Oyasumi Punpun

Oyasumi Punpun / Goodnight Punpun

Author : Inio Asano

Humankinds greatest tragedy is that in-spite of everything that we do we are alone. That seems to be the overriding theme of this manga. At the end of 147 chapters you are left wondering whether or not you liked it.

Premise: 2/5
The story follows the life of Onedera Punpun as he navigates through 4 phases of his life - elementary, middle, high-school and early 20s, dealing with a very dysfunctional family, love and regret. 

It is definitely a 'slice of life manga' of an everyday shy, awkward social misfit without any redeeming qualities. Being seinen the fact that it gets a little (a lot actually) disturbing is to be expected.

A unique feature of the manga is that the MC and all of his blood relatives are shown as poorly drawn birds. Apparently the author thought that by doing so the audience can relate to Pupun better. The feelings of self-loathing and overall lack of ambition and moody loneliness are easy to relate to.

It seems ironic that by using a childish caricature he managed to portray the negative aspects of the average young citizens life. The manga blatantly flies in the face of most others where goals are absolutely vital and love conquers all. Goals need not be present for someone to live their life and here love turns out to be a source of a crazy amount of suffering. Anything else is exposed as wishful thinking.

Plot and story overall 3/5 

Overall the story is a take on life in our times where no one needs to work a whole lot to survive. Its possible to eke out an existence by just showing up to work in a minimum wage position. The story focuses on the life of one such vagrant. The parts where the mangaka depicts his child hood is really well done. I laughed and smiled at the kind of stuff the kids got into.

 

The entire element of little Punpun interacting with god was hilarious to me. Naturally the god is depicted as an afro head.

At the same time the morbid event were truly cringe worthy. It felt like I was watching a not so funny version of Everybody hates Chris.

His somewhat half-assed pursuit of life kinda brings to mind the aimlessness we feel in life nowadays . Sadly the one thing he actually cared about goes to complete and utter hell and as much as he wanted to fade away he was dragged back into the world. (major feels here)  

Characters 3/5

The characters are well thought out. I wont go through all of them individually because there are simply too many of them. The mangaka fleshed out Onedera Punpun’s life quite well although that is not so suprising considering that he is the lead. then again there have been mangas that fuck that angle up completely. Pupun is not the the hero or the villain. He is simply someone trying to make the right decisions as he lives his life constantly weighed down by his failures and the lack of a concrete future.

I enjoyed the bit where he cuts loose a bit and goes on the run with his childhood love.

His uncle is the other notable character and you see parallels between him and the protagonist. Almost like as is he was the designated Punpun of the previous generation.

The other characters are mostly props to detail  Punpuns life rather than be solid characters of their own standing. That being said they do have their own back stories

There are some truly random characters in there but overall they are not too obtrussive

Art & Design 3/5

The art is beautiful for the most part. The fact that the mangaka chose to show the protagonist and his immediate family as bird scrawls is unique and shows a ridiculous amount of contrast. Effective actually because that makes Punpun whoever you want him to be. Or you could imagine a bird living life as a human. I was a big fan of this but if they make another manga with a similar visual device I probably would not pick it up.

Overall verdict: If you are a Sunshine and flowers kind of person you would do better to skip this. This is strictly a ‘not so fun’ slice of life manga. That being said the story is a work of art so if you can handle the depression, please read it.

Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

All you Need is is Kill

All you Need is is Kill

Author : Takeshi Obata

                                                   
Give it to me straight and simple, that's what this manga is all about.
Spanning only 17 chapters this manga shows a coherence that is rare in such serializations, The action is well paced and the characters are quite likable.

For those of you who don't know, this was originally a light novel. Latter it was picked as the premise for the script for the Hollywood motion picture "Edge of Tomorrow". While the movie was not great and in my opinion a little too convenient ( the ending was too happy and more than just a little nonsensical) this manga is one of the best that I have read.

