#Live MayoPan

[nerdy-arty]

Watch Mayonaka Punch. Watch it. Now. Do it. Funny Vamp Youtuber anime OWNS

[wewle31]

[tiffycat]

I could eat that girl for lunch

It's a craving not a crush

[pat-squared]

"Sunday Blog - Watch out!"

[rayar32]

I really really like Mayonaka Punch, Masaki is literally me fr fr

[kaban-bang]

oh that's yuri that's doomed yuri of my comfort character

[pleaseplaygrimfandango]

mayopan doodles

[vaultlink]

She went to that hospital to look for blood after waking up because she had been there before, she was returning on instinct even if she didn't realize she was, even tho she didn't remember.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Summer 2024 Anime Overview: Mayonaka Punch and SHY Season 2

Mayonaka Punch

Masaki runs a successful YouTube (or ‘NewTube’ as they call it) channel with her two friends, however arguments arise, and she ends up punching one of her friends during a stream. She’s dropped from the channel and the internet turns against her, dashing hopes of starting over. Meanwhile, a vampire, Live, is dreaming about a beautiful woman offering blood to her and she discovers the girl of her dreams is Masaki. So Masaki strikes a dangerous deal with Live so she can start a brand new YouTube channel with the vampire as the star...

Canceled Youtuber x Loser Vampire yuri. This is the kind of shit I watch anime for.

Do you support women’s wrongs? Are you an appreciator of female characters who are loveable shit heads? This is the show for you! I love that Masaki is absolutely in the wrong, her punch is not justified and the show never pretends it is, she’s unabashedly selfish and the show loves to point that out, yet she still has a lot of pathos, and you really begin to root for her and her budding friendships (or possibly more with Live?) The four vampires Masaki team up with (and one vampire desperately trying to keep them in line) are all unapologetic disasters, and they make a fantastic ensemble comedy.

The dynamic between to group and the way they form strong bonds with each other through the chaos is fun to watch, and almost every vampire gets a nice focus episode where you come to feel for them. Fu’s episode is a highlight here, being so devastatingly sad and sweet I believe the people who say they cried over it. While the show never gets that intense again, we do get to see these ridiculous assholes put themselves in wacky situations for the sake of clicks, from stranding themselves on an island or getting in an ill advised garlic eating challenge.

But the core relationship is obviously Live and Masaki. Live is downright horny for Masaki’s blood, from the moment she imagines Masaki coming to her in the nude in a dream. The blood=sexual lust metaphor is...incredibly thinly veiled. Masaki is completely willing to take advantage of the down-bad vampire, even seductively baring her shoulder at one point to make Live do what she wants.

But of course, it’s not all horny antics…we slowly watch Masaki warm up to Live, meanwhile Live come to love Masaki as a person, going into a depression whenever she and Masaki are separated for a while, only to be all blushes and on her way to confessing when she gets a phone call before Masaki cuts her off. Masaki helps Live and the other vampires come together, and the vampires help Masaki out of her creative breakdown in return.

And Masaki really is going through it, getting so much criticism from and hate from the internet she doesn’t feel she can show her face again. She did do the bad thing, but it’s hard to not feel sorry for her when all the criticism beats her down, and the show subtly gets across that the performative internet outrage accomplishes nothing but being detrimental to the target’s mental health (and how often the target is not an evil irredeemable person). It’s great that Masaki is by no means the “perfect” victim, but the show still invites you to empathize with her. The way the comments are represented as swirling around her head wherever she goes, forming a cloud of smog she can barely see through—it really captures what that's like, as someone who's also been bogged down by internet drama

But the show also doesn’t group in all the negative criticism as vile bullying either, showing how some people can think their comments aren’t that serious, and think of it as regular criticism or playful ribbing that's tone gets lost over the internet…the show seems to understand internet (or at least YouTube) culture a lot better than a lot of anime do, showcasing the way it brings out creativity and comradery and also the way it can make you forget the joy of creating in your desire to please the fickle masses, and the way net users can twist and misconstrue things.

