Kara Dennison
September 24, 2024 
This season’s MAYONAKA PUNCH is very open about the highs and lows of being a YouTuber (or “NewTuber”). As Masaki attempts to move past her ejection from her original channel, she helps a band of vampires make it big in the online video world. And if they can hit a million subs, vampire Live gets to tap Masaki’s sweet blood supply.
Other than the obvious fantastical aspects of the show, this summer series has a lot of good lessons about the world of video creation. What does it mean to put yourself out there? What makes a video good? How do you keep your wits about you? All these questions and more are addressed from the dead of night!
Keep Your Private Life Private
The girls of MAYONAKA PUNCH have a very understandable reason for maintaining privacy: they’re vampires. Their leader, known only as “Mother,” isn’t big on the Masquerade being broken. So after attempts at gaining popularity via impossible stunts, they have to bring things down to earth.
Even if you’re not a blood-sucking creature of the night, though, it’s good to know where to draw the line. Authenticity is great (as we’ll see later), but that doesn’t mean you’re obligated to give your whole self away. Being in the public eye, as a YouTuber or otherwise, means knowing which parts of your life the public gets access to.
Bad Comments Hurt
A recurring visual in MAYONAKA PUNCH is the writhing, seething mass of hate comments Masaki encounters. And it’s an apt visual. Unkind words from strangers can hurt. Add to this that many people online want to cause hurt deliberately, and they can really dig in. In Masaki’s case, these comments drive her behind the camera, making her afraid to show her face online or in photos.
While Masaki does learn some important lessons about the people who leave those messages and following her dreams even so, our most valuable takeaway is that the hurt is understandable. There’s a mentality that hurtful things shouldn’t hurt or it’s a problem with you. In reality, you feel how you feel; it’s just a matter of what you do with those feelings and if you have support around you.
Authenticity is Key
Earlier, we talked about how MAYONAKA PUNCH shows the importance of curating your on-camera life. But it also shows the importance of not over-curating it. In one episode, desperate for quick subs, Masaki begins editing each video to within an inch of its life. On reviewing previous videos, though, she discovers that viewers most liked the bits where the girls of MayoPan interact naturally.
While polish and professionalism do help make a video great, getting too polished destroys the fun. Think of your own favorite YouTube teams. Would you love them as much as you do if their little moments of friendship, silliness, and imperfection were edited out? Probably not. Those very human (or very vampire?) moments are what people love to see.
