Generally, the act of telling stories, especially in Japanese comics (manga) is related to plots with battles and youth target audience, to whom their potential for plurality is underestimated. However, Goodnight Punpun breaks the paradigm by portraying the ability of the ninth art to approach and portray deep and heavy themes of human consciousness, such as depression, suicide or troubled family relationships through the unique language of the drawings.
Before starting the review, there is a caveat of great importance: the work is dense and the author has no intention of sparing the reader from the cruelty of the events and the thoughts of the characters. The age rating has a purpose.
This story narrates the story of Punpun Onodera, from childhood to early adulthood, who orbits his life around Aiko after being impacted by love at first sight. Living in a broken family, whose domestic violence is present, and dreaming of being an astronaut to colonize the stars, Punpun progressively moves from the dreamy child full of potential to the young adult with psychological disorders whose love lived in childhood ends up becoming his only one point of refuge and hope.
The manga is full of symbolism, the most notable of which is the visual representation of the main character, a simple design similar to a bird without wings. Would it be the protagonist's view of himself? Or, a stylistic resource so that the reader can project themselves in Punpun? Is the absence of wings related to the dream of colonizing the stars? It is difficult to answer these questions and all the others that follow, but the surprising narrative ability to tie the plot together and leave the information implied encourages the reader to create theories to unravel the “mysteries” while permeating the most varied existential themes. The manga deals with several pertinent themes, such as religion, sexuality, changes in the human being, nihilism, existential anguish, self-mutilation and unresolved family problems.
About Religion
“Dear God, dear God, shine shine in the sky”, this is the prayer Punpun learned from his uncle Yuichi Onodera to invoke the one who would keep him company in lonely moments, God. Here another aspect full of symbols stands out, the mental projection of the divine entity is represented as a black man, whose personality is ironic and mocking.
The Character "God", who appears constantly throughout the story but mainly in the bird's crises, mocks Punpun in all its phases of transformation and initially acts as comic relief. In contrast to the idealization of deities, he is the character most averse to moral rules. Who exactly is this character? Is he God or a representation of the protagonist's subconscious, as Freud theorized? The question is not just for the reader. The discomfort and possible allegorical relationships with this only increase with the unfolding of events, especially in the final two volumes of the manga, in which the representation of "God" works as a destructive subconscious, capable of annihilating the whole world, including himself.
About Sexuality
The theme is treated at all stages of the protagonist's life. During childhood, children are curious about what sex is and, with the right dose of naivety and malice, they try to obtain hidden information about the topic. The narrator, with unique sensitivity and rawness, even exposes the discovery of masturbation by the main character, in addition to abstractly representing orgasm. At this point a clear contrast regarding gender is highlighted, while boys strive to enter the world of sex through pornography, girls tend to view such attitudes with disgust.
In later stages, all sex scenes or those that refer to sexuality are even more guilt-ridden and, at times, linked to religion. In addition, themes such as sexual abuse, adultery and paedophilia are exposed, and the author avoids Manicheism to do so, but in this process, questions arise about the limits of art. Should there be restrictions on the theme? Is representing a crime through art also a crime? The author provokes the reader from an ethical point of view several times. In any case, actions are not free and much less without consequences.
About Changes and Self-Image
Inio Asano analyzes how today's society makes people prone to depression. As the protagonist changes, Inio Asano uses the tools inherent in the manga. The author modifies Punpun's physical appearance according to the character's psychological state. At a given moment, he doesn't even recognize himself anymore, “Is this how my face has always been…?”, such speech opens wide the experienced identity disorders. Punpun's many faces characterize the intensity of depression he feels as he grows older and matures over time.
Pure Nihilism
The story is set in Japan at the beginning of the 21st century, a period marked by the absence of wars and optimism about the future of children. Punpun, like any other child born in this period, has many dreams and during the chronological unfolding of the story, we see his frustration in not achieving them. This relationship between idealization about the future and disenchantment with reality is marked by most of the characters presented. "After all, that's life, you reap what you sow", this speech by Punpun's uncle to guide him during the transition from adolescence to adulthood introduces ethics whose responsibility for actions is attributed only to the individual himself, that is, according to Yuichi, the environment does not determine the being and people have full freedom of choice. This addition contrasts with the author's apparent intention within the story. From there, the anguish experienced by the protagonist and the reader who accompanies him increases even more.
The characters are in constant reflection about their role in the world, analyzing the past and whether life is worth living. Suicide becomes a constant possibility for some characters, and it is questioned whether there is a risk of serving as a trigger for any reader with a depressive history when approaching such a theme. During these moments, the author uses black ink to set the mood for anxious moments, permeates the darkness and uses visual allegories to portray the agony experienced. In some passages, the work exaggerates the reactions to the events, a fact that is sometimes intentional, but other times, it sounds ridiculous.
