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Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!







Manga author Inio Asano feels for you and your pathetic circumstances. He understands the wide range of emotions that have been experienced by those who lived their life only to find that they were far more inconsequential than they'd thought. He understands, and he's here to tell you a story. He'll tell you one that may make you feel better, one that'll make you feel worse, one that'll make you cry, maybe even one that'll help you come to understand yourself and others a little better. One thing is certain though, he's going to tell you that story with style.

Since his break into the manga world, Asano has explored the theme of finding meaning in a seemingly meaningless life. Luckily despite the angst inherent in this subject he does so with of wealth of humor, wit, and artistic talent. I'd highly recommend any of his works available in English, which you can learn more about by clicking above (or scrolling down). Also feel free to help yourself to:

Before Dawn and the End of the World, a compilation of his one-shots.

Grenadier fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Dec 21, 2013

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Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!
Asano's first work, published when he was only 22 years old, is the rather enjoyable What A Wonderful World!, a compilation of tenuously connected little vignettes about the lives of all sorts of people in ordinary and extraordinary situations which extols the the value of life in this world, even in the face of some of the most unappealing situations. It covers everything from estranged siblings to confused lovers to lonely young children, bullied by their peers and ready to test the limits of their willingness to deal with such a baffling and cruel existence...







The story follows the lives of all sorts of folks, and Asano's insight into human character at his age was impressive, though painted here in somewhat broad strokes. This is also his least coherent narrative, in terms of an overarching story, but it is still an excellent read and a relatively cheap buy.

Grenadier fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Mar 29, 2011

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!
Probably his most popular work, earning itself a live action interpretation, would be Solanin, the story of a group of twentysomethings who are realizing they didn't come anywhere close to having the lives they thought they would, striving to find some small enduring happiness. It is to an extent the definitive thesis of his work to that point. Solanin's like, 'hey its okay... don't worry about it, just go rock out with your band between your boring job and arguing with your significant other.'



In other words its your life... only you don't have a band or a girl, but that doesn't mean it isn't remarkably entertaining, so buy it.

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!


Have you read What a Wonderful World! yet? Well somewhere between that and Nijigahara Holograph Asano apparently decided that the scattershot examination of loosely threaded characters would make for a fantastic setup for a psychological horror, and he was right.

A group of classmates in a small town are connected by single dark event which took place at an embankment nicknamed Rainbow Field. As the story guides us back and forth from character to character, between past and present, it becomes clear that this event is only part of an even more disturbing occurrence.





It's tough to talk about this one without giving a lot away, but it's a really good read, and a pretty chilling take on the subject. Just know you are in for what is probably the author's most relentlessly bleak work to date, though the next story certainly is giving it a run for it's money...

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!
Finally, there's Asano's current hit and magnum opus: Goodnight Punpun. Punpun takes the themes he'd been building up and bolsters the style, storytelling, and drama with a deftness that frankly blows his previous works out of orbit. Allow me to attempt to sell you on a read with one image alone:



Punpun is the story of a young man's adolescence. Strangely enough this young man and his family appear as two dimensional bird-things in the midst of an otherwise completely normal (and astoundingly well-rendered) world. Though it appears to just be a quirky gimmick on first blush, it serves a very important and subtle purpose: allowing the reader to more easily identify with this admittedly dramatic character. A hell of a lot happens to Punpun, but by being reminded only very occasionally that he is actually a completely normal young man who does not appear at all as he is rendered to those around him, we can more easily find the common links between him and ourselves, filling in the blanks where necessary.

The story begins with our young hero, who is struggling to work out the two most common mysteries in life...

Faith:










and Love:










These and many other issues put Punpun through trial after trial, so far all the way into his teens:



How he will fare in the end, only time and a lot of F5's during the occasional volume drops will tell. For now, onward fellow readers! Into the strange and wonderful world of Inio Asano!

Epoxy Bulletin
Sep 7, 2009

delikpate that thing!
Holy poo poo, awesome post. Thanks for the new thread!

