Punch Line

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 ... up the show. It has unique character designs, bursting with personality. The soundtrack isn't extremely memorable, but it always did a good job at setting the mood and drawing me into the story. The voice actors all portrayed their characters amazingly well.

But more importantly, let's get to the story. Punch Line's premise, again, is ridiculous. What's amazing about Punch Line is that it manages to make its premise MAKE SENSE. From episode 5 onwards, almost every weird and ridiculous thing in the show is explained in a way that makes logical sense within the confines of this universe. There are a few plot threads left open at the end of the series, some of which I really wanted a conclusion to, but for the most part, everything that we see in episode one comes together by the final episode.

That is the single biggest reason to watch Punch Line, in my opinion. Watch the first episode and observe the wacky premise and wonder to yourself, "How the hell does this make any sense?" Then watch the rest of the show and be impressed at how it comes together. Punch Line, although its first half is rather weak, comes together in the second half to become an absolute must-watch for any anime fan.

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 ... a hat after one too many drinks and began selecting random slips of paper from it to form the finished product. A string of loose thoughts, unsupported themes and underutilized concepts that somehow made it past the rough draft stage of some drunken editor's desk, where it was prematurely approved to become a final script. It's a tumultuous mess that tried to contain as many elements as possible and ended up imploding as a result.

Organized chaos isn't impossible to obtain, there has been countless of shows that have proven itself in accomplishing that. As long as the 'chaos' is guided by some kind of subtext or uniformity in each aspect's inclusion, it should turn out fine. However, if there's little in the way of connective tissue to hold the madness together, it doesn't take long before onlookers notice the shortcomings. With elements that do little to nothing to mesh together, it's hard to feel like there's any semblance of being behind Punch Line's existence. It's a project that confuses quirkiness with creative merit. There's no coherency between any of the show's plethora of flavoring, just a bunch of "whys" that are never properly explained. Why cinnamon? Why a bear for a pet? Why super saiyan? Why ghost cats? Why super sentai? Why panties? Why do panty-shots cause the world to explode outside of an obvious innuendo? Why body swaps? Why paradoxical time-travel? Why witchcraft? Why moe robot girl? Why anything? All these needless aspects that the show continuously tosses in felt like it was only there to distract from what little plot it was working with. A dribble of ideas thrown together, hoping a few would stick. And for the occasional instances where the show attempted to answer some of it, thematically it was as conclusive as the writers saying "just because." Punch Line brings up more questions than it answers, a trend that finds itself bleeding over into the main story-line.

For the most part, the show tries to tell a straightforward story about our protagonist, Yuuta Iridatsu, who has to travel through time to stop the impending destruction of Earth by ways of a meteorite strike. While it seems simple enough, it's the inclusion of the aforementioned elements that makes a fairly ordinary tale into a muddled mess. With plot twists and reveals that do absolutely nothing for the show's overall story or the characters involved, these tacked on tidbits ended up being questionable content instead of tasteful flavoring. Flavoring isn't bad by itself, but it needs to be used in moderation, or at least add something to the overall dish. A little dressing on a salad will enhance the taste, but adding too much would just make it into a repulsive swampy soup. Punch Line became that swampy soup, by effectively drowning out its content with too many unwarranted aspects.

Many of the plot points introduced during the show's run-time ended up not mattering in the long run since it was all negated by the "save the world" storyline that was introduced later on. The pointless elements discussed did nothing but further the issue, by taking time away from the narrative to travel down several detours that had no conclusion. It felt like a bait-and-switch from an over-the-top comedy/parody of super sentai, to an angst filled character drama along the lines of The Butterfly Effect. This was made even more jarring from the show's constant tonal shifts. Serious moments were often followed up by comedic gags, that not only downplayed the situation but also negated any tension that was supposed to arise from it. It destroyed any substantial weight behind incidents before it had time to sink in. There are times where serious moments that endangered the characters' lives were built up, only to be resolved by a flash of a girl's panties. It's not funny and it certainly isn't dramatic. The show's constant tonal shifts just kept on butting heads with each other. It made any conflict the show was trying to sell to feel pointless since it was easily washed away by the next scenario. When there's no consequence for life-threatening events, it's hard to get invested in a show's outcome.

But perhaps the biggest misstep of Punch Line was its use of time-travel. Time-travel is something that needs proper measure taken in order to stay relevantly coherent but the time-travel in Punch Line was beyond contrived and paradoxical. Every half-assed attempt to make sense of it only backfired. Since the theory of time-travel is riddled with paradoxes, to begin with, it's hard to put all the blame on the show. There are always loopholes whenever it is used in stories but there are some things that any iteration of time-travel tends to follow. Cardinal rules if you will. May that be the "butterfly effect" commonly found with linear travel or the "grandfather" paradox that's commonly shared with most iterations. Punch Line doesn't follow any of them, which causes it to make little sense when viewed as a whole. The closest thing to the type of time-travel Punch Line used would be parallel world jumping similar to what's used in TV shows like Sliders. But here's the problem, the protagonist already exist in this universe and even interacts with the other version of 'himself'. This should cause a rift in time or an anomaly to form but that never happens... and why you may ask? Well "just because", since it's something the writers seem to have no explanation for as usual. This lack of common sense was perfectly summed up with what I can only describe as the writer's not so subtle explanation via expository dialogue during the show's final moments. Our protagonist tries to explain and tie up the Gundam size plot holes by addressing the audience through the conversation 'he' had with the rest of the side characters. This laughable attempt to bring everything full-circle only shined a light on how improperly put together it was. All the explanation did was bring up more questions that would never get resolved.

If the show had anything going for it, it'll be the art and animation. It was vibrant and energetic. Similar to 2015 Winter season's Rolling Girls, it looked like a child's imagination brought to life. If you weren't watching this with any set standards it would be passable as visual entertainment. Being brought together by the relatively new studio MAPPA, Punch Line is yet another example of their visual prowess. The character designs were all very pleasant and felt well incorporated with the show's art choices. While they weren't all unique, it did have a trademark look about it that help to differentiate itself from other titles.
While it was well presented, for the most part, there were still times where the animation was stilted and stiff. This was more evident towards the middle portion of the show and the earlier slice-of-life episodes. The inconsistency from episode to episode can't be overlooked and hindered it from being better. But thankfully it made up for it by the 3/4 mark where the episodes maintained proper form and MAPPA strutted their stuff.

The soundtrack for Punch Line is your typical J-pop/rock musical selection, with the added bonus of a few keyboard synthesizers and electronic instruments tossed in for good measure. This gave the music a vibe similar to the Euro House music scene, which worked in unison with the visual flare presented throughout the show. While nice for what it was, most of it wasn't used to its fullest potential and could have been incorporated better. Some standout tracks included "Concentration", "Crisis" and "MUHI." It's nothing new and undoubtedly the kind of OST you would have heard many times over, but still did the job nonetheless. The opening theme "PUNCH LINE!" by Shokotan ♥ Denpa Gumi was a very catchy idol-heavy musical number. Like the OST, it worked well with the show's visual presentation. Again, nothing new but still a nice toe-tapping ear-worm.

Overall, the presentation of Punch Line was good and helped to make the nonsensical script more bearable than it would have been without it.

Now, what little appraisal I could offer Punch Line presentation-wise, the same can't be done when addressing the character lineup. With no memorable characteristics or features to speak of, each character was given a basic archetypal role and simple personality quirk to substitute for actual personality. They're no better than the cast of children shows like The Care Bears or Teletubbies, where it seems like their color palette and character design directly corresponded to their simplistic portrayal. They're more like caricatures than actual people.
Yuuta Iridatsu being our protagonist was the only one that was somewhat easy to relate to. Notice I said "somewhat," as there was not much done to flesh out 'his' character. 'He' would most likely be remembered for a plot twist that I dear not spoil here than for 'him' as a person.
Also, the ghost cat was probably the show's way of flipping the bird to the audience. For the entire run-time, he was presented as a guide for our protagonist that seemed to have an ulterior motive. There was no direct focus on the cat's actions but it always felt like it was meddling in the shadows. But it just turned out that the cat was just an expository mouthpiece for giving the audience painfully obvious info dumps, as well as serving as a plot-device for whenever the show(writers) needed to move the story along.
The antagonists for the series was also a let down since, like the rest of the cast, they had no proper characterization or personality to speak of. They were simply bad because the show demanded it and again was another pointless plot twist that didn't matter in the end.

Also, expect A LOT of troll character "death flag" scenes.

As a whole, the cast was a disappointment and forgettable almost immediately after completion. And while the show had some memorable moments, as a whole, it was a title that left me with more of a headache than anything satisfying.

Enjoyment: 5/10

With an inviting 1st episode, I thought I was getting ready to watch a fun super sentai journey with batshit insane presentation and over-the-top altercations but what I got instead was a show that quickly lost steam, a comedic gag that lost its novelty and a plot that went up its own ass. Visually, it was fine but the tonal shifts and misuse of concepts brought my enjoyment down.

Overall: 4/10

The presentation ultimately saved this anime from being completely unwatchable. Where it could have worked as a satirical outlook on fanservice and super sentai flicks, it ended up going a more serious route, while not having the appropriate tone or pedigree of writing needed to back it up. It was an ambitious undertaking that fell short of the mark and squandered its chances of being better by trying to do too much at once. An idea was there but unfortunately, it was poorly realized.

