Punch Line

After escaping a bus hijacking with the help of masked superhero Strange Juice, Yuuta Iridatsu finds his soul separated from his body and in the care of a perverse cat spirit, Chiranosuke. As a spirit, Yuuta wanders around his residence, the Korai House, aiming to regain his body and observe the other residents: Meika Daihatsu, a genius inventor; Mikatan Narugino, a cheerful idol; Ito Hikiotani, a shut-in NEET; and Rabura Chichibu, a spiritual medium. After catching a glimpse of Narugino's undergarments, Chiranosuke reveals to Yuuta that he becomes exponentially stronger upon seeing panties. However, if he sees another pair while he is still a spirit, his power will cause an asteroid to crash into the earth, ending the world and killing his friends.

Punch Line follows Yuuta as he unravels the mysteries surrounding Korai House, its residents, and a villainous organization attempting to end the world. Will Yuuta be able to save everyone, or will the ever-present threat of panties result in their doom?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

Episode Videos

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:

Supporting

Date, Arisa
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kimura, Makoto

Producer

Ootsuka, Manabu

Producer

Fujiyama, Naokado

Assistant Producer

Uemura, Yutaka

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Edit

Opening Theme

"PUNCH LINE!" by Shokotan ♥ Denpa Gumi (しょこたん♥でんぱ組)

Edit

Ending Theme

"Honey Honey Honey (蜜蜜蜜)" by Ayumikurikamaki

More reviews

Reviews

Jun 25, 2015

Reinhath

Recommended

I had to write a review for Punch Line because the current score (7.11 as of 6/25/15) is far underrating this surprise favorite.

Punch Line is a show that many people dropped within the first few episodes and honestly, I don't blame them. It harbors an absolutely ridiculous premise and while the first episode is action-packed, the next four episodes focused more on (admittedly) lackluster comedy. However, those that stuck around to episode five got on a train ride with no stops.

The art and sound production were one of the main draws to the show for me and for many others that initially picked ...

Open

Gift

Jun 28, 2015

ZephSilver

Not Recommended

Have you ever been at a modern art exhibit and felt like the artist just threw paint at the canvas? Many around you proclaim that it's "original," " bold," or "expressive," while they point at the rectangle of incomprehensible shapes and sloppy paint. While they might see something praiseworthy, from where you're standing, it looks like a kindergarten arts and crafts project, where the kids ate a little too much Elmer's paste.
Punch Line gives me that feeling, but instead of paint being thrown randomly at a canvas, we have themes and concepts instead. It felt like the creators just threw a bunch of ideas into ...

Open

Gift

Jun 25, 2015

Link_of_Hyrule

Not Recommended

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**

Punchline is a fascinating and ambitious, but ultimately failed experiment by Studio MAPPA to tell unique, non-chronological, wacky, plot-twist filled story much in the same vain as Haruhi Suzumiya. What went wrong? To make a long story short: incompetent writing. This anime introduces a plethora of confusing and poorly explained plot devices that turn out to be completely pointless, totally nonsensical, and/or dead ends, making the show a ridiculous comedy at best and an incomprehensible mess at worse. But let’s talk about that:

Synopsis: Whenever out protagonist, Yuuta Iradatsu, sees a girl’s underwear, the world explodes. How? I don’t know. Why? Not important apparently. ... Does this ever become a necessary plot point? No. Just roll with it. Anyway, Yuuta’s soul has become separated from his body, and his goal is to save the world, his friends, and himself by observing a particular series of events over and over again in spirit-form, with each iteration ending in a time reset.

Explaining exactly why a show doesn’t make any sense is not an easy thing to do to somebody who hasn’t seen it, especially without spoilers, but I’ll do my best. If I had to sum up the reason Punchline’s plot is absolutely awful in a single sentence, it would be this: Everything is pulled out of their ass. There is NO logical consistency or flow to the events of the show. Things that have no good explanations behind them just appear out of nowhere at random intervals as if the viewer is supposed to understand what is going on when nothing is being explained. I guess they were hoping that people would overlook the lack of explanation in favor of the fun factor, but that did not end up being the case because it’s TOO vague and TOO “out-there”. Most anime fans are willing to overlook minor or even major discrepancies if the rest of the show makes sense, but very few were willing to tolerate the sheer amount of incompetence that Punchline vomited onto our screens. If ever there was an example of throwing shit to the wall to see what sticks, this anime is now the quintessential case. To reiterate once more, since I can’t stress it enough, this show makes NO sense, and the very limited amount of mindless fun that it occasionally provides is not nearly enough to compensate for that.

