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These are more so extended personal notes rather than a thoroughly planned review, so it won't be exhaustive.

First of all, this passion project is a small miracle of animation (especially considering it's short staff) and, needless to say, it's hilarious that this aired together with Blue Lock's 2nd season (it goes to show how badly big projects can fail). Unfortunately, however, the art style of Mecha-Ude is cut down to the bare bones of absolutely essential lines of objects, giving it sometimes a very "flat-land" feeling. Yet, to some extent, this is done to account for the constantly fluid and clean animation. There is definitely ... no static scene in this show — your eyes will be busy. Admittedly, this can cause some scenes to have poorer readability, but I would also nitpick this about any show with busy animation, so this is not much of a problem.

On another hand, it's kind of unsettling how there is next to no shading throughout the show. Still, the detail given to movement, both from the camera that rotates around to cover the entire playing field of the action, as well as from the bodies and objects themselves, is a fair artistic choice. The show also gladly received Hiroyuki Sawano's music, which, albeit nauseating at this point, cannot fail to push an anime's presentation a few steps up in score. Being emotionally invested in the fights is generally not a problem. And I could not skip the catchy OP even once!

Furthermore, everything about its inspiring atmosphere and the vivacity of its characters (brought about mostly by their voice actors and how they deliver some amusing dialogue lines) grants the viewer a generally positive experience; though never quite chilling. Sadly, the runtime for this series is too short and poorly used. It provides no real statement about anything, while also leaving us with characters that are too simple to be worthy of mention (if charismatic). Out protagonist is an "unchosen one", who is thrown into a supernatural situation and just happens to be too kind to walk away from it — even when everyone else tells him to.

This heroic character works along with Alma, the most important individual out of the Mecha-Ude creatures, since he holds a fundamental ability for their grand objective of reestablishing the Mecha-Ude's previous status quo of reality, and thus, in the process, also free themselves from certain groups of humans who aim to control and suppress their minds. Naturally, you would expect some themes of oppression, deception, coexistence of living beings, friendship and heroism to result from this setting. And they do, but they are all helplessly cliché — you might have already figured out some of them in your head just from reading this. If you watched shounen anime before this show, you have watched this show. It cannot stand out.

For instance, the Mecha-Ude are presented as alien-like sentient beings, but those beings are incapable of being anything other than humans (with a different skin). Their behavior and thinking is too anthropomorphized, to the point of being ridiculous when it comes to certain characters, such as Ayumi. Not to spoil much, but imagine a stereotypical futile high school girl, speaking in modern slang and acting all chatty; this is exactly what she is, despite having lived for who knows how many centuries (and, until recently, being stuck in an indefinitely long slumber).

The plot is also too obvious and unsurprising. It doesn't makes bad diversions, but it also doesn't take interesting turns. Nearly every single thing about it is predictable, to the point that I genuinely cannot talk about it without risking spoilers. It follows the shounen sci-fi formula too close to a tee. With that being said, in terms of story and characters alone, this show is skippable, unless you're a fan of some fun, action/comedy driven sci-fi anime who is looking for a comfortable watch. As for the production side of things, with its hand-crafted and ambitious nature and quality, this underrated piece very much deserves a chance.

Going straight to the point, I should say Masaki (the MC) is a major issue here in narrative terms. On a smaller note, having no episode centered on Tokage was also a let down. However, generally speaking, this is more convincing than P.A.'s other work from the same season—Na Nare Hana Nare—in trying to elicit audience empathy for its theme (in this case, online content creation and its psychosocial challenges), as well as resolving its conflicts more satisfactorily. It also has a more intriguing element of interest (vampires) that was decently implemented and indeed had relevance to the plot. If we note that it’s a ... light-hearted show, its flaws should bother less. The comedy is generally on point and I've quickly become fond of most characters.

The audiovisual aspects greatly enhance this anime’s presentation. This is a case where I’m glad to say no potential was lost (in terms of production), but rather, the direction and craftwork only improve the product. It offers a colorful cast and charming scenarios; an ever fun experience through it’s energetic OST, which, however, does not miss emotional beats; great consistency in character models (that is, aside from various instances of intentional distortion for comedic value); modest but efficient character designs that fairly complement everyone’s dynamic personalities; perfect choices of voice actresses… in short: it’s a blast, and brimming with personality.