**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.

I have lusted after a good ecchi for years. My friends at MAPPA and Uchikoshi, the author of the Zero Escape video games series collaborated together to bring us just that. Like it's spiritual predecessor Kill la Kill, which virtually allowed the market for shows like this to be created once again, it is ecchi parody. The whole concept of the show is ecchi, the gag of reflexively destroying the world when chancing on panties immediately feels too obtuse. Why the hell would anyone ever watch something so blatantly dumb? Probably because if the narrative wasn't daringly original it would have been definitively the worst ... show to be made in quite some time.

With that said, the ecchi portions of the show are absurdly flashy and basically so in-your-face jokes that there is no ecchi at all. Punch Line is not an arousing show. It was not created with the purpose of being arousing. It was a slice-of-life mystery from episode one. It's a riotous comedy that inverts all sorts of terribleness from the known-to-all loved-by-none (or degenerate) genre of ecchi. It has everything; a zany premise, harem situation, super powers, nose bleeds, the promise of sex jokes, robots, time travel, ninjas, mascot characters, archetypal cast, forgettable lead, low-budget setting, and the list goes on. We are given the direct dose of horrible ecchi setting, but Punch Line just wants to shake you up a little bit. What if the ecchi setting was used for something other than... vapid and lustful entertainment?

We are dealt a handful of hilariously offbeat slice-of-life episodes and then as audience, MAPPA knocks in the head a few times. Were you paying attention? If you haven't seen Punch Line yet, look out - There's no men in the main cast.

The music arrangement in Punch Line is standard issue for the most part. It's electronic and it's ambient and retains some of the doujin and sugar coated feel that the opening brings. The opening theme is really an anthem though, a real stupid, a real catchy, and really bizarre anthem. An ecchi show is all about the assets. It does everything to get your attention. Yet where ecchi shows usually begin to shy away from sexualizing after a certain point, resigning that the audience either gets it or won't watch, they throw together a sloppily and hastily made opening and ending theme. Punch Line does the opposite. Since the show itself is barely about seeing panties or having perverted moments linger, the opening does that in a 90 seconds full salvo. The ending is the opposite, an innocent and childlike fantasy. This ending theme is often at odds with the shows rather dark themes of imminent destruction and isolation.

And that's actually what Punch Line is about. It's about a group of people with actually very little in common, living in the suburbs of Japan, in small rooms all right next door to each other. What do a bullied hikkikimori, annoying land-owner, a drunk floozy, and an ordinary school girl all have in common? Is it possible to live in such proximity to people and have no connection with them? The story of Punch Line is absurd and starts and ends promising, quite literally, the destruction of the world. And we get the destruction of the world. A couple times actually. But what Punch Line is a good flex of narrative muscle, bringing together originally stereotypical characters into a community that gives them just a little more innovation than the rest of the industry can do right now. Ecchi is a whole genre built on absurdism - how far can the label be pushed until the audience doesn't want to watch anymore and how far can the program go before the government axes production clean off the air for indecency. It is a totally unconventional place to actually enjoy a cast of characters, but Punch Line does it. Punch Line ends up being a believable story of unlikely friendships.

This completely absurd show with no boundaries and just an handful of troupes that the scriptwriter wanted to toy with actually manages to make you care. That is Punch Lines charm.

When you get down and dirty with Punch Line you end up with a more riveting and somehow believable conclusion than the finale of Steins;Gate. The finesse it takes to bring such a lurid and stupid premise and breathe life into a genre devoid of any human dignity makes for a grand display, one you can't believe. I have to seriously congratulate Punch Line for managing to show that Kill la Kill wasn't just a one and done thing. It takes a lot of lace to tie together a show this buoyant.

(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Carl Sagan, a famous physicist, once said, “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” Whether we are conscious of it or not, our lives are filled with numerous instances of us simply trying to survive. Having a healthy diet keeps our body working well whereas wearing a seatbelt in a car provides immeasurable safety. Even something as simple as looking both ways when crossing the street could potentially save our life. We do these things – increasing our chances to live – because we do not want to die. Sounds rudimentary, but there is not ... a whole lot more to it than that; we all want to experience a “supremely happy future.” Punch Line is apocalyptic aversion incarnate, that’s random in nature but not quite memorable.

STORY

Punch Line starts with a bang, not a punch. After the super hero “Strange Juice” prevents a bus hijacking, young Yuuta Iridatsu has his body taken over by another soul, forcing him to find a special book capable of getting him his body back. But as the tale unfolds, strange events and mysteries come to the forefront.

When a dice is tossed or a coin is flipped, the outcome of either scenario is random. Sure, there are specific outcomes attainable – a number one through six, heads or tails – but if the experiment is carried out with no bias, then the dice or the coin will provide a completely random “answer” on each use. This is Punch Line’s approach during the first half of the anime. Everything involved is absolutely random with no sense, direction, reason, or otherwise rationality placed behind it. There are talking, perverted, ghost cats, invisibility cloaks in the shape of squids, and power-ups provided through panty peeking; cinnamon makes poltergeists stronger, bears that have been genetically modified to further an organization’s plans, and a giant robot that shoots fireworks; and there is even a weird, therapeutic dance that involves putting on a pigeon-head mask.

The randomness is silly and initially seems to have zero purpose, and to an extent that is correct. Punch Line intentionally leans on the wacky and ridiculous to keep the narrative shrouded in the mystery it boasts. It doesn’t want the audience to understand what in the world is going on because part of the fun is trying to put the pieces together while dealing with the zaniness, and the randomness aids in that endeavor. Think of it like the dice or the coin – the randomness encountered is impossible to predict but there is a set amount of “answers” regardless of the probability involved. Besides keeping everything hidden plot-wise, the randomness is at least used for one thing: comedy. Looking at the first half compared to the second half it is clear that the random bits are meant to bring laughter to those watching. This type of comedy is often received well due to the uniqueness it brings and its quick-paced nature, both of which appear here.

In the second half of the anime, randomness gives way to coherency and the comedy is replaced by dramatic elements. What once was unknown becomes common knowledge through the show’s gradual connection of the dots. That robot that shoots fireworks is used by Ito because of her amazing video game skills; the invisibility cloak shaped like a squid is worn to stealthily defeat some bad guys; and the pigeon-head dance finds use when summoning spirits. All the while the show’s smaller plot mysteries are revealed due to the shift in perspective; instead of Yuuta missing specific days or not being able to see certain scenarios, he takes on a more active role in the festivities. Now, not all of the randomness is used to the anime’s advantage – Muhi, the regenerating bear, is apparently incredibly important but is hardly utilized and Chiranosuke, the talking ghost cat, is little more than a guide post – but it manages to cover the majority of its bases.

Also of importance is the time-travel aspect which rests comfortably among the rest of Punch Line’s randomness. Something paramount in any time-travel tale is making absolutely sure that there are no plot holes to speak of. It’s a lot easier having them in narratives that use time-travel because of the paradoxical and cyclical nature of them. For Punch Line, it’s not a vital part to the anime, but it is there nonetheless. To that end, it successfully avoids any massive errors in its timeline near the end through Yuuta’s final actions, making everything as logical as possible.

Beyond the randomness, mystery, and time-travel, there are a few problems that the narrative as a whole maintains. Thematically speaking, there isn’t much; the idea of fighting for the future and the need for friendship is barely explored and essentially lost among the random moments. The actual plot with “W” and the “Qmay Group” is handled poorly since the audience never really sees or learns much about them besides what is said in passing. But worst of all is the timing of the plot twist and the execution of it. Having to wait so long, and thereby needing to sit through so much incoherency, makes the narrative less of an adventure and more of an obstacle before it really gets going.

ANIMATION

Punch Line takes place primarily in one area: the boarding house where the cast members reside. As such, there isn’t too much diversity when it comes to the locations visited, but it is present within the house itself. Each character has their room and subsequently their own themes attached to them. Rabura’s is purple and filled with weird objects to match her divination powers. Meika’s is green, mechanical, and futuristic. And Ito’s is dark and blue due to her recluse status, with cluttering rampant. The anime also employs stylistic eye-catches at the break between parts A and B. They often feature the women in nothing but their underwear (panties and bra) but the old-school look to them makes the pictures quite refined.

The character designs are not amazing but at least provide a good sense of individuality. Like their rooms, the characters often have a specific color attributed to them – Ito wears blue-striped socks, Mikatan is all pink, etc. – but they each have their own nice amount of detail on top this. Meika has her glasses and large headphones whereas Rabura has her earrings, sexy dress, and teal-bun hair. Their colorings coincide with their personality: Meika is yellow for happiness, Mikatan is pink for girly, Rabura is purple for beauty, and Ito is blue for sadness, all of which demonstrate the attention their designs received.

Actual animation for the show is roughly around average. There’s surprisingly quite a bit of action involved for the majority of the show, but it isn’t too extravagant. Hand-to-hand combat is the norm, with jumping, floating, and clothes ruffling being located here and there. The characters often have overzealous reactions as well that adds variety. But the greatest sequences come near the end, where the finale involves missiles, tanks, robots, brawls, and swords that increase anything the show did previously.

CHARACTERS

Punch Line’s weakest link is by far the characters that traverse it.

