MINORU'S BLOG

Goddammit Bird, get your shit together!

So another volume of Oyasumi Punpun has been released by Hox earlier today (or was it yesterday?). I must say this volume has been a bloody wild ride. While last volume was just plainly batshit insane, Asano gave us another emotional rollercoaster this time, just like he did in volume 10.

So Punpun and Aiko are still on the run after what happened in the last volume. Aiko's wound is getting worse and worse, and Punpun is still mentally unstable because of that incident. He even went as far as picking a fight with a guy because of he littered, probably he'd kill that guy if not for Aiko stopping him.

Meanwhile Sachi is getting desperate in search of Punpun. Her searching took her to Punpun's hometown in Fukushima and there she met his dad. After hearing from Punpun's dad about all sort of happening in his past, Sachi is finally determined to be the one who will protect Punpun. A bit late if you ask me.

After this point it will be a spoiler if I tell more but this is where things are starting to take a freefall Not like that saying anything after what happened in Punpun's spiral downward life so far but this time it will likely caught you off guard. I should've known better than to trust Asano. He always hits you when you least expected and rubs the wound with salt afterward. Oh and there's this subplot with Pegasus and co. too, but I doubt you'd care about that.

Anyway, I'd say this is one hell of a penultimate volume. That damned Asano kept toying with our emotion whether we like it or not. This is Punpun after all. There are pure rage, confusion, tears, a slight of hope, only to be crushed by utter despair in this volume. This is where I can't help but to sympathize with Punpun, even though he's now a jerkass psycho and not how he used to be anymore.

If the source is to be trusted, next volume will be the last. I don't think I'll like where this is going but it can't be helped. Will Asano give us the unlikely happy end? Or will he end it in the most despair way possible? Will Punpun able to conquer Planet Punpunia? Only time will tell. See you in the next volume in winter.

I want to get off Mr. Punpun's wild ride

Oh hi guys. How are you doing? It's been ages since I wrote here some months ago. Anyway let's cut the chase. Yesterday I read this manga that gave me so much feels. So I might as well share it here. It's called Koe no Katachi (The Shape of Voice). It's drawn by a fairly unknown mangaka whose her other work only consists of  Mardock Scramble. The manga is about a girl with a hearing impairment. She's bullied a lot in her new school. Rage ensues. No seriously. This manga made me really mad with burning rage of a thousand suns.Fortunately the ending is kinda cute and happy-ish. Too bad the other bullies aren't getting their payback. Where the fuck is karma when you need them?

P.S. My soft spot for girls with disabilities may or may not came from a certain pr0n game which may or may not quite popular.

Legend of the Strongest Man Kurosawa
Here's a manga from the renowned mangaka Nobuyuki Fukumoto. While not doing either gambling or mahjong manga, he made this manga about a pathetic old man who got involved in fighting. Reading Kurosawa is like reading a 40-year old man's diary and how your life will be if you keep fucked up everything in your life. It sure teached me some lesson not to live my life like Kurosawa.
Score: 8/10

Yuutai Nova
Ever since I started Aku no Hana I become interested to see the author's other works and hoping to find something even more crazy. So I checked two, one of them is Yuutai Nova. It definitely has an interesting start, dude can do 'spiritual release' in which he turned into a 'ghost' in his sleep. He used the power to stalk his ex-gf only to find out she already has a boyfriend, NTR ensued. But that's not the main issue: he met other people who can do spiritual release just like him and they try to rape an idol. No really.

It definitely has this crazy vibe I'm getting from AnH, mainly because of the MC's facial expression and some twisted relationship of the characters. Unfortunately it all crumbles down at the second volume, ultimately ended up with an axed ending. Still, it's a pretty decent read if you want to check Oshimi Shuuzou's earlier work.
Score: 6/10 (because of the axed ending)

Forget-me-not
Hailed from the hand of Tsuruta Kenji (Memories of Emanon, Wandering Emanon) comes this beautifully drawn manga. It's a story about a young detective in Venice and some cases surrounding an infamous thief. But the plot isn't all that important. What this manga need is more color pages. Seriously, I love Tsuruta art ever since Emanon which is probably one of the best manga I've ever read. Go read it and this manga.
Score: 8/10