Also worth mentioning is that Grenadier has generously purchased the last few volumes for Hox(mediafire account, blog down as of this posting) to scan and translate!

Punpun got me into Asano's stuff and I've read everything except Solanin and loved it. Masterful work.

finalcake
Oct 5, 2002

CHESTO~!!
Thank you for this thread! I knew I've seen Punpun randomly at a bookstore but couldn't remember the title for the life of me.

chelsea clinton
Sep 16, 2007

by Y Kant Ozma Post
Oyasumi Punpun is the best and the worst thing. I hope that God shows up again, anyway, he's been absent for a while and he was always a really funny character.

One thing that Asano is pretty good at is drawing comedy with otherwise realistic-looking people. Rip dreaming or Kato and Taneda hanging out at the zoo in Solanin are great examples of that.

Strange Matter
Oct 6, 2009

Ask me about Genocide
Punpun is a work of unspeakable genius. Its one of the most devastating things I've ever read. From start to finish it's nothing but characters making terrible, stupid choices based on impulse and, more often than not, raging hormones.

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!

Epoxy Bulletin posted:

Also worth mentioning is that Grenadier has generously purchased the last few volumes for Hox(mediafire account, blog down as of this posting) to scan and translate!

I actually had a costly hard drive failure right near completing the scans for this volume, so hardly any of them will be mine this time around. This is actually kind of a good thing for everyone concerned because hox found someone with more free time and focus who was willing to do it in my place, which means faster Punpun for all.

quote:

I've read everything except Solanin
Doooo iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Cipher Pol 9
Oct 9, 2006


Ah! Solanin is his? I've picked up that manga at bookstores constantly, drawn to it for some reason, always wanting to read it but never actually buying it. I'm going to have to remedy that and start checking this guy's work out.

Zorak
Nov 7, 2005
Here is a cool tweet I saw a few days ago:

HIDEO_KOJIMA posted:

Bought Mr. Inio Asano's new book. "Umibe-no-Onnanoko (A girl by the seaside)." The binding is beautiful as always. http://t.co/K2N17t3

Kojima is apparently a big Inio Asano fan, which isn't all that surprising, but still is very neat.

AzraelNewtype
Nov 9, 2004

「ブレストバーン!!」

Cipher Pol 9 posted:

Ah! Solanin is his? I've picked up that manga at bookstores constantly, drawn to it for some reason, always wanting to read it but never actually buying it. I'm going to have to remedy that and start checking this guy's work out.

It's out of print, so do so quickly.

Silentman0
Jul 11, 2005

I have a new neighbor. Heard he comes from far away
More Punpun? Hurray! So I guess "God" actually exists? What the hell?

Keyboard Kid
Sep 12, 2006

If you stay here too long, you'll end up frying your brain. Yes, you will. No, you will...not. Yesno, you will won't.
The only thing I've read from him is Solanin, which was pretty good. I adored the style of it, even if I wasn't satisfied with the final third or so. I'd definitely recommend it.

I should pick up What a Wonderful World, I assumed it would be longer than 2 volumes... Unfortunately, that and Solanin is all that's out in English.

Cipher Pol 9
Oct 9, 2006


AzraelNewtype posted:

It's out of print, so do so quickly.

Son of a. drat my cheapness! Thanks for letting me know, hope I can still find it.

ANIME AKBAR
Jan 25, 2007

afu~
I read Solanin after Punpun and was pretty disappointed in it. I like to think that it was just practice for writing Punpun.

edit: not sure what I think of Nijagahara Holograph yet, though. I'll probably need to read a few more times just to understand it.

ANIME AKBAR fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Mar 29, 2011

The_Guy
Mar 1, 2004

Eventually they always run out of other people's tiles.
I've read some Punpun and now I feel the uncontrollable urge to take a romantic bath with my toaster. :smith:

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!

Cipher Pol 9 posted:

Son of a. drat my cheapness! Thanks for letting me know, hope I can still find it.