Of particular note is the antagonist; Ryuuto – who is really Guri in Pine’s original body – acts as the main adversary, but this is not explicitly known until much later. For whatever reason, though, even when he is introduced, the show continues to keep his motivations a secret. She wants her friends to join her on the ark that will escape the meteor’s blast, but why she is so bent on murdering nearly all of humanity is not explained. That is, until right near end in an attempt to make her plight a bit more relatable or at the minimum understandable. It makes sense, that she wishes to enact the “same” pain on the people who did this to her or anyone else in the future, but her development comes too little, too late to be meaningful.

Interestingly, Narugino – who is really Chiyoko in Guri’s original body – doesn’t fare much better. Growing up, she was slated as being a “hero of justice,” due to her overwhelming powers through Uberfication and training at the hands of Meika. When the anime gets underway, she does not do much outside of attempting to conceal her identity, and even then, when she is revealed to be “Strange Juice,” nothing really comes of it. In essence, her character is there to expound on parts of the past; her, Pine’s, and Chiyoko’s younger days, what she went through following their separation, and what led her to the point she is at now.

She is not an incredibly deep or complex character which would not be a bad thing, and is even handled nicely, except at the finale. There, she rather selfishly goes against orders and indirectly kills her best friend. The idea was to create a scenario in which Guri “atones for her sins,” Pine, who has lived literally 6 billion and more lives, completes his duty, and Chiyoko follows her “hero of justice” mantra by sacrificing her person to protect Pine. But her actions were quite unnecessary considering what happened and even contradictory because of the results.

To make matters worse, Yuuta – whose soul is actually in Chiyoko’s original body (confused yet?) – is quite the lame main character. As was briefly talked about earlier, the first half has him taking on a passive role; the second half an active one. But throughout the whole season, it is difficult to determine what he wants or what he wishes to accomplish. Through him, it becomes quite evident how story-driven the anime is; his character is all comedy and information gathering without granting him much in the way of development. The anime attempts to make his drive more personable through a few situations involving all of the residents, but he never comes off as “one of the gang” and subsequently his reason for fighting to save the world – protecting his friends – is rather weak. This in turn makes the ending a moot point, since his decision does not have much of a basis nor was there enough focus on his actual character to make him worth caring about.

The rest of the main cast – Meika, Rabura, and Ito – likewise find themselves sitting low on the totem pole. At least with Ito, the anime gives her a transitional phase, where she moves away from shy and lonesome to determined and friendly through the experiences she has at the house. As for the other two, Meika is a robot and Rabura works with ghosts, but that is the extent of who they are. If anything, they all have one commonality: an everlasting bond.

SOUND

The opening theme is pretty good, with various tempos filling the piece to make it a very fun listen. The various vocalists, combined with the strange instruments and catchy beats, create quite the random arrangement, which is undoubtedly fitting given the anime’s content. The ending theme also manages to be well-composed, with the first half having some nice guitar playing while the second half has an easy-to-follow beat.

As for the rest of the soundtrack, it’s mostly filled with electronic instruments (such as in “Pressure” and “Agility”), tracks consisting of otherworldly sounds (such as in “State of Tension” and “Invisible Fear”) that, like the OP, find themselves fitting snuggly within the confines of the show’s randomness and dooms day setting. Others, like “Victim,” are signature to the anime – it’s the song that plays when Yuuta is viewing some panties. Others still, like “Deep in the Past,” are very melancholic, rounding out the depressing moments poignantly. While some of the tracks blend together, it is still an interesting OST that does its job.

Voice acting for Punch Line is somewhere above average. Special shout-outs are deserved for Sora Amamiya as Mikatan for her girly voice and Marina Inoue as Yuuta for giving a more androgynous voice to match the character’s predicament.

ENJOYMENT

I can’t say that I liked this one. Part of me wished that the show focused solely on the “ecchi” elements, since the panty viewing was not as critical to the plot as it was originally made out to be. This became quite evident when the second half had nothing to do with the first half’s problem of Yuuta seeing said panties; no longer was it about avoiding them entirely but instead only seeing them now and again when the plot demanded.

At the same time, super random comedy like this one had is not up my alley. I do not mind a bit of randomness, but events like the pigeon-head dance and especially Chiranosuke the talking ghost cat were not funny to me in the slightest. Along these same lines, I was not too fond of the characters themselves. Mikatan could be cute, but Yuuta was not comical, Ito and Meika were somewhat annoying, and Rabura did not have nearly enough screen-time to make her relevant.

Punch Line is completely random and, oddly enough, simultaneously not. The art and animation is good, as are certain musical pieces. But the story’s minor flaws, the poorly executed characters, and the stale comedy prevent the anime from being something more. While the cast members might have achieved a “supremely happy future,” the whole package certainly did not.

SUMMARY

Story: Fine, the randomness is used effectively, the time-travel aspect makes sense, but issues such as little thematic presence, a lackluster plot, and poor timing on the twist weaken the experience

Animation: Good, nice art style, nice character designs, about average actual animation

Characters: Bad, Ryuuto (Guri), Mikatan (Chiyoko), and Yuuta (Pine) are all rather weak, with Rabura, Meika, and Ito barely being passable

Sound: Good, good OP, okay ED, interesting soundtrack, above average VA work

Enjoyment: Bad, the “ecchi” moments are boring, the random comedy is a huge miss, and the characters are largely forgettable

Final Score: 5/10

It's Time For Another "I Don't Always Do Meme"

I Don't Usually Do Airing Anime Reviews But When I Do It's Because I Like It

So Punchline Just Finished Airing It's Last Episode Some Hours Ago And Now Here Comes The Reveiw Of It.


Story: 9/10 The story started slowly with ecchi as the main focus in the 1st episode and then the story as the main focus in the later episodes = the first few episodes were just for entertainment. Still the story was quite interesting. This was an anime I watched when I was free but in middle of the anime it turned to opposite. ... I made time for it so that I can watch it. The anime started of fun (like most anime do) and ended with an unexpected small feel trip [I literally cried cause the character I was attached to died (Ain't revealing name cause "Spoilers" for other people who haven't watched it yet)] along with some big bang and happy ending. I forgot to mention that this anime is a complete original anime. In other words the anime isn't adapted from manga or any other source but was created.

Sound: 8/10 Near the end of the anime the songs started to really make it awesome with some nice tracks in the last episode. I sure wish they had the tracks in the early episodes but as the story started slow the tracks wouldn't have made sense and it would have lost it's purpose. Still was good hearing it. The OP was really good too. Also oh the sound of those explosions was just so awesome. (Loving tanks do what is best since I was born)

Characters: 7/10 Hmm... Nearly all the characters were uninteresting except Iridatsu Yuuta, Narugino Mikatan, And Teraoka Ryuuto. Also Chiranosuke the ghost cat was also a nice Side Character.

Animation: 8/10 Animation Huh? Well it is ok. I don't remember a part where it was rushed in animation. It was pretty detailed though so points I give is perfect for it

Enjoyment: 8/10 Enjoyment in the starting episode was pretty good and hilarious and when the story started getting serious so the enjoyment went down and up and down trying it's way to entertain the viewers.

Overall: It never did concentrate ecchi on the future episodes as for it the story was becoming more important

Overall Rating: 8/10

Personal note: I recommend that you buy the blu-ray version when it comes out as the anime is pretty good according to me.

Personal note 2: The ecchi is at minimum except the first episode so you can enjoy the anime without seeing too much ecchi scenes.

Personal note 3: It's a little hidden gem of this season. Even if the starting is pretty slow the episodes near ending are normal paced and really good. So don't drop this show and watch it till the last episode.

Hey you, who stumbled across this title, read the description and hesitated: watch this anime!
Hey you, who watched first episode and dropped it: continue!

I listened to the advice written on other reviews here and I decided to watch it until 5-6 episode as an experiment, just to know if it would attract me. I certainly do not regret it. This anime was one of the most "didn't-see-it-coming" I've ever watched. It's a good fun even though the main theme might sound weird at first. Panties? Saving the world? Huh???

I don't want to get too much into storyline, but this anime will most certainly surprise you. ... After a few slower episodes of really mediocre gags it grasps you and doesn't let go. I would suggest watching it in one shot to catch all the little things that are in it. It really gets much better with time.

It is not a very sophisticated title, it doesn't really take on character development or moral issues, it rather focuses on ways to resolve the current problem using all available means, which sometimes gets slightly crazy. But the idea is good, execution is decent, plot twists are awesome!, the characters likable and not really obvious, and I wasn't really feeling like it's a bunch of weird ideas put into one, it rather mended together pretty well and gave me much enjoyment :)

Art is really nice, cute, but darker at times, gets better with every episode. I was not really convinced with using 3D at the beginning episodes, but later on it blends in well.

Definitely worth watching, especially since it's not really long, so I'd suggest giving it a try.

Punch Line is the type of show where the first reaction you’ll get is something along the lines on “what the bloody hell?!” Or something like that. Perhaps some might not get this type of reaction but the first episode literally feels like it drops you in the middle of nowhere. So, a question that pops up would be: how exactly can Punch Line be described as? Long story short. It’s like a certain kind of twisted fun.

