BUENAS NOCHES, PUNPUN 11

おやすみプンプン [Oyasumi Punpun] #11

by Inio Asano

NOS EMBARCAMOS EN LA RECTA FINAL DE LA OBRA MÁSPERSONAL DE INIO ASANOn encuentro inesperado con Aiko, la que fuera el amor de su juventud, le da aunpun nuevas fuerzas para tomar las riendas de su vida e intentar alcanzar laelicidad con la chica con la que ha soñado más de la mitad de su vida...

Genres: Manga, Seinen, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Drama, Slice Of Life

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2012

About the author

Inio Asano (浅野いにお, Asano Inio) is a Japanese cartoonist. He is known for his character-driven stories and his detailed art-style, making him one of the most influential manga author of his generation.
Asano was born in 1980 and produced his first amateur comics as a teenager. His professional debut happened in 2000 in the pages of the magazine Big Comic Spirits. Since then, he has collaborated with most of the major Japanese magazines of seinen manga (comics for a mature audience). Among Asano's internationally acclaimed works are: the psychological horror Nijigahara Holograph (2003-2005); the drama Solanin (2005-2006); the existentialistic slice-of-life Goodnight Punpun (2007-2013); the erotic A Girl on the Shore (2009-2013); the sci-fi Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction (2014-2022).

Reviews

[Gisso · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lo largo de la serie ha tenido ciertos altibajos, sin embargo, el tomo 11 es brutal, recuperando la atmosfera insana y multiplicándola por cien, dejándonos con una sensación de desasosiego y malestar. Asano sabe tocar la fibra sensible cuando se suelta. Miedo me dan los tomos finales.

[Sabreen]

This Pegasus thing drags unnecessarily.
The pictures at the end of chapters, who I assume Punpun the child happily laughing, breaks me heart.

[Nikola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whaaaaaaaaat 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

[Topher · Rating 4 out of 5]

this would be so good without pegasus

[Aitor · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ciertamente..."

Este es el tomo más brutal hasta el momento. No quiero decir que sea necesariamente el mejor; tan solo el más bestia. Es cierto que aquí Punpun adquiere un tono más oscuro y perturbador que lo que habíamos visto hasta ahora, pero al menos por mi parte creo que es un cambio orgánico. No es tanto que jamás haya hecho algo así como que necesitaba un resorte para reforzar su inhumanidad, y sin duda Aiko ha sido el único impulso necesario. Me gusta también cómo se recuperan en este volumen muchos elementos anteriores con el objetivo de cohesionar el viaje del protagonista y dar esa idea de que cualquier persona, con la educación y momentos inadecuados, puede llegar a lugares impensables.

La relación principal es bastante dura de leer. Está claro que a Asano no le preocupa destruir por completo a sus personajes y mostrar todas sus aristas. En ese sentido, me parece muy bien llevado. Aun sin rumbo, tengo la sensación de que no podría haberse hecho de otra manera porque, efectivamente, este es el momento en que los personajes ya no saben ni qué hacer. Cada día se convierte en un suplicio en que la muerte parece la mejor solución y, a pesar de todo, ninguno es capaz de suicidarse en busca de la posible Ítaca que supone Kagoshima. Libres de ataduras, se dan cuenta de que una vida sin cadenas es una vida inútil; funcionar fuera de la rueda de la sociedad moderna resulta imposible para seres marginados que sienten que el resto del mundo se equivoca.

Es triste (en el peor de los sentidos) que todas estas ideas tan interesantes y llevadas con tan buena mano se vean algo desdibujadas por esa subtrama estúpida de Pegasus. La secta no parece aportar realmente nada, ni a un nivel paródico (juraría que eso es lo que quería Asano) ni a nivel argumental. Es una forma de separar a Seki y Shimizu, pero tampoco siento que se haga un gran favor a esa relación. Pegasus es, sin duda, la gran mancha de esta por otra parte magnífica serie. Por fortuna, gran parte de los capítulos que componen este tomo se dedican a la relación principal, así que la sensación final es bastante más positiva que otros volúmenes más centrados en la trama sectaria. Y sí, con "positiva" quiero decir "qué ganas de morirme". Pero para bien, supongo.

[Kuroo Dabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Algo en mi se quebró y creo que fue mi corazón al ver ese giro inesperado en la vida de punpun y derrepente tengo ante mi un punpun oscuro y siento que no lo conozco, si antes estaba hundido ahora lo esta mucho mas y me duele mucho...pero es mi culpa al esperar que algo como la felicidad podría llegar a la vida de punpun, estoy perdiendo mis esperanzas muchachos.

