Masaki is a former member of a popular Newtuber trio (Newtube is Mayonaka Punch’s YouTube) and has always been passionate about creating viral content there. But her recent violent outburst against her group members during a stream was the last straw, after which she was fired. Now all alone, Masaki’s not sure about what to do next… Should she publish an apology? Should she come out with a new video? Or should she look for new staff first? Well, there is one girl out there who could give her the solution, and that girl is Live. A vampire equipped with supernatural abilities that are guaranteed to produce good content, such as flight, Live is stoked to be working with Masaki, but not just to create videos with her, I’m afraid. She has a bit of an ulterior motive: after their new channel reaches a million subscribers, Live will have permission to drink Masaki’s blood. I get that a vampire is great for shooting content, but isn’t that going a bit too far?

I wasn’t aware of this going in, but midway through the episode, it became pretty clear that Mayonaka Punch is an anime original. The soundtrack and animation are high quality, coming close to an anime movie experience. The voice acting was noticeably above average as well. On top of that, the plot in this first episode feels unique and refreshing; it doesn’t suffer from clichés like many other anime this season. This episode featured great background art, just like Narenare, another P.A. Works anime from this season. Because the plot is so unusual, it’s hard to predict how much the anime will focus on comedy vs. drama. Personally, I hope the anime won’t go full into lighthearted comedy, because I think there is some potential here for more, especially with Masaki’s character development. I’m surprised this series hasn’t been very well received on Crunchyroll so far, because I think it’s one of the more promising first episodes of the season. If the next few episodes continue with the high production value, then I think Mayonaka Punch will be worth following. As such, I might return to it at the end of the season.

Mayonaka Punch is streaming on Crunchyroll.