Kimi wa Midara na Boku no Joou
A borderline-H manga usually only consists of cocktease with some obnoxious story for the purpose of keeping the reader entertained after they finished jacking off. Well this one is no different, except I really like this one so much especially with the sweet vanilla romance. Basically the story goes like this: dude has a childhood friend, they got separated because the girl went to highclass school for rich people because well, her family is rich. Dude worked hard to get scholarship to get accepted into the high school. They finally met but the girl acts cold toward him but nobody else. Due to some magic shit their rooms (they live in dorm) got connected, hilarity ensued. It was found out that she's actually lusting over him for these years and due to the magic (a talking pillow that is actually a god) once in a day she lost her self control for an hour and she reveals her true self.

Excuse my terrible wording, basically the story is like that. It is a very NSFW manga so I won't recommend you reading it at public places. It's only 5 chapters but all of them are satisfying (at least for me). The art is good, the main girl is cute and lewd, the ecchi and story are well-balanced. What's not to like?
Score: 9/10

P.S. This manga constantly made me jelly of the main character. Why can't I be him? Subaru is so damn cute!

I'm gonna use this image over and over again until you guys read Punpun

Now let's talk about manga. There are several long running manga that ended this year like Bakuman and Negima but they're hardly held any importance to me, except for Gunslinger Girl, Team Medical Dragon and maybe Franken Fran. (Wait, actually add Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei too, as the ending of that manga blown my mind). Some long running manga I followed that still have no sign of ending including Berserk, NGE and Claymore. Some new shonen series popped up out of nowhere and surprisingly they're suited to my taste. They are Maoyuu, Gate and Akame ga Kill. Anyway here's some of the manga I enjoyed reading during this whole year. Treat this as recommendation or whatsoever, I don't care.

Oyasumi Punpun
Akame ga Kill
Prism
Otoyomegatari
Molester Man
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha
Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought  There
Aku no Hana
A Girl by the Sea
One-Punch Man
Again!!
Kangoku Gakuen
Wandering Emanon
I Am a Hero
Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to
Majo no Shinzou
Blood Alone
A Lollipop or a Bullet
Ryuushika Ryuushika

On the first day of Christmas, Asano sent to me a new Punpun volume.
(Beware of spoilers, chap!)

Sweet holy mother of god. I don't even know where to begins with this bloody volume. Let me get with the big spoiler first: Punpun killed Aiko's mom. Yep, that's right. There's no way back from his already downer life. There's only going down from now.

This volume is one hell of a ride. Even more so than the last one. I actually had to take a breather and went out of my room every once in a while because of the tension. Basically Punpun has lost it in this volume, his head changed to devilish horn. Aiko isn't better, even more broken than before since she suffered some kind of mental shock (PTSD) after seeing all that happened.

This volume also brought some development to the occult thingy and some previous characters like the gay duo (Seki & Shimizu) and Sachi also briefly appeared. What happened at the end of volume left a big question mark in my head, not in cliffhanger way but more like in "what the fuck is even going on" way. I hate the fact that I must wait for unknown months before getting the next volume.

Now speculah time. I read somewhere that Oyasumi Punpun manga is going to end in volume 14, so that's three whole volumes more. I think Inio is going to explain more of this cult stuff in the next volume. Also, I don't think Aiko can hold on any longer because of what Punpun did in this volume. There's also this problem with Sachi and her baby. The suffering never ends.

Anyway, that was a really superb volume. It started wild and chaotic, a bit calmed in the middle of volume, and went wild again. It's pretty depressing if you ask me but we're the reader of Punpun from volume 1 know all too well about depression, aren't we? Also it's really saddening to see what Punpun has become after all these tragic things. He started as an innocent boy who had interest in space and ended up being insane like this. Here's a quote from an anon which described my feeling accurately:

I feel like a father watching his only son fuck up his life with stupid decissions little by little, and there is nothing I can do to help him. Just watch behind a sound-proof glass, drinking my alcohol, on my 6th cigar this hour and just praying to whatever deity there is that it won't get worse for him.

Ho ho motherfucking ho, Merry Ruined Christmas, Punpun!

PS. Meanwhile in Akame ga Kill, some cute girl just died. What a great day, isn't it? (laughs)

Oh please don't mind me or this post. Just want to write down a few things that has been happening in this past few days.

