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A review by greg_m
Goodnight Punpun, Vol. 1 by Inio Asano
5.0
"Dream big everyone! Because dreams are free!"
This is my second time reading this one, and I'm glad I took the time to do so. So often the first reading is always a little rushed; you just want to know what happens next! But the next time through is a slower, more deliberate journey, where you can pick up on the subtle things and early plot trajectories.
The new girl, Aiko Tanaka, totally captures the heart of our dear protagonist Punpun Punyama, and from there things get bumpy. The first volume is filled with dreams and hopes and wanting to get away (to fly away). Maybe this isn't so surprising, considering what is happening at home for Punpun and the internal struggles he deals wiht as he confronts what it means to be happy, to connect to another human, to then let that human down. On the surface, it feels like a romance. Here's our guy, there's our girl, they like each other, they fall apart, but they get together in the end. Which does, ultimately, happen (sort of, in a really twisted way). But the undertones and the soft whispers of something darker happening turn the series into a drama like no other.
The first volume does a good job of setting up the bait. The art is phenomenal, the characters are compelling and feel real (as real as a little ghost dude can feel), and the story is engrossing and leaves the reader waiting for what happens next.
This is my second time reading this one, and I'm glad I took the time to do so. So often the first reading is always a little rushed; you just want to know what happens next! But the next time through is a slower, more deliberate journey, where you can pick up on the subtle things and early plot trajectories.
The new girl, Aiko Tanaka, totally captures the heart of our dear protagonist Punpun Punyama, and from there things get bumpy. The first volume is filled with dreams and hopes and wanting to get away (to fly away). Maybe this isn't so surprising, considering what is happening at home for Punpun and the internal struggles he deals wiht as he confronts what it means to be happy, to connect to another human, to then let that human down. On the surface, it feels like a romance. Here's our guy, there's our girl, they like each other, they fall apart, but they get together in the end. Which does, ultimately, happen (sort of, in a really twisted way). But the undertones and the soft whispers of something darker happening turn the series into a drama like no other.
The first volume does a good job of setting up the bait. The art is phenomenal, the characters are compelling and feel real (as real as a little ghost dude can feel), and the story is engrossing and leaves the reader waiting for what happens next.