In a more recent interview (from 2021), Inio Asano states that he has never written about things that make him happy. He also lists Goodnight, Punpunie among his most important works, as having the greatest emotional significance for the mangaka itself. These two sentences seem to me to be a perfect summary of the adventures of the youngest Onodera.
Freedom, loneliness
Punpun was completely alone. He seems to have an uncle and his new wife, and somewhere in Fukushima, Onoder’s dad still lives … But he already got to know them well enough not to put too much hope in this gang. He happens to politely listen to monologues traditional for this family about the meaning of life, but he is not moved anymore.
A freshly baked high school graduate will run away on his own, live on his recently deceased mother’s savings and part-time jobs. At last he will meet new people who will prove to be important to him that he wants to enter into a dialogue with them. A light of hope in a hopeless gray? Who knows, dear reader of depressive comics, let’s find out.
Slice of life
Were it not for the specific appearance of Punpun and the sectarian, slightly fantastic plot of the good vibrations guru , which returns at the beginning of this volume, we could classify Good Night as a fairly traditional comic book. The protagonist tries to cope on his own, has some colleagues from work, goes to a pub for the first time, spends too much time wrapped in a futon on a daily basis. He descends into depression – it is impossible to show it in dialogues, Punpun hardly speaks anyway, so Asano changes his appearance in such a way that the boy takes up even less space than before, and fits even worse in the surroundings.
This visual metaphor for the “dimple” is very simple and effective. It shows how secretive, even tightened Punpun is, how much he tries not to bother anyone with himself. Do not consume air, time or space. How unimportant it feels, angular, potentially painful for others. In the previous volume, the hero’s phallic character had the appearance of a joke, bitter and shitty, even distasteful, now we are waiting for her return. We are used to such a Punpun, it does not sting the eyes. We prefer him to see himself as a cartoon character from the amateur fanfic of the Peanutsthan a small, schematic shape. And if, dear readers, you devote a little more reflection to character visualization, the question that probably arose after the first chapters will come back to you – why does Onodera look like this and what is this character presentation going to?
art therapy
If slice of life , it has to be romantic. At least a little and sadly. A girl appears in Punpun’s life! And with it – art. Rather, it is the latter that will allow him to come back to himself. The protagonist stops huddling inside himself, he begins to write. If you still remember Solanin , probably the first Asano manga released in Poland, this is the moment for shy associations and looking for clues. Mangaka is unlikely to prove to us that creativity saves and saves individuals or the world … but its characters certainly sometimes believe it. An extreme attitude is represented here by Pegasus, who wants to save the universe through vibrations and music. Punpun and Sachi just try not to drown, and maybe do something interesting at the same time.
After the crisis, volume three, we finally get a moment of breath. The life of the main character seems to be slowly stabilizing, it is getting more interesting, not so lonely. He begins to create something there. Asano would not be himself if he did not chase our shy smiles with the announcement of further complications. Because can we believe that Punpun will be able to stop being a tormented, sentimental stupid?