[Aida · Rating 4 out of 5]

End. 1401/4/26

[Alex Pler · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Siempre había estado convencido de que todo el mundo era mejor que yo, más espabilado, que cualquier persona poseía bondad y que incluso los más desagradables debían de tener algún motivo para serlo. Por eso siempre me había odiado a mí mismo, siempre, por ser tan absolutamente lúgubre sin tener ningún motivo de peso para serlo.
Puede que esperara demasiado, que tuviera demasiada ilusión. Y cuando te haces ilusiones, te frustras. La respuesta era simple: no existe nadie medianamente decente. Ni uno."

[Jesus Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manteniendo el nivel de shock del anterior, la primer mitad del tomo si esta de locos, lo que pasa, lo que implica,, si es de "que onda??"

Ya luego PunPun y Aiko pues toman ciertas decisiones tras lo que ocurrio pero pues tambien esta medio raro.

Y los del culto ese de las vibraciones

4.5 stars

[Eni Gajanova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uznemirujuće, mučno, potresno i mračno. Punpun i dalje testira moje granice bizarnog.

[Dragana]

Kakvi su bili neki delovi, ovaj je i super

[Yuki Ura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most unusual person is not Aiko-chan or Aiko-chan's mother, but I think it's punpun.

[Volo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4’25 en verdad.

"Siempre había estado convencido de que todo el mundo era mejor que yo, más espabilado, que cualquier persona poseía bondad y que incluso los más desagradables debían de tener algún motivo para serlo.
Por eso siempre me había odiado a mí mismo, siempre, por ser tan absolutamente lúgubre sin tener ningún motivo de peso para serlo.
Puede que esperara demasiado, que tuviera demasiada ilusión. Y cuando te haces ilusiones, te frustras. La respuesta era simple: no existe nadie medianamente decente. Ni uno."

[Rahul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Maybe I have myself experienced enough emotional conundrum past many years of my life, that's why I feel this manga not that much depressing. But I agree for a normal happy guy, it is nothing but pure depression. Looking forward to the last volume.

[Anya · Rating 5 out of 5]

relation encore plus toxique svp ça va pas ou quoi:0

[Rafa Araujo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estoy muy impactado, nunca imaginé nada de lo que esta pasando :/

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

all the people in this manga need to go to group therapy, they're all mentally ill, and most are seriously dangerous and toxic to themselves and to others.

Also the subtle cult storyline isn't so subtle now

[Jon Ureña · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is called "Goodnight Punpun" in English. I'm just reviewing this volume.

I never expected the story to take this turn, but Asano built the foundations for it subtly through two setups mainly: the cult leader and his even stupider followers had been talking about a great disaster to come, and about how the world was being swallowed by a "dark spot" they couldn't properly locate. Then we have the protagonist who since he was a child could meet "God" if he asked for him, or anyways someone he addressed as God although that "person" denied that label some time later. He always came at the protagonist's darkest, and if he reared its head during easier times, it was to darken the protagonist's mood and add some gloomy, disturbing commentary to whatever was happening.

Every spoiler for this volume, and I'm guessing from now on to the end, is potentially huge.

We left our protagonist and the love of his life Aiko Tanaka as they walked hand on hand to meet her mother. Aiko wants to tell her that she has had enough of her life of abuse and that she is running away with that dashing boy. Aiko is worried about her mother's reaction, but also excited about the normal life her and the protagonist are going to have. Where would they like to live? What kind of dog would he prefer? He embraces her and tells her that anything she likes is fine, and he will protect her.

They enter Aiko's mother's house. They find the mother dressed with Aiko's schoolgirl outfit, and judging by the laptop she hurries to close, and the panties around her ankles, she had been masturbating. Aiko either doesn't notice or it has been so common in her life that she has pushed it to the back of her mind. When Aiko announces she's moving away, the mother is surprised. She tries to guilt trip her about abandoning her crippled mother, but Aiko responds that she'll manage to send money every month. The mother, fake cheerful, goes to prepare tea so they can have a nice talk. As soon as she comes back her mood is sourer. How is it possible that you met this boy, the mother asks. Didn't you choose a far away driving school precisely to avoid running into people you knew? She must be lying about how they met. Aiko had always been a liar, says the mother. Or have you forgotten about that time when you were little and lied about not having wet your pants, or two years ago when you lied about passing some modelling audition? As soon as Aiko defends herself, the mother hits her in the head. You have no common sense, the mother says. You need me. You have always been a failure, and you will never manage to do anything on your own. Aiko stands up and tells the protagonist that they are leaving. Now that the protagonist is with her she has the courage to find out for herself what to believe in.

