The story centres around the main character Punpun, who, along with his family, is depicted as a sort of 2d bird… That is most definetely not to say the Mangaka, Inio Asano was lazy in his approach to the art of the manga, on the contrary, Oyasumi Punpun has some gorgeous art, in both the scenery and in his drawings of the other characters, bringing out such glorious emotion in each and every one of his characters.
It starts out as a kind of black comedy, slice of life type manga, looking at the life of a 10 year old Punpun, and his obsession with his new classmate, Aiko. However, it gradually develops into a coming of age manga, as we see Punpun grow older, and see him and those around him make terrible, thoughtless…. and yet utterly human decisions that make them question existence… You will feel for Punpun and the rest of the cast, Inio Asano’s excellent,surreal storytelling will see to that… And trust me, there will be many such moments.
It can be fairly graphic at times, and it does seem downright depressing at times with a fairly bleak view on people as a whole. This is a tragic manga in places, but also an incredible one, it’s surreal, funny at times, nihilistic and devastating….. One of the best, if not the best, manga I have read. Read it.