I’d also like to mention how there is a thematic contrast behind the story that provides extra meaning for the choice of vampires as a theme (and gets further elucidated when you read the ED’s lyrics). For context, Masaki was butt kicked from her previous group, the “Newtube” channel Hype Sisters, an expulsion first motivated by differences in creative views and adversity between members, then finally due to all of this culminating in her punching a team member on stream. The anime starts from this point and it then explores the development of Masaki, a failed influencer who has now to restart her career with a new project: the titular channel of the show. The world of vampires is dark and, thus, Mayonaka Punch only gets to act in the night. Here, arises the contrast between the world of the living, filled with hostile peeping eyes and too claustrophobic for Masaki to live in, and the world of the undead, who end up sheltering her from all the harm beneath the sunlight. This aspect of theme couldn’t be clearer when, in ep 1, right before falling off the roof of an hospital and almost dying (an incident which one could read as suggestive of suicide, adjusted to a lighter narrative), Masaki laments: “no one needs me”. It is Live, her first vampire friend, who challenges this perception—and she does so in the dead of night.

To speak of the vampires, each of them has some kind of personal conflict (Tokage aside) that eventually gets addressed in dedicated episodes, which you always can expect to end on a good note. Thus, one cannot honestly speak of a sense of dread or anxiety in this show, as it seems to be common with P.A Works’ anime. However, they are indeed abundant in personality and come with various personal quirks: Live is an extraordinarily powerful vampire, but also euphoric fiend obsessed with Masaki’s blood; Ichiko is a hundred years old loli who cares about family and is really good at cooking and tending the house; Fu is an awfully shy individual who carries a hidden talent for singing and a deep past connection with a human friend; and Tokage is a voluptuous ancient vampire with a helpless gambling addiction. Much later in the series, we also get to see more participation from Shigeyuki: like Live, she is a legendary vampire, but also the main frontwoman for “Mother” in the show, thus serving as the physical representation of “limits” to the group. Together, they form a lively cast of memorable characters—even Masaki, whose undeniable presence manifests in her strict, tyrannical behavior and unstoppable ambition for success, as she leads Mayonaka Punch from behind the cameras.

As previously suggested, the fact they are vampires does indeed have a major influence in what happens in the plot at various points: most notably, the very reason why Mayonaka Punch is racing for a million subscribers is due to the threat of forced termination of their channel, were it not to successfully achieve so within 6 months—an ultimatum proclaimed by the mysterious Mother of vampires, whose main concern is keeping these paranormal creatures’ powers hidden, thus preserving harmony with humans. So rather than a repetitive or slow paced story, the anime is actually very creative, not only in its premise but also on the storyboard side of things, offering a good range of situations and setups for each episode (though not quite as much as the OP suggests).

Going off the last mention, the catchy OP does indeed a lot to set up the mood for the show, while the ED captures the emotional nuances that permeate it, represented in great part by the social alienation that Masaki suffers because of the internet's inconsiderate and self-serving judgment in a matter they have little insight on. The degree of effect that social media cancelling has (especially when it breaks through the virtual world, as Masaki gets recognized in public) is shown succinctly and persuasively over the span of the story. But presenting social problems in this light also opens the show for critique, as we must observe if there is a sense of fairness in how it handles its theme.

Is it honest to criticize netizens for judging Masaki with little information when her outburst was so visible and disproportionate? Furthermore, neither Masaki nor the show seem interested in clarifying things or atoning for her actions in a clear manner. We are never given the exact circumstances for her adversity with the Hype Sisters, nor does Masaki’s wrongdoing really get settled right. This is where things can break for a critical viewer, for while Masaki is herself a victim in one aspect, she is also never properly held accountable for her own faults, and in fact continues to display many of her originally flawed traits up to the end of the story. The "Punch" itself continues to be played often as a joke and even goes on to become a positive icon in the series, representative of the whole Mayonaka group. Therefore, the notion of “redemption” here becomes debatable.

In summary, one could say this show has a failed message, but it's carried by all other aspects (animation, art style, music, characters etc.), such that whether or not you can tolerate Masaki as a person becomes the chief factor in determining your experience with it. For what is worth, she can take credit for being a nuanced character who often shows concern for her team members and who struggles with regret and self-worth issues throughout the plot. The drama surrounding the character and how she responds to these things are understandable and often sympathetic, and there is modest growth in the character as she learns to let some things go for the wellness of her friends and herself. Still, her final “apology” is rushed and sandwiched between the beats of action and drama of the final act, on top of having a generalized nature, being directed at various individuals and issues rather than properly addressing each on its own. This further drowns her redemption arc in deep waters of cowardice and self-victimization, as we can expect little learning to be taken forward from all of this development (are you convinced that Masaki will not end up making the same mistakes later down the road? It seems that all that has changed is she found someone who can take her punches). As such, despite the exceptionally fun elements explored in this show, it’s hard to give Mayonaka Punch much credit for how it handles its major character arc. My final judgment of it, in this regard, would lean negatively.