I thought the finale was very strong, but I’ll admit a tiny part of me was hoping for romantic catharsis between Live and Masaki or at least something more explicit and charged than what came before, and yeah, I didn’t get that. But I fully expected not to get that, as the many hits I’ve taken over the years as a yuri soldier have toughened me into the cynical woman I am today. Aaaand the show makes it pretty obvious they’re trying to leave room for a sequel, so that softens the disappointment a bit. I’ll also admit I was a little disappointed some angsty backstory that was teased ended up…not amounting to much, to put it in a non-spoilery way. I think the direction the show chose to go in for the finale was for the best and perfectly fitting for the story it was telling, especially considering the time constraints, but man, I am a sucker for some angsty gay backstory so I couldn’t help imagining could-have-beens.

However, it was a great series all the way through, and I’d love to get that sequel, even if I’m not holding my breath for all my yuri dreams to come true. It’s a solid, funny, well-animated good time with some messy, relatable adult women, many of whom are incompetent gay vampires, and honestly, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Shy Season 2

The second season of Shy was a disappointment. While the first (review here) was a little rough around the edges at times but had a lot of charm and a strong emotional arc, this season’s conflict was extremely repetitive and dragged out. The show is suddenly about ninja family drama, which would have been fine if the ninja characters added something new to the mix, but they really don’t. Fights go on and on with the same sentiments repeated over and over again by multiple characters. The comedy sometimes feels awkward when the next minute the show tries to get you to take the goofy villains seriously. The show has a big cheesy save-this-person-with-the-power-of-friendship anime finale…only to suddenly decide next episode “whoops they weren’t saved after all that was all for nothing tragedy time now” YOU CANNOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS SHOW, it isn’t a tragic twist, it just feels like you wasted our time.

The anime’s strained resources are really showing this season too- it held together reasonably well in the first season despite being a clearly modest production, but is more and more off-model throughout this season, with a lot more obvious shortcuts.

It’s such a shame, because Shy was a female superhero show with so much potential and endearing characters and huge yuri undertones, so I wanted it to do well. There are still moments of charm, but if the writing stays this level, not even a hero can save it.

[lapidotisgr8]

I can't wait for the finale

mayonaka punch cured my art block

[adorablegorilla]

MASAKI JUMPSCARE

[greatwyrmgold]

Live, with all due respect, listen to the lady who grew up alongside Facebook and Twitter. You slept through Gamergate and West End Caleb and whatever the Japanese equivalent of such harassment campaigns was.

Don't get me wrong, Masaki is not quite ready to appear on camera again from internal factors alone.

She definitely needs a little time to get over the funk these comments got her in.

But on top of that, Live went to sleep when Myspace was young and woke up after TikTok matured; she's only known YouTube exists for half a year or so. Even if she understands Masaki's hopes and dreams as well as she thinks she does, she can't possibly understand her fears. She can't understand what Masaki feels right now, and she can't even guess whether those fears are rational.

As far as I can tell, Live is acting on the old wisdom of "sticks and stones can break your bones but words will never hurt you." That might have been good advice when you were getting insulted by a few people in your class or neighborhood, but it's less helpful in an age where Twitter's villain of the week can get hundreds of death threats in a single day.

Now, Masaki "puts the 'punch' in 'Mayonaka Punch'" Sonoue isn't blameless in this conflict. But I'm inclined to say that she's right and Live's wrong. Masaki wanting to stay off-camera is entirely reasonable.

[wewle31]

[maddy-k-reads-all-day]

Bought this the other day... was a bit pricey in my opinion ($8)

But I am a simple girl. I see my favorite lesbian vampire YouTuber anime, and I lose all self-control.

[saschagemruler]

When Live does drink Masaki's blood, we all agree they have the most nasty bisexual sex while doing it right?

[rayar32]

I smashed one obsession with another god help me; Millaarc would NOT vibe with Masaki which just makes it funnier in my mind

also Masaki. that is all.