Book Review
Title: Goodnight Punpun Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Inio Asano
Genre: Manga, Coming of Age, Slice of Life
Rating: 5 Stars
As an avid manga reader and anime watcher, Goodnight Punpun is a title that has been on my radar for a long time and I finally picked up the first omnibus volume. We are introduced to Punpun who doesn’t have the best home life as his father is unemployed and drinks a lot and he is also quite violent at times but Punpun has learnt to deal with this in a way only children can. At school he doesn’t particularly try to hard but he isn’t doing badly but he has no idea what he wants to do with his life going forward and he is beginning to think about it. He is also starting to go through puberty so he is dealing with numerous crushes on his classmates and starting to explore his sexuality which is something everyone goes through so it is easy to relate to Punpun. I will say the art style is unique as it has a more adult almost horror feel to it which is unusual for a coming of age story but I felt it fitted the darker themes we are seeing.
As Punpun finishes up the school term he has to come to terms with his parents splitting up and neither wanting to look after him so he gets taken in by his uncle as well as dealing with Aiko’s issues. Aiko is a girl he fancies but she has some serious issues of her own but even after time passes Punpun still likes Aiko. I liked how the theme of religion was seen through a child’s eyes with more than one character and perfectly opposed those darker moments. Watching Punpun make the transition from child to teenager was interesting as he ends up coming to terms with some really adult things in a quite mature fashion which I really apricated as a reader.
The ending of this volume jumps forward two years where Punpun sees Aiko again with a boy from his school and realises they are dating which breaks his heart a little because he is still in love with her. I don’t weather this is love or whether she was the first girl who saw Punpun as more than a little boy and therefore he has become extremely attached to her. I also felt that Punpun definitely has some abandonment issues because of his parents but I think we will see more of that as the series progresses. Overall, this was a great start to the series but definitely check the trigger warnings before getting into it as there is a lot of serious, dark content despite it being a coming of age story.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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