As an anime original show by Noitamina, there’s not much to go on except for the main premise. Uemura Yutaka direct this series as his second anime project. ... However, it’s not anything like Dantalian no Shoka. Punch Line is a standalone show that has no connection to any franchise. The premise is exactly what it sounds like. We have this young man named Yuuta Iridatsu with his peculiar habit. And to quote “When he sees a girl's panties, he gets so excited he faints!” The reality is that it affects him so much to the point where his spirit is separated from his body. However, a show like this also isn’t without its mishaps. A major part of the story involves Yuuta trying to save the world because according to the series’ tagline…

“If he sees underwear, humanity will be destroyed!?”

In a nutshell, Punch Line is more of a misadventure. The series chronicles Yuuta’s daily life that involves ghosts, time travel, idols, terrorism, tragedies, heroes, and of course panties. While most series use it more of as an advertising gimmick, Punch Line actually uses it as part of its plot device. When Yuuta sees panties, he literally gets a big nosebleed. Oh and then, there’s the whole big apocalypse that he brings with him in the form of a meteoroid hitting the Earth. While this setup really sounds deadly, it mostly plays it for laughs for the first few episodes. Then somewhere down the road, the show decides to shake things up a bit with some startling revelations. Along the way, there’s also a bit of tragedy. Now, I do give some credit to the series’ ability to actually mix its ideas of death and comedy together. Although the series seems like a parody or gimmick, it actually does take itself seriously, to a point where death really does result in death. However, it’s hard to convince the audience to accept all of this until we learn more of the truth. And that’s something to remember in Punch Line. The series really builds up its story by showing rather than just telling. In fact, it does both while throwing bits of foreshadowing and red herring along the way. In retrospect, patience will be a key if you plan to finish this series as the first few episodes is nothing more like insane.

At some point of the series, I think people will wonder what the purpose of Punch Line really is. Is it a punch in the face for comedy? Is it a serious misadventure of craziness? Or is just about saving the world? Maybe it’s more about the characters themselves rather than the story. Admiringly, the character cast is small yet colorful with a diverse range of personalities. The main protagonist has a hot-blooded personality although he is generally helpful towards the people he meets. Then we have characters like Mikatan with her energetic personality, Ito with her timid behavior, and Rabura with her curiosity. The show even takes time to fill in background stories for certain characters such as Ito to really give the audience an idea at what they are in for. Punch Line’s character cast is perhaps one of the strongest attributes of the show as it has the courage to show off its characters. It also embraces its panty gimmick and while silly at first actually makes the show more fun to watch as part of the story. Every now and then though, it can seem more like a repetition. It knows its shamelessness and exploits it at times to a degree that may be distracting. I guess it’s really a hit or miss to people with such a premise. The more detailed parts of the show comes in later and by foreshadowing, it also adds a bit of thrill for the audience to interpret or analyze ahead to what may come. Pieces of the story connect and come together as in the end, it knows its intentions. Along the way, you may even find the comedy to be appealing with the small doses of shenanigans going on.

Studio MAPPA is in charge of this series. And although I praise them for some of their latest works such as the fantastic visual features of Shingeki no Bahamut, Punch Line doesn’t live up exactly to its hype. The artwork seems goofy most of the time and although it’s on track, it’s really hard to take the show seriously. Character design is decent for most of what’s worth although still lacks a sharp edge. I think the most prominent aspects of the show are the facial features. Each episode seems to be clear on what it’s doing when it comes to character reactions and expressive tones. On the negative side, the setting and its backgrounds are hardly noticeable with diehard action scenes. The show clearly isn’t drawn to show action as most of it just spells silliness.

Soundtrack brings in a variety of ways to showcase this series. Although the OST works well, I’d say that most of the successes comes from the character voice mannerisms. A small character cast such as Punch Line really needs to connect with the audience so it can keep the viewers at bay. Thanks to our characters’ voice expressions and tones, that was easily achieved. Emotional scenarios, lighthearted moment, or hyperactive scenes are performed all at above standards by the voice actors/actresses. Even the cat Chiranosuke (voiced by Yuri Yoshida) has this amusing voice tone that is convincing. On the other hand, OP and ED theme songs are easily forgettable.

This isn’t a show like X-Men or some parody such as the “Superhero Movie”. It does takes itself seriously with the story despite its appalling gimmicks. The character cast is what keeps this show shining and each episode characterizes more and more. For any story to work, we are also given explanations so your initial impression of “WHAT” will likely change into “Oh” later on. Some may dismiss this as a mindless fun journey though and this is what I had thought first as well. After all, the technical aspects of the show doesn’t exactly set a golden egg-tier standard. However, it’s still a fun ride from start to finish in the end. And it’s all begins with panties.

When you finish something that you don't truly "understand", what should your reaction be? Should you be critical and hateful towards it because it doesn't make sense in the natural realm of one's understanding? Or should you congratulate it for being stand out and different from amongst the rest of the lot? If something is considered unique, should we dismiss it for being too odd and too experimental? Or should we congratulate it for going such a direction? Aw fuck it, screw the philosophy. Here's a review of Punch Line. Ready, set, go.

Story (6.22/10): Our protagonist Yuta is ... could in a rather...peculiar situation. For one thing, he was just in a bus crash. For another thing, he's a ghost who is now away from his physical body. And third, according to the ghost cat that he finds himself hanging around, if he sees a girl's underwear twice in a row, his excitement level will cause the world to end, thus creating the apocalypse. Well, uh...that's...that's quite a predicament.

On the surface, Punch Line seems to be nothing more than a slice of ecchi, as the main grab from the show is apparently this ghost guy now trying to be careful in his dorm filled with girls to not try and see their underwear twice in a row. But when you really get into it, not everything is as it seems. The plot for Punch Line is one that I feel is one that is one that requires a lot of attention. You see, the show itself has very different first and second halves, basically saying that depending on which part of the show you're on, you'll be watching something that differs greatly from what you would be seeing previously. You see, there really is no consistency in Punch Line itself on account of every episode being something different, both answering and asking new questions at the same time as the plot unfolds for this show.

Personally, I feel like the show is actually a Punchline for itself, seeing as how for the first six episodes, it's basically all setup giving a rather...unsavory viewing experience because it raises a lot more questions that answers before everything kinda makes sense in episode 7. The fact that you have to sit through half the show focusing on something that seems like it doesn't actually pertain to the show's premise at all is something that I feel like makes the show a lot less appealing than it actually may be. Simply put, the first half of the show makes almost zero sense. The second half ties everything together so that whatever we're watching we can understand to some degree. As the viewer, you have to tie everything together yourself, using the information, events, and characters that you're presented in order to create a neat plot line that you can follow as you go on and finish the show. In theory, this is quite ingenious, but in practice, it was shaky at best.

The biggest issue I have with Punch Line was with the way it presented itself. A lot of the points that we get don't actually feel like complete information, a lot of things still actually don't make a whole lot of sense, and the show goes into the realm of confusing so often that at times, even the show's characters get confused. As a result, having to wait around for the second half might not happen with a lot of people because the show doesn't provide a cohesive plot line where things happen in a straight line. (There's a lot of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey things in this anime.)

As far as personal complaints go, I'm not a big fan of the plot period. There were a lot of things within the actual story that really I felt like needed more explanation, and I'm also not a big fan of having to pay attention to every little thing that happens just in case something important shows up later on, cause that does actually happen in this show. Overall, I didn't personally find the show's story to be all that pleasurable. It has a nice touch of having you piece the events yourself like the show itself is a little puzzle, but because it relied so heavily on the viewer, if you didn't know that ahead of time, the show would make little to no sense unless the show connected the dots for you. Plus, I felt like a few things were thrown in there just because, so that soured my experience a little.

Overview:
+ Decent second half
+/- Interesting storytelling format (a negative as well because the format isn't for everyone)
- Somewhat poor/confusing first half
- A lot of things felt very unexplained and/or just thrown in
- First half was a bit of a time waster (sadly, it is necessary to watch

Characters (6.33/10): To be fair, while the story of Punchline can arguably be a great way of storytelling or a poor way of storytelling depending on who you're asking, the characters themselves really don't stand up all too much.

First we have Yuta, our main ghostly protagonist. Much like I have said before, the first half of the show doesn't really focus on our protagonist all that much, but rather the lives of the four other girls that live in their dorm house in the middle of nowhere. This brings me to another point of confusion and why people may drop this show early. Yuta as the main character, doesn't show up all that much. In fact, he's for the most part an observer till later on in the series which really hampers the show a bit early on because when it comes to first impressions, Punchline doesn't really make any good ones. His character does get explanation later on in the series, but the first six episodes of what is essentially exposition really doesn't make him shine or seem important.

Then we have the girls of the dorm hourse, Korai house. Narugino, Meika, Rabura, and Ito. Each girl represents a different kind of anime troupe (idol, braniac, the lonely one, gamer) and each has their own functionality within our story. (I grouped them all together to try and avoid spoilers on each one of them) While they all do play an important part to the story later on, each one of them feels like they were thrown random character traits to make them seem a little bit more wacky/a little bit more interesting to watch early on, which admittedly, feels a bit forced.

In terms of side characters, PunchLine has quite a number of them all with varying uses and importance, those uses and importances being basically, plot devices. Pretty much every character is used to drive that plot and explain a little bit more in the world of PunchLine, and the secrets that it holds. Overall though, I felt as if the characters really didn't make all that much sense. The protagonist is essentially non-existent for the majority of the show, and all of the girls just don't really seem that interesting to me personally. The side characters don't really have much going for them since they're mainly used to explain things, so their use is quite limited.

