desires were still a very huge part of who he is. The author uses different caricatures to display what personality Punpun is going through. He's very resentful of his own passive personality as he takes on a whole different person's personality and is drawn as that person. Eventually he meets Aiko again where he finally admits that he lied about his personality and returns to his original, passive bird form. After that they decide to go to Aiko's mom's place where the whole situation happens and that's when Punpun transforms into his "true personality". Originally his passive self was not truly who he was because he was too afraid to express that person. But when a moment arrived where he HAD to develop courage, he snapped and crossed a line of no return. Embracing who he is, with all of his flaws. He learns to accept himself and finally learns to express his desires and emotions. A lot of those emotions are expressed sexually. His anger that was held up inside him all those years is channeled through his sex life, creating a strong sexual drive that isn't normal. Although he does mistreat Aiko, no question about it, him treating her that way wasn't because he doesn't love her or that she's a "cage", like a lot of people interpret. When someone has held in emotions for a long time they often bring those emotions with them into their sex life. The emotions never disappeared and they are expressed subconsciously through sex. That is expressed in so many ways that it's kind of sad to me that nobody really noticed it. Like the first time he took her to a hotel room, he was clearly extremely angry and devestated to the fact that she kept on living a normal life while he thought about her the whole time. He even almost raped her, expressing and channeling his emotions that he was feeling at that moment. Throughout their relationship, no doubt, Punpun treats Aiko in a wrong way sexually as he just basically manhandles her, but again Punpun isn't doing that because he hates her. His pain from the past never healed and so it's shown through his sexual relations with Aiko. Punpun finally feels comfortable around Aiko and feels he can express himself openly, his personality now unveiled puts down his walls that he had in the past with people unleashing the pain, anger and depression that he's felt for so many years. It's not all sexual though. There are times when he's mean to her verbally and physically as well, that also probably has to do with his held in emotions from the past and them coming out as he feels comfortable just being himself and letting go of the old him. Emotions don't just disappear because you choose to ignore them, they will resurface when you decide to be vulnerable and authentic.

Also, I'm surprised that so many people wanted to see Punpun's face towards the end. But there was a lot said whenever it showed him as the original bird that he was. The original Punpun is his passive personality. Whenever Aiko died, Punpun lost the one person that he felt he could truly express himself around. It really explains why he was drawn as his "Satanic/More relatable to humans (due to the clothes and human body)" personallity during his time with Aiko. She was the only person he felt comfortable being himself around, really being vulnerable and expressing himself fully. Whenever she died, he went right back to the empty vessel "bird" that he was, going back to being aimless and without courage. Aiko gave that all to him, showing really how amazingly impactful she was on his life. Literally unlocking who he truly was, feeling so vulnerable with her that he allowed her to gouge out his eye, choke him and even stab him. She was the first person that could finally relate to him. Relate to his locked up, secluded past. There was so much vulnerbility between them, it was ridiculous. Their connection and relatability was so dramatized. Showing Punpun's face would've completely ruined the plot, because it would've defeated the purpose of showing Punpun's full personality with Aiko, the only person that he felt himself with.

I also didn't understand the cult stuff too much. What I did take out of it though was the feelings I got from them wanting to end the world. At the point where Aiko and Punpun got together, I think we all understood that the whole situation couldn't get any better. So actually the whole time I was really hoping that the world would truly end on that high note of beauty. Actually, seeing everyone being wiped out, including them, during those amazing moments would've made me feel fulfilled and at peace. I would've prefered it that way. I'm not really sure what the agenda of all that was, but maybe to make us realize that life doesn't take orders from anyone and that it's going to continue on regardless of what people wish to think. It seems that everyone understands from this story that life just keeps marching on.

justinjeon said:
Knowing Asano I thought this was going to have a sad end. Thanks God I was wrong, Punpun didn't end up forever in prison, he got a job in real states, Sachi turned into a MILF and her daughter is fond of him.