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[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VWUUe.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VWUUe.jpg)

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4uDkf.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4uDkf.jpg)

What does the bird symbolize in Oyasumi Punpun?

Wiki says:

> Punpun is depicted as a caricature bird, but this **depiction changes
> frequently throughout the story to express his state of mind**. The other
> characters, unlike the audience, only see his human form, **since the
> caricature birds he and his family** are seen as are entirely figurative.

Why does author represents the parents and the protagonist as a bird even if
they have different states of mind?


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2016-08-05T17:54:35.547
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2021-02-07T01:59:18.177
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oyasumi-punpun
Why does the author replace the protagonist and his family with a bird?


Asano Inio decided on the scrawled bird as a code that would allow him to
experiment with the environment and let readers identify with the bird. The
primary reason that Punpun and his family are depicted as bird symbols is to
give readers who are used to simple symbols and who avoid difficult stories
the impression that it's a simple manga. The mangaka was hoping that people
would start reading it thinking that it's kind of fluffy, and only later
discover that Oyasumi Punpun goes much deeper than that.

Those of us looking for one-to-one interpretations of bird shapes to states of
mind are out of luck. The mangaka himself has said that "it doesn't have any
particular meaning, I just got tired of re-using the one bird form".

Reference: [Interview with Asano Inio on
ANN](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2016-03-22/interview-inio-
asano/.100079)


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2016-08-06T13:10:47.277
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answer