(Okay, okay, I admit it. The post title is not very original indeed)

Bought a new external HDD
Finally! After few years of suffering and suffocating, I finally got myself a new space for all these pr0nz. It's a 2 TB WD that I bought, certainly not long until it'll be stuffed enough bytes to fill it. Nevertheless, at least my PC and laptop can breathe now thanks to it. No more deleting all those precious files!

Hotline Miami
This game is cool, yo. Go play it if you haven't. Beware of the dogs though.

Molester Man
Another 2ch tale turned into a manga. This time involves a guy who's mistaken as a molester. That's the start of the unexpected turn of events of his life.

It's pretty awesome if you ask me.

The world hasn't ending (yet)
Those fucking Mayans and their stupid pranks prophecy. Here I was ready to get turned into tang while Komm Susser Todd playing with max volume. Such a let down.

The Mirror Lied and Clock of Atonement
Two short games made with RPG Maker. Man, I'm such a sucker for good RPG Maker games.

The Mirror Lied is about... hell if I know what's the story is supposed to mean. It has pretty good music though. It was made by those same guy who did To The Moon.

And Clock of Atonement has a more accessible story. It was about a stalker guy who killed the girl he stalked and found a watch that can turn back time so he turned back the time so he can prevent the murder in a Ghost Trick way.

Beneath a Steel Sky
A rather old (1994) point n click adventure game with cyberpunk and sci-fi theme. It's free on GOG so I figured why the hell not try it. The graphics is well, old, but for 1994 I'd say it's pretty. The dialogues are funny and charming with all the british accent. The puzzle is well-done, too. It's recommended if you're into the genre.

Punpun new volume, SOON
According to Hox, he'll start translating the new volume on Christmas Eve. Way to go to ruin everyone Christmas, Hox!

Aku no Hana
Boy this manga sure is fucked up. I finally catch up with it and I can say it's one of top ten most crazy manga in my list. I can only imagine what sort of reaction we get when the anime airs next year.

Finished Kaiji S2
Never too late for zawa zawa. That damn pachinko machine, man. (Also, Mikako doujin where?)

Gonna do those end of the year posts (again)
Yeah, just like past years. Or did I really do it? wakarimasenlol.
I'll start tomorrow if I don't lazy.


Goodbye cruel world.
xoxo  minoru

Title : Assassination Classroom
Alternate Title : Ansatsu Kyoushitsu
Demographic : Shonen
Genre : Action, Comedy
Author : Yuusei Matsui
Year : 2012
Status : Ongoing
Translated : 23 chapters

Synopsis :
The students of class 3-E have a mission: kill their teacher before graduation. He has already destroyed the moon, and has promised to destroy the Earth if he can not be killed within a year. But how can this class of misfits kill a tentacled monster, capable of reaching Mach 20 speed, who may be the best teacher any of them have ever had?
(source: MyAnimeList)

Comment :
Got hooked by this manga after reading the first 3 chapters. I don't know why, neither the plot nor the art is amazing enough, yet I keep going on and on until eventually I ran out of translated chapters to read. One thing I can concluded is this manga has potential to be good, it depends on how the author will play the cards.

Title : One Punch-Man
Alternate Title : -
Demographic : Seinen
Genre : Action, Comedy, Parody
Author : One (Story), Yuusuke Murata (Art)
Year : 2012
Status : Ongoing
Translated : 18 chapters

Synopsis :
Follows the life of an average hero who manages to win all battles with only one punch. This ability seems to frustrate him as he no longer feels the thrill and adrenaline of fighting a tough battle, which leads to him questioning his past desire of being strong.
(source: MyAnimeList)

Comment :
At first, I started reading this manga just for shit and giggles. The parody of shonen superhero 'monster of the week' genre sounds juicy for my funny bones. Yet in the end I stay for the coolness of this manga. The art is really good, it's drawn by Murata of Eyeshield 21 fame. The manga is famous for its awesome two-page spreads, which are usually frame-to-frame images of action scene.

HOLY SHIT GUYS, IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!

