A DAY IN TOKYO - PART 6 - PANTY & STOCKING WITH GARTERBELT

Have you ever watched a show that just loves to have fun? I've seen very few shows that are presented in such a lively, unique, and personality-filled fashion, and strangely enough, all the shows that fall under these categories for me are either raunchy or just plain weird (Clone High, Drawn Together, Ren & Stimpy, Desert Punk, etc.). With that being said, I present to you all yet another Anime that has displayed these qualities, making me instantly fall in love with the series. This Anime series, and the official revival of A Day in Tokyo, is called Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.


Now, before you bother trying to figure out what in holy Hell there would be to expect from a show with that kind of name, I'll clear up some first-impression questions for you: Yes, this show is raunchy. In fact, saying that would be an understatement; the immorality in this show almost rivals Kanta himself, and the humor is pretty damn gross at times, whether it be poking at sexual comedy, bathroom humor, or simply exploiting the discomforting nature of bad public etiquette. This show takes everything that is considered flawed in the human condition, and manipulates it to create potent tongue-in-cheek humor. Of course, this sort of thing is pretty normal in western cartoons, but in a 17+ Anime, it's pretty rare and, might I add, hilarious!

What image is this? You get three guesses.

The story focuses mainly on two sisters, Panty and Stocking, who are now (presumably) dead and supposed to be sent to an afterlife. However, both sisters are a bit too...well, immoral to be sent to a holy, glorious place like Heaven. Panty's problem is that her hunger for physical lust is a bit overpowering in her priorities. Every time she feels she can get away with a session of sex with a random guy (which is pretty much constantly), she'll do it. Panty is disobedient, sassy, foul-mouthed, and overall a complete "I-don't-give-a-shit" kind of gal. The younger sister, Stocking, has a huge dietary problem and loves sugar to the point of arousal, as well as a minor-but-still-present sexual fetish in Bondage. As many religious folk could tell you, hoarding and gluttony is a sin in many branches of Christian faith, so of course, Stocking isn't allowed in Heaven either. Neither of them are exactly fit for Hell either, so the two are just sorta sitting in Limbo on Earth by this point.

That is, until the third character, Garterbelt, shows up and provides a means for Panty and Stocking to get to the afterlife they're hoping for. Garterbelt, being a priest, proposes to the two sisters that by protecting a huge metropolis known as Daten City from danger against ghosts, they'll be able to "buy" their way into Heaven by means of heavenly currency dropped by the ghosts in this realm. The sisters agree, and that amount of background pretty much throws the show into the first episode. Throughout the show's 13-episode series (Each episode has 2 "minisodes", so technically it's still 26 episodes), Panty and Stocking, being granted with powers of Angels, fight evil and stop ghosts from terrorizing Daten City in a very Sailor Moon-esque fashion, serving as vigilantes and unwritten protectors of the area.

Along the way, the two sisters get into many quarrels with not only other Ghosts and rivals, but also between one another. Being sisters who are around the same age, completely different in habits, values, and interests, and not overly charismatic to begin with, they don't exactly get along at times. No - scratch that - almost all the time. The two are constantly at each other's throats, attempting to pluck the flaws and problems from one another's personalities and dangle them in each other's face. It's a simple and fitting combination of feminine dominance and petty sibling rivalry. These scenes are really where the Anime shines, since you get to see the full scale of these characters' personalities shine through. However, I'll get to that later in the review.

"WELL DONE, HUMAN ASSHOLE."

Panty and Stocking are battle divas to the very definition of the term; they have their own catch phrases, transformation sequence (that's not at all exploited for its sex appeal to the point of parody!), and even signature weapons that you will easily match to the character! Panty likes to fight long-range with a pistol that she carries via her, well...her underwear. Yeah, Panty just takes off her panties, and she can turn them into a  handgun. Stocking can takes off her - take a guess - stockings, and turn them into katanas to fight up close and personal. Now, just let that sink in. Two sexy, angelic women take off their underwear and lingerie socks to form handguns and swords. That is the most amazing thing that's been conjured by means from creative motives of the human brain. If I could take off my boxers and turn them into a giant flamethrower, do you know how much fun I'd have with that aspect of my life? Burning down forests in the nude would be pretty fun, right...?