(P.S.: It’s possible to interpret this show’s approach to its theme as more than mere carelessness. If you’re interested, please read my blog post on MyAnimeList about this.)

It's funny how short the synopsis for this anime is on MAL, because there's really not much to add. There's no deeper premise than the Data Processing Club; the show relies entirely on its quirky humor and how that results in specific dynamics between the characters (in addition to being a CGDCT with yuri undertones).

Apart from Yui as the "straight man" and Yuzuko as "the funny man", Yukari is an interesting and functional addition to the typical manzai (漫才) style present in the show. By being a bit of a bakadere who goes along with Yuzuko's antics, while not having herself the same eloquence and ... mania, she acts as an "instigator" that enables Yuzuko's rants to run just long enough until they meet Yui's necessary pullback to reality. She also often plays the whole of the heart that ties together the two more opposing forces of the trio, pacifying their eventual conflicts when they verge on seriousness.

This setup works fine, but it will inevitably get repetitive over time. Fortunately, later episodes introduce a few side characters (Aikawa Chino, Okano Kei, Hasegawa Fumi), who, in a way, mirror the main trio, although they display enough idiosyncrasy to not come across as redundant (the first is a shy and kind girl; the second, a tomboy who easily gets jealous for Aikawa; the third a more sober, yet sardonic type). More background is also added to Yui and Yukari's childhood, as we learn that they became friends before meeting Yuzuko, which is a nice touch for characterization and opens up new jokes where Yuzuko acts jealous of their unique bond.

Lastly, we have "Okaa-san-sensei", or Matsumoto Yoriko, who is the advisor for the Data Processing Club to which the main trio belongs. She is conscientious, is easily frightened, is warm and attentive with her students, and has oppai. Despite the previous comment, Aikawa does feel a little redundant to Yoriko, although the two characters rarely interact and have different motives for interacting with the main trio (i.e. Aikawa has a secret "crush" on Yui, which often drives her jokes).

It should definitely be interesting to revisit this anime a few years later, having learned more Japanese. There is a lot of wordplay and references to personality clichés (I say "personality" instead of "character" because sometimes they partially play with real world stereotypes. E.g. Yuzuko's monologue as Yukari's "father" in ep. 12). Many of Yuzuko's leads for jokes are phonetic similarities between words, category errors, and attempts to connect vaguely related topics, which make it a hard — if not impossible — anime to translate. Some cultural awareness (such as of Japanese dishes or of the aforementioned tropes/clichés) is necessary for other jokes as well, but the Data Processing Club scenes help the anime feel somewhat grounded even for the foreigner viewer, due to the "googling random stuff" element being universal. The characters' quirks are also a main source of amusement, and those can manifest purely through behavioral traits.

At the end of every "research activity," the Yuyushiki trio gathers to summarize what they’ve learned, often delivering a punchline for their skits and thus manifesting their quirks through how off-topic and out-of-the-box some of their “summaries” are. This is yet another moment where some knowledge of Japanese can be key for appreciating the comedy (although not always required), by observing how they transform the research topic into the most random, most irrelevant まとめ.

As for the moe, it can get too much at times, and the occasional "characters laughing at their own jokes" moments are always cringeworthy to watch. But, overall, it didn't feel like the humor was trying too hard; the flow is very natural. In fact, it's able to put you in the scene with these characters' erratic way of connecting ideas, to the point you being to question why it's starting to make sense. Fortunately, in this regard, the imminence of Yui's retorts and the presence of normal side characters also help in keeping this usage of nonsense and randomness moderate.

The last ~3 episodes fell off a little in terms of creativity. I cannot imagine enjoying the manga for 13 volumes without getting sick of it, but as a 12-episode anime it was a rather pleasant experience. It has a certain coziness and banality (in a good way) that can evoke memories of one's own school days, along with the silly "strategies" we would employ to escape monotony in a world not yet so afflicted with the internet (or with our current hectic pace of life). In a way, this type of play and banter can be seen as the very essence of adolescence — or the fight against boredom in general. That's sort of the experience with Yuyushiki. Simple fun, one moment after another.

