Sad stories in anime and manga aren't uncommon by any means. Tragic backstories, one-time heroes falling from grace, doomed romances; countless series relying on tested tropes are compiled onto 'best of' lists every day. But among the most emotional and moving stories, there is one manga that is always listed among the saddest to have ever graced publications like Shōnen Jump, and it doesn't really belong with the rest of the bunch. There are sad stories and extraordinarily depressing stories. Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun is the latter.
With a cute mascot main character as the centerpiece of the series, Goodnight Punpun is inconspicuous in its earliest sections, flaunting itself around as another coming-of-age story with a few unique character designs. What follows throughout the life of Punpun Onodera can only be described as a free fall into the depths of the worst that humanity has to offer. It's sickening, maddening, frustrating, moving, and difficult to get through.
Goodnight Punpun may very well be the most depressing manga ever written, but that doesn't mean that it's devoid of any meaningful storytelling. Never had I felt a greater sense of dejection than I had after finishing the series, but as hard as I tried, Punpun's story crept into my consciousness until I could no longer avoid it. It haunts me, but importantly so. Goodnight Punpun is a painful story, not for the faint of heart, but it has its place as a reminder of how easily humans can fall into cycles of despair, abuse, and horror.
Goodnight Punpun Is a Uniquely Difficult Read
Despite His Bird-like Appearance, Punpun's Story Is a Difficult One
The juxtaposition between Punpun's appearance and the world he lives in can be jarring. Though he spends his time throughout the story shifting into several variations of a cartoon bird, the world surrounding Punpun is very realistic and detailed. He's human, despite his looks, and as the story goes on to portray the titular character's journey through childhood and adolescence, the disturbing yet human events become only more shocking to witness. Starting with school-aged drama, self-discovery and first loves, the series devolves into utter chaos with a bird-like person perpetually caught just outside the eye of the storm.
Readers aren't really meant to like Punpun, either. He isn't a good person by any standard, but because the series begins during his childhood, it becomes difficult not to get attached to him. Like all people who grow up to be morally questionable adults, Punpun was simply a child born into an unfortunate set of circumstances. Though his abusive household was already weighing on his own personal choices and beliefs as he began growing up, it is the section that chronicles his uncle's disappearance and his abuse at the hands of that uncle's wife that begins the series' overall descent.
Series like Nier: Automata Ver 1.1a and Re:Zero show the darker sides of anime, placing their heroes in the bleakest scenarios time and time again
I've read my share of dark manga, but nothing has ever affected me quite like Goodnight Punpun. Its most difficult moments are hellish, and a large reason for that is Punpun's appearance. His notably indistinct features make it far too easy for readers to find themselves reflected in him, leaving the story's terrible events without a face to separate from their own. Inio Asano, in a 2014 interview, touched on this aspect of Punpun, saying, "If Punpun had a normal face, there are probably a lot of parts in the manga that I couldn't have done."
Series like Kentaro Miura's Berserk, which includes one of the darkest sections in manga history with the Eclipse, play on the readers' attachments to certain characters. That visceral reaction that so many of us fans have to those events comes directly from our own connections to the likable characters in the Band of the Hawk. Goodnight Punpun is unique in that the reader doesn't necessarily like Punpun at all, but Inio Asano's decision to keep his appearance vague from childhood to adulthood forces us to face him head on.
Punpun Isn't Depressing For the Sake of Being Depressing
Punpun Warns About the Dangers of Falling Into Destructive Cycles of Abuse
The first time I read Goodnight Punpun, I walked away not depressed, or even the slightest bit sad. I was angry. For years, all anyone had to say regarding the series was that it was life-changing, or that it was the manga that had the most profound effect on them as fans and readers. I finished the series and thought that I had wasted my time watching a character be tortured for no other reason than to torture something. But as the days passed, I couldn't stop thinking about Goodnight Punpun.
Weeks passed, and suddenly I found the story creeping into my thoughts constantly. And after taking the time to truly reflect on what I had read, all I could think was that I really didn't want to become like Punpun. I couldn't come to like him or any of his other family members, but once the initial anger subsided, I couldn't help but feel bad for them. Each member of the Onodera household is both an abuser and a victim of abuse themselves.
There are countless themes and messages to take away from the story, but one of the most prevalent is its warning against falling into cycles of despair, loneliness, and abuse. Punpun's father is absent, and his mother is terrible to him. His uncle peddles his pessimistic beliefs to a Punpun who is far too young to understand them. His uncle's wife takes advantage of Punpun in the worst way an adult can of a child. In return, Punpun turns around and trades scars with the people in his life, the way his family did with him in his younger years.
By the end of the series, cycles of abuse lead to both Punpun's and Aiko's mutual destruction, and the readers are met with little closure. Instead, a broken adult Punpun is left to continue living without the helpless watch of an audience.
Goodnight Punpun Leaves Its Painful But Important Mark On Readers
Goodnight Punpun Is Depressing But Worth a Read
Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun is one of the more difficult manga series I've ever read, but like all those fans before me, I eventually succumbed to allowing it to change my life as well. When faced with parts of myself I didn't exactly like, I can't count the number of times that the precautionary tale of Punpun Onodera crept into my thoughts. It isn't exactly a series I could ever recommend, but if someone out there picks it up, they can expect it to leave its mark.
It isn't a series for everyone, but there are important messages to take away from Goodnight Punpun. And as long as readers strive to be nothing like the titular bird-person, we might just be alright. Luckily for manga fans, Inio Asano's follow-up work, Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction, is a much more light-hearted affair, and is best enjoyed when the events of Goodnight Punpun become just a bit too much.
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Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction Part 1, released in 2024, explores the lives of high school girls Koyama Kadode and Nakagawa Ouran amidst an ongoing alien presence over Tokyo. While a war unfolds, the film delves into themes of human nature, dialogue, and adolescence, rather than focusing solely on the invasion.
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