There are also a couple other characters in the show who play minor roles to the two sisters, such as Chuck, a parody on GIR from Invader Zim who is indestructible, and therefore, is also comedic foil for abuse and constantly getting the shit beat out of him (literally, in a particular episode). Brief is a geek from the High School in Daten City, who has a major crush on Panty. Of course, Panty doesn't give two flying fucks about him, and I believe there may only be one time where she actually calls him by name, rather than by, "Geek Boy". Brief is always dressed like a Ghostbuster, and as such, there are times he even helps Panty and Stocking kill ghosts, although usually in rather pathetic ways. Brief is very timid and naive, and also lacks a lot of confidence. He easily gets worked up by Panty and Stocking's habits and nonchalant attitude toward the most uppity subjects, and he actively shows it. This usually leads to Panty and Stocking getting pissed off at him for being uptight, so there's a lot of humorous tension between Brief and the other characters. There are also recurring villains whom are counterparts to the angels, named Scanty and Kneesocks, who are demons from Hell that are bent on killing the angels. They start out as petty, Team Rocket-like villains, but end up playing a major role later in the series.

Not sure if creepy or arousing.

The show itself certainly won't appeal to everyone. The first thing that will likely turn people off form the show is the art style. Rather than animating in a rather traditional, Anime style, Panty & Stocking is brought to life in a very simplistic, vector-based Comic style, and while this particular art style won't appeal to everyone, it certainly will appeal to those who love stylized visuals. This show was made to perfectly emulate the atmosphere of a graphic novel, and it looks great! Everything from the unique, expressive characters to the onomatopoeia displayed via giant comic book words, Panty & Stocking delivers a standalone aesthetic in a refreshing way!

The audio of the show is also extremely well done! Voice actress legends Jamie Marchi and Monica Rial lead as Panty and Stocking, respectively.Garterbelt is voiced by Christopher fuckin' Sabat! Yes, the voice of Vegeta voices a black, pedophile priest. That is so awesome. There's a villain later in the series voiced by Christopher Ayres, and while I've never heard of any of the work he's done, what I can say is that he puts on one hell of a show! If you want a basic idea of his performance, picture the voice of Spongebob if his voice actor was possessed by Satan. It's truly a marvel and a great character portrayed for the rest of the cast to play off of! Even Chuck wouldn't be as funny if it weren't for Ian Sinclair voicing his repeated lines of his own name. A lot of the music is fast-paced electronic and techno chiptunes, and they work great, given the artificial, party-hard style of the whole show. Even when a fight scene is going on, the music and attitudes of the characters in the scene just seem like they're all having fun, and that's a different and pleasant feeling. The opening theme for the show is catchy in every sense of the word, and the closing theme is a strangely profound and touching love ballad that sounds like it came right out of 1983. The closing theme may seem corny to some people, but I like 80's music, and this one felt really genuine and beautiful. Overall, it's safe to say that the audio department of this Anime is fitting every nook and cranny flawlessly!

So, what were some aspects I especially liked about the show? Well, one thing I liked was how beautifully it carried over into English. There was no Japanese-only joke bullshit that only weeaboos would know. The writing is presented in a very modern and trendy fashion. What adds to the natural flow of the dialogue in the episodes is that the cast reads their lines so naturally - in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if this was all just really natural and fun "improv", and not the crappy, lounge comedian-style improv; the good stuff that feels natural and relate-able!

Obligatory nurses being sexy.
GASP, THAT IS MOST UNORTHODOX!

Another thing I liked about the show was how its central themes and character traits establish in the first couple episodes stay constant throughout the series. There are way too many series I've watched where writers end up breaking character traits just for the convenience of a plot they have to establish, which happens so often, and annoys me each time I notice it, whether it be from a crappy show like Johnny Test, or a friggin' awesome show like Kim Possible. Panty & Stocking doesn't fall out-of-character at all! This is mainly due to the casual nature of the character personalities; neither Panty, Stocking, Garterbelt, nor Brief have personalities that are so unrealistically extreme, and because of this, falling out of character isn't really possible because there's no status quo to follow. This gave the writers complete creative control in the plots of the episodes, and trust me, some episode premises are really zany!