While Na Nare Hana Nare may appeal to CGDCT fans, I don't think it's quite fair to reduce it to such. It focuses more on drama, characterization and "healing" (iyashikei). In fact, much more so than Sports — a label which it gets purely by convention. The theme of this show is less cheerleading itself and more 応援 ("ouen", i.e. rooting for or supporting someone in a general sense).

As a Brazilian viewer, my score and review for this anime come from obvious motivation. Anna-chan might genuinely be one of the most accurately portrayed Brazilian characters I have seen in anime so far. In fact, a ... quality of this anime is being mindful of how stereotypes can (should) be used only as stepping stone to further understand a person.

The characters are at the same derived from their archetype but also have elements of a mental universe which extends beyond it. For instance, Anna is the extroverted and out of place Brazilian girl who often fails to read the room and adhere to cultural manners. While this element is initially played for flavor and cuteness, it's later shown to have strongly influenced her past, especially when first moving to Japan. This aspect explains much of her personality and how that has lead her to nurture a deep passion for music, given that she was "rescued" by Y.J. — owner of the vinyl record store which, by circumstance, became a shelter for Anna, a home where she was able to feel welcomed. Similar deconstructions happen with other characters.

As encapsulated by the last episode, Na Nare Hana Nare has an interest in talking about fears, and how these fears become barriers for one's achievements. In order to answer these conflicts, characters need to develop trust in one another and form strong bonds that ought to enable them to keep pushing through their struggles. That being said, while its intentions are kind, it lacks in depth. The show is empathetic, yet fairly shallow.

It lacks a concrete main plot and some kind of lasting message. As mentioned with Anna, the anime does have the ability to be tactful and delicate in how it portrays culture, personality and psychological conflicts — yet, those conflicts are stake-less and "solved" within the spam of 1-2 episodes with the power of cheering.

On the matter of production, Na Nare Hana Nare also suffers. Its style features a poor combination of colored contour lines with a pastel color palette and simple scenarios, resulting in something that is, cryptically, vibrant yet watered down. There is also a more detrimental issue when CGI is used for most of the cheering scenes. This is combined with no camerawork whatsoever, which makes those scenes very bland, if not ugly. But I should leave a positive nod to the work behind the OP and ED, as they are very pleasant to watch, and the art throughout the show is mostly consistent.

As it is, the anime in general lacks originality and depth to persuade a spectator about anything regarding its theme which they wouldn't already be willing to agree with. I did not care about cheerleading before it (as a real life practice) and I've experienced no change in that stance afterwards. Ultimately, one who comes to the show with the proper expectations will be satisfied. I guess it's more accurate to say this show is "comforting" rather than "healing". At the end of the day, this is entertainment, and not meant to provoke thought. It succeeds in such with characters that are generally quite charismatic.

Should you ever watch Tokyo 24th Ward?

It depends on whether you're expecting something particularly good out of it or not. It should be noted that this show had severe time constraints which lead to many serious production issues, to the point that even the key animation director manifested his pessimism towards the series on a personal Twitter account. Considering this context, the reader is invited to investigate the matter and I will not add another negative comment about the production to the existing pile.

Regardless, I will say I had fun watching this series and was genuinely surprised at the amount of interesting concepts and characters ... they managed to include despite the aforementioned problems (though I'm a little biased towards the sci-fi genre). However, these same characters and concepts never get fully explored, and the show lacks in providing a strong or specific message about anything that sticks to your memory. Many of the themes revolve around philosophical issues that humanity will likely face in one way or another in the future, such as how accurately can we predict incidents or accidents within society; how preventable these situations are; and how should we ethically respond to that knowledge. Yet, the anime either never had the time to or was never interested in exploring these themes in a fulfilling manner — it feels more like an introductory class on philosophy and technology. The characters that participate in the story, while some likable and believable, are not very deep either, and will sometimes only act in favor of the plot, with no prior indication that their behavior was in line with their mindset or moral beliefs (this is because we never get to know those things in detail, or they are simply not there).

It saddens me that the show never got to seize its full potential, for it had enough good ideas behind it that it could make up a long and iconic series had it tried to be one. However, due to the rush of the current industry and most likely a lack of inspiration from low-spirited animators and writers, it was never meant to be something great.

