Title: Goodnight Punpun Vol. 5
Author: Inio Asano
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Genre: Slice of Life, Drama
Publication Date: March 21, 2017
The Story
Punpun is 20 years old and he is, once again, at a crossroads in his life. After Mr. Shishido is tackled and sat on by a fat security guard after accidentally shoplifting, thus leaving him with a spinal cord injury; Punpun moves out and assumes a new identity in the form of his neighbor Taka after falling in love with him one night after listening to him plow his girlfriend through the thin walls of his apartment. I… really can’t make this up. That’s what actually happened.
Sachi also continues to struggle with her manga until Punpun moves away, forcing her to write her own material. It is only then that she experiences success. She later becomes pregnant by her ex-husband and wants to have an abortion, but only if Punpun will be there with her when she gets it. Punpun agrees; however…. Enter Aiko Tanaka!
His childhood love interest bumps into Punpun at driving school and the two of them get reacquainted. Punpun and Aiko fall in love and agree to run away from everything together. Punpun feels that the time which refused to move forward has begun at last! Now, Aiko and Punpun look to run away from the city and their lives!
All I can say is that there were a LOT of twists and turns in this volume of Goodnight Punpun. It’s nice to see Punpun finally move forward! He final got some of those good vibrations! Speaking of which, Toshiki is actually running for mayor and his candidacy speech was absolutely messed up, yet hilarious, all at the same time. Just imagine turning on your television and see some guy standing there rambling on about a whole bunch of nonsense that only he believes because he’s completely out of his mind. Oh wait, we already did see that and we elected him President, but I digress.
I’m really interested to see where Punpun and Aiko’s new relationship goes. It also raises the question of what will become of Sachi now that Punpun has moved on? He did kind of skip out on her before she had the abortion, afterall. I guess time will tell with volume six.
Characters
There was a LOT of character development here as nearly the entire cast was featured in this volume.
Starting with Punpun, his development only started when he got reacquainted with Aiko. Until then, he was still the empty husk of a man who had no direction in life. He still remained at home crying every day, hoping that the world would just swallow him whole. He fell so far into despair that he snapped and assumed the identity of another person. You saw that darkness fade away with Aiko, though and it really brought Punpun back full circle… somewhat. He did revert a bit back to when he was younger, but the fact that he still wants to run away to someplace distant shows that nothing really has changed. As long as he’s happy, though, right?
Aiko re-entered the picture and claimed to be a model working towards transitioning into acting. That was all a lie and she, too, was leading a very pitiful life. She felt compelled to take care of her abusive mother and wished sorely for an escape. That escape came in the form of Punpun. Something tells me that she’s only using him and that her love isn’t genuine, but then again, this manga has been messed up on so many different occasions, I wouldn’t be shocked if she was doing this to try and murder Punpun! All kidding aside, Aiko’s backstory did make you feel sorry for her, though. Aiko’s character is a message that says no matter what people look like on the outside, they could really be hurting or damaged on the inside. Inio Asano likes to put deep metaphors like that into his work and Aiko is one of those metaphors. In fact, Asano puts a lot of life lessons and messages into this series.
Seki and Shimizu get some development as well. Seki is still a workaholic, but he still hangs out with Shimizu until one day he just can’t stand the fact that Shimizu believes his mother is still alive. Seki kind of snaps on Shimizu and it gets him thinking. While Seki doesn’t really change much after that, Shimizu gets lured into Toshiki’s Pegasus Ensemble! I guess Shimizu can add good vibrations alongside his imaginary UFO piloted by the alien with a coiled poo snake for a head. Yeesh.
Sachi’s development came in the form of moving on with her manga. She realized that she was better off without Punpun, but you can definitely tell she had deep regrets about it. She wanted to make her manga with him, but Punpun was really holding her back. She truly believed in Punpun’s writing ever since she read his guest book entry at the art exhibit a few volumes ago, but it just wasn’t meant to be because Punpun was a one-hit wonder with his writing. She still has feelings for Punpun, but with Aiko back in the picture, those feelings are about to be shattered. It will be interesting to see how she responds once she realizes what is about to happen.
Final Thoughts
This was an amazing installment of Goodnight Punpun. While it was all over the place, it did so with a purpose. This was a transitional volume and it made me feel like we were saying goodbye to the series we’ve known and that we’re about to start something entirely new. With Punpun and Aiko moving away, I can see next volume focusing on them. We may still check in from time to time (as we did with Midori and Yuichi briefly at the end) on our other characters, but I think we’re about to witness something entirely new here, which is not a bad thing, mind you.
One of the biggest themes this volume sported was that the world always moves forward and things change. With the kind of character development we received and the way the stories flowed, it clearly shows that the world can, will and did change. Now we await volume six to see just how much the world of Punpun has changed and if it was for better or worse.
Also… Aiko was right, Punpun! You truly are a coward. You totally missed the mark!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
