Week 7: Shounen

For this week I read Oyasumi Pun Pun. This is one of my favourite things I've read during this class. I loved it a lot and I think the author did such a good job at giving us an inside of their characters surroundings and life. It is so strange that pun pun is portrayed as a bird. I actually am not sure why but it worked somehow. He was always the most childlike and innocent looking thing while everything happening around him was chaos and actually really scary. 

First off, we get thrown into the family drama of Pun pun's father abusing his mother. Pun pun is just there and then his father gets taken away and his uncle suddenly becomes his new guardian. I think something I really liked was that we can't tell most of the time what Pun pun is thinking. It is always like he is just observing everything happening and we seldom see what he feels like. I am not sure if this is just because this is what kids feels like or how they absorb what is happening around them. They are just observing not sure how to feel. It makes me want to know more and worry about him if he is okay while all this is happening.

Aiko is also a weird character, she is quick to claim things and make threats, which I guess a girl as a kid at that age it is very normal to do, but seeing the way her mother treats her does explain why Aiko is so sad sometimes too. 

Pun pun's mother trying to stay in the hospital for a longer time really showed her neglect towards Pun pun, she wasn't really there for him for a lot of the time. It was lonely watching him go through life with his friends and everything happening around him and how he ever said much, didn't think much and just sort of let things happen. There was a scene where when he has his friends over, and they found the porn tape with the man who said he killed his family. after they watched the video and his friends wanted to go home, Pun pun immediately took the choco pie snack and offered it to his friends as he didn't want to be alone. This really stood out to me because the whole theme of the book really shows how lonely and isolated he is. he never had god role models and no one really paid attention to him or his mental growth. 

Overall, this quickly became one of my all time favourites and I am excited to read more volumes of it. I want to know more about Pun pun and see how he changes as he grows up.