Story Inconsistencies
Punpun has a line that says: "At that moment, Punpun felt like he understood all the secrets of humanity", but he has no empathy for the people around him who genuinely want his good, as in the case of his uncle, his wife's uncle, father and potential girlfriend, Sashi Nanjou. How can the protagonist understand all the secrets of humanity without being able to empathize with other humans? No one will ever know;
Punpun lacks maturity, responsibility and masculinity throughout the story. It is not today that men around the world "suffer" a lack of masculinity in society, mainly due to some misandric women who exist today and who want to change the "status quo" of the world. Punpun lives in the same real world as us readers, as he suffers "castration" of masculinity, he is a mangina character, who does everything asked of him just because he wants a girl, this Aiko, his crush since childhood. But why does he feel this? Nobody will ever know. During a boy's developmental phase, the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until he reaches 25 years of age and this makes the boy's brain unprepared to digest a relationship with another human being and this is scientifically proven. Why would Punpun want to be in a relationship if he has nothing to offer to the other person? And why exactly Aiko, when he had Sachi and was happy with her? Punpun always wanted to have sex, and he could now; Punpun always wanted to share his life with someone, he learned that from his uncle and shared the same problem with him and now Punpun could do it with Sachi.
Punpun always dreamed of being an astronaut and discovering the Milky Way, at the end of the story he sees the NASA rocket he dreamed of all his life to be able to dislodge.
Goodnight Punpun invites the reader to reflect and experiment with new sensations, to be able to get out of the sameness and evolve as a person and human being but unfortunately, Punpun does not learn anything from the reflections that he makes and that teach him throughout his journey.
You can see the direction that the author Inio Asano took in the last two volumes of the work, he essentially spoiled what could have been the culmination of the work, without needing to be perfect and without needing to adapt to the expectations of the readers. The paradox that I mention in the title of the review is what Punpun feels throughout the work, he is an unhappy, sad child, who fakes certain behaviours to be on the same level as other people and with these false and mundane experiences, he uses a social "mask" to be able to fit in a society, at the same time that it is an apparent opposition to itself (definition of paradox).
The most interesting characters in the work are Shimizu, Seki and Sachi, not only because they are captivating characters but because they are characters who live their own lives without making statements to anyone, they are true, realistic and 100% pure characters, who are exposed to real problems such as violence or rejection but at the same time, they are not reactive characters, on the contrary, curiosity and confidence are something that defines these characters in some way or shape. Here I will give the examples of Seki and Sachi only.
Seki is a significant contrast to Punpun. He's one of those guys who, whatever you say about him, he's very smart but, tragically, lacks ambition. Seki, it's an admitted bag of shit. He didn't finish high school and instead worked to support his family. He jumps through jobs and dates several women. He doesn't treat his friend Shimizu as "damaged". He doesn't joke about the fact that it's not normal for Shimizu to see a poop god. He doesn't make a point of making Shimizu try to stop seeing him either. He just treats Kou like a friend, buying him food, making sure he's finished high school and checking in on him. Shit, Seki is the only one of them all who realizes Shimizu went and joined a cult because he wanted to stop being lonely. That's the definition of a true friend, it's a sub-theme that the author Inio Asano wanted to get across when talking about reflection. Seki is the friend I have when I need something and he is there for me, he is a friend who has real problems in his personal life but doesn't let them show to me, he is a truly rational male who thinks and acts like a true grown man. Seki is a man I want to be, regardless of who I am, what I do for a living, and what kind of relationships I have. Seki knows he's a bag of shit and always will be but that's what makes him human. Humans are not perfect, they have flaws and that's one of Seki's flaws, just like I have and everyone else has, the difference is that this flaw is real, it's palpable, it's the author's intention and most importantly.
Sachi is the foil to Aiko Tanaka, Punpun's main love interest. She is a dedicated, strong and independent woman with preferences towards men. She has her apartment, her friends and her ambitions in life and now she is writing a manga. She shares her insecurities with Punpun, as at one point they were in a relationship until they broke up. My problem with Sachi isn't as serious as the main character, it's just an inconsistency. If Sachi is a strong and independent woman, why does she decide to wait for a tramp like Punpun, who doesn't know if he wants to be with Aiko or her? Punpun was a coward to turn his back on her and it's frustrating to know that characters like Sachi who are quite realistic with the real world, can have inconsistencies as big as waiting for someone who doesn't want you or never really liked you, especially afterwards when Sachi finds out she's pregnant. Once again, Punpun is cowardly trash that proves the character never really evolved and lacks substance, not even in his nihilistic sub-consciousness.
About Art
Inio Asano's art is impeccable, the world is unique and some scenes have an absurd amount of detail, I have nothing more to say.
Overall
If I could sum up the work in one word I would say "frustrating". Inio Asano condemns the right characters, with random reasons for no apparent reason. The ending of some characters is satisfying at best and dissatisfying for the most part. The title of the work lives up to the final lines of the characters, especially Sachi and the team of doctors. The story is only solid up to volume 5 if you are reading the work in the English VIZBIG volumes.
There are more inconsistencies in the story regarding some main characters like Punpun's mother, Punpun's father, Aiko Tanaka or some secondary characters like Heishido Shishido or even the fanatical cult characters but I'll pass on.
