No one really needs to tell you PunPun is good. I will not be the one to convince you to read it. I will say though, there are good reasons why this manga accumulated the positive reputation it has. Although admittedly I feel as if a lot of the surface level discussion focuses on how upsetting the story can be, and to be fair it is, but by no means does it make sense to see it as just a shock manga. This is a story of compounding trauma starting in the early childhood, but also so much more. One of the largest aspects of the manga I don’t see as much discussion about is the treatment of religion. So many characters get involved with religious organisations and it pushes so much of the story forward. This comes down to even the protagonist, who imagines God as a still photo. This contrasts so heavily with his own character design, as a little bird drawn with just a few lines. The story is largely presented from the point of view of Punpun, who imagines himself and God as existing on the two ends of the art style found in the manga. Perhaps he sees himself as still embodying the soul of a young child, resulting in the lack of physical change. Or perhaps it is depersonalisation on some level, seeing himself as an afterthought to the story of the world. Or maybe it is related to the God, and he sees himself as an innocent lamb (uhh bird), while God becomes a symbol of what everyone is shaped on, more specifically fictional drawings being based on humans. This would suggest that Punpun sees himself as an outsider to humanity, perpetually lost while everyone already has a preassigned value that always manages to escape him. But of course this is all the distorted view of a scared child, who goes on to become an adult covered in scars. His belives about himself don’t perfectly reflect reality. He sees himself as a victim in a tragic love story, and only you after having read it can say if this is an accurate description or not. Personally I am not too sure. So much to think about just from the character designs, and the rest of the manga is equally as potent of meaning.