Overview:
- Almost non-existent protagonist
- Female heroines felt bland
- Side characters are mostly just plot devices

Art and Sound (8.00/10 and 6.01/10): The art for Punchline was made by Mappa, a relatively new animation studio that's been up and coming as of late at the time of this review. Punchline's animation is a style that relies mostly on a neon colored scheme, using a lot of bright colors on its palette. Honestly, the art for the series is relatively nice looking. It definitely has a unique feel to it.

In terms of sound, there's really not much to say. Aside from the OP being somehow really addicting with its repeating word "Punchline" at the beginning, there's not really much to say as all of it is pretty forgettable and not really memorable.

Overview:
+ Good art
- Forgettable music

Personal Enjoyment (3.00/10): Admittedly...I don't really like Punchline. While many people have seen it as a great experimentation of a new kind of story, really....I don't actually see it. Instead, I see a very broken story with only being fed little bits of information that really don't constitute much of anything because we're given such minute amounts that while it does have an impact, doesn't really impact me as a viewer in a grave way as to how I view the story and all that.

Did I enjoy this anime?

Not...really. I found it more to be confusing than anything.

What didn't I like about this anime?

The first half really felt completely pointless to me. Until you get to the latter half, then things start to make actual sense. But until then, confusion just took ahold of my head because I had absolutely no idea what was going on. There was all sorts of plot convenience, pigeon heads... To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what I watched because it didn't really make sense to me.

Would I recommend this anime?

Personally, I didn't like it. But because it has such a varying opinion, I feel like it's worth a shot. It's very similar to FLCL in the sense that both shows have that sense of randomness and they're both shows that can have varying opinions depending on who's watching them. There's slight ecchi, but there's not a whole lot to honestly worry about.

Overall Score: 6.43/10

Thank you based MAPPA. Thank you Ushikoshi, i've never played your games so i didn't exactly know what to expect from you even with what i've heard. Punchline was waaay better than what i expected and this is pretty much the hidden gem of this season.

This review is pretty much what i thought exactly after watching the ending so ... sorry if there's a weird sentence or somethign like that.

I can't talk too much about the story but what i can say is this : After an incident happened in a bus, the soul of our MC Yuuta separates from his body but surprise ... and now his spirit wanders around his apartment. However he has a mission : Save the Earth from an asteroid hitting the planet and destroy it. Oh, and if he gets too excited while seeing panties the earth is doomed. So yeah ... thats pretty much the only things i can say. Which is pretty much what you can read on the page of the anime. That was pointless.

Anyway, the art is really good, the animation it reminds me of Kill la kill and other stuff done by Trigger and Gainax and its done very well most of time. Anyway, in my case i like that style so .. that's a plus. The action is really good too, thats something you'll really enjoy it !

The soundtrack is really good and varied. The OST of Punchline is a least less forgetable than a good chunk of anime these days and goes well with what happens in the scene and can get you pumped or sad.

The characters are good, but thats pretty much it. I have to say that they are pretty much are forgetable beside Meika and the cat, Chiranosuke. Still they have their moments. Again, i'm not gonna talk about it too much because ... yeah. Let's just say that they are pretty stereotypical at the beginning and after a while stuff happens.

So yeah, you've read that i didn't say a lot and there's a reason. Punchline starts off with a pretty strong first episode but after that, you might get turned off by it. However, don't drop it. Ooooh don't do it because a little bit before the first half this is where the fun really start with a lot of plot-twist and a really good ending. You know like Madoka magica that starts off like a cute magica girl anime and starts being dark after a couple of episodes ? Yeah, it's pretty much the case here. It starts like an Ecchi/Comedy. It just takes more time to really start. It's totally worth it. Don't look at the rating, it's pretty low because a lot of people dropped it and gave it a bad rating before the good part.

One last thing : The comedy sucked most of the time.

TL;DR : The anime is really good. Some episodes in the first half are crap imo. The rest is reeaaaally good.

Overall, 8/10.

Puchline is a very simple concept that is mashed together by so many unconventional aspects. If you see panties, the world ends. Which is exactly what this show seems to be about. Even still, despite it seeming to be a simple ecchi comedy, slice of life series, it doesn't stop it from being hilariously fascinating but why is it fascinating? Well that stems from it's creative writing and some-what unique plot progression. I say unique simple because of the way it's presented, at times we're introduced to certain events that, at first, seems completely random or just forced but turn out to make somewhat sense ... once they explain it as or after the event occurs. This may seem like it's a bad thing but on the contrary it's actually reasonable for a series such as this, one thing to note is the pacing of this show. The pacing is somewhat high, whilst this is usually a bad thing in Punchline's case it isn't. I feel like a show like Punchline can only work at high pace or else it may just not click like it originally did with me but that's a completely subjective matter.

Now as for the other reason as to why it's fascinating, the writing in this show may seem dumb at times but that's just the tip of the iceberg, let me explain. At first we're led to believe (minor spoiler) that the main plot of this show is to get Yuta back into his original body but as we move along the episodes we can see that isn't the only objective, I feel like the writers are deliberately misleading us with cliches to make more of an impact in whatever's to come. Overall the story of Punchline is really fun and fascinating, hell even the fanservice seems necessary for the show to progress but unfortunately that aspect's not for everyone.

The characters of this series aren't really unique, they're pretty much characters that we've seen in many other series but the characters in this series are what brings it to life. We're introduced to pretty much all the main characters in the first couple of episodes, that allowed us to establish each of the characters traits thus allowing the story to flourish properly. Pretty much all the characters have received some sort of developments whether it be a tragic past that adds depth the character or strong bonds that you didn't think could exist.

As for the animation, what can I say? I think MAPPA did a great job on animating a series like this, they paid attention to small details like the facial expressions and *cough* panties *cough* along with some great action scenes which judging from there past works was to be expected. I would definitely say that this was one of the better animated shows this year and my god am I glad MAPPA got the opportunity to do something like this. As for the sound, I think the OST fits this show perfectly, for example, scenes that usually wont have much of an impact on you tend to do because of how well the OST's where used. As for the opening and ending of this show, there's not much to really say. They're average but they fit the show so there's really nothing wrong about them.

Overall, I know it seems like I'm praising this show too much but that just shows how much it clicked with me. I'm fully aware that the synopsis of this show may put many people of but I highly recommend you stick with it at least until the 4th episode.

Punch Line started relatively slowly, I was watching it when it was airing and only got up to 3 episodes before dropping it in favour of other titles. Boy do I regret that now! Around episode 5 things got really interesting and I was hooked on the story, characters and ambiance of the show. It's so fun but at the same time it has the right amount of comedy to action/drama ratio, and even some feels!

Story - 8
I found the story for Punch Line fun, but lukewarm up until about episode 5, where the real story came into its own. It's a pretty ridiculous premise ... that can only be appreciated by viewing, not by having it explained to you! Despite it being so zany, the plot really doesn't FEEL ridiculous in the context of the world presented and the characters, so it's really enjoyable to watch everything unfold and be party to what is happening in each of the character's lives. It's a pretty basic saving the world type plot on the surface, but in reality every part of what you see is important to some degree and even the first few episodes, whilst not gripping, contain some important scene setting components and clues.

Art - 9
The art is what initially drew me to Punch Line, it has a bit of a Kill La Kill vibe, although I'd go so far as to say it's more colourful. Lines are clean and crisp, and the colours are very saturated and bright but not too bright that it would burn your eyes out. I love the character designs and each of them has their own palette which was brought out nicely, too, in their room designs, which made each of them feel unique (not just having the standard anime room with little embellishments and no personality).

Sound - 8
Sound is usually something I notice less in anime (with the exception of the voices, of course) but I LOVED the score used in Punch Line. The action scenes had punchy music that would get you excited for what was about to happen and the more sombre moments had fitting music too. Comedic moments and their associated sounds were timed perfectly making for some truly hilarious moments.
Voice actors did a stellar job, Rie Kugimiya especially is worth mentioning for me here as often I find her voice to have a quality I don't enjoy listening to, but I found her to be more toned-down and less squeaky in this anime and I really enjoyed her performance.

Character - 9
The characters are what held the most charm for me in this anime (as they should in any anime, I suppose). Each character had a purpose and role to play in the grand scheme of things within the anime, there was no token character or character who made no sense. I also enjoyed the fact that they weren't really moulded to fit within tropes, as so many characters are in anime.
I found Yuuta, the protagonist, clever and charismatic, unlike most male leads he had a backbone and worked out things himself instead of having deus ex machinas appear to progress the plot and conveniently show up when he is in a pinch.
Chiranosuke, the cat spirit, I honestly found hilarious. Some may find him annoying but I warmed to him very early on when he goes to show Yuuta something on the computer and..let's just say he gets the wrong page. A very relate-able experience for many, I'm sure.
I found all of the girls held their own ground in this anime so I felt really involved in their world, they were believable within the context, each had their quirks but each was ultimately a strong, fighting individual who knew her own mind, which is also a nice thing to see.

