Animehouse

Mayonaka Punch episode 4 is absolutely the territory I was hoping to see with this series when it got announced. While we’re still a ways away from covering the more technical pieces I’d love to see in the spotlight, the anime is doing a really commendable job of delivering the passion and desire that lie behind content creation. When it’s come to be defined as such a game of numbers and economics, it’s hard to really understand why videos came to be in the first place. Years and years ago when YouTube got its start, what was the first video to be uploaded? It was a 20 second video titled “Me At The Zoo“, uploaded a little over 19 years ago now.

Cutting to the chase, places like YouTube began their life as somewhere to share your passion, your interest, and your creativity. In contrast, Masaki occupies the modernity of content creation which is a hardline stance of “value over everything”. In Mayonaka Punch episode 4 she really exemplifies that by pushing Fu towards making a video that they don’t want to. It doesn’t matter that they’re not interested, all that matters to Masaki is that they’re a good singer and could get the channel views. It reduces her passion to something to monetize and advertise, and really strikes at the core of what has twisted Masaki into what she is now- a shrewd, exclusively business minded individual with a red hot streak.

She doesn’t suddenly “overcome” that mindset, either, though. Her stubbornness forces her through to the very end, but little cracks begin to appear here and there that give Fu the chance for closure with her past that shut away her voice. I really appreciate Mayonaka Punch episode 4 not letting the cat out of the bag in that regard. It’s very easy to have Masaki’s tension snap like an over taught rope here, but much like a mess of string, Masaki’s emotions and preconceptions are all tangled up. It’ll take a lot to unravel it all and see her back on camera again, but stories like these help a good bit with finding a place to start.

Though, this episode is about Fu, isn’t it? Being the least…. opinionated, of the group, it was hard to really summarize her character previously. As someone that goes along with the flow, she really never had anything that saw her stand out against the intense personalities that inhabit Banpai Manor. Getting a closer look at her past though, and seeing how that nervous nature was overcome by excitement and happiness, you start to see how she’s intentionally closed herself off and approached life with a distinct passivity. It also takes a real big pair to throw her story to the wolves by being too little, too late…. until they bring that video of Aya out. Now, immortalized in front of Fu as a cheerleader of sorts, Fu has found a new way to pursue her passion of singing alongside Aya. It’s a wonderful one-two punch that sells the emotional beat of Mayonaka Punch episode 4. Where Masaki’s facade slipping is the jab, Fu’s commitment to singing is the strong right hook. It aims right to the core of content creation as a passion, and says that anything less will always be inferior. It’s a great message to send, and absolutely delivers on the refocus of creativity in the prior episode as something instantaneous and benign.

Now, there’s a few other interesting pieces to chat about still. Unsurprisingly, Shuu Honma finally bows out as a storyboarder, and in their place we receive Kotomi Deai, the director for Skip and Loafer. It’s hard to say there’s a much better choice for trying to depict something so bittersweet and full of youth. What I can say though, is that I’m not a big fan of Deai’s slideshow in the middle section of a research montage at Banpai manor. It takes a lot for them to fit in naturally, and this is just an instance where it can’t quite find the right niche to settle into. Other than that, I think Deai did a really great job with the episode and effectively separated it from Honma’s more wild and comedic work.

Additionally, I found it quite interesting how much they mixed up the typical looks of the characters in this episode. Be it Masaki with a hairpin in, or having it tied up in the bath, or Fu’s longer hair from her younger days or when she moves it out of the way to show both eyes- there’s just a lot of surprising variance that doesn’t extend purely from clothing. While it’s certainly not to the extreme of Marcille’s many hairstyles in Delicious In Dungeon, it’s certainly a nice set of changes to see appear within a single episode. Of course, most of that stems from the fact that these character designs are really good and quite expressive, but still.

Mayonaka Punch episode 4 really lives up to its name. Delivering a punch to the gut of Masaki, the rest of Banpai manor, and plenty of viewers, it forces everyone to reconcile with how they view content creation and the making of videos from an emotional perspective. Passion, desire, and creativity matter far more than views, metrics, and monetization. Having Masaki stumble and be recovered by Tokage in the prior episode, and then saved by Fu in today’s, it puts into perspective her failure quite well. Her drive to create is not backed by a passion or interest- but it can be. Slowly but surely, these moments melt away the ice surrounding Masaki’s heart and allow her and the other girls to really explore their interests and share them with the world in a way that they choose to. With the rampant commercialization of creation, it’s hard not to be happy seeing an anime tackle this sort of conversation…. with vampires and a pipe dream of hitting 1 million subs. Surely, the rest of the season will be like this episode, and nothing like the girls downing plates of garlic, right? ….. Right?