A little bit silly and pointless, something you can watch on your own when you don’t feel like serious television and just want to take in a little ridiculousness. Oh, and you probably need to be male and appreciate some juvenile humor as well.
From the same Gainax team which brought us the awesomely zany, completely over the top and slightly ridiculous, but thoroughly enjoyable mecha romp, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann back in 2007, comes 2010’s Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, which features the same sort of energy and over the top-ness of Gurren Lagann, but cranks it up quite a few notches higher and distorts the classic anime art style even further than before.
Animated in a colourful angular style reminiscent of American shows like Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory, director Hiroyuki Imaishi’s Panty & Stocking tells the story of the Anarchy sisters, two angels who are cast out from Heaven because of their immoral behaviour and sent to Daten City, a place straddling both Heaven and Hell. Their only ticket back into heaven is to collect the Heavenly Coins which are awarded after defeating the varied and powerful monsters (known as Ghosts) who are currently terrorizing the city.
Under the guidance and watchful eye of the wayward man of the cloth, Reverend Garterbelt (and their faithful zipper dog Chuck), it is up to the man-hunting Panty and the desert licking Stocking to clean up Daten City in order to get home once and for all!
In case you were wondering Panty Anarchy, the coarse, vulgar celebrity blonde with a hunger for sex, violence and any man she can lay her hands on, derives her name from her pair of panties which when removed can transform into a semi-automatic pistol called Backlace. Dark-haired goth Stocking Anarchy on the other hand is the more reserved and emo of the sisters, with a penchant for sweet deserts and a definitely more than passing enjoyment of bondage. Her stockings transform into a pair of katanas, entitled Stripes I & II.
Each episode is split into two stories which usually parody existing film titles and genres, often filled to the brim with dark satire, parody situations, physical humour and lots of sexual innuendo (I mean, anthropomorphic sperm soldiers anyone?). Anyway, everything is frantic, madcap and over the top, with each battle against a ghost ending with a switch-out to a scale model of the antagonist being spectacularly blown up, a bit like something out of the old Godzilla movies.
It is crude, rude, designed to offend but at the same time entertain those with a juvenile enough imagination, making it the perfect show for teenage boys and men who don’t quite want to grow up – but probably not so much for any other viewing demographics.
In other words, you have to be in the target market to enjoy this zany little piece of over stimulated fluff. Otherwise, you can safely ignore.
(Incomplete Viewing)
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panty_%26_Stocking_with_Garterbelt