Tetsuo Araki, the man behind Death Note and (lol) Guilty Crown is put in charge of the director. The head writer will be Yasuko Kobayashi (Shakugan no Shana, Claymore, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure). It's not like any of you care about staff anyway. The studio is relatively unknown Wit Studio. Well as long as they don't somehow fucked with the source material any studio is fine with me. The main cast is already announced too. Fuck Yuuki Kaji.

That ANN news confirmed that the anime will premier next spring. Speaking of spring, Shingeki no Kyoujin is not the only one to air on that season, there's also Aku no Hana anime. More things to look forward to in 2013! I hope the world isn't ending yet!


UPDATE: FUCKING AWESOME TRAILER

Okay, here I go with more mango recommendation. Hailed from the hands of the mighty Yoshitoshi ABe, comes Ryuushika Ryuushika. The best way to describe this manga is "It's like Yotsuba except it's Yotsuba on drugs". Seriously.

Behold:
I don't know about you, but personally I enjoy this more than Yotsubato. Maybe it's because of ABe influence on me. Maybe because of its beautiful full-color pages. Maybe because of Ryuushika is just an awesome character.

Might as well telling you that I'm a big fan of ABe's artwork. From Haibane Renmei to Lain to Texhnolyze. I love this guy's art.

Anyway if you like Yotsubato or other "little girls doing little girls things" manga you'll pretty much like Ryuushika Ryuushika. Go grab it at /a/non scanlations who is doing other cool manga such as Appergio of Blue Steel and 7O3X.

You may gaze upon this beautiful visage. Done? Good, because I'm about to tell you about a manga featuring the beauty above.

The manga starts with a fairly common scene, MC summoned a succubus to help him get ridden of his virginity. How lucky! I mean, who wouldn't want to lose his virginity to a devil! Anyway, the succubus he summoned was pretty cute and he was waiting eagerly to start the, uhm, ritual. Then here's come the interesting twist: the cute devil is actually a boy! You think that only makes MC more looking forward to do it, well you're wrong.

The pact between MC and the devil already made, but because he refused to fullfil his contract with the devil, the devil won't leave him alone. The rest of the manga is about how the devil wants to get into MC's pants. Hilarity ensues. Just imagine this as the reverse of what happens in My Balls except the devil is a boy. Daga otoko da! Well, there's actually nothing wrong with wanting to bone a cute trap. Because everything is better with a p0n0s.

Well it's not like I didn't see it coming a mile away. Still, I've a bit mixed feeling to see the character design. I prefer the manga design if you ask me. Regardless of that, I hope they keep the drama CD cast in the upcoming anime. I mean, FukuJun as Hero and Ami Koshimizu as Demon Queen? If this does not scream "Spice and Wolf S3!" I don't know what does. Also, Miyuki Sawashiro as Female Knight. That's freaking perfect job for her. I have another concern regarding the animation studio. I wish worst case scenario (DEEN, JC) will not happen.

So I'm in holiday and I thought that these are good times to start working through my countless backlogs. These include anime, manga and video games backlog. These are several of them that I already completed.

Anime
Black Lagoon (and sequels)
Honestly I've never watch the anime before. It doesn't really matter since I've already read the manga hundred times. Still, seeing those run 'n gun sequences are one of the thing you cannot miss if you are a fan of action genre. My favorite arc is the one that involving the twins.
Rating:
Black Lagoon: 9/10
The Second Barrage: 9/10
Roberta's Blood Trail: 8/10

Texhnolyze
Bloody hell. This must be one of the most depressing anime I've ever watched. Literally everyone dies in the end. Whoops, sorry to spoil you. I like the atmosphere of this show. The dark town of Lux, the sewer, the "Outside World", those places really feels alive to me. This anime is definitely need to be rewatched someday.
Rating: 9/10

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
It's one of those anime that you can't really find its weakness. Everything feels perfectly fine. Intense action, smart conversation, amazing characters, you name it. However I gave it a 9 out of 10, just because I'm an ass. Sure, it is a perfect anime but not my favorite so I can't give it a full score.
Rating: 9/10

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Bide your time... And hold out hope! Another one that close to being perfect. Once I start watching it I'm always on the edge of my seat. The Count is a fascinating character. He's so manipulative that I always feel he's going to be a great villain in other anime. I haven't read the original story ye but I'm planning to do so (after I'm done with Les Miserables).
Rating: 9/10

Kaiji
ざわ‥ ざわ‥
Rating: 8/10 (for losing his ear and fingers)

Moyashimon
You can call it some kind of preparation before watching the second season. But honestly I can't really say that it's that great. Sure it's a nice comedy and there are cute microbes here and there (I mean, microbes! Cute!) but that's all it can offer.
Rating: 8/10 (I was going to give it a 7 but a plus for the cute tranny.

