Anime original by P.A. Works
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Masaki used to be a member of a popular livestream group, but after getting fired for punching one of the other members she needs a new hook for her solo channel. Fortunately it doesn’t take long for her to run into Live, a vampire who’s dead-set on sucking her blood.

Zigg’s verdict: Symphony of the Catfight

I’m sort of torn on this first episode of Mayonaka Punch. There were definitely a lot of things I liked about it, mostly stemming from disaster dirtbag Misaki, her absolute inability to show any sort of self-awareness, and the show’s gleeful portrayal of her catastrophic attempts to get back to the big time. Online influencer has been a real job for long enough now that even anime has portrayed it several times but it’s rare to see the medium deliver such a nicely sardonic portrayal as it does here and the satirical edge brings a nice bitterness to the laughs. I’m also a fan of the looser, more cartoonish art on show here, a marked shift from P.A. Works’s usual highly detailed, technical style. Not every shot is a winner but there’s enough that have a delightful squish and bounce that I really enjoyed just looking at the show.

I’m a little less sold on the supernatural part of the equation, given how we’re kicking off with a very tired ‘I saw you in my dreams/stalking is love!’ angle. I’m sure there are plenty of wacky hijinks that are going to result from this, but it’s a pretty familiar beat even if we’re dealing with two women this time round. To me at least I think a lot will depend on whether the show can keep that mean streak in its writing going, avoid too many tired pratfalls, and bring some jokes with a bit more bite (You’re fired – Ed)

Jel’s verdict: Call of the Night (Lesbian ver.)

I love comedies about lovable dirtbags, anime about cute girls behaving badly, and the late night vampire hijinks of the underappreciated Call of the Night. Mayonaka Punch has all of those things, and so it’s no surprise I enjoyed the first episode. Main girl Misaki seems to be a disaster nearly on par with last season’s Nina from Girls Band Cry and it’s great.

The only thing I’m not crazy about is the art direction, including the character designs, which are fine but feel a little too bright and colorful for the premise. Maybe that’s just me thinking about Call of the Night again, which had a very similar premise but was a lot more subtle and moody. I’m also slightly concerned about what will happen as the cast expands, but we’ll worry about that in future episodes. For now, I’m hooked.