I thoroughly enjoyed Punch Line once I picked it back up, it has more surface qualities like great art and animation, and great sound track, but when you look past face value there is loads to appreciate deeper down in the anime, such as a great story and lovable cast of characters. There are comedic moments which made me laugh, tense scenes which had me practically sitting on the edge of my seat needing to know what the outcome would be, action-filled scenes (though honestly this isn't the main draw of this anime as it's so short) which felt exciting and even a couple of tear-jerking scenes.
Highly recommended for a fun afternoon watch.

The written Review to my Video Review.

How serious can you be when your super power activates when you see panties? Well not too serious I would presume, but this anime may take itself too seriously for it’s concept.

Story - 3/10

The story of Punch Line is kind of a complex one. It may sound simple, but not at all. Punch Line follows the story of Yuuta Iridatsu as he tries to save the world. How does he do that one may ask, well we don’t really figure that out till episode 6. But the premise of the story is that Yuuta has been transformed into ... a ghost and there is a big gigantic meteor coming down to destroy the world, and the key to stopping the meteor is apparently spending time in an apartment lot and figuring out how to stop the meteor? However the world can also be destroyed if Yuuta sees panties as well, twice that is in a short amount of time. So he’s got to figure out how to save the world while keeping himself away from panties. The story is rather confusing until episode 6 when it all starts making sense. But the premise of the plot is time traveling, because Yuuta must gather as much information as he can from the present in order to travel back to the past to prevent the meteor from hitting, thus looking for a better future.

The whole idea about spending time as an onlooker to figuring out how to change time is a confusing concept indeed. It is hard to understand the story, when everything just looks so normal with little plot happening in them. And the story is kind of boring pre episode 6, because you don’t know exactly what is happening and even after episode 6, it kind of repeats itself and you still don’t know the full extent on what is going on. The backstory in Punch Line is vaguely touched upon, sure we see it, but we don’t know how and why it’s happening. And the plot takes itself way too seriously, it gets very dramatic for a show that was supposed to be a comedy, and it doesn’t work well because it’s all very hard to take in. And honestly I don’t think the payoff was that worth it. Even the twist at episode 6 felt very predictable.

Characters - 3/10

Yuuta Iridatsu is the main protagonist, he’s goal is save the world while trying to avoid from looking up panties as well. From what we can see he’s just as confuse as we are, he doesn’t understand why he has superpowers when he looks up girls panties, he doesn’t know why he’s a ghost and he doesn’t understand what is going on. It’s like the writer did that on purpose to symbolise us in him, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. We came for the ecchi, but we’re confused with the story. There is also rather little character development for him as we just see him having the same attitude throughout the rest of show, where he is a guy living with a bunch of girls trying to avoid them, while being nice and also trying to be the hero, with the will to save everyone as best as he can.

Other characters that make up residents of the apartment lot are, Mikatan Narugino who also has superhero persona and has little development as she pretty portrays the happy girl. Ito Hikiotani, a NEET spends most of her time on the computer, however has more development over the course of the series than the other mains as she starts to get more involved with the people around her. Meika Daihatsu who is a mechanic and the landlord serves as the guardian to pretty much everyone. And lastly there is Rabura Chichibu, who despite her incompetency is shown to be a very reliable spiritual medium as the series progress.

Unfortunately I don’t the main cast was all that good, as I was so caught up in trying to understand the situations to get a clearer picture of the characters. By the end of the series they felt like they were just used to show their individual talents in the last battle, because honestly their interactions with each other was kind of boring. And I would go on to the some of the other supporting characters if one of the characters didn’t really annoy the hell out of me. Seriously SCREW THE CAT.

Animation and Sound - 6/10. 7/10

The art style I can’t complain too much, because although it doesn’t look bad, it doesn’t look anything great as well. The shape of the characters feel a lot more rounded than other animes and the colour palette felt very simple, although some of the scenes looked very childish in a good way as it reflects on the characters rather well, and it shows the show is not a serious show to begin with. However the action scenes although that last one is completely fine, everything else before it is nothing special at all. And it does suffer have some frame rate problems, but none to breaking. As a personal opinion, I’m not a huge fan on this kind of anime art style, as it just looks very simplistic and a bit messy for me with the more rounded nature in the designs of the characters. I mean if their supposed to be adults and teenagers, how come they look like pre-teen kids.

I actually kind of enjoy the soundtrack of Punch Line. Although the opening and ending songs are nothing to write home about they’re find perfectly accept. The opening theme maybe a bit catchy, in a bad way. However it’s not too annoying. The OST for the show is a mixture of J-pop and rock. Which I find quite enjoyable to listen to. I especially like it even more when they have their many variety of electro music kicking in. I like how they have almost a different OST for each situation, which gives it a huge variety and it usually does the job in fitting in with the scene. As for the voice acting, it’s fine and acceptable. But seriously SCREW THE CAT.

Enjoyment - 3/10

I did not enjoy watching Punch Line because I could not get my head around the story. Not only was it a hard story to follow, it was quite a boring one at the same time. The show does get a tad better after episode 6, but that felt too long before anything interesting starts happening and even then, it felt like it repeated right after. Also the fact the story takes itself way too seriously, when the concept is stupid to begin with. The comedy in the show has very little impact, as some of the jokes weren’t really all that funny and gets kind of repetive. The last fight scene wasn’t bad and the soundtrack was enjoyable, but I don’t t feel that’s enough to make it enjoyable. Especially if the characters are lacking and aren’t as interesting. And seriously SCREW THE CAT.

Verdict - 4.5/10

For the story I give it a 3, as the story is confusing and uninteresting to begin with. It takes way too long to go anywhere and the payoff wasn’t really worth it. Also the fact that the story takes itself way too seriously for such a stupid concept. The story sort of got better at the half way, but that was still too long.

For animation and sound I give them a 6 and 7 respectively. Although the animation is good, but not great. Some of the scenes look good and some of them don’t. I’m not a huge fan of the art style, but it shouldn’t affect you all that badly. The soundtrack is actually quite enjoyable and it good to hear there is a variety of different tracks being played throughout the show, and they’re pretty good ones at that.

The characters get a 3 from me. As I found little interest in them, and felt like they were just there to fill out a certain role. There is little development in them and the interactions just felt awkward between them. There are a few exceptions for some of the characters such as Ito, and other supports. The characters a bearable and not too annoying. However for the last time seriously, SCREW THE CAT.

For my personal enjoyment I give it a 3. Because it was very hard following this show, plus I’m not a huge fan of the art style. It looked quite simplistic and the story didn’t feel like it fitted well with the art style. Some of the fight scenes and music are enjoyable, but that’s it, I couldn’t delve very deep into the characters as I didn’t find them all too interesting. And the jokes weren’t all that funny to begin with as well.

So for the final score after rounding it all I up, I give Punch Line a 4.5/10. It feels like a below average anime was being made, which is reflected upon the art style, although it’s perfectly fine if the plot wasn’t so serious and dramatic and should’ve been more silly like the concept. If you want to watch Punch Line go ahead, but if you’re looking for the ecchi there’s not that much and if you’re looking for something weird, there are plenty of better options out there.

Rarely do we see ecchi cater to something more than just simple, exploited fan service. Too often, an anime series that is considered ecchi would have no qualms whatsoever to deliver a decent, substantial story. However, Punch Line’s case, if the series is ever considered ecchi, is different. The series presents that substantial story we were all looking for plus many more things that we all would love in an anime series.

The story is a roller coaster ride I might say, one that would keep you in grips. Between conspiracies, superheroes, strange occult stuff you never knew existed, and that seemingly inevitable asteroid, you will ... never know where it will go. It amazes me how Punch Line weaves its elements together to for one intricate, exciting, and well-developed story. It reveals but not too much at one time, giving the show a generous amount of suspense and cleverness. The narrative is well pace and all too good with the plot twists and the oh-damn-I-didn’t-see-that-coming moments.

Punch Line also pokes innocent fun at different anime tropes and clichés – unlikely superheroes, genius inventors, giant robots, idols singing about just anything under the sun (stacking buns higher than the Burj Khalifa), and, of course, panty shots. It is not malicious or anything. It should be pointed out that this element was incorporated into the story smoothly.

The visuals may not be unlike anything I have ever seen before, but MAPPA outdid themselves here. It is nice to watch that the studio did not spare any effort putting it all together. Just like the story, the designs are quirky, spunky, and creative and there is not a lagging moment in the animation (heck, even the panty shots are nicely drawn). It is indeed well thought of and excellently crafted.

I was surprised to find out that there were going to be at least three occult-related anime series released this season. For some reason, I picked up Punch Line, maybe because it had the most ridiculous synopsis. Well, what could go wrong?

Absolutely nothing. Everything about Punch Line is beyond expectation. It is not sad fan service (the type we consider detrimental to the industry). It embodies what anime studios should at least consider in creating a series – pure, innocent, and well-meaning fun. If you’re thrown by the ecchi (which is almost non-existent in the series by the way) or maybe even the synopsis, I will say about Punch Line what I have always said about Kill la Kill: Don’t drop it, give it some time, and pay attention. If you’re planning to overlook the series, then you’re going to miss out on a lot.

Loaded with laughs, twists, and a whole lot of nosebleed-inducing panty shots, Punch Line shines as one of the season’s most outstanding anime series. Added to that, it is a quirky, fun-filled must-watch. I would recommend this to anyone with enough sense not to judge a book by its cover.