You're in luck on both counts. Still available and quite cheap!

laddio
Apr 25, 2010

If you like Inio Asano he makes an appearance as the impossibly cool ex-boyfriend of the love interest in I Am A Hero, another cool manga about having emotions in our modern world.

linall
Feb 1, 2007
I just read Solanin because of this thread. Thank you. It was most excellent. Now to time the return of this copy to my friend with the arrival of my very own. That or see if I can find it on the cheap at my local going out of business Borders.

e: Actually was the Solanin live action any good?

linall fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Mar 29, 2011

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/oyasumi_punpun/v07/c072/1.html

We are approaching critical mass.

linall posted:

e: Actually was the Solanin live action any good?

I have had that drat thing sitting on my hard drive for ages now and just have not mustered the care to watch it. My guess is that it's a perfectly mediocre adaptation, very much like any J-Drama manga -> movie adaptation.

Grenadier fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Mar 29, 2011

Mecha Gojira
Jun 23, 2006

Jack Nissan
I am never going to look at my avatar the same way again (NWS). Thank you, Oyasumi Punpun.

Bybus Slago
Oct 31, 2005
Maybe I'm just not hip to the jive.

Grenadier posted:

I have had that drat thing sitting on my hard drive for ages now and just have not mustered the care to watch it. My guess is that it's a perfectly mediocre adaptation, very much like any J-Drama manga -> movie adaptation.

Basically this. I was actually pretty excited to see it as I love Asian Kung-Fu Generation, which is pretty much how I imagined their band sounded in the manga. None of the music in the movie really stood out to me.

Bro Dad
Mar 26, 2010


More Punpun:

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/oyasumi_punpun/v07/c073/1.html

Suben
Jul 1, 2007

In 1985 Dr. Strange makes a rap album.

Bybus Slago posted:

Basically this. I was actually pretty excited to see it as I love Asian Kung-Fu Generation, which is pretty much how I imagined their band sounded in the manga. None of the music in the movie really stood out to me.

I imagine they have to cut stuff out to make it fit into a two hour or whatever movie? I swear to god if they cut out any of the Kato-focused stuff... :argh:

Silentman0
Jul 11, 2005

I have a new neighbor. Heard he comes from far away

The panels of Punpun running are amazing. I can't believe he can get so much life out of a bird stick figure.

showdown
Jul 10, 2001

Smellrose
Oh poo poo chapter 7 came out? Time to send myself into a soul-crushing depression before I sleep, thanks guys.

Bro Dad
Mar 26, 2010


Three more chapters of Punpun to discuss with your therapist:

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/oyasumi_punpun/v07/c074/1.html

Shazaminator
Oct 11, 2007
The power of Shazam compels you!
Can someone explain Nijigahara Holograph for me? I read it and it was kind of amazing but it feels like I'm missing one or two important pieces of information to make it all sort of coalesce into a coherent narrative.

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!
Punpun Chapter 77: the Onoderamid

Shazaminator posted:

Can someone explain Nijigahara Holograph for me? I read it and it was kind of amazing but it feels like I'm missing one or two important pieces of information to make it all sort of coalesce into a coherent narrative.
If you have archives there's a lot of discussion on this page from the old thread. But here's a nice black wall that gets the meat of it. It's been so long now since I've read it that I probably couldn't answer any questions beyond what I said here without reading it again.

Holy poo poo posted:

I'm not sure if any of this is right, but this is what I got from it.

Komatsuzaki: liked Kimura Arie. After getting caught up in the excitement of a legend, the class decided to push her down a well as a "sacrifice" to the monster down there (which was actually a legend created by Kimura Arie), causing her to go into a coma. As a result, Komatsuzaki became increasingly sadistic and weird as time wore on. One of the kids who tagged along with him (forget his name, the one that has the scar on his face) gets fed up with it when he pulls a knife. He hits Komatsuzaki with a brick, then tosses him unconscious down the well. Turns out that Komatsuzaki didn't suffer much in the way of physical injury but, but his mental instability increases. He takes to never cutting his hair or shaving, wandering around the tunnels looking at butterflies, killing people, and waiting for "the awakening" (when Kimura Arie wakes up from her coma).

