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.