Diebuster
Not really much to say here since I'm still on episode 2.

Crest of the Stars
Idem with above. I already fall in love with the setting of this one though.

Manga
Akame ga Kill
It's pretty fun to read. Typical shonen stuff except it comes with some violent twist. The characters are OK. Still ongoing currently at chapter 26.

Cute girl killing each other: The Manga

Dowman Sayman
He's a great mangaka that I've yet to known until recently. One of his famous work is Voynich Hotel. Currently reading that. Also, finished his other work called Nickelodeon Red. It's weird stuff but I love it. His style reminds me of Kumeta (of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei fame).

Inio Asano
I'm also re-reading some of Inio Asano's stuff like Solanin and Hikari no Machi. Still great as always. Especially Nijigahara Holograph. I cannot bring myself to re-read Punpun though, that's too hard for my mind and soul ;_;

Video Games
Hitman Blood Money
Man, this game kicks so much ass. That final mission in funeral was really awesome. Too bad some of the missions were too easy (the one in house with pool also the wedding) while the other were just plain great. My favorite way to kill? Pushing some old guy off the balcony.
Score: 9/10

Merry Christmas to you too, 47

Bioshock
Would you kindly stop praising Bioschock so much? Hell, I wouldn't. Because it deserves the praise. Definitely one of the most immersive FPS to date since Half Life 2. Also, the final boss fight was one of my most memorable moment in video game. Where else you can find a game that let little girls help you fight the boss?
Score: 9/10

The Walking Dead Episode 2
RIP Mark (and his leg). I won't miss you since I don't even know you well.
Score: 8/10

Crysis
Currently playing this shit. It's fun (obviously), great looking (even for today standard), and the most important you can explore anywhere on the map. The only downside is the boring mission. "Player, go to the place I marked with X on the map!" "Player, infiltrate the enemy base but don't make too much noise!" No fuck you, I won't listen to you. I'm gonna bomb the hell outta the place, I hope you fine with that.
Score: 8/10

Visual Novel
Not much to write here, I'm only planning to read Muvluv but still can't find the right time to do it.

Title : It’s Not My Fault That I’m Not Popular!
Alternate Title : Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui!
Demographic : Shonen
Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life, School life
Author : Nico Tanigawa
Year : 2011
Status : Ongoing
Translated : 19 chapters

Synopsis :
Kuroki Tomoko is a super popular, high school girl, who has had 50 years of dating experience, and 100 boys... in the Otome game world. In the real world, she is a 15 year old shut in, who has all of the qualities of a "mojo" (喪女, a gloomy or unpopular woman).

However, when school isn't going as she expected, and she isn't as popular as she had thought she was, she takes a look at herself in the mirror for the first time in a few years, and has some shocking revelations...
(Source: Manga-Updates)

Comment :
I picked up this manga when it suddenly gained popularity on /a/ last year. It was a pretty entertaining manga, mainly because it focused on pathetic main character who is an otaku girl. There are some awkward situations found in this manga which probably familiar to some of us (not me) and I always think that watching her trapped in that awkward situation is amusing. I am such an heartless person.

Title : Maoyuu Maou Yuusha
Alternate Title : Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - "Kono Watashi no Mono Tonare, Yuusha yo" "Kotowaru!" (because there's like 5 different manga version of Maoyuu)
Demographic : Shonen
Genre : Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Authors : Mamare Touno (Story), Akira Ishida (Art)
Year : 2011
Status : Ongoing
Translated : 12 chapters

Synopsis :
After a long and treacherous journey, our Hero finally arrives at the Dark Lady’s castle only to find himself being asked for help. The Hero explains how the war that the demons have brought upon the humans have killed thousands and put more in misery. The queen of demons however argues that this war has made the human society band together as one and showed empirical evidence how it has increased population, increased production, boosted economy and improved society overall. Furthermore, she explains to the Hero that ending this war will result in a civil war that will produce more bloodshed than there ever was. The Hero, convinced that the only way to bring peace, relatively speaking, is to join forces with the Dark Lady, agrees to help with her plans!
(Source: Manga-Updates)

Comment :
My friend introduced me to this manga a while ago when this manga still had 3 chapters. I immediately fall in love with it, because this manga has it all: charming characters, cool action, cute romance, funny comedy and some serious economic stuff. I'm not surprised if one day this manga will get an anime treatment.