If you like futuristic narratives and want to watch something off the genre for entertainment, then I'd recommend it as long as the sadly very unpolished animation and frequently off-model characters don't bother you (as well some other VFX issues, such as a low quality blur on the screen in various frames). But if you worry about good animation and expect to engage in a complex story or become familiar with three dimensional characters, this show will probably only disappoint you.

「音楽。心を照らす光。」
"Music. The light that illuminates the heart."

- Asahina Takt.

Yes, you read it right. Those are the deepest words that Takt (and any other character in the show, for that matter) has to offer on what music is. Music is a metaphor for light. For visuals, not sound, not touch, not even heat. Light. This sums up pretty well what the anime has to offer.

The positives of "Takt op. Destiny" are art style, character design and, in most occasions, animation (though it gets lacky at times). You can see the pattern. Visuals, not music. To be fair, the soundtrack and sound effects in this show are... ... acceptable. They are well structured, there is technical knowledge behind it, clearly... but it lacks any "soul", anything that would make it memorable or meaningful. Much like our protagonist Takt, who can play very complex pieces, but can't reach his audience and provide an emotional experience to them (until he does, for some reason). You'd expect this to be intentional and a major point for the development of the story, but it's not. It's boring until the very end.

To talk about story, oh, well, do we really need one? Just make some monsters that hate music fall on earth or something. D2s are one dimensional evil creatures with little explanation and no apparent motivation other than stopping music, which threatens them. That goes hand in hand with Schindler, the first major villain of the show, because we need a megalomaniac human villain too, to show that not everything on the human side is black and white. Humans can be bad too. They can even hate something so beautiful and harmless such as music... because... well... anyway. Moving on.

Sagan, the 2nd villain of the show, is another bland and mentally inept character. His motivations arise as a mean to "fight fire with fire" or eliminate pain by re-signifying pain, which supposedly were to give him more honorable goals. Sagan actually comes up with a half decent idea on how to deal with the D2; although an incomplete plan, it could realistically gather support or, if necessary, even a conspiracy to his side. But no, Sagan tries to do it all alone for no good reason, and in the most harmful way possible, despite there being much better alternatives that could spare many innocents' lives... like just letting people know what he's doing and giving them time to escape.

When we stop to analyze the plot events and the tension (if any) in the story line, it can be confusing. What is the main conflict? We know that music is censored and controlled due to the D2, but they don't have an explanation. Human counterparts don't offer anything better for that purpose. Do we even have real stakes? Meaningful drama? Well, we can put some Beethoven when the generic psycho waifu is choking one of our protagonists, I'm sure the 5th Symphony- which no one ever heard before - will add more spice to that scene!

Regarding characters, the protagonist is supposed to be someone obsessed with a hobby, but he's written by a person who doesn't seem to possess that passion. There is no convincing reason for his intimate relationship with music neither through dialogue nor through his actions - yes, he always wants to play the piano, but why? The best justification is a father complex after he died, which was not further explored. In all honesty, the depth of characters in this show is nonexistent. They will be very glad to state their plot role with plain tropey words. There are a couple character deaths in the anime, but none of them felt compelling enough, either because the script was terrible and the events happened solely to benefit the plot and provide poor shock value, or because it didn't feel like they died at all. If I have to be fair, there are some fun dynamics between Takt and Destiny, but there's not much more to it.

We have to mention some questionable choices audio wise; missed opportunities, I'd say. Like the music playing in the background and the fight happening on the screen having little connection other than the obvious matching tone - fight scene, glorious combat music, sad scene, violins and a low tempo. There's also so much battle noise during some of the fights that I could barely hear the music sometimes. Why couldn't the music be the battle noise instead? There was room to make more unique decisions, but "Takt op. Destiny" sticks to the comfort zone of average direction.

Another point in that regard is using background tracks so often even though the show is trying to convince you that music is, supposedly, banned from this world. It would be very interesting if we had solemn silence instead, if the anime could focus more on using sound effects to create depth and immersion, while leaving music only for the battle scenes with Musicarts or other scenes where it's actually supposed to be playing. Then, each play would have more meaning in contrast to the consuming silence of the in-betweens. Of course, that's not what happens in "Takt opt. Destiny". Music plays at the same frequency as any other show, and has the same impact on the audience as any other show. It's generic, and not deserving of the "Music" genre.