"Let's just jump into it"-Phillip DeFraco
Story: Overall, the story of punpun felt a bit inconsistent and some parts felt meaningless, such as the Pegasus subplot and Seki's life. There was no real value it added to the main plot and kinda felt like something that was there to cool down the story. The 1st volume (VIZ edition) especially felt very boring and mundane. It does pick up a lot in volume 2, however the quality of the story does spike up and down quite a bit throughout the manga. There were definitely some great parts of the story, however it's overshadowed by the bad aspects of it. 7/10
Art: What can I say, the art's just really god damn good. 9/10
Character: The characters in this story are meant to be flawed and morally grey. They are not good people. But they aren't really bad people too, which makes them very realistic. Punpun's thoughts are always very conflicted and his reactions are very realistic and sometimes dark, which is realistic. Punpun throughout the story devolves instead of being developed, which is pretty realisitic for many people. "“f there were a place lower than here, it would surely be hell." And yet Punpun is still pretty likeable and you want feel sympathetic for him and where his decisions have brought him to. Evangelion has tried realistic characters but failed, Shinji was a whiny crybaby and Asuka had trauma. They were realistic, yes, but they were not very likeable. Punpun in this case has done it very well. Other characters like Yuichi, Midori, and Punpun's mom are all neutral characters, they've all done horrible things and yet you still see the good side of them. 9.10
Enjoyment: I enjoyed it, parts could be slow at times but it was overall enjoyable. (No tears)
TL;DR: Punpun's story can be a bit mundane and lackluster at times but it makes up for it with it's amazing art and characters. 8/10
Side Notes: Punpun is one of my favorite protagonists now.
All Arcs ranked:
Elementary: 6/10
Middle School: 8.8/10
High School: 7.5/10
Late Teens: 8.1/10
Early 20's: 8.6/10