Arakawa: In the same class as Komatsuzaki and Kimura Arie. Arakawa liked Komatsuzaki and secretly hated Kimura Arie because she was Komatsuzaki's crush. She was with the rest of the class when they pushed her down the well, though later on she admits that being caught up in the legend was just a pretense and that the real reason was that she was jealous. She hooks up with this manager at a cafe (still not sure who he is yet, I'm thinking maybe that ugly girl's older brother?) and eventually he tries to kill her because he's crazy and thinks she's dirty or something. He drags her out to the rainbow field, where (i think) Komatsuzaki shows up behind him and stabs him through the chest with an umbrella. Then, I think at some point later they hook up and talk about some stuff? Not sure on that part.

Grenadier posted:

L.E. Cheetah posted:

There's a time loop? I didn't get that at all, it just jumped back and forth in a very confusing manner from 11 years ago to today.

Eiba posted:

More seriously: I'm most confused about the ugly little girl. Who did she become? And am I right in counting 4 glasses kids at once at the hospital in the very beginning/end? I guess the question is if he was his own father... though it was implied that his father might have been the same as that teacher... so did he have a sister who was the 'original' sacrifice? That makes no sense, as bucktooth guy was her father. Wait, that could actually work, except there was that scene where bucktoothed guy was crying at a grave, and someone else hit him with flowers saying she wasn't his... and I thought that was the grave of glasses kid's mother. I am lost as gently caress. I'm sure I'm reading way too much/not enough into everything. I guess I'll have to stick to my working theory for now.
There is definitely a time loop yeah, though there is one key point that I'm not yet sure on that makes a huge difference as to whether this story is a complete tragedy or has some hope, but I'll get to that later. The whole story that we saw involving all of the kids from their birth to the day of all the murders and Arie's awakening is on infinite loop, and the glasses kid's, Suzuki's, presence in the story and his lineage is definitely the most confusing part of the whole thing. His actual father is, I'm 95% sure, the bucktooth guy. He is the twin brother of Arie (who he bones at the end :cry:). If we go with Eiba's theory (which I agree with) that Suzuki's adoptive father is actually himself, then yeah there are four versions of himself living within the time loop at any given time (probably, it could just be that the other versions of himself only pop up during those events where we saw them, but it doesn't really matter either way). There's Kid Suzuki (raised by Adult Suzuki after his mother is either murdered by or leaves Bucktooth) who gives Twentysomething Suzuki the tin, and Grandpa Suzuki who gives it back to Kid Suzuki. Far as I can tell he is the only character who has multiple instances of himself in the loop. The loop itself is sort of explained in Arie's story, with the little kid warning the village about the world's end being endlessly killed, though it's possible that she was being reincarnated and this sort of thing happening over and over long before this story and loop take place. My interpretation is that the world is actually ending over and over in the loop, and that Suzuki has the power to stop it (the tin) if he ever finds the will to do so. There is another possibility though, which is that Suzuki, who was granted this one wish, actually wished for the end of the world and caused all of this. I don't think this is the case however, since that would indicate that the loop was already present, since he gave himself the tin.

Grenadier posted:

Eiba posted:

Yeah, he's definitely who you think because ugly girl's older brother had sex with/raped some incarnation of Arie (after she gave the story of the girl being sacrificed to the monster repeatedly).
Other character relations not already mentioned: Creepy manager was in love/obsessed with Arie, who told him the story of the monster in the well, raped her, and was caught by the Teacher, who he disfigured by hitting her with a cement block when she tried to stop him. The Teacher was coworkers with the Boss of Bucktooth (Suzuki & Arie's father). He left the school to take over his father's supermarket, and is eventually killed by Komatsuzaki after trying to talk Bucktooth into cutting off his own fingers in a "work accident" to repay his debt to Boss's father.

Also completely unrelated but there is a 99.9% chance that Bucktooth was a sexually abusive father to Arie.

