Goodnight Punpun

Goodnight Punpun (Japanese: おやすみプンプン, Hepburn: Oyasumi Punpun) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Inio Asano. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday between 2007 and 2008 and later in Big Comic Spirits from 2008 to 2013, its chapters were collected in thirteen tankōbon volumes.

Plot
Goodnight Punpun follows the life and experiences of Onodera Punpun, a young boy living in Japan, as well as a few of his friends. The story follows Punpun as he grows up, splitting it into around 4 stages of his life: Elementary school, middle school, high school, and his early 20s.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It's a series that not only depicts depression realistically, but it also portrays other topics such as love, social isolation, sex, death, and family.
 * 2) Punpun's depiction as a faceless caricature was meant to help readers identify with Punpun and encourage them to keep reading, both when he was depicted as a bird, and in his later forms.
 * 3) Solid and (Mostly) likeable cast such as Punpun, Aiko, both of Punpun's parents, God, Sachi, Pegasus, Harumi, etc.
 * 4) Unlike many manga, the series was made for people who could accept immorality rather than see the protagonist as a role model as Punpun in the series has done pretty bad thing such as killing Aiko's mom.
 * 5) While on the outside the artstyle is pretty basic the artstyle (especially the manga panels) turn out pretty amazing over time as the series progressed.
 * 6) While the series is known for being pretty depression it has plenty of heartwarming and funny moments in the series.
 * 7) A solid ending despite the fact Aiko committed suicide and Punpun is sent on probation for the actions he did, after his probation his life is back to normal as he now has a job at a real estate agency.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The story eventually becomes so depressing and uncomfortable that it can turn people off.
 * 2) Both Punpun and Aiko's can be considered unlikeable with the decisions they made.

Trivia

 * 1) According to Asano, he'd considered killing Punpun in the final chapter by having him push Sachi's child out of the way of an oncoming train. He ultimately decided against it, as he felt Punpun's death would have ended the story too cleanly.

Reception
In 2009, the manga received a Jury Recommendation at the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards. The series was nominated for the 2017 Eisner Award in the "Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia" category, for its first four volumes.