What, did you think this series was about the backstories of the characters, and their ability to find and express their passion through content creation? Well, you’re wrong, as Mayonaka Punch episode 5 takes the vampire girls off to a deserted island for a week-long survival challenge that will remind viewers of the ridiculous nature of the series. Minecrafting a log cabin, riding a swordfish to land- of course it’s going to be ridiculous and weird. Though, it doesn’t necessarily give up on its story at large, either.
It’s just that rather than use another character as a catalyst for Masaki, we continue to get underneath her skin thanks to the opening that Fu provided in the previous episode. We still see a lot of her more Spartan-like personality escape her today, but there’s also a lot that exists separate her from the girls. Her isolation in this episode lets her sort through some more of her thoughts, and without the smack across the face of an emotional death, she’s able to rebound with a much more positive attitude and shared passion- which I’d say comes a lot from one moment. While the girls are struggling to survive on the island, Masaki’s getting all giddy and gearing up even more for content creation. She got so excited that she stepped in front of the camera for a little test, a decision that totally changed her trajectory today. The loneliness and isolation from being the only in frame absolutely struck her in the moment, and helped remind her of where the excitement and passion for creation came from- doing it with someone else. It’s a really nice piece that they don’t linger on much, but they certainly use to help change up her personality a little bit.
Now, for our vampires and their week-long beach episode. It did take a while, but Mayonaka Punch episode 5 is finally putting a bit more detail forward in regards to content creation. Without Masaki The Mastertm to manage everything, Live has to step up and wrangle bats into making a good video. It doesn’t get neck deep into it or anything, but it really effectively sells how challenging it can be to make properly good content. All the wasted shots, all the cuts, retakes, and flubs that come with the territory are expressed rather well.
It also really effectively manages comedy within that- both from the perspective of content creation, and just general humor. Seeing the disparity between the on-camera presence of characters like Live, versus how they appear “off” camera works really well, and the choice to keep it toned down and let the other girls run away with the comedy works wonders. It’s a solid gearing that lets Mayonaka Punch episode 5 move around quite a bit. It doesn’t necessarily need to be the excessive humor of the girls downing plates of garlic all the time, it can just as easily be a joke or two about Live’s complaints in regards to filming the video…. or you could absolutely lean into that garlic-fueled delirium through characters like Tokage near the end of the episode.
Of course, as I mentioned above, comedy isn’t everything for Mayonaka Punch episode 5. While I did already talk about Masaki a bit, I do want to come back to them- just for a little bit. It’s very interesting to see how much they’re integrating with the girls of Banpai Manor. Fu was really the first to connect with Masaki- largely because of her stubborn nature and Fu’s passivity- but this episode we get to see Masaki really start to get along with Live. Episode 3 definitely established their connection, but the shared affinity after Live’s struggle with content creation really solidified their connection. Similarly, we’d seen Tokage step up to the plate (for the money)…. and Ichigo is just sorta there like a little dog starting excitedly at its owner.
The real connection worth looking at is Shi-just, Yuki. With her appearance in the OP, it’s really only a matter of time before she joins the squad, but all the same I think the staff has been doing a great job of integrating her. The refusal and repulsion from her initial appearance is slowly being whittled away by the dedication and passion the other girls display, and with how much growth Masaki is showing, the obstinate vampire is slowly (but surely) coming around to MayoPan. I really appreciate the slow burn nature of her inclusion because sure, this series is already running at a million miles per hour, but it’s very nice to include a secondary character that can slow things down and bring some more perspective to this completely off the rail spectacle.
I don’t think I’d call Mayonaka Punch episode 5 “course correction” or anything of the sort, but I think that it’s very easy to say that with the huge tonal shift of the prior episode the team was able to point the series more in the direction it wants to go. It was a very large swerve, that was followed with a little bit of a turn today, I’d say. It’s certainly helped cement the importance of our supporting cast of vampires, but also allows the humor a much bigger share of the stage this time around. It’s all very good work that’s well executed…. but if I had a single complaint today it would be that the composition couldn’t stand up to prior episodes. It was a hard setting to work with, I get it, but it just didn’t have that much oomph. Similarly, storyboarder Junichi Sakata really didn’t bring much personality to the table. Far from bad, but their age is palpable against a much less… insane? work than something like Akiba Maid War.
Either way, Mayonaka Punch continues to top the charts of seasonal anime, and for good reason (two words: swim suits). Taking it a bit more serious though, while it’s still not at the perfect amount of detail for content creation for me, it’s hard to fault the team for it. They’re still bringing a ton of detail and personality to the idea of content creation, and it’s really not taking away from the a lot of the humor and story present, ensuring that the series remains a great watch every Monday.
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