Man, this title really doesn’t sell it. Yeah, Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt is an anime. Yes, it is an anime with title like that which goes beyond the Japanese weirdness and that’s why I love it. It’s like number 5 on my top ten animes because for me, I see it as a brilliant satire on western culture as seen through the eyes of the Japanese. Like, it may not seem like that at times but it should click by the time you reach the diet episode or even the transformer parody. Oh god, this going to be fun to sell to you people but first, let’s talk about the summary and spoilers will occur so let’s talk about this amazing piece of satire and before you ask, yes I will do Kill La Kill one day. I love Kill La Kill a lot but I feel like Panty and Stocking deserves it more right now plus it was the only anime series I got away with downloading before I left for my holiday.
Panty And Stocking is by the guy who wrote FLCL and before you ask, yes I have read FLCL and no, I’m not going to comment on it because I never understood what I read. So anyway, P&S follows the two angels known as the Anarchy Sisters, a pair of angels known as Panty and Stocking who were kicked out of heaven for their sins with Panty being a slut and Stocking being a glutton for sweets. They staying with the immortal black priest called Garterbelt, who has a thing for little boys and bondage and I think the green thing of a dog, Chuck and if they want to go back to heaven, they need to kill a bunch of ghosts so each episode is them killing that week’s ghost so they can get coins for re-entry into heaven. The episode set up is pretty much very like your normal morning cartoon or should I say, your normal morning American cartoon. Yes, it does have some of that Japanese humour scattered across the series and they even mocked typical anime tropes such as the obligatory beach episode but it mainly feels like it’s making fun of very American-like culture from fad diets, high school life and even the sex industry and masturbating. Nothing is safe from these guys but they do it in a way that you gotta love the characters because they are that funny.
Stereotypical characters are usually not funny unless they are done in a over the top way like in “Mars Attacks” and P&S delivers it in spades. When I say Panty is a slut, she is a really a slut and a hardcore one at that too. There isn’t a moment when she isn’t having sex or preparing to do the deed but what I also like is how they are also the complete opposite of what you expect. Sure the Anarchy Sisters are angels but this doesn’t mean they play nice. They act like complete assholes when they are on screen with only their personal interests in mind and you still can’t help but root for them because who else are you going to root for? Brief the geeky sidekick who always get pushed around by the sisters and to a degree, Garterbelt. There isn’t much to talk about when it comes to characters so I want to do something different and talk about the writing. As someone with aspirations of becoming a writer themselves (I been drafting my own series since Year 8), I do like to pay attention to both dialogue and how story events are planned out and while P&S isn’t the best at it, it does have some solid writing especially when it comes to jokes. One of my favourite examples of this sort of writing is the high school episode where it just mocks American high school tropes from the popularity hierarchy with its queen bee called Barbie on top who later turns out to be an actual queen bee to how the sisters need to acquire a nerd to help with their quest. It’s just a fun and satirical look at high school but it does not compare to the semen episode. It does have a proper name but I like to call it the semen episode because it’s all about semen. It’s opening and ending sequences are just full of my second favourite kind of humour; sexual innuendos and this is used in the context of a war setting. Paired with their captain giving a speech worthy of an Oscar to his soldiers, it’s over dramatic and a great parody of war time movies and the fact it all ends with the whole cold opening being a masturbation joke, it’s brilliant comedy. Sure it’s not a masterpiece when it comes to satire or even comedy but it’s just really funny. I haven’t even talked about the transformer episode or the zombie episode but I don’t want to because I don’t want to spoil it. What also makes these sort of jokes great is the art direction.
When I think what makes Panty and Stocking great, I would say 30% belongs to its art direction because it’s changes on a whim. So the normal episode normally looks like a rather blocky early 90s kids cartoon like Cat Vs Dog etc. I like this style because it feels like you are watching an adult parody of your favourite 90s cartoon which really just adds to its charm. What also adds to this is the fact they change to an traditional practical effect with a model of the enemy they just killed blowing up into pieces while delivering a very cheesy death line. For me, that just adds to the charm but what really doesn’t do it for me is the transformation sequences. You see, when the sisters change forms, the art style changed to be a more traditional anime style and while I do enjoy the fanservice (not a pervert), I feel like it doesn’t blend well and just takes you out but what doesn’t is the soundtrack. I’m going to say it now, I love the soundtrack of this series. It has an whole album that you can find on YouTube which is copyright free on top of that and if you do decided to listen to them, my personal recommendations are “I Want You”, “S Trip” and ”Fly Away” and if you do go find these songs, also try to find their remixes which are found on “The Worst Album”. If you are a fun of techno or just like what you hear, you should totally download and give these songs a listen to. So with all the good stuff out of the way, let’s talk about the crap parts.
Ok, before continuing with this paragraph, I’m going to warn everyone, there is a minor spoiler here about the ending of the series. I seriously urge you to go and watch this series if you like what you have read about it so far because as much as I am going to not spoil it, I can’t properly criticise this series without talking about it’s ending. Ok, with that out of the way, I want to talk about the ending. The series ends on a cliffhanger. I’m not going to tell you about the cliffhanger but it’s a cliffhanger ending which I hate already since it’s usually a cheap way to keep viewers interested and make them demand a sequel but I love this series so a sequel should of been in the works anyway. Here’s the problem: WE NEVER GOT ONE. While I don’t blame the studio for not being able to provide us with a second season, I am still going to criticise it and in terms of closure for the cliffhanger, apparently the original creator has made/is making an unofficial official dogushi called “Cemetery Hills” and in terms of P&S in print, we got a volume of Panty And Stocking which feels like a bunch of shorts they didn’t use in the main series. The ending kinda pisses me off when paired up with the rest of these facts since we don’t have closure and I hate it when I don’t have closure. Now, this doesn’t mean I hate mysteries but it ends on a proper cliffhanger which has no closure so I’m pissed.
All in all, Panty And Stocking is a solid series with a bit of a shit end but I feel like the comedy and the satire is what makes this series great and is the anime I will always recommend to anyone who wants to get into anime since it’s not too long, it’s a self contained series and it has very familiar feeling for anyone who grew up on those 90s cartoons. I’m giving P&S the solid 8/10 so go watch it. It’s pure genius when it comes to raunchy humour and a must watch for anyone who is looking for something more mature without it bordering “fanservice” territory. Also, if you are going watch the series (which you should be doing), go out of your way to find the dubbed version because the English voice acting really just adds to that 90s feel and is far better the Japanese voice acting. So I’m finishing this review off in my birthday (23rd of November) so happy birthday to me and I am currently dreading the fact that I am going to jump in my Facebook when I regain an internet connection and see all these happy birthday messages because I’m finally 18 so I wonder how many of them is going to be asking me to go drinking with them. You know what, my next review (or whenever I end up uploading it since I don’t have an order for these reviews right now) is going to be a little self indulgent so next time (whenever it goes up), I will see you here for “YuGiOh” and not I’m going to tell you what aspect of the series I’m going to cover so have fun guessing. As per usual, you can find my YouTube channel to the sidebar and you can also find my Steam Profile there if you want to have as a friend on Steam and maybe even donate me something to review at a later date and you know what, I’m going to include a link to my FaceBook there if I remember to do that. I don’t often post on it but you can just use it to stalk me or inflate your number of friends you have.
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