Oh Oyasumi Punpun. To think a manga could bring an emotional roller coaster to me every volume. Here is the summary of some things that happened in the latest volume and my initial impression, oh also *SPOILER ALERT*

Summary
After what happened in that cliffhanger in the last volume, Punpun finally had his first talk with Aiko since years.  Punpun (still in his Fujikawa Takashi personality) claims that he had been living a normal live as university student (which we know he aren't). Aiko herself told him that she is currently working as a model and that she has a boyfriend who older than her. Punpun can't help but feels that Aiko he knew was different than this Aiko he currently talking to. That the girl isn't the Aiko he knows. Then they planned to meet a few days later, date or some sort.

Punpun, with his Takashi personality, has no trouble to walk and chat with Aiko normally. But deep inside in his mind he he hates the current Aiko. They continue their "date" until night when Punpun suddenly make a move by offering to stay up in a hotel. As I expected, he tries to have sex with Aiko since Punpun is a guy with healthy sexual drive. However Aiko turns him down and leaves him alone in hotel room. Depressed, Punpun goes crazy.

Punpun meets with Sachi's ex-husband in a strange encounter. They had talk for a while (along with Sachi) and from the talk we know that Sachi's ex-husband is a successful person or something. After that talk, Sachi tells Punpun in private that she is pregnant... with her ex-husband child. Since she doesn't want anyone to know this matter she decides to do abortion. She asked Punpun to go to the hospital with her and he agreed quietly. This is the point where he resolutes himself that after he gets his driver license and Sachi's surgery is done, he'll go live somewhere faraway.

The next day, he confesses to Aiko that he was lying all these times. He is not a university student nor he's happy with his life. He also told Aiko that all these years he has been searching for her and the guilt from breaking the promise they had in the childhood still remains with him to this very day. He also explicitly blames her for all the things that go wrong in his life but seeing that she has grown into a well-adjusted person makes him glad that he can meet her once again. Surprisingly Aiko told Punpun that "she has been waiting for him too all this time".

Aiko herself is actually not living the dream like what Punpun believes. Long story short, in the next chapter it is implied that Aiko was constantly abused by her mother. She is also actually working in a small company (some sort of blue collar job) and not working as a model. Oh, poor Aiko. Her life is probably as bad as Punpun's.

Because this summary is getting tl;dr I'm gonna skip to important point. Sachi called Punpun that he is free to decide whether he will accompany her to the hospital or not. Either way she will be waiting for him in front of the station. Suddenly Aiko comes to Punpun apartment. Punpun worries about the bruises on her face and body. She tells him it's okay and maybe because she hears that conversation on the phone she is leaving. Punpun asks her to wait and explains her problem. The it suddenly happens.

Just as the usual. But this time it actually happens. They had sex. Also, Aiko was still a virgin so that kinda destroys all previous theory that she is a slut. After that they talk about going somewhere else and live with just the two of them. Yes, just like their previous promise. Punpun doesn't want to break his promise again so he agrees. They took a taxi and while in the way Punpun catches a glimpse of a young woman on the street.... it was Sachi. Their eyes met and she's crying. Punpun realizes that this is the same situation as before except this one ends with Punpun said "There's no turning back now."

Impression
Sorry if the summary above feels really suck. That's mainly because lack of sleep. Okay, so this volume is the shit. THIS THE FUCKING VOLUME MAN. Just a perfect manga I need to read after finishing Now and Then, Here and There last week. Nope, probably not.

I was surprised to see what kind of life Aiko lived all these years. Her world hasn't changed since she was little. Her mother still wasted money on useless fraud stuff except she can't doing anything right now and she is wasting Aiko's money she earned from her part time job. It was indeed a suffering life.

