Papa Punpun

Papa Punpun is Punpun's beloved dad. After injuring Mama in Chapter 1, he is arrested for domestic violence and the two quickly divorce.

Appearance
Papa is a caricature bird, darker in color than the rest of the family. He has black, gelled hair and a small mustache above his beak. He begins wearing glasses around the time he becomes a nurse.

Personality
As a kid, Papa was into outer space and science fiction. He gives Punpun a telescope and talks about how inspiring the night sky is. He loves women and the Giants baseball team. He admits to Mama that after the stress of working a dangerous job for so many years and subsequently being fired, he feels anxious even going outside. He can be a jumpy person and often forgets people's names. When asking Punpun to move in with him, he deals with the stress by cracking jokes and even forgets where he is, thinking he is at a cafe instead of Punpun and Mama's apartment. Although he loves Punpun, he does not contact him unless seeing him in person. He enjoys the calm, simple life of the countryside in Fukushima, where the stars are easier to see.

Plot
Papa and Mama met at a swapping party before Mama left on a trip to Italy. The two eventually married, surprising Mama's party-going friends. Mama's pregnancy was unexpected, and she regrets having a child. Papa finds a well-paying, although dangerous, job and eventually buys a house, inspired to have a happy family. When his employer asks to relocate him, he declines so his family isn't force to move, but is subsequently fired. Living off savings, he quickly grows depressed and takes out his frustrations by drinking and yelling at Mama. After winning a telescope in poker, he gives it to Punpun and speaks passionately about outer space. One night, Mama is distraught by what their life has become and gets a knife, announcing she will kill Punpun then herself. Papa hits her head with a microwave, knocking her out. Punpun wakes up to find the aftermath of the scene and spends the rest of the day being questioned by the police until Yuuichi picks him up. Punpun's friends hear about the arrest and are unsure how to treat him the next day. Punpun looks through his telescope one night and discovers an amazing moving star that he names Punpunia. Mama stays in the hospital for her injuries, where she meets nurse Midori. She tells Midori she hates kids and dreads returning home, only to attempt suicide again by jumping off the emergency stairwell. She lands on the tin roof, however, and only hurts her arm. Yuuichi moves in with Mama and Punpun permanently to help out and transfers ownership of the house to Mama, while Punpun waits for Papa to come home. Two months later, after a bitter fight with Aiko, Papa finds Punpun crying after school. He asks when Papa will come home, and Papa lies and says he's moving to America to work as a NASA space pilot. Punpun promises to bring Papa to Punpunia someday, but when he goes home to his telescope, he finds Punpunia has disappeared. After having his last name changed from Punyama to Onodera, Punpun realizes that his parents are divorcing and cries the rest of the day. After Mama returns home, Punpun begins receiving letters from Papa that babble on about baseball and NASA and always end telling Punpun to stay a good boy. Punpun likes these letters at first but eventually grows sick of them and stops opening them at all. After Mama's funeral, Midori gives him a letter from Mama's purse, explaining that the letters were written by Mama all along to cheer Punpun up. Papa stops by that day to see Punpun, who is now in high school, for the first time since elementary school. He marvels at how big Punpun's gotten and nervously asks Punpun to come live with him in his countryside hometown, Fukushima, where the stars are beautiful. Punpun declines, and Papa cries after leaving. Years later, Punpun sees a news report that the hydro plant Papa worked as a night guard at exploded. Papa eventually finds a job as a nurse at a retirement home. When Punpun goes missing, Sachi visits Papa there for clues, but Papa admits he has not heard from Punpun in years. Papa is now living a calm life of fishing, beer, and work, and has a makeshift family amongst his friends and their children.

Punpun Onodera
Punpun and Papa always got along well. Papa is very proud of Punpun and believed him to be an exceptionally smart and kind child. Before deciding to be a space scientist to impress Aiko, Punpun wanted to be a baseball player simply because his dad loved baseball. After Papa is arrested for domestic violence, Punpun is eager for him to come home, since he likes Papa much more than Mama. Papa tries to break the news gently by telling Punpun he can't come home due to joining NASA and is touched when Punpun promises to take him to Punpunia someday. Punpun is deeply hurt when he realizes his parents are divorcing and Papa won't be coming back. For years, his only contact with Papa is through fake letters secretly written by Mama, but he eventually grows annoyed with the mindless talk about baseball and outer space. After Mama's death, Papa hopes to get a fresh start with Punpun by living together. He makes himself nervous, only to get heartbroken by Punpun's rejection. The two do not talk again, and years later, Papa wonders aloud to Sachi if Punpun hates him. However, after Mama's funeral, Punpun had concluded that he didn't hate Papa, but their relationship had simply changed too much.

Mama Punpun
Mama met Papa at a swapping party before her trip to Italy. When she was young, she loved travelling and clubbing, so her friends were surprised when she decided to become a housewife. She forever regretted becoming tied down and having a family. She blames her pregnancy for ruining her life and feels disgusted that Punpun only seemed to inherit the worst characteristics of both parents. She was proud of her husband when he found a good job and bought a house, but became even more distraught and suicidal after he lost his job and became abusive. He was also frustrated that she didn't appreciate his efforts to keep the family together by turning down his promotion. He is arrested for battery after violently stopping her from killing herself and Punpun. They divorce, and although Mama is too prideful to ever speak to him again, she hallucinates about him at the hospital years later and admits to Harumi that she is still very in love with him.

Yuuichi Onodera
Yuuichi likes Papa and believes he is a good, if flawed, person. He occupies Papa's room after moving into the Punyama house and gets a lawyer to transfer house ownership to Mama. The two still talk on the phone occasionally, but Yuuichi becomes annoyed with Papa's poor memory.

Buddies
Papa has three good friends in Fukushima who help him find a job and a cheap house. They drink beer together and go fishing. All of them have been divorced at one time. They are surprised to see him get emotional when talking to Sachi about Punpun, since he rarely gets sappy or talks about the past. As far as his buddies know, he is "happiest right now".

Kaede & Tenma
Kaede and Tenma are the young daughter and son of one of Papa's buddies. They perform their Tanabata festival skit for the adults, in which Kaede, the girl, has the starring role as Orihime. They are close to Papa, and are comfortable falling asleep with him.

Quotes
Papa: When I was in my twenties, I thought owning my own house was the goal of my life...  Turns out it's just a checkpoint. Let's build a happy family together, just the three of us, y'know? (chapter 16)

Papa: Your father used to think about space all the time as a kid, you know. I was really into science fiction as a kid, too. I thought that by my age, I'd be living a happy life on a planet far, far away but the future turned out to be unexpectedly plain. (chapter 21)

Papa: After risking my life and working day in and day out for some few decades, I've become scared of going outside. I feel like my body just turns into mush whenever I'm in public. (chapter 59)