Goodnight Punpun Part II: Manga With Amber Audra
Even the hardest things can shatter when one little crack appears.
Wow! First off, did you expect to see me back so soon? I didn't!! I can't promise I'll be back on a weekly schedule but I'd love to keep sending more of these out semi regularly and I have a lot more free time right now since I'm in full time recovery for my eating disorder. That means I'm spending a lot of time laying in bed. It's really boring and lonely so searching thorough what's been added to Retrocrush (by far the best way to stream old anime, and a free platform at that) is a great way to pass the time. Second off, I can't possibly thank you guys enough for the positive reception to my first Goodnight Punpun newsletter. Within 24 hours, it became my most read newsletter and to be honest, I expected the exact opposite reaction. So I really can't be happier to say that I have no clue what you guys want to read!!
Obviously, Asano's work means a lot to me. I do also think it's important to have female voices discussing, for lack of a better term, incel media like this because the discussion often gets overpowered by male voices on social media that perhaps don't always have the most thoughtful takes when it comes to the very well developed and prevelant women characters, a problem that obviously isn't Punpun exclusive.
So this week we're back with more Punpun. Specifically, we're here to tackle the other woman in Punpun's life, Sachi Nanjo.
Like Aiko Tanaka, another character that weaves in and out of Punpun's life, though in a very different way, is Asano self insert, aspiring manga artist Sachi Nanjo. And she is, in almost every way, the opposite side to the same coin that is Aiko, and an interesting look at what happens when community succeeds versus when community fails.
Though we don't find out it was her here until much later, we first meet Sachi at the factory where an 11 year old Punpun, Aiko and his classmates are having a little adventure looking for a bag of money and a dead body. Here is where we find that, like Aiko, Sachi also comes from an abusive household.
The next time we see Sachi is at an art show a high school aged Punpun has been brought to an awkward and doomed first date. She's now in college and has found friends - She's also not only escaped her abusive past but her past entirely by getting plastic surgery to drastically alter her appearance. While it's never explicitly mentioned, it is no coincidence that Sachi turned her entire life upside down so dramatically, from her family situation to her own face.
We later find out that Sachi was incredibly suicidal and at once point ready to end her life. Massive plastic surgery was doubtlessly done as an attempt to save her own life, to overhaul what she saw in the mirror in hopes that if she stopped hating what she saw, she'd stop hating herself.
Of course it didn't work.
Sachi ended up finding herself in an abusive marriage, though unlike Aiko, with the help of her college friends and her landlord who she develops a close fatherly relationship with, she ends up making it out. And she ends up following her artistic dreams and turning her life around.
But Sachi's weakness shows itself in her newfound compassion for those who remind her of her former useless and depressive self. No one is more useless than Punpun, who she meets when he begins renting from the same landlord as her. And though his personality is vile, Sachi won't take no for an answer and stops at nothing too try to help Punpun, including him in her small community of friends and loved ones.
Sadly, devoid of compassion for others, Punpun can't accept this love and also can't include his childhood sweetheart Aiko in this community, though she is literally begging for help. To Punpun, Aiko's problems are all just bullshit for him to use against her to control and coerce her. To Sachi, Punpun's problems are nothing she'd run from because she knows what it's like to feel like nothing and she doesn't want any one to feel that way.
Sachi does have her flaws. She is immature. She's volatile. She's a hypocrite. But she's very real. And a truly great friend. Though perhaps to the wrong people.
I do wonder if, knowing the extent of Punpun's crimes, Sachi ever regretted her decisions.
One thing I see brought up more than anything is the idea that the ending of Goodnight Punpun is happy. At the end, Sachi saves Punpun from suicide. He gets away pretty much scot free from his many crimes, both those actually illegal and those just morally dubious. And when we see him last, he is integrated fully in to Sachi's community, though not happy, alive.
And who knows who he'll damage next, victims forgotten or fading away.
Community succeeded someone that will probably go on to leech more from more people, assault more people, perhaps even follow in the footsteps of his lecherous uncle. And community failed a true victim who made the mistake of reaching out to literally the worst man possible. A man so bad, he literally grew horns. But everyone deserves a chance at life, I guess!!
Not the happiest but like I said at the start, that's Asano! I'm guessing I haven't convinced anyone to read Goodnight Punpun which is understandable but if you're down to beat your mental health down in the dirt, it is an artistic masterpiece! Watch out for what Asano does to the old man though. It's brutal.
Next time? We're going for a drastic mood shift! You ever Aim For The Ace?
90 minutes, free on Retrocrush and packed with drama and babes! What more could you ask for? A 1979 classique!! I think we could all go for something more light hearted. I know I sure could!
My mental health may be to fragile for this. Plus I'm not interested in soap opera, no matter how dirty the water is.
I'd choose the nerd over the cutie patootie for my date every time.. I don't care if she smokes. I don't care who has the better visual appeal. Self preservation comes first.
Both deserve a shot at happiness but I'm not a therapist. I doubt I could do more than encourage Aiko to leave Punpun and get help. (Which may be more than she's getting now.) I know from experience that getting tangled up in another person's problems doesn't help them but does drag me down. We both lose.
Does that sound heartless?