Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Ratings for all 13 episodes,

Ep 1 ~ 6/10; Ep 2 ~ 7/10; Ep 3 ~ 7/10; Ep 4 ~ 7/10; Ep 5 ~ 5/10; Ep 6 ~ 7/10; Ep 7 ~ 7/10; Ep 8 ~ 7/10; Ep 9 ~ 7/10; Ep10 ~ 4/10; Ep11 ~ 8/10; Ep12 ~ 7/10; Ep13 ~ 7/10

Love the voice cast (outstanding English dub). The idea of foul-mouthed angel sisters Panty (a sex maniac) and Stocking (a sugar addict) getting kicked out of Heaven for 'bad behaviour' (never specified) is a funny one. Their attempting to earn their way back in is pretty much all there is in terms of connecting plot; apart from that the episodes are pretty self-contained. There's a lot of innuendo and fan-service (without it there wouldn't be much of a show!), as well as extremely strong language, but it's done in a very funny way. And some of the dialogue between Panty, Stocking, and their Earthly 'handler', Garterbelt, is laugh-out-loud. The big problem with the show is lack of consistency.

Some episodes are pretty good, one is very good; and a few are downright poor. Almost all episodes consist of two separate stories, one usually stronger than the other (episode ratings above are averaged out over the two stories; sadly, ratings of strong segments get dragged down by weaker ones). There's far too much reliance on 'toilet humour'. And the art/animation is sometimes wanting; Panty and Stocking, their demonic opposites Scanty and Kneesocks, and Garterbelt, are fine, but several supporting characters are jarringly drawn/animated in a style reminiscent of 'Ren & Stimpy' or 'Courage the Cowardly Dog', which I can't stand.

The ending of the final episode infuriated some fans at the time, whilst others loved it. The promised (or trolled?!) second season never arrived. A return was teased a few years back but nothing came of it. If it did come back, I'd watch it. When this series hits it is very funny. Overall rating, 6.5/10.

I speak both English and Japanese but the English dub of Panty and Stocking is one of the best dubs that Funimation has made. Jamie Marchi's crass screenplay not only provides raunchy material but made the anime more true to what Gainax wanted. Jamie Marchi, Monica Rial, Christopher Sabat, Christopher Ayres, Joel McDonald, Ian Sinclair, Cherami Leigh and Colleen Clinkenbeard have provided their best voice work in that anime. It's basically if Deadpool had an anime made after him.

This anime is a challenge to the senses, containing both disgusting and sublime imagery, and a synth-heavy pop dance soundtrack that will get you grooving despite yourself.

The sensual transformation sequences and suggestive subject matter make it ideally suited for the 13-year old hormonal boy in all of us, and its nearly blasphemous depiction of angels and religious figures makes us feel a bit guilty for taking such pleasure in its racy, uninhibited nature.

But to look at the surface would be to miss the core of what the show is really about. Instead of a solely sexual mind-trip, this anime takes traditional Japanese values and turns them on their head.

The clues to this revelation are in the lyrics of the music the angels sing, and in the rivals they face.

Anarchy seems to be the trait that the heavenly duo seem to endear, with an unabashed indulgence of their sexual and physical desires. Meanwhile, their demonic counterparts are all about rigid order. (Their costumes are often based upon the uniforms of the 3rd Reich).

Traditional Japanese society tells people "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down" while this anime says, "be yourself, and screw the consequences" - it is making an appeal to the youth of Japan to grasp for freedom despite the consequences, reminding me of the kind of things that led to the cultural revolutions of the 60s in the US.

Look deeper and you will see even more.

And even if you don't want to be bothered with deep messages and subplots, you can unplug your brain and enjoy the random sexy adventures of two crazy angels having a good time.

My first impression was.. I kind of felt it was lower in quality from what I thought it was(in terms of substance itself, the show was well done through and through) but thats because I went in completely blind. I thought their was an actual premise(like most anime), well I suppose their is but for the most part this is just a bunch of mini adventures very episodic. My second thought was, "this reminds me of an American cartoon style rather than an anime". The style is very similar to something you'd find in America, & the episodes are basically two 15minute stories in 1 episode(like most children cartoons). Right from go this show gets down and dirty with profound language & dirty jokes, like extremely dirty this is by far the most profound language show I've ever seen(worse than "Family Guy" & "South Park"). They're literally just cursing to curse. This kinda turned me off to it at first because I wasn't expecting to watch some slapstick profound joke skit show but after an episode or two I stopped taking it serious and just accepted it as "something to watch & not really care about", after that I began to enjoy it more. Some episodes were definitely more funny to me than others, towards the end it finally started following more of an actual story, this definitely boosted my enjoyment & made me start getting into it more. The animation style is crazy, as I said it will remind you of something you'd expect to see on American TV but its so diverse in its style. Every scene is different, you never know what its going to look like until your staring at it, this was really cool. The music is amazing, especially the OP & ED. Some of the most catchy songs I've ever heard. The English dub was extremely well done, all the characters matched perfect. The story is extremely simple, the two main characters are angels, they get kicked out of heaven(for obvious reasons you'll understand in the first 10seconds of the series lol), they need to kill evil monsters to collected "heaven coins" to buy their way back into heaven. If you want something just stupid & comical and are okay with dick jokes & literally everything in between then check this out, if your more like me and are looking for something with a deeper level of story look else where.

4ish/5? Why? Well I gave it such a high rating because its really well done, its just not something i'd necessarily hunt down to watch. The animation style is like nothing else, its awesome and diverse. The music is pretty epic, especially the op & ed. The dub is great, everyone matches perfectly. The story is pretty weak and simple but at the same time it needs to be exactly that simple in order for this show to work, so you can't really complain. Its profound, dirty & moderately funny. Don't take it serious and you'll enjoy it more. If your looking for something to throw on when you have a few minutes here and their then this is your show, if your looking for something to grab your attention & immerse you into that world making you binge watch the hole thing in 1 sitting this probably isn't it.(for me at least)

In many ways, this show gets a completely unfair rap from people that had been expecting something entirely different. When one conjures up images of anime comedy, one tends to think of a moe-blob and her misadventures in high school - something the creators of Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt have obviously had just about enough of.

In that respect, they're not alone. This is a show that is truly in sync with true veteran anime fans for its self-referential comedy, its blunt and honest lambasting of ludicrous anime norms and expectations, and its innovative art style.

Do yourself a favor - if you're into anime, have been growing a little bit bored with the endlessly repeated formulae that have been plaguing the genre and you don't mind being occasionally shocked or disgusted, this brilliantly animated and laugh-out-loud show will quickly become one of your favorites.

Easily the sleeper hit of 2010.