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Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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Rent | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Ggultra2764 | [series:3034#1552] |
Last updated Sunday, November 20 2016. Created Sunday, November 20 2016. |
Punch Line's gimmick of a young man gaining superhuman powers after getting aroused would have you think it would be a mindless ecchi comedy from sampling its first few episodes. But glimmers of an actual plot are hinted to from spirit Yota's encounters with the various girls in the apartment complex and learning more of his past connections to one of them that come to fruition in later episodes when our lead learns of a large-scale conspiracy connected to the superpowered abilities of he and one of the girls in the apartment. In spite of its bizarre mix of supernatural shenanigans and elements of sci-fi, Punch Line delivers a surprisingly cohesive plot that interweaves together all its character and story elements that involves Yuta's bizarre situation, the various dilemmas facing all the girls in the apartments, and the looming meteor threat that threatens to wipe out humanity. The reward for all this is there if you can put up with the rampant perverted humor found in the show's first few episodes that gradually gets reduced as the show's more serious plot developments progress, though the gimmick for Yuta to milk his superhuman abilities is a bit on the obnoxious side. In addition, the ending for the series may come across as a bit anticlimactic considering all the buildup that went into Yuta trying to resolve the crisis that he and the girls try to overcome. Still in spite of its issues, Punch Line made for a surprisingly engaging and solid watch offering a cohesive and engaging plot amid its random and nonsensical story elements introduced throughout its run.
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Unevaluated | Stretch | [series:3034#628] | ||||||
I am still waiting for the anime series which will ridicule fanservice rather than gleefully wallow in it, and Punch Line doesn't seem to be the show I am waiting for. It will probably be a long wait, and maybe one which never ends, because ridicule requires expensive talent while anybody can do fanservice, and it is guaranteed to be at least moderately successful, what with banal human urges and all. Anyway, I was disappointed to find that Punch Line is yet another fanservice-driven show which pretends to have an interesting plot so that the makers can deflect criticism of their low standards. But the plot is absurd and uninteresting, while the fact that we are being patronized is shoved in our faces. There are crazy plot twists which are cleverly handled to make fun shows, and there are ones which are just plain crazy and are clearly just being used as an excuse for fanservice, and you can probably guess which type is to be found here. To be fair, there were one or two jokes which made me laugh a little, and some fanservice-driven shows can't even manage that. The character designs and bizarre action reminded me of FLCL somehow (but the overall quality definitely did not). Show me an anime which jokes about the obsession of Japanese schoolboys with panties, but doesn't actually show any itself, and I will show you an honest, respectable show. For some reason I became curious about Punchline again and decided to give it a second try. It was kind of colorful, at least. But a few seconds of episode two reminded me of what I hadn't liked the first time. The only way a show can prove that it is relying on talent rather than fanservice would be by being pretty good. A show which pretends to be sly and witty, but is in fact neither, somehow annoys me even more than one which is clearly relying entirely on fanservice without trying anything new. Last updated Wednesday, April 29 2015. Created Monday, April 13 2015. |
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