Bingo Row 3 – G

You know that thing where you go to a book swap to get rid of books, but they don’t let you unless you actually swap and take books with you? Maybe it’s just me.

Well that’s how I ended up with a volume of Inio Asano’s acclaimed Goodnight Punpun.

Punpun looks like a cross between a bird and someone in a sheet dressed like a ghost. His family is also part of this bird ghost species; everyone else is a human-looking human. It would be easy to assume the bird appearance is symbolic. But this is a world where God will show up to bitch at you for your prayers, so maybe he isn’t human.

Whatever he is, Punpun is a sad elementary-ish school student. He has crushes on girls. He wants to look at porn, but doesn’t understand what he’s looking at when he finds a dirty magazine. His father is violent and hospitalizes his mother. He thinks about the earth becoming uninhabitable because of environmental despair.

He and his friends find porn on VHS, but someone taped over it with a murder confession. He doesn’t like his mother.

The girl he likes is probably in a cult.

Punpun’s life sucks.

Normally, I’d read more volumes before saying anything about a series. With Punpun, one volume is enough for me (although it is a double volume sized book). I like juxtaposed tragedy and wacky, but the weirdness is dulled by the depression that weighs down the book.

It’s earned its reputation as one of the best mangas. The art, story, and characters are all well done. But Punpun’s depression is way too familiar for me to enjoy reading it.