Holy poo poo posted:

think I agree with your interpretation. The whole time loop thing is the world ending over and over, while Arie watches it over and over via butterflies while in a coma. Arie tells everyone her story, but what she says is something that no one wants to hear, and so she becomes a scapegoat and "sacrificed" each cycle. Each of the characters in one way or another turns away from doing something that will change things; the teacher with the hurt eye turns a blind eye to bullying, Arakawa gives in to her jealousy, Suzuki goes along with whatever happens and never uses the tin box, the manager guy attacks Arie. I'm not sure about Komatsuzaki, though. I thought the butterflies may have been telling him to kill people, but at the end he was sleeping with Arakawa and defended her, instead of waiting around for Arie.

Shazaminator
Oct 11, 2007
The power of Shazam compels you!
...Huh. I didn't get that there was a Time loop going on, but there was obviously something freaky-deaky happening. I'll try giving it another read with that in mind, thanks for digging that out of the archives.

Pigasus
Dec 26, 2009

Too fat to wear pink.

Grenadier posted:

Punpun Chapter 77: the Onoderamid


I don't quite understand why PunPun became a pyramid, but I feel like it may be for this panel.

ANIME AKBAR
Jan 25, 2007

afu~
How old is punpun supposed to be now? It seems like he shouldn't be able to be a high school grad so soon. I thought there have only been three time skips so far, each being two years, so how could he be older than 16 or 17?

Robo Pope
Jul 17, 2004

I AM THE POPE, DO AS I SAY.
There were quite a few time skips in the last few batches of chapters. Alot of it was indicated by the progress of his mom's cancer. He's out of high school now and basically being a slacker working a part time job and living on his own with support of his uncle and aunt. You can see the change of seasons through various little hints, like if Punpun is wearing a scarf or something or the weather signs in a couple of chapters. Also, one of his school friends mentions not having seen him since graduation.

Robo Pope fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Apr 4, 2011

Grenadier
Oct 15, 2004

As long as these commoners keep coming, the mountain of corpses will keep growing!

Pigasus posted:

I don't quite understand why PunPun became a pyramid, but I feel like it may be for this panel.

he has, in his darkest of moments, become a perfectly self-consolidated existence. the geometry of his personality and beliefs now seemingly impenetrable for better or worse (it's worse).

ANIME AKBAR
Jan 25, 2007

afu~

Robo Pope posted:

There were quite a few time skips in the last few batches of chapters. Alot of it was indicated by the progress of his mom's cancer. He's out of high school now and basically being a slacker working a part time job and living on his own with support of his uncle and aunt. You can see the change of seasons through various little hints, like if Punpun is wearing a scarf or something or the weather signs in a couple of chapters. Also, one of his school friends mentions not having seen him since graduation.

Oh, I was only aware of the "goodnight punpun" timeskips. Didn't know that whole sequence took place over the course of years. I thought it was just a series of flashbacks from his mother's perspective.

And I think I know who the girl in the new chapter is. Completely different personality, but the looks match up anyways.

Robo Pope
Jul 17, 2004

I AM THE POPE, DO AS I SAY.
Oh snap, you got me reading old chapters and I just noticed this. The latest girl to join that weird cult is the same girl that joined Punpun's elementary class in the second semester.

ANIME AKBAR
Jan 25, 2007

afu~

Robo Pope posted:

Oh snap, you got me reading old chapters and I just noticed this. The latest girl to join that weird cult is the same girl that joined Punpun's elementary class in the second semester.

Yeah, and you lead me to reread chapter 71 and notice this. Seems like something very very big is going to happen in two years.

After reading nijigahara holograph I've realized that Asano really loves hiding relevant details all over the place.

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Pringleton
Jul 21, 2008

ANIME AKBAR posted:

Oh, I was only aware of the "goodnight punpun" timeskips. Didn't know that whole sequence took place over the course of years. I thought it was just a series of flashbacks from his mother's perspective.

And I think I know who the girl in the new chapter is. Completely different personality, but the looks match up anyways.

And more recently, he met her as Kanie's sister's friend. Her painting reminded him of the day they met.

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