Mayonaka Punch Episode 2: From The Dead of Night

|

|


While Narenare pumped the breaks with its second episode, Mayonaka Punch episode 2 keeps it foot to the ground and sends the story towards a big red reset button. Considering the off the walls nature of the humor that endlessly piles up, finding a hard reset like they do in this episode is a smart decision. It lets the momentum carry over while giving Masaki and the Banpai Manor girls a fresh start with a new NewTube channel without having to slow things down for a minute. New characters get introduced, Masaki’s mentality gets probed, and the humor doesn’t miss a single beat.

There’s a lot to go through, so the question of where to start with Mayonaka Punch episode 2 might have been difficult- if Shuu Honma wasn’t storyboarding again. I’d honestly love to see hem board the entirety of the series, but that’s a challenge seldom completed (successfully) these days, so we’ll see how far they might make it. Either way, it’s very clear that Honma has a very strong vision for the series. As I mentioned in a review for the first episode, Honma’s focus is absolutely on making it something eye-catching and modern, a series that aims to be rather maximalist with its approach. This means lots of camera movement, lots of strong perspective (including a very creative and fun Live cut), and plenty of work that accentuates the “vampireness” of our Banpai Manor maidens. In a sense, because of that focus, it almost intentionally loses sight of a creative definition, and becomes a blank slate to express the work. It’s a bit of an oxymoron to explain it that way since there is a lot of style, but it’s a style that’s expressed by the work, rather than a work that’s expressed by its style.

Speaking of modernity, I really do have to give credit once again to Hideaki Shirasaka for the dialogue and conversation in this episode. Once again, it makes use of layered dialogue in a handful of places, but it makes the flow of conversation feel really good. A great example is how they double up in this episode with another bit of overlapping conversation with Live and Ichiko. It makes it feel that much more normal, and also really helps drive home the fact that Ichiko is a very distant second to Live’s infatuation with Masaki.

Speaking of positions, Mayonaka Punch episode 2 does a surprisingly good job of explaining a bit more about vampires… in between its ridiculous gags, of course. It slips in through the new vampire character Shige-… er, just Yuki, but it definitively states the existence of a hierarchy within their society as well as a single matriarch that everyone exists under. Of course, after a garlic paste fueled trip, Yuki is gone like the wind alongside that exposition, and the episode continues as if nothing even happened. It’s the kind of play that works because the series moves so quick. I mean, our girls went through probably a dozen different videos in the span of two weeks, so of course some things will get left behind in the chaos.

And right there, there’s two things that I’d really love to talk about. The first being the inclusion and depth of content creation on display with Mayonaka Punch episode 2. It isn’t at some deeply professional level or anything of the sort, but it tackles it with serious intent. You get to see Masaki speak on performance analytics, video trends, brand identity, and a few other areas. Much like the beginnings of the MayoPan NewTube channel, Masaki’s explanations and details are very surface level, but they’re a great primer for what I’m hopeful is expanded into deeper explanations as the season goes on. I’m particularly hopeful because Masaki is taking a step back and hiding behind the camera with MayoPan. First and foremost it’s for showing Masaki what content creation should be all about, but I’m hopeful that the second point of the depth and intricacy of content creation will be present as well.

On the topic of second points, the novelty of vampires in the series. It doesn’t exactly flip them on their heads or anything of the sort, but I think there’s an easy way to explain it. What is the most marketable and clickbaitable format of vampires? Obviously, it’s the ones with very colorful and unique wings, the ones that get high off of garlic, and of course the ones that are all pretty-slash-cute girls! Of course, their personalities offset a lot of that, but it makes for a very fun dichotomy nonetheless. It’s novel, it’s eye-catching, and it promotes the kind of energy that’s always exciting and engaging. Whether that was the intent, or they just wanted to make yet another refreshingly different take on vampires, they knocked it out the park and they still have some characters waiting in the wings.

I might have had something witty to write here, but after watching Mayonaka Punch episode 2 I’ve been unable to stop listening to the OP song, and its chorus has just completely rotted out my brain. Vampires are fun and novel, the characters are excitingly rambunctious, the voice actors are knocking their roles out of the park, the story is good but doesn’t forcefully assert itself- Mayonaka Punch episode 2 is a note on how to create a wildly appealing modern anime that doesn’t cave to gimmicks or cliches. It doesn’t aim for the stars as an outstanding series like some of P.A.’s other originals, but it certainly does gun for being one of its most infectious.

And I do feel I have to add the reminder that we’re only two episodes in. The contents of this episode were merely a montage that sees Masaki spiral into obsession over popularity. If the opening is anything to go off of, the MayoPan team have a lot planned for their NewTube channel while on the road to 1 million subscribers.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.