One of the biggest twist in this volume is Sachi got pregnant with her ex's. I mean what the hell. Poor Punpun must be confused. But what if somehow it turns out to be Punpun's child after all? And she decided to keep the child? Damn, Asano will never let me down. That scene at the end of the volume was pretty depressing too. It somehow goes full circle with what happened in the earlier volume What will happened afterward? Too bad we have to wait until October to read the next volume. I'm sure it won't end well. Either Punpun is commiting suicide or...

Last, that was really a wonderful read. Painful as it seems, but still wonderful. Also reading it together with /a/ was a fun experience. I hope the next volume will be as great as this. Though I don't really think I can handle it when the time comes. My body will never ready for another Punpun chapter. Thank you Punpun for the entertaining read, thank you Asano for the brilliant story, thank you based Hox for translating this and thank you /a/ for that great thread.

Well, I read Psycho's post and it looks kinda fun to write so I make my own list. Here's the list of my favorit H mangaka:

My favorite doujinka forever. I love every lines of his drawing, as he is the master of creating cute girls in every one of his works. This man here will be a legend soon.

His works are pretty nasty, but I love his art. Especially dem ahegao.

No, not Gabriel Tosh, that terran spectre from Starcraft II. Tosh has some funny works to date, enough to make me smiling while fapping enjoying his beautiful art.

To tell you the truth, I don't really find Cuvie's artwork to be special. It is the story that I like from him rather than the drawing. Sometimes his works are vanilla but more often than not there are some heartbreaking stories in his doujin.

One of two of my favorite vanilla doujinka. His works are often cute and heartwarming.

Originally this spot was reserved for Homunculus but recently I took a liking to Napata whose vanilla works are amazing. Just look at that artwork.

If you are a lolicon and a fan of incest, look no further than Onizuka Naoshi's works. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Great for shit and giggles. Seriously, I laugh way harder when reading his works than when reading "It's Not My Fault That I'm Not Popular".


Those are some of my favorite H mangaka. There are more actually, like Shunjyo Shusuke, Yamatogawa, Shinden Akira, Sameda Koban, Kensoh Ogawa and many more. But I don't think I need to list all of them, do I?

Let me say this in the front: Oyasumi Punpun is one of the greatest manga I've ever read. And you too, should read this manga so you can feel what I feel.

Oyasumi Punpun (or Goodnight Punpun, for you non-weeaboos) is a coming-of-age manga by Inio Asano. You might've known his name from his other works such as Solanin or Nijigahara Holograph. The story is about a boy named Punpun and how he lives his life. We see how he grows up, falls in love, and makes friends. Pretty regular stuff, isn't it? Except Punpun (and his family) is drawn as a silly caricatured bird you see in picture above and the fact that there is some Inio Asano-esque surrealistic thingie in this manga such as Afro God that shows up whenever Punpun chants "Dear God, Dear God, Tinkle-tinkle hoy!".

Yes, he's God

Despite that, I must say that this manga is a friggin' realistic portrayal of life. As in, life is hard and growing up sucks. Here we see Punpun's struggle in his life which pretty much can be anyone else's life. There are times when I told my self while reading this, "Hey, this happens in my life" and there are also times when I had to stopped reading and sighed because the plot grew darker and darker as I progressed. Yeah you read it right, this is a manga filled with depression and irony. But I couldn't stop there, I had to continue.

Inio Asano once again amazed with his ability in storytelling as well as beautiful art. This guy knows how to draw his works in highly-detailed art. Every background in this manga is absolutely amazing. And as I said before, there are some surreal scenes too. I think now I can grouped Inio Asano among my other favorites surreal mangaka like Suehiro Maruo, Usamaru Furuya, Taiyou Matsumoto and Nishioka Brosis.

Quick, make a wish!

To put it bluntly, Oyasumi Punpun is simply a masterpiece. It's touching, heartbreaking and heartwarming. It is realistic and surreal at the same time. Yes, it's deep and thought-provoking as well as funny and disturbing. I cannot recommend you this series highly enough. This review maybe not exactly described what the manga is about so do yourself a favor and read this manga now. You can grab the scanlated version from Hox's mediafire folder.