Another short review for you guys.
This anime is a really good anime if you watch it until the end. It has a pretty decent story and pretty good characters. Yet it isn't getting as much love as it deserves. There is a reason for that. Basically, the creators of punchline basically fucked up in attracting anyone to the series. The first few episodes are pure randomness and I mean PURE RANDOMNESS. Because of that people just rated it because of their first impressions which I see to be pretty common here. Once you get past episode 6 you will start understanding the story and when ... that happens there is a very high chance you will enjoy it.
Thanks for reading this short review. If you want more please like.

The last part of a story or a joke that explains the meaning of what happened previously which intends to provoke laughter or thought.
A pun on “panchira” that literally means panty shot in Japanese which the show wears on its sleeve.
Or both?

There are anime that follow the bait and switch formula, and this is one of them.

[Story]
- “That sounds like something from a video game.”

With a tagline so ridiculous that says “If he sees underwear, humanity will be destroyed!?” this must be the one of those typical ecchi harems, right? There’s much more to Punchline than by solely judging it from the divisive premise. ... (Hint: The protagonist isn’t the cause why the world is destroyed when he sees panties, he fails to save it if he sees too much).

Original story by MAGES, distilled into a 12 episode anime by Kotaro Uchikoshi (Ever17, Zero Escape). While there are many anime that model after MMORPGs, Punchline’s structure is pulled out from adventure games.

We follow the odyssey of a boy named Yuta Iridatsu. On December 21st, he is taken hostage on a hijacked bus by a terrorist group. He catches a glimpse of panties which gives him a power up, and tackles the bad guy. But sees panties again, and passes out. After that, he is zapped by a yellow light in the sky. He wakes up in his apartment, confused, and finds out that he’s separated from his own body. The only help he receives is from a crazy ghost cat, named Chiranosuke, that explains his situation and abilities. Yuta uses his newfound powers to protect his house mates from danger.

Unfortunately, because of Yuta’s idiosyncratic condition, he must avoid seeing panties twice, or else he loses consciousness, and as a spirit, time jumps to a point when an impending giant asteroid destroys Earth. What is going on exactly? For now, I’ll just quote the crazy talking cat, “You don’t have to over think it.”

I won’t say more and make sense of what Punchline is, because it will involve spoilers. The story really is about the daily lives of the Korai House residents in a span of 10 days, and how they fight fate. It doesn’t make much sense in the convoluted first half of the series, still it bids full attention as it won’t really spoonfeed the details later. How the scattered puzzle pieces form together is a satisfying experience, the way it executes its story resembles Baccano! or Durarara!!

[Visuals]
- “Huh? I’m in my apartment!?”

MAPPA delivers in aesthetics. As an anime that is damn casual with it’s panty shots, they even have a legit good Lingerie Designer, Uemura Hiromi for that. The panties shown all over the show are pretty, and you can easily tell which girl it is based on the type they wear. Punchline can easily be mistaken as an anime from Gainax or Trigger because of the art style, it’s not surprising because the staff really are from Gainax. It’s the second time for Uemura Yutaka as a director. I like how Punchline is visually pleasing with its use of color pallete and expressive faces, but I’ll complain about the weak direction of two setup episodes because it felt like watching filler even if they weren’t. The colorful 3d CG interior of the Korai House designed by Mai Yoneyama is gorgeous, each room subtly shows a lot about the character who lives in it without outright telling us. Shota Iwasaki (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill) is one skilled character designer. Every character is iconic and varied in appearance, no sameface, different sizes, skin types, cute outfits, and no boring school uniforms. My favorite is Yuta’s androgynous design, who knew?

[Sound]
- “The song earlier was a sign that there’s an emergency!”

The sound effects are cool and full of impact, like the sound when a character activates Uber and the punchy sounds that give every hit in fights more intense. The OP composed by Hyadain (Nichijou, Baka to Test) is catchy, that pumps you up when the show starts, and the ED is very cute. The voice cast are all talents (except the Engrish parts, the thick Japanese accent was too obvious), every single character’s voice stands out, and sounded like they had fun with their roles with all the swapping shenanigans. Marina Inoue’s performance as Yuta is brilliant. Tetsuya Komuro did a good job with the OST, tracks I particularly like are [Strange Juice Action] when the heroine kicks ass, [Destruction] pulls my heart strings, and [Pressure] when shit starts to go down.

[Character]
- “I can’t believe Narugino is Strange Juice.”

Punchline has an interesting cast of characters. Will only introduce the tenants here and avoid spoiler characters.

Yuta, a boy that has a panty fetish. He’s one of the most unusual protagonists I ever met (you know what I mean). A big fan of Seas May. His life is turned upside-down after someone stole his body. Yuta cares deeply for people close to him, has an altruistic outlook, but tends to make rash actions. He starts of clueless, and a passive observer (he’s a spirit!) as he tries to figure out what’s happened to him. He gets more active later on when he gets used to his powers after the midpoint shift of the series, and eventually leads to form a secret organization called “Justice Punch,” that strives to save the world from destruction.

The ally of justice, Mikatan. She is a country bumpkin from Tsugaru but hides it so she can be member of the idol group Seas May. Despite her a dark past, she’s the most cheerful and just wants everyone to get along, though a bit of a ditz. Mikatan may be sweet and nice, but she’s not soft. Harm the weak or her friends and you’ll get a beatdown. Mikatan is actually the famous superhero called “Strange Juice” but keeps that a secret. Has a crush on Yuta. Does not like turtles.

Meika, a genius at anything mechanical, but bad at athletic things like handstands. The landlady of the Korai House, which she inherited from her grandpa. She’s protective of the apartment and doesn’t allow anyone who damages the property. Meika likes to troll the tenants for giggles. She possesses vast intelligence on certain topics. She names her fancy inventions with -maker at the end. Meika is actually Strange Juice’s assistant, called “Pumpkin Chair”.

A hikkikomori and otaku, Ito. Ito is actually the legendary mech-FPS-gamer called “Torahachiro.” She’s enrolled in an elite private all-girls school but became a NEET because of a traumatic event. Ito’s dad is an education board member and disowned her once once she stopped going to school. She’s blunt, and can get aggressive. Ito prefers to spend most of her time playing online games. She loves to keep animals.

Rabura, a single 29 year old woman who’s desperate to find a lover. She’s from a family of skilled exorcists and works as a spirit medium, but ironically thinks she’s no good at it, and doesn’t believe in the supernatural herself. Owns a pet turtle. She ships Mikatan and Yuta. She’s also Ito’s big cousin and is not happy of her not going to school. Rabura gets pissed whenever Meika comments about her search for men.

The pet sidekick, Chiranosuke. It enjoys cracking jokes, drinking alcohol and not being helpful to Yuta. The talking cat’s origins remain a mystery.

The characters are a dynamic bunch. However, 12 episodes just weren’t enough to give them equal development.

[Overall]
- “To a supremely happy and peaceful future.”

The humor of show is more subjective than usual due to several puns that are lost in translation. Personally, the juvenile silliness leaves me a smile often. The panty nonsense doesn’t bother me because it’s presented in an exaggerated tongue-in-cheek way, like it’s not intended to titillate, and it’s mostly plot relevant too. The anime knows when it needs to be quirky and funny, it also knows when it needs to be dead serious. The show is also rewatchable, there’s a lot of detail that might not be noticed the first time, or a second or third time.

If you need to avoid panties like our hero Yuta for some reason or allergic to constant mood whiplashes, then stay away at all costs. If you don’t mind a fun screwy sci-fi mystery, then this anime is surely not to miss. I recommend a marathon watch. Maybe you can figure out the punchline.

I tried to watch Punch Line 4 times, 3 of which I didn't get past the first episode because it's pretty boring. I was finally bored enough to get trough the whole thing so now I can tell you that, it actually gets better towards the end.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a great show, but it's watchable. There's some slightly amuzing moments and honestly fairly interesting plot, altough a bit convoluted.

If you're gonna watch Punch Line do it when you can pay some amount of attention but don't wanna turn your brain off completely.
Not recommended, but also not completely trash.

Let me start off by saying that the only reason I started watching Punch Line in the first place is because the concept seemed ridiculous enough to provide some laughs. I mean, based on everything I had seen, it looked like any common ecchi. Like many reviewers have already stated, that's how it started out. It interested me at first and I was excited to watch it but eventually it became more like a chore as the attention grabbing features became muted and the less than subtle panty shots took over. However, by the time it got to the fifth episode (I think that's what ... it was but don't hold me on it), everything changed.

Story (7/10)
Punch Line began without a strong story or any real sense of direction. The opening act of the show appeared to be merely a series of disconnected gags with no purpose. Even for myself, someone who finds great enjoyment in cheap comedy and slice of life, found the show to be a bore. Let me tell you though, it was so worth it to stick with the show. All the things that seemed dumb began to make sense. All the random threads were being connected. All the characters I didn't care for became important to me. The show just began to work. I don't want to spoil anything here so I won't be specific about anything so I'll just say this: the show stops being a show about panties and becomes a dynamic adventure with elements, plot threads, and emotions you'd never think could come from a show with a main character who seems to have more blood in his general nose area than a normal person has in their whole body. The only reason I gave the story a 7 is because that slow part does really put a dent in it. If they had found a way to make that more entertaining that would be a different case.