Premise: 4/5
The human race is at war with an alien race called the mimics. The hero gains a game like ability where he must relive his first day of battle every time he dies.
I mean .... shit! That's heavy! There is a saying that cowards die a hundred deaths... but this is outrageous!
The premise is very sci-fi. Standard alien-doomsday story-line ( think Independence Day not ET ). Definitely and undeniably shounen although it has a pronounced seinen leaning
 There are a few key differences though.
 1.    The story is concerned only with the fate of 1 soldier, Keriya Keiji
 2.    The war with the aliens does not end
 3.    There is no real romance, more comradeship

Plot and story overall 4/5
SPOILER
The story starts off with the main character waking up from a nightmare. A nightmare which ended with his death. Not very pleasant but hardly anything to worry about. New recruits go through this all the time. But as the day progresses he feels uneasy because of how similar the events are to his dream. He goes into battle and dies ... pretty painfully. And wakes up on the morning of the day before.

The rest of the manga consists of a cycle of deaths and rebirths through which he begins to learn and gets stronger. To quote the manga.. " trading death for skill."

The female main character is the Goddess of war, Rita Vartaski, a veteran who leads the only consistently successful squad in the USDF. Like the MC she has also experienced the loop phenomenon and uses it to redo the battle with better results.

They share a few redoes of relative happiness. But at the last battle that they share, they realize that unless one of them dies the redoes will keep continuing. They fight. Keriya survives and goes on to win the battle. The manga ends with him becoming the leader of Rita's squad and promising to win the war for the Humans.

End of Spoiler

The story is pretty engaging. The growth achieved by the main character over the course of a hundred battle (redoes) is staggering. His realization on how to move and how to attack and his reasoning for the need of a different weapon are all simple but at the same time very impressive.
Rita Vartaski's origin story is also very engaging and more than just a little ...raw. Her contrasting personality as a very young girl and as the "bitch of the Battlefield" also adds to her attraction.
And easily my favorite bit, the part were unlike a shounen manga where the male MC lays down his life for the girl , this guys attacks her with all off his strength justifying it by saying, " If i just choose to give up here, what was all of this for!"

Characters 3/5
There is very little character development which is understandable considering the lack of chapters.

Kiriya's motives for joining the USDF is unknown. His growth and the effect of  a hundred deaths is portrayed really well. He is the typical victim Hero. Thrust into circumstances where he has no choice but to become greater. Nothing to especially like or hate about him. The only thing the reader will feel for him, is pity initially and then latter a sense of respect I suppose for not cracking under the strain.

                                                   

Rita Vartasky on the other hand is a different story. The origin story that spans 2 chapters makes her an interesting character. Essentially she is a woman driven by vengeance but the manga does not harp on it, which is great. Her overall personality is light and a little innocent but at the same time possessing traits of  a jaded war veteran. She  is the one who figures out the reason for the continued loops and decides to fight Keriya for the right to survive.
                                                     


Art & Design 3/5
The manga illustrations are clear and intense. Although it loses out a bit at the time of extreme action. But i guess that's what the mangaka was going for, what with how Kiriya would see the world as he keeps dying.  The deaths are shown in a way to produce shock or revulsion.

Kiriya's character design is generic. No real distinguishing characteristics as most shounen manga would have. He looks like the average japanese manga character. The only memorable detail are the eyes he makes when he goes through the loop and plans on improving before the next death.

                                               




                                                
Rita Vataski's character design is a little loli-ish. Making her look not only insanely young( she is only 18 by the way) but also much weaker than she is. Not at all like the "bitch of the Battlefield" persona that Emily Blunt portrayed so well.

The Battle suits are standard designs from mecha genre. Not very different from the battle suits an average soldier would wear, just a lot more beefed up.
                                       
                                                   
The weapons are a bit lacking though. Both Rita and Keriya eventually adopt a giant battle axe as their main weapon. I guess a different design or a different weapon altogether would have been better for him, say a claymore?

The mimics are shown as blobs with mouths. Not particularly sophisticated and seem to only go for close quarters combat. Battle strategy reverts back to the time of roman legions. I suppose the mangaka didn't really think it through. If he has another reason I do not know what that is.


                                          

Other than that the art doesn't really add to the story. Nor does it detract from it.

Overall verdict:
A good manga. Totally worth reading and easily finished in a sitting. What more could you want?

                                                     



Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html