Enjoying anime is an acquired taste. I’ve dabbled a bit in anime to be able to enjoy the often-crazy storylines. As a European I still struggle with some of the curveballs being thrown at me while watching. It feels like something not of this world, but then again, that’s maybe the whole point. Punch Line was originally released as a 12-part anime in 2015. Now you can get the more immersed version as a visual novel adventure game.
Save the world, don’t look at panties
Punch Line starts out with a scene lifted straight from the anime where a bus hijacking is happening. Luckily crime fighter magical girl Strange Juice arrives to save the day. Just as Strange Juice takes control of the situation, a man steps from his seat and reveals himself as being the leader of the QMay terrorist group. Suddenly, Stange Juice doesn’t have the upper hand anymore. At this point Yuta Iradatsu, your soon to be character in the game, comes in play. By seeing a pantie of a girl on the bus, he gets superpowers which grant him the ability to smash the QMay leader through the back of the bus and in the water below the bridge.
This whole ordeal results in the QMay leader “dying”. You strand on the shores of the river but happen to see panties again which results in overstimulation and leaves you unconscious. This somehow triggers a meteor to fall on earth and kill the whole population. As this point, your soul gets separated from your body because you might think this story isn’t weird enough… Now it’s up to your astral body form to save the world with the help of a ghost cat. Yep, anime weirdness to the fullest.
Ghost trick chains
Saving the world as an astral body isn’t the easiest of tasks. Nobody sees you, so interaction is very limited. Luckily your ghost cat companion did some research and knows how to fix everything. Finding your body is key in this whole process. The way to reach your body is by “tricking” other people to do stuff. In each room you’ll visit you can interact with certain objects which can trick people into doing things helping your cause. After the first successes, you’ll gain a level and have more possibilities to interact with. Sometimes you need to interact with a few objects in a particular order to set up a trick chain. This feels inspired by cult-Nintendo DS-hit Ghost Trick but never hits the mark since it is all too simple and limited.
Cel-shaded and colorful characters
The game offers cel-shaded characters which seems to be the norm for most anime-inspired games. This look works very well in my opinion. The backgrounds, on the other hand, feel very outdated and feel disconnected. The game often cuts to scenes from the anime to progress the story. Although the anime looks great, this feels like a cheap way to mask the fact that the game itself is very limited.
The game presents itself in episodes like the original anime, theme song and end credits included. Most episodes just play out by themselves with you as a player just pressing away on a button to get through the dialog. The game elements are so sparsely you don’t feel like playing a game but just watching an episode of the show with some extra DVD features.
Conclusion
If you’re a fan of Punch Line the anime or just weird anime in general, you might like this experience. I liked the quirkiness but can’t take this seriously as a game. I felt disappointed and at some point, even bored with continuously pressing through dialog with no interaction what-so-ever. As a game, this is best avoided, the anime, on the other hand, looks decent enough to give it a try.
