"Oh pitiful shadow lost in the darkness, oh evil spirit born of those drifting between Heaven and Earth, may the thunderous power from the garments of these holy delicate maidens strike down upon you with great vengeance and furious anger, shattering your loathsome impurity and return you from whence you came. Repent, you motherfucker!"
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a 13-episode anime original series produced by Gainax. It first aired in 2010 and is currently licensed by Funimation.
Panty and Stocking Anarchy are two angel sisters who were expelled from Heaven for bad behavior. They find themselves living in Daten City with a preacher named Garterbelt, who is none too pleased with their company. In order to earn their way back, their only option is to collect Heaven Coins, which they gain by killing the ghosts that manifest throughout the city. Their weapons against these creatures are panties that turn into guns and stockings that turn into swords. However, Panty is more interested in sleeping around, while Stocking is fixated on her insatiable sweet tooth. Between ghost hunting and the occasional clash with their rivals Scanty and Kneesocks Daemon, unsanitary hijinks ensue.
In Japan animation is a diverse storytelling medium, but in the West it's a different story. While there are some exceptions, there are pretty much two types of shows Westerners are comfortable seeing animated: children's shows and unrestrained adult comedies. Panty & Stocking is essentially both mashed into one. Just from looking at its character designs you might not even realize it was made in Japan, they're nearer those Saturday morning cartoons we all grew up on. As a further similarity, most of the episodes are broken into two vignettes like an American cartoon. Unlike those cartoons we grew up on, though, this show is filled to the brim with profanity, sex jokes and toilet humor. A show like this could only have come from the creative minds of studio Gainax.
With a couple of exceptions, Gainax as an artistic group has historically been best-suited to more cartoonish and exaggerated art styles. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that they're right at home and having a big party. The character models are stubby and wide-eyed, in keeping with the "Saturday morning cartoon" style I mentioned earlier. The show defaults to a soft-lined, bright pastel-shaded aesthetic, but its repertoire is far from limited to that. Like FLCL, another noteworthy Gainax series, Panty & Stocking is an animator's playground--it doesn't stand out so much for its high budget (though it does have good production values) as its wide variety of memorable styles and techniques, paying homage to several other works on both sides of the Pacific. With only a few slip-ups this show looks consistently good-to-great, artful even. Ghost designs range from atrocious to repugnant, but that's the point. This series knows how to show its audience something gross, and conversely its eye candy dazzles just as effectively. Episode 6 and the finale in particular pull out all the stops.
The music is even better. I'm not really a fan of electronic or hip-hop music, but I can appreciate that it's a well-made score. Pretty much every piece sounds great on its own, but it was written for the show and fits it seamlessly, ranging from lighthearted piano to seductive jazz to the bouncing notes of curiosity to the high-energy leitmotifs that punctuate all the major battles. Of particular note is the series' signature piece "Fly Away" (that's a Japanese euphemism for jizz, fun fact) which plays during Panty and Stocking's transformation sequences. It probably wouldn't sound out-of-place coming from a local strip club, and this is the only show I can think of where that's actually a compliment. To the musically inclined, I'd recommend giving the soundtrack a listen even if you have no interest in the show itself. Also, the ending theme is equal parts adorable and disquieting.
As far as voice acting goes, I'm inclined to recommend the dub over the sub, but the reason for this is a cultural one that has little to do with actual performance quality. Japanese is traditionally thought of as a softer, more understated language than English, but the seiyuu cast does its darnedest to prove that notion wrong. It's an enthusiastic, appropriately raunchy and over-the-top performance that definitely did the show's tone justice. Still, crude and crass dialog only has so much punch in a language you don't speak, and that's where the dub comes in. It couples equally bombastic and cartoony performances with an adaptive script that colors the dialog with more f-bombs than the now-legendary Black Lagoon dub, I am not hyperbolizing. Profanity is no substitute for wit, of course, but all of the lines are modern and in-character, and they fit the show's overall tone. Just as importantly, it's clear that the folks at Funimation had a blast dubbing this show.
Now that I've gotten the show's technical pedigree out of the way, let's set them aside and look at the story on its own merits. At the very least it's a pretty unique concept, the fusion of children's cartoon and adult cartoon tropes is different enough to make this show stand out, but it still leaves the question of what the selling point is. Raunchy comedy being what it is, the humor here is fairly predictable. The characters are flat and the jokes are in-your face rather than subtle, so most of the humor comes purely from catching its audience off-guard. I understand why some people get immature giggles out of this, and I'll admit it even got me a couple of times, but for the most part that brand of comedy doesn't impress me. As I mentioned above, profanity and offensive content aren't a substitute for genuine humor, and I've already established in my Pani Poni Dash! review that weak hit-or-miss comedy isn't enough to warrant a recommendation from me. There are some genuinely clever moments, such as Panty being unable to remove her Panties because she's wearing shorts, but these moments are few and far.
