Panty & Stocking
Season 1 Collection

With a plot seemingly ripped from the glue sniffing fever dreams of a special needs child and a visual style reminiscent of a combination of the short lived Clerks animated series and The Powerpuff Girls, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is a strange beast indeed.

The main premise of the show goes a little like this: Sisters Panty and Stocking are two fallen angels expelled from Heaven for being, and I quote, “foul mouthed bitches”. Sent to Daten City, similar to purgatory, they are tasked with destroying the evil spirits that besiege the town in order to gain “Heaven Coins” that will eventually allow them to re-enter Heaven.

Assisted by a pederast reverend named Garterbelt, amateur ghost hunter Brief and a Dog-like creature named Chuck – Who bears more than a passing resemblance to Gir from Invader Zim – The sisters are supposed to use their special weapons, a pair of panties that turns into a gun and stockings that become swords, to vanquish their enemies but consistently find themselves distracted by their respective addictions: Candy for Stocking and, erm, Man-Candy for the nymphomaniac Panty.

With the potential of crossover appeal into the Adult Swim fan base, Panty and Stocking is loaded with gross out gags, puerile plot points and other alliterative synonyms. Unlike the esoteric nature of many Anime series, the show seems to be designed to appeal especially to a Western market, albeit with some of the idiosyncrasies expected considering its land of origin.

The proclaimed mission statement of the show is to push the boundaries of vulgar and indecent humour and in this respect the show excels. As a fan of ‘wrong’ humour, even I found myself shaking my head in disbelief at how low the bar was dropped. Seriously, there are some socially taboo conventions being played for laughs throughout the series and A LOT of juvenile humour.

The artistic direction of the show is incredibly inspired, switching between various animation styles throughout an episode and even inserting some live action footage, most amusing of which is the running joke of an exploding statuette of the main antagonist of the episode.

Irreverent though it may be, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt occasionally grants a telling glimpse of intelligent design. The creators have no delusions regarding the kind of show that they’re making and they absolutely revel in the sheer hyperkinetic nonsense of it all.

Video & Audio Quality

With garish colours, multiple animations styles and a Western aesthetic, nobody could ever accuse Panty and Stocking of looking bad. The transfer is top of the range, with no sign of pixellation and the crisp colours and thick black outlines richly rendered. There were no noticeable signs of compression or digital artifacts throughout the entire series.

Sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, projecting dialogue through the centre channel and leaving sound effects and music to the surrounding speakers. Unfortunately there was some noticeable bleed through in respect to the dialogue channel, but nothing too major.

Special Features

Looking at the back of the DVD it would appear that there are loads of extras on this release, but don’t be fooled - Many of them are rather brief. Highlights include a Fan event with a Q & A, a series of eight shorts that ramp the insanity factor up to 11 despite their reduced running times and a fun documentary covering the enthusiastic blowing up of the ghost statuettes and packed with interviews with key staff. Be aware that some of the featurettes only have Japanese audio with subtitles, although the U.S centric supplements are in English.

List of features:

-      Panty and Stocking in Sanitary Box OVA episodes (8:51)
-      Ghost Explosion Collection and Documentary (61:23)
-      TV & DVD Commercials (14:00)
-      Talk Live Animated at Loft/Plus One (23:50)
-      Making of Lingerie Scene (10:59)
-      Outtakes (16:00)
-      US Trailer
-      Textless Songs
-      TV promotional Video
-      Official Home page Commercials
 

Final Thoughts

I admit I wasn’t really expecting to like this show and I begrudgingly gave it a chance. To my surprise I found that, despite myself, I actually found quite a lot to like about this truly bizarre show.

Far from mainstream, it manages to avoid the niche market generally associated with the genre and for someone who isn’t a fan of anime but does watch a lot of comedic American animation Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt bridges the gap admirably. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re so inclined you’ll find a slyly intelligent show masquerading as pure filth.

If you’re not a fun of vulgar humour and innuendo laden dialogue then this show isn’t going to convert you, but aside from some surreal  moments where even I shook my head in disbelief and some jokes that fall flatter than a steamrolled pancake, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is one of my biggest surprises of the year.  It’s not high art but it is an incredibly fun ride.