Art (8/10)
I don't think this section needs to be as long winded as the story section (yeah sorry about that) so I'll just get right to it. Is the art great? No, not particularly. But is it bad? Certainly not. The art style does however fit the overall tone of the story very well. It's not too detailed and it shouldnt be. It's not generic either. It has enough imagination and individuality to make it stand out, even if just a little.

Sound (7/10)
I usually don't pay attention to soundtracks unless they are particularly good. Meaning if they are just average I tend not to notice them. That is Punch Line. I don't mean to say the soundtrack is bad, it's just kind of there. It normally did its job (although the score underperformed in some scenes) and generally blended in quite well. But if I can't remember a single tune after watching the show, it didn't have much of an impact. However, I did like the opening and ending themes a lot. The opening in particular was very catchy and lighthearted, much like the show itself.

Character (9/10)
Punch Line did an excellent job in portraying it's characters. The show made me feel a connection to the cast and not all shows can do that. Everyone is unique and has his or her own demons and/or motives. It was fun to go on the ride with them. Sure there we some cliches, but they weren't so glaringly obvious that they couldn't be looked past. Plus the protagonist, Yuta, was very likable for me and if the protagonist sucks than...oh well.

Enjoyment (9/10)
I freaking loved this show. Sure it had its down time, but all the rest more than made up for it. I was so surprised by this show that I expected nothing out of. Out of nowhere it became one of my favorite shows of the season, maybe even my favorite. I was just so pleasently surprised I just couldn't help but enjoy it immensely. And just in case you're worried, yes it was funny. I made it seem like it wasn't but it really was.

Overall (9/10)
Hats off to Punch Line here. If you are able to stick with it through the first 4 or 5 episodes I believe you will find it is worth it. Everything comes together in only the way Punch Line can do it (and the only way that makes sense). Your efforts will be rewarded and then some.

This is my first review so go easy on me here. I'm not quite sure what exactly I should be saying yet. I'll do better next time!

The only thing more mystifying than the existence of Punch Line is the reception it got from the anime community upon release. Not necessarily the violent levels of hatred it got given the premise - although anyone who saw the PV should have been prepared for what was to come long ago - but for some specific bile they used to discredit it itself. FLCL without a clear direction or identity you say? First of all, if something doesn't have an identity, than how it can possibly be compared to something else? Second, who exactly made that shitty comparison to begin with?

I've compared Bruno Mattei ... to a piece of cheese, and yet I don't see how the two anime are similar in the least. FLCL established from the start that it'd be a story about a kid struggling with inner demons, whilst Punch Line established at its start that it'd be about a boy being thrown into an unfamiliar situation, Silent Hill-style if Silent Hill replaced the horrifying monsters and dense fog with horrifying anime girls and dense wackiness. They couldn't be more different. A closer comparison would have been if you matched Punch Line up with...well, Silent Hill. The most accurate comparison would have been if you compared it to Steins;Gate or Madoka aka "the best anime of 2011" according to most people. In fact, I can just see those three anime being siblings with the former two having grown up to be mega-successful corporate sell-outs whilst the latter is the black sheep that nobody loves because he's ugly and misunderstood and the only one who'll so much as breathe the same air as him is Samurai Flamenco.

Sorry for spoiling some important plot points to those who get the references, but considering how so many fans of them will probably never watch this show (and non-fans probably won't either), I don't think anyone's going to cry about it. I mean have you seen the ratings this show is getting in Japan? Even Glee at its worst is laughing at 'em. But yes, Punch Line is basically Steins;Gate's story combined with Madoka's execution, except with magical girls replaced by Flamenco-esque superheroes that fight with the finesse insanity of a character from Air Master. And the result? Not bad. Not great, but the fact that it has so much bile thrown at it compared to Steins;Gate or Madoka is very confusing to me.

Punch Line is admittedly a very off-putting anime, even once you discover what it's really about. I mean I knew right away that it'd be an anime about time traveling in order to stop disaster and I still had moments when I couldn't really dig deep into it. I've made it clear that I'm not a fan of the visual novel structure and that even the best of what comes from “visual novel writer” anime can't get away from having entire episodes devoted to boring setup and explanations that don’t progress things in any real way. This is particularly obnoxious in the second half when after a really hilarious reveal regarding who’s who and what’s what, the show repeats events from the first few episodes from a different perspective. It would have been fine if the reveals actually progressed things, but all they did was make me go “yeah, I kinda figured. Can we go back to playing that dramatic music again, please?”

As for my opinion on the panty antics, I honestly don’t give two shits. I don’t usually like ecchi humor (actually, I’ve never liked ecchi humor), but it’s not an automatic turn-off for me...1% of the time. I was sold on following the show when I realized that despite the first episode telling you otherwise, Yuta’s nosebleeds don’t cause the destruction of the world so much as make him time travel to said destruction. That little flash-forward bit that happened right after his first eruption as a ghost wasn’t exactly subtle about it. So I figured seeing if they can follow through on this “end of the world” conspiracy and tolerated how he has to act like a pervert in order to turn into a Super Saiyan. That said, I’m not really sure why he has to do that considering everyone else seems to have no problems powering up themselves. I know he has body issues, but so do some of the other characters, and I very much doubt the author had gender differences in mind in regards to the issue apart from a cheap gag.

Not to say that the comedy is good. But for what it’s worth, it’s not bad when it’s not focusing on making the main character try to relive the early to mid-00s. There are a couple of moments that made me laugh like Miyazawa Kenji before the show realized his true identity was more obvious than a 50-foot tall giant hunchback trying to blend in on the Mayflower. However, for a show called Punch Line, I’d have expected an ending that blew my expectations so much that I’d crack up harder than Ed from The Lion King after going through a large amount of coke. But no, the show plays out rather fittingly climactic before ending on another panty joke. Not a bad thing as most VN adaptations tend to chicken out with some awkwardly crowbarred-in “true ending shit” that ruin the flow when you bring it to the moving picture medium. Still, I felt it could have been stronger. Maybe I missed one of Uchikoshi’s many hidden messages. I dunno.

With regards to the actual story, my issue with it is that it doesn’t really push its agenda hard enough. I know it's common in visual novel-type stories to mask characters' personal turmoil by having them act like anime stereotypes, but it's also common in light novel adaptations to have heroines whose bust is three sizes too large break the laws of physics or for our Republicans to hate the legalization of gay marriage across the country, so I wouldn't go around using that as a defense if I were you. More than though, whilst the show actually tackles many of the political grudges and youth culture issues that Japan is suffering from underneath all the wackiness, it doesn’t really say much that you wouldn’t know about them other than saying we should fight ‘em with a giant robot, which isn’t applicable to the real world at all unless Japan has a secret facility they’re not telling us about. It also doesn’t say too much about superheroes either that you haven’t seen before. In fact, it’s actually kind of standard with the only thing standing out is that all the sentai members are female.

But there is one standout clever moment in the end, and without getting too spoiler-y, it involves a sacrifice that whilst kinda predictable and nothing all that new in theory, is pretty f*cked up when you think about it. Could it have been a metaphor for how Japan’s youth will always suffer for its crimes? Is it a subversion of the childhood-friend trio trope? Honestly, it could be, but I don’t care enough about the show to analyze it. Maybe if said scene wasn’t succeeded by another panty gag...

Punch Line isn’t leaving this review without a positive grade from me, but said grade has a bit of a noticeable minus-sign next to it if you know what I mean. Whilst a good majority of the show is solid enough, it succumbs to the same middling lows expected of VN writing and the only thing that really amazes is the visual style. And that takes a noticeable hit during the middle stretch because in order to make the finale as impressive as possible - which they succeeded at quite spectacularly mind you - compromises have to be made, and Mappa aren’t exactly KyoAni/Bones in terms of raking in the dough. Still, as a fan of animation and what can be accomplished with it, Punchline does a fine job of satisfying that itch, so if you want to see what the medium can accomplish and aren’t deathly allergic to panty/nosebleed humor and Rie Kugimiya’s nasally voice, check it out.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to look at that other Spring 2015 “visual novel writer” anime that people seem to think is a much better series and stomp holes into its pristine soullessness with all the ferocity of a kangaroo riding a jackhammer.

I’m very familiar with Uchikoshi’s other works, and I decided to check out his other works, which includes this delightful anime. If the premise weirds you out, don’t worry, the fan service is scarcer than you think. I had that thought when I finished the first episode, but I put my faith into the writer, and he did not disappoint.

The art style, the character designs, and the characters are great. They’re wonderful, and I appreciate the friendship they have. The underwear designs were well-done and beautiful. Seriously, as a woman myself, I loved them and wanted them for myself. The fight scenes are spectacular. ...

As for the plot, it goes the way you expect a Uchikoshi plot to go. There’s twists and turns, robots, and of course multiple timelines. It wouldn’t be a Uchikoshi game without multiple timelines. I did enjoy it, and I think everything really comes together.

The music wasn’t that amazing but it was acceptable and appropriate for each scene.

For his first foray into anime, Uchikoshi hit it out of the park. I’m not surprised that it’s a sleeper hit though. Maybe it’s just a curse, since all of his work is super underrated, yet it’s really good. If you’ve made it this far into the review and enjoyed my ramblings, please check out the Zero Escape series and the AI the Somnium Files series if you haven’t. Both of them are excellent and they’re written by Uchikoshi.