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Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
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They were kicked out of Heaven. Heaven had very good reasons.
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:CreationDate: 2012-09-23 19:39:04
:Id: anime/review/panty-stocking
:tags: - anime
- review
:rating: 4
:original:http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/panty-stocking-with-garterbelt
This series is not for little kids!
The two Anarchy sisters are very different from each other: Panty is
blond, svelte, fashionable, and seems to think only of sex; Stocking
is dark-haired, curvier, goth, and seems to think only of sweets. But
when they can be bothered to listen to afro priest Garterbelt, they
remember that they're angels, and that their duty is to rid Daten City
of the malevolent ghosts that plague it.
Hm. OK, not quite. The two sisters know perfectly well that they're
angels, and that their only hope to get back to Heaven is to collect
enough coins to pay for the trip; and the only way to get coins is to
destroy ghosts. Saving the city is a bonus, a nice side-effect, but
it's not exactly foremost in their minds. Men, food, fame, fun, this
they work for. All the while being rude, potty-mouthed, self-centred,
and mostly "unfit for society". "Duty" is an alien concept, and they
only tolerate getting bossed around by Garterbelt because he can
provide them with shelter (in the church) and money.
This series is as straightforward as can be: there is no sexual
innuendo, because everything is explicitly expressed. The stylised
drawings allow the animators to set up scenes that would need serious
censoring otherwise. We're not talking only about simple nudity or
sex: yes, Panty removes her knickers every episode (they transform
into a ghost-killing gun) and Stocking removes her leggings (to make
swords), but that's the least of it. Garterbelt is heavily into
masochism, scat makes frequent appearances, Panty can rarely be
satisfied by a single man at a time, and men's base instincts are the
main plot motor. Frankly, the whole thing would make many people
queasy if it were not all played for laughs; as it stands, you will
laugh, both with the characters and at them.
I loved this series, but I also loved FLCL, and Puni Puni Poemi, and I
like most of Excel Saga. Fast-paced animation, silly stories,
slapstick, comedy effects overpowering the plot to the point that you
start wondering if there is, in fact, any plot. It's not for
everybody, but I think everybody should at least try it :) The
director, IMAISHI Hiroyuki (今石 洋之), is an old hand at Gainax: he's
worked on FLCL, Abenobashi, Re: Cutie Honey, and Gurren Lagann. This
particular frantic style appears to be his signature. For an even more
extreme example, look for Dead Leaves (Production I.G.).
The English edition is pretty well made, with good voice acting (and I
normally hate dubs!), although the English dialogues are quite
different than the Japanese originals, just turn the subtitles on to
notice (the subtitles are a rather close translation of the Japanese
dialogues).
