10/31/2023 0 Comments Goodnight punpun mangaThe stark division between Japan’s popular culture and its national literature is thrown into especially sharp focus by the ways in which Japanese books are translated, marketed, and managed for the English-speaking West. Though there are, of course, exceptions, such as Haruki Murakami, whose work blends the high- and low-brow and has achieved a similar success in the West, he is something of the exception that proves the rule: “accused at home of being neither truly Japanese nor truly literary” (Harding). ![]() Indeed, according to Alex Kerr, this is precisely why manga has been so successful: because it is the only art form that can “do justice to the more bizarre extremes of modern Japan.” The major works in the Japanese canon tend to have little of the large, diverse casts, the dramatic romance, or the technological sublime that characterises Japan’s best works of popular fiction. As manga (Japanese comics) exploded across the post-war landscape in a burst of ebullience and colour, writers of a more sophisticated literature have, as a rule, favoured introspection, understatement, and a distinctly unAmerican unshowiness. This sharp division would characterise the literary arts in Japan for the following century. Squaring up to the headache on the horizon, they began instead to cultivate what Buruma calls a quiet “air of nihilism.” satellite of the United States” (Christopher Harding, Japan Story). Japan’s “intellectuals,” on the other, were “disdainful” of this ingratiation, which would see them become “a mere cultural. ![]() G.I.’s through the ruins of their old cities and “pan-pan girls” (prostitutes) “dressed in cheap approximations of American fashions” were the early “pioneers of American commercial culture.” On the one hand, gum-hungry children trailing U.S. ![]() In the aftermath of the war, explains Buruma, the country stood at the brink of the great 20 th century dilemma: just how modern, how American, was it to become? Why is Goodnight Punpun a masterpiece? None of the characters are created for the reader to like them - in fact, their faults, vulnerabilities, and psychological distress push the reader to walk on a thin line between sympathizing with and despising them.In I nventing Japan, Ian Buruma describes the moment after Japan’s surrender in 1945 when these long-standing divisions in Japanese cultural life opened wide. Aiko, and many of Punpun's other friends - particularly Seki and Shimizu - have their own stories and character arcs as well, which is tangible proof of Inio Asano's genius character writing. ![]() As he attempted to get closer to her, he also continued to be a normal boy entering puberty who enjoyed hanging out with friends and discovering his budding sexuality. Punpun fell in love with Aiko Tanaka immediately after she entered their homeroom class for the first time. Despite humorous beginning, Goodnight Punpun quickly turns into a heavy psychological drama in which the protagonist, Punpun, realizes life is not as easy as he thinks - his father is not the good man he once believed him to be, his dream of becoming a space scientist feels like a galaxy away, and his relationship with the new girl in school, Aiko, isn't progressing like he thought it would. However, soon enough, the series takes a much darker turn. At first glance, Goodnight Punpun seems like it will take a childish, colorful, and cheerful approach to serious issues that many people face on a daily basis.
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