The mother lunges forward while brandishing a huge kitchen knife. The protagonist, stunned and horrified, manages to pull Aiko out of the way enough so she just receives a slash on the shoulder. The mother turns to the protagonist and plunges the enormous knife right beside his head, in the wall. Then turns again towards Aiko, who has fallen to the floor, and stabs her in the abdomen. The protagonist is frozen in place while Aiko sobs and apologizes. The protagonist's God, the dark spot, appears next to him, smiling. This is it, he says. I've been waiting my entire life for this moment.

As the mother was preparing to stab Aiko again, the protagonist jumps on the mother throwing her on the ground. The protagonist bashes her face with a statuette breaking her teeth, and then calmly strangles her to death. Once he's finished he moves aside and, untroubled, tells the cowering, sobbing, bloodied Aiko that everything is fine now.

The protagonist takes time to calmly receive a package from a tremendously inopportune deliveryman. The protagonist returns inside and finds Aiko on the floor, stabbing out her dead mother's guts. What's in the package, Aiko asks. The protagonist unwraps it. It's a fancy vibrator. Aiko laughs, sobs and bleeds. The protagonist hugs her, and later on sews the wound on her abdomen.

We watch one of Aiko's recurrent nightmares: she's in a surreal high school, half listening to some hard to understand lesson, while she's trembling because she can barely contain her pee. When she wakes up she sees her mother wrapped up in duct tape on the floor. They drive through the night and the rain to the woods, where they bury the body. Afterwards they both sit in the car stunned, robbed of energies and emotions. The protagonist suggests trying to live normally for a while until they are sure they can move away without troubles. That nobody will care that her mother is gone. Aiko retorts that her cult friends will. He tells Aiko that if she wants she can go to the police and tell them that he killed her mother, and that he even stabbed her guts out. All he wants anymore of life is to keep Aiko safe. He wanders out of the car for a few meters, but Aiko runs to him, embraces him and begs for him to never leave her alone. The protagonist has a momentary lucid perspective of himself, how calm he is, how clearly he sees everything. This is who he is after all.

They drive out of town without any clear destination. As Aiko, depersonalized and troubled, listens on, the protagonist monologues endlessly as if his mind finally had found a clear station. For his entire life he had believed that everybody was smarter and nicer than him, but now he realizes the obvious: there are people out there that are nothing but scum, scum that will see nothing wrong in hurting others, and it'd be better for the world if every one of those people were killed. And everyone else is scum at some level, just like him. In the end there's not a single decent person in the entire world.

As they are wandering around some random town, Aiko feels sick. We watch another variation of her nightmare, and she wakes up as she lays on a hotel bed. She has peed herself. The protagonist doesn't want her to feel bad about it, and tells her to undress so she can change her clothes. As she's changing she seems to be feeling worse. The protagonist suggests they go to some hospital where they won't ask many questions. Aiko goes lucid for a moment, and says that killing someone is just bad. She breaks down in a panic attack, and the protagonist runs to her and covers her mouth to keep the neighbors from calling the police. Aiko bites down hard on his index finger, and the protagonist backhands her mouth knocking a tooth out. When they calm down, the protagonist proposes they go to Kagoshima, where they had planned to escape to as children.

Meanwhile, the protagonist's childhood friend Seki, who worked odd jobs but more frequently a recycling job, breaks up with his girlfriend, who is his boss' daughter, and the next day he finds out she told her father he had hit her. Seki decides to quit on the spot. Pressured to leave town before the father sends some goons after him, he decides to take on the job some time ago a shady guy from the cult had offered him: a bunch of money just for pressing a button when asked.

At night, Aiko is leaning on the protagonist as he sits inside the car. Will you kill me too some day, she asks. The protagonist tells her to go to sleep. Some time later he wanders off under the rain, but Aiko wakes up, and as soon as she realizes the protagonist isn't in the car, she runs to him and tells him to not leave her alone. They sit under the stars. She asks what he would wish for if they saw a shooting star. Nothing, he says, because shooting stars don't grant wishes. But what would he wish for if shooting stars could grant wishes, she insists. He says he'd wish for shooting stars to disappear forever.

Aiko and the protagonist travel like a couple of tourists. At one sightseeing spot he sees a mental glimpse of a smiling, carefree Aiko as he would have imagined her before that year, and comes back to reality to see the smiling face of twenty year old Aiko, with an eye bruised and missing a tooth, as she acts like a child. In any case, the protagonist feels comfortable with himself. He had unleashed his emotions for the first time, something he had feared his entire life, and he has never felt more at peace with who he is. So maybe it's fine to let them flow freely from then on.