Lastly, the humor in this show is just astounding. As I mentioned before, strengths in humor, animation, writing, and dubbing all stand out when Panty and Stocking start to bicker. Let me just reiterate a brief passage between these two arguing; Panty is red text, and Stocking is blue:

"I told you: don't fuck with me!"

"Don't fuck with me!"

"You want some of this?!"

"Herpies or chlamydiae?"

"Fuck you with a shovel!"

"You keep talking, but all I hear is Syphilis!"

And this isn't even the best of their bickering, oh no. For those of you who saw it, you know the best parts, and for those of you who don't, I want you guys to see the better ones for yourselves. The humor in this show is crude, immature, and generally revolting. Whether the humor is being made about shitting, jizz, or just absurd and disgusting analogies made in everyday conversation. The humor, as I mentioned, is incredibly tongue-in-cheek and vulgar, and while it may not be funny to everyone, it will certainly mesh with the right audience.

The show randomly steps up its animation budget to
parody other studios. This episode is a huge parody on
Hayao Miyazaki's work, notably from "Spirited Away".

The only two things I could remotely complain bout were both from the last two episodes, oddly. One is a small form of what closely resembles falling "Out of Character" from Brief in the episode, "Panty + Brief", where he actually acts half-heroic and not at all like a coward, standing up for Panty when she's about to be killed by the Demon Sisters. This is a very brief moment, as it never happened beforehand in the series, and that courage never happens again, so it's completely random. It felt slapped on for plot convenience. A more appropriate way to do things would be for Brief to whine and beg them not to kill Panty, while she surprises them with sucker punches while they're distracted. But whatever, I didn't write the series - other people did.

My other complaint is, as typical and whiny as it sounds, the very ending of the Anime. Yes, it's a cliffhnger, and yes, it's exaggerated to the point of parodying other shows that do Season buildups, but it was simply an ending that didn't make complete sense, and judging by how that setup left the series, it seems like the plot is just going to be running in circles but with different characters having different roles. You could call it a clever way of coming full-circle, I suppose, but I call it "lazy trolling". It was still unbelievable and hilarious to see, and it does have me pumped for the series to continue, but it definitely leaves a bad taste in your mouth, once you give it thought.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt was conceived during an Animation Teams drunken nights on vacation, where they wanted to make a raunchy show about girls fighting crime while taking their clothes off, and y'know what? The Anime perfectly reflects the environment of its birth: a dazed, drunk blur of pure adrenaline and outright fun, even if it gets a bit hazy and bizarre. I would have to assume that this show is the media equivalent of Ecstasy - I'm pretty sure that's the only way this show can be put into perspective.

Let me repeat: I WANT TO TURN MY
UNDERGARMENTS INTO GUNS.

This Anime holds a lot of charm, subtle jokes, outright comedic value, a distinct art style for its genre, and an adult novelty of being a cartoon that pushes the boundaries of what should be allowed to be aired publically! Panty & Stocking was a pleasure to watch, and I always find myself coming back to it in increments and watching episodes again here and there. There's a definite intangible appeal that this show holds - a charm that lies in its characters. You know you would absolutely hate these characters in real life, but like to watch them being characters at the same time. I suppose this show is less an enjoyable show and moreso an enjoyable experience. 

The plot won't appeal to everyone, the characters aren't necessarily "likable", the episode plots and writing aren't hugely deep, and there's no thought-provoking or reoccurring theme in the show. This all sounds bad, but you don't even notice these flaws when watching it, because the show's main mission is anything but being insightful and touching. This show exists because Japanese guys got drunk, and this show is like a drunk best friend: he just wants to have a good time, and he wants you to go partying with him and have fun too! Sometimes it's best to just loosen your tie, roll up your cuffs, and let loose; have fun with things, and know that a show is only bad if it doesn't achieve what it's trying to. This show is just trying to be funny and crazy, and it pulls off both in the pilot episode alone.

Give this show a try, have a quick wank, and sew stitches that will bust from you laughing - you're about to experience something hilarious, sexy, charming, and unlike anything you've ever seen before. Five stars!

~WILL