I know that many people will find this show repulsive and I don't blame them. For those readers who are still blissfully unaware, the ghosts Panty and Stocking fight include a gigantic turd that haunts toilets, an enormous woman who produces super-fattening milk, and a penis the size of a skyscraper, I am not making this up. Those are probably the worst of the bunch, but the rest of the show is far from tame in that regard. There is simply no way to make this series sound dignified, not with that kind of content. If hygiene is important to you, stay away from this show at all costs. At the opposite end of the spectrum, this show is peculiar in that it dabbles into just about every fetish imaginable and yet outside of a few glamour shots Panty & Stocking is never really "sexy". On one hand it's refreshing that it doesn't go for cheap exploitation, but on the other, if you're going to cram this much suggestive subject matter into thirteen episodes, I can't help but feel that the least you could do is make it appealing. Just a thought.
The writing behind this series is far from impressive either. I'm not talking about the disjointed storytelling, that's perfectly forgivable given the episode structure, and leaving a vignette with a problem unresolved (such as a zombie horde or their dog-like pet Chuck losing his brain) is also something I'm willing to let slide--again, this series pays tribute to Western cartoons. I'm talking about the underlying arc they create. Yes, they really do try to weave all the story elements (at least, starting around episode 6) into a coherent plot, tying together the Daemon sisters Scanty and Kneesocks, Panty's hopeless suitor Brief, and Garterbelt's mysterious past. This series may be aimed at an adult audience content-wise, but much like its predecessor Gurren Lagann the plot is, to put it bluntly, stupid. One episode Panty and Stocking will be fighting a ghost in public and regarded as superheroes, the next they'll go "undercover" as high school students. Why, when Scanty and Kneesocks are introduced as "the mayor's daughters", do they never investigate said mayor? I assure you that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Despite the numerous issues I have with this series, however, there are two reasons I can't bring myself to write it off completely. My first reason comes back to the show's artistry and production values, and I think that's where most of this show's appeal (if you could call it that) comes from. On one level it's nostalgic, hearkening back to those 90's Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Warner Brothers shows many viewers grew up on; even if this show fails at wit, I think there's still some merit to its cartoony slapstick comedy. The characters, conflicts and fights are simple, but the presentation is striking and the battles, at their best, are high-energy and genuinely fun. At the same time, this series isn't completely derivative either; there's one segment animated in a style reminiscent of the likes of Tekkonkinkreet, focusing on a typical Japanese salaryman trying to make it through his day job and still be a hero on his daughter's birthday. Another half-episode is shot entirely from a single camera angle, and there are quite a few other moments in the series that stand out in their own rights purely for the creativity poured into them.
At the same time, what really struck me about this show is that no matter how crass and stupid it got, it still felt genuine. The writing may be a muddled mess, but when all was said and done I never saw Panty not being Panty or Stocking not being Stocking. The jokes in this series might not be my cup of tea, but Panty & Stocking doesn't care. Getting back to Gainax as a creative studio, I think that the spirit in which this series was made is one they need to adopt more often. It's not trying too hard to impress its audience with wit or subtlety, it's just having a good old time, and anyone who wants to join is welcome. If nothing else, Panty & Stocking is a labor of love. The coda at the end of the show basically takes the entire plot, throws it into a blender and hits the switch without covering the lid. I'm pretty sure someone at Gainax stood up and said "hey, wouldn't this be a cool idea for a sequel?" and they threw it in at the end without a second thought. I feel like this should piss me off to no end, but I can't muster any rage against it. It was a stupid and immature ending, but that fits the show perfectly. If they ever turned that idea into a second season, I'd probably watch it.
At the end of the day, Panty & Stocking was made for a very specific audience, and it definitely won't work for a lot of people. If the premise repulses you to your very core, the execution will do nothing to change your mind. Still, if anything about this show piques your interest I'll tip the scale in its favor. For those who're doubtful, I'd recommend watching episode 6 to gauge your reaction, and unless you really love what you see you can ignore everything that came before (except the latter half of episode 5, which is actually pretty good). It's a stupid and pointless show, but unforgettable execution and sincerity are enough to earn a passing grade from me. Next time, I'll take a look at something truly haunting. Mystery, thy name is Boogiepop Phantom. It may be an ironic way to end this review, but do remember to always keep it classy.
Special thanks to SpacemanHardy for the request.
Final Grade: 6/10
Stupid (and more than a bit gross) but artful and honest.
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