Mayonaka Punch is an anime series by P. A Works Studios.
They’re known for:
- Charlotte.
- Sakura Quest.
- Angel Beats.
- Another.
- Akiba Maid War.
- The World In Colors.
And plenty of other colourful, fun, cheery, or sometimes dark and action packed anime series.
Mayonaka Punch sits in the supernatural/comedy category, with a focus on Vampires as the source.
Its story is about Masaki, the human of the series, who once had a popular YouTube group and channel until she was kicked out publicly.
Her reputation falls through the floor, affecting her self-esteem. By chance, she meets some vampire girls and they start a YouTube channel together with the goal to hit 1M+ subscribers.
But it’s more than just “YouTube” shorts, videos, and creations.
Why You Should Watch Mayonaka Punch:
1. Refreshing writing style
The anime is about Masaki (right) who is kicked out her group, depressed, desperate, and wants nothing more than to succeed as a YouTuber.
A vampire called Live (lee-veh) notices her on TV and goes to find her and is attracted to her presence. After some comedic drama, they end up working together (in exchange, Live gets to suck Masaki’s blood).
Of course, the writing style of this anime evolves into more than what looks like a silly anime series and becomes one that’s about collaboration, family, friendship, some emotional episodes, and the life of a teenager obsessed with social media subscribers.
The way the anime mixes the role of vampires with humans, but in a way that leans towards content creation, collaboration, and the drama in between is a new approach not many anime have taken.
Ms Vampire Who Lives In My Neighborhood is similar but still very different.
2. Relatable MC with good character development
Masaki is kicked out of her group not because she’s an angel and her ex friends are assholes. It’s more because Masaki is hard headed and was starting to become difficult to deal with.
This is revealed later in the anime series (her acknowledgement of her past behaviour that is) and she goes through plenty of character development in stages.
On the surface, Masaki is a young adult struggling with her identity and self esteem after, in her eyes, losing a lot after having a big YouTube channel.
Her goal is to reach 1M+ subscribers and in the process, she starts to find herself again, realize what matters, and feels better about herself again.
It’s a thing many people in 2024 of the same age struggle with when they’ve grown up attaching their self esteem to subscribers, followers, and the “laws” of social media that can be limiting and damaging.
Related: How Anime Can Help With Self Confidence And Boost Your Self Esteem
3. The perfect anime series for the creative minded
Mayonaka Punch is about creativity at its core. It’s about:
- Content creation.
- Coming u with content ideas.
- Finding ways to drive traffic.
- Finding ways to stand out.
- Trying to do something new and creative.
And sometimes this is displayed in Mayonaka Punch to an unhealthy degree. Masaki is seen breaking her neck trying to come up with ideas for her business to start monetizing it and gaining more subscribers.
Sometimes she is so blind by her desire she doesn’t realize how she comes across to others, or how disrespectful she can seem. Or how much of an asshole she can be.
A lot of this and what happens in between is relatable for anyone creative who can understand the frustration of testing out ideas and not having those ideals flourish or succeed, and that potentially clouding your judgement.
Especially if you get caught up in thinking you’re right because of pride and ego.
Mayonaka Punch is relatable as well because of what you can learn from its characters while relating it to your own situation.
Relevant: 20+ Anime Characters Who Would Start Their Own YouTube Channel
4. It’s relevant to modern times (technology, social media, and so on)
In 2024 and beyond it’s all about social media. Twitter, Facebook, TikTok videos, YouTube videos, blogs, and so on.
Mayonaka Punch touches on this and this is a major part of its focus, story, and context. Video editing, working on the laptop, looking through your phone, observing, finding ideas, collaborating, and so on.
There has been an increase in these types of anime in recent years, but few have been as good as Mayonaka Punch since the anime doesn’t only focus on these elements.
It diversifies itself so as to not exhaust the audience with “only” episodes focusing on making videos which can get tedious if repeated and abused too much.
5. Relatable for YouTubers
Masaki was part of a successful group, but that ended for her. She had to move out and live on her own, which ended up being her and other vampires who joined her on the journey.
Instead of Masaki being at the front and centre of their channel, she videos “Mayonaka Punch” which is the vampire girls interacting with each other in a reality TV style fashion.
So Masaki is the leader, the video editor, the videographer, and the one coming up with the ideas until she learns to loosen her ego and let her teammates work on ideas as well.
Making it a true collaboration.
Anyone starting from scratch on YouTube or otherwise can see things they can relate to easily regardless of how far they are on the journey.
6. It can be unpredictable
This is shown in the anime’s 5th episode, though it continues with other episodes of the anime series as well.
Many backstories are covered for each of the vampires, not just Masaki, and sometimes the outcomes are unpredictable making the enjoyment that much better.
After all, if an anime is predictable it’s hard to enjoy it since you already know what will happen, which is disappointing when it turns out you’re right about how it would turn out.
Mayonaka Punch is different in this way.
7. It’s like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid with vampires, music, influencers, and YouTube
Or you could compare it to Ms Vampire Who Lives In My Neighborhood.
You have a chilled feel to Mayonaka Punch that can be seen in many of the anime’s episodes. You also have multiple characters interacting, making the comedy, drama, and stupidity of it hilarious at times.
You even get some action scenes here and there, just like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, despite the fact those action scenes are the minority of the anime.
It’s the difference between music, influencers, YouTubers, events, collaborations, video creation, monetization, and vampires that makes it unique in its own right without feeling like a ripoff.
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