Some time later, as Aiko exits the bathroom where she had been changing her bandages, she catches the protagonist staring at a couple of nice asses. In a cafeteria, Aiko brings up that she's had time to think, and that it will be very hard to get an apartment wherever they go, and they will run into serious trouble if they try to change the license plate of the car belonging to a woman they killed. She adds with some subtlety that trust is the only thing keeping them together. She holds a fork towards one of the protagonist's eyes, and in a non-chalant way says that given that he only needs to look at her, it would be easier with a single eye. The protagonist tells her to go ahead.

We cut back to Tokyo, were Sachi works on her manga as a deadline is approaching. She didn't go to the abortion clinic, and the protagonist is nowhere to be found. I keep wondering if she's actually pregnant or not. Her friend calls to find out if she has learned about the protagonist's whereabouts, but Sachi answers that he'll end up appearing one of these days. Afterwards she tells herself that she isn't so needy to have to worry that much about what the protagonist is doing, but she ends up calling other people to figure out what's going on with him.

The fork Aiko was holding is now bloody. She's scared of herself and crying. The protagonist calls her a stupid bitch and tells her that if she's to stab his eye out, to do it properly. Aiko retorts that she couldn't do that, that she's in love with him.

I'm mightily impressed.

[Leila ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bueno después de como 10 tomos en caída libre, por fin remontó la historia. Llegó el día que no pensé que iba a llegar nunca. Also, tengo que remarcar lo espectacular que es el arte del autor porque posta es, por momento, una obra de arte.

3.5 de 5 estrellas.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

naww his first murder, they grow up so fast (still no therapy for punpun, though)

[Tijana Marjanović · Rating 2 out of 5]

Izvinite na rečniku, ali what kind of shit is this?
18+++ bez ijedne scene seksa, samo je sve jako uznemiravajuće.

[Mon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yo también me quiero sacar los ojos a veces.

[Javi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perturbador y cínico. Entiendo que un personaje tiene que evolucionar a lo largo de la historia (esa es parte de la gracia); pero el cambio radical que sufre el protagonista en este volumen es un sinsentido.

[.]

No lo voy a evaluar porque no se si me ha gustado o no, sólo digo que es un tomo muy duro.

[Debora Santo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content warning: Abuse.
Spoiler alert: Minor story details included.

This manga has a weird, intriguing and exaggerated way of presenting complex emotions and relationships as ever. In this volume, we are learning more about the hidden complexities of cult phylosophy and inner hierarchy, but most importantly, topics of emotional and physical abuse in family and romantic relationships are covered in more depth than before. I liked the part where the default of human morality is questioned, whether we are all bad or good by default or our state changes at certain times in life. I think that the volume description doesn't capture the essence of this volume at all - like I've been reading a different story than advertised.

I find in interesting how the author uses strong imagery to stimulate emotions and the illustration style still keeps me amazed with its photorealism, attention to details, and depiction dynamics of motion.

I'm a bit frustrated with not having a clue where the story will go while having just two volumes until the end.

This manga is not for everyone because of the heaviness of the topics, and it requires certain maturity and reading experience to fully comprehend and value it. I think I'm on the very edge of having sufficient reading and cultural background to appreciate this series.

I give this volume 4/5 stars, I read it in one sitting and was engaged throughout it, loved the illustrations, and only didn't enjoy the one long philosophical cult monologue that much.

[Marko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Potpuno genijalno.

Ova teskobna drama na momente se pretvara u psiho triler i to je jako pametno napisano i smišljeno.

Nije samo ubistvo kao takvo nešto sto čini priču još kompleksnijom već sama simbolika koja se krije iza onoga šta likovi koji učestvuju u ubistvu predstavljaju i kako su povezani.

Priča sa Pegazom se sve više produbljuje i očekujem eskalaciju kako se blizimo kraju. Imam sad već velika očekivanja od same te priče obzirom koliko se do sada prožimala i kako je malo po malo građena uvlačeći sve više likova koje pratimo u nju.

[Elessar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

Este tomo ha sido de los que más me ha gustado. Los sucesos inesperados y la nueva relación han conseguido recuperar el interés de la trama, que se encontraba en una especie de letargo, no necesariamente desagradable, pero del que apetecía cada vez más salir.
Le habría dado media estrella más de no ser por el confuso final del tomo y por la subtrama de la secta, que sigue siendo un disparate insulso.

[Raúl · Rating 5 out of 5]

La historia de Punpun avanza en una línea firme en la que el nihilismo del personaje se mezcla con la locura de Aiko, configurando un explosivo cóctel en el que la vida se convierte en una huida sin punto de retorno.

[Nahia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yo ya no sé cómo va a terminar todo esto.

[Elyia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eieijfkelf