This evening I've had my first experience with Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, a Gainax show specifically designed to either pay homage to or take the piss out of (I can't quite work it out) chaotic Western shows such as Powerpuff Girls and its ilk. With that in mind, it's a show I'd actually specifically recommend watching it with the dub, since its foul-mouthed, gleefully offensive nature works fantastically with English voices — though apparently the Engrish swearing in the Japanese version is also quite something to behold.
For the unfamiliar, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a show about a pair of fallen angels (the Panty and Stocking in question) in Daten City, which occupies a place somewhere between heaven and hell, and consequently is somewhat prone to being invaded by ghosts born from intensely negative feelings.
Panty and Stocking wield divine weaponry which, when they're not using it, doubles as the item of underwear they are each named after. And in each episode, they're tasked with defeating evil while simultaneously overcoming their own obnoxious selfishness and obsession with their favourite vices — Panty likes nothing more than to sleep around, while Stocking is obsessed with sweet things to a frankly frightening degree.
The word "chaotic" is attached to a lot of shows these days, but Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt really earns that title. Often shifting art style dramatically from shot to shot — and featuring amazing "live action" ghost explosion scenes where a model of the previously animated ghost is literally blown to pieces — it's a show that absolutely never sits still. And it's wonderfully, wonderfully entertaining.
Foul-mouthed, disgusting and gross, yes — and thus probably not for everyone — but somehow the whole thing feels like it pulls things off better than your typical grossout American "adult animation" that you get today.
I think it's precisely because it doesn't hold back on anything, whereas even with western shows like Family Guy and the like, they still sort of step back and nudge-nudge-wink-wink-teehee when it comes to anything slightly provocative, particularly from a sexual angle. Panty & Stocking, meanwhile, features an episode specifically about the frustrations felt by the ghosts of sperm continually spunked into tissues rather than allowed to fulfil their own natural function. And it's hilarious.
I'll likely write more about this show on Rice when I've watched a few more episodes, but suffice to say for now that it's become a firm favourite already, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!
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