Perhaps the main reason Puchline fails to connect with the audience is because its characters are so flat and one-dimensional. Any semblance of a backstory or motivations that a character receives are always the barest of barebones, not to mention that they don’t even make sense more often than not (have you spotted a pattern?). In fact, every time this show attempts to answer a question about one of its characters, it just raises three more. The show really banks on the fact that the viewers get attached to these basic archetypes and feel the chemistry/friendship that they have with each other, but they simply never give us a reason to. I didn’t care about these characters because I had no idea who any of them were, and that includes the protagonist, who is on screen over 90% of the time. That’s a major, MAJOR issue. Oh, and the pointless plot devices that have no reason to exist that I mentioned earlier? The characters have a ton of those. All I can guess is that they are an attempt to make the show seem more “crazy” and “fun”, when really they just serve to make it even more incomprehensible. I don’t remember any of their names; that’s how truly unmemorable and uninteresting they are. Oh, and I’m still pretty confused about who the villain was supposed to be and what his motivations were. This show is just one big giant clusterfuck of disorientation.

Being animated by Studio MAPPA, Punchline is not totally without its strong points. The art, art direction, cinematography, and animation in general are easily the highlights of the show. Actions scenes are made more fun with unique and experimental angles as well as over-the top choreography that can be pretty entertaining at times. MAPPA continues distinguish themselves with their stellar visuals. As for the use of sound, it’s pretty standard. The OP and ED themes are catchy, but I’ll forget them in a month. The OST is also pretty run of the mill and sound design was pretty hit or miss for me. To sum it up, Punchline has above average animation and average sound.

If you’re looking for an over-the-top, mindless-fun sort of show, Punchline tries too hard to have a plot. If you are looking for a complex, Suzumiya-eque, intertwining story, Punchline is too confusing and nonsensical. As a result, this anime gets caught somewhere in the middle to these two target audiences, satisfies neither of them, and fails to establish any positive identity of its own. All things considered though, I must applaud the attempt at creating an original, multifaceted show. I truly hate the fact that I have to bash this anime because I really wanted to like it, but writing was simply too awful to tolerate. I do not recommend Punchline to anyone.

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Some Anime which are not talked about but are really good.

by Ace_Entertainers

47 Entries · 168 Restacks

Anime Series That Have Console/PC Games Pt 4

by dogfins110

50 Entries · 4 Restacks

Unique Anime

by Stenstad

50 Entries · 53 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

View All

More news

Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for October

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for October Week 1: October 6 - 12 Anime Releases B: The Beginning Season 1 Collection Blu-ray & DVD B: Th...read more

Oct 5, 2020 9:19 PM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (2 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for August Week 1: August 2 - 8 Anime Releases Abenobashi Mahou☆Shoutengai Complete Collection Gundam Build Fi...read more

Aug 1, 2016 9:00 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (14 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Punch Line Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jun 25, 2015	206 replies	by mirishster96 »» Apr 12, 7:02 AM
Poll: Punch Line Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jun 11, 2015	87 replies	by mirishster96 »» Apr 11, 7:41 AM
Does anybody else think the Nandala Gandala is the equivalent to the Kama Sutra? TokyoSanchez - Apr 17, 2015	7 replies	by mirishster96 »» Apr 11, 7:39 AM
Poll: Punch Line Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Apr 9, 2015	266 replies	by spaastic10 »» Feb 19, 9:22 PM
Poll: Punch Line Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jun 18, 2015	96 replies	by FireRifle64 »» Nov 27, 2022 10:29 PM

Recent Featured Articles

The 11 Weirdest Sources of Anime Powers

Breast milk, panties, and bananas - oh my. Here are 11 of the weirdest anime power sources to ever grace the medium.

by Littoface

216,960 views

Collection

Who's that Anime Girl with Headphones?

Who's that girl, the quiet one avoiding everyone and looking straight ahead? That girl who loves music? That weird girl who loves tech? What was her name again? Until you remember lets just say she is one fabulous anime girl with headphones.

by fatlouierox

190,945 views

Spoiler

Collection Analysis Cute Girls

Punch Line

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Iridatsu, Yuuta

Narugino, Mikatan

Hikiotani, Ito

Daihatsu, Meika

Chichibu, Rabura

Chiranosuke

Pine

Hikiotani, Muhi

Teraoka, Ryuuto

Rumi

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Punch Line

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-