PREMISE:
To put it plainly, the entire point of this show is to take the illusions otaku have surrounded themselves with for the last 10 years and annihilate them through a wanton, infinite assault of sex and Western style. This show is not Sora ga Otoshimaru Hime Desu Beats! or whatever the hell it is you people watch nowadays. This is about a gun-toting whore and her diabetic goth friend slashing and shooting giant monsters literally comprised of shit, armies of dead sperm soldiers and their especially polite and well-mannered rivals, and when they're not doing something like that they're getting into some other shenanigans which may or may not involve parodying Transformers. Oh yeah, they're Angels or something under the command of Black Dynamite and have Gir as their sidekick and have to collect coins by killing monsters to get back into Heaven. But honestly, who cares? There are panties in this show that turn into guns and it's funny as fuck.
Behind all this exquisite and sophisticated comedy is probably one of the most feminist morals ever, another thing that separates P&S from your average animu. Through the entire series, the female main characters do what they want, when they want, how they want while the male lead is useless, flaky and gets captured a lot. This motif boils down to "It's okay to be a bitch. Live free and if you screw up have a man clean up after you." As you can see, this show's driving message has all the modesty of its main duo. It's fantastic.
Also, that token Gainax ending. It's there and as wonderful as ever.
It's entirely episodic like a US cartoon, but with an overarching point. There are actually 26 episodes, but they're all 12 minutes long. Each episode is two episodes. That's right, this show has a 2x Quality Multiplier.
THEM GRAPHICS:
This show oozes with style that has pretty much never been tried before in the Eastern world. Think Dead Leaves (if you haven't seen this, take 40 minutes away from that time vampire Korean MMO I'm sure you have minimized in the corner and watch it. Dubbed only. It'll be the best thing you'll see all month) meets Power Puff Girls. The art and animation quality are as incredible as they are unique, using a potent blend of patented hand-drawn Imaishi scribbles, CGI and actual, real-life explosions at the end of each battle. The comic-styled on-screen sound effects from Dead Leaves also make a return here in full force, and they make the whole thing such a cool and unique experience. Another, minor thing I like is that the girls change clothes every episode, a subtle but welcomed touch that more cartoons should employ.
Oh yeah, it should be noted that this isn't an "ecchi comedy" (Those aren't funny or even passable as entertainment. If you came here looking for one of those and are now reading this review with a twisted expression of shock on your face, it should be noted that I personally and sincerely hate you and several things that look like you). Yes, there are more sex jokes than I've ever seen in a 12 minute cartoon segment, but the girls themselves are not fappable. That's the point. If something along the lines of "UNFAPPABLE ANIME GIRLS?! WHAT IS THIS" just escaped the blubber of your face, this isn't the show for you. In fact, most shows and animation in general isn't for you. As said in the previous section, this show was designed to be the antithesis of every ecchi moe series that has ruined anime in the last decade.
The punchline is that there are often scenes where Panty and Stocking become similar to standard, over-proportioned anime women to cocktease otaku, and there are people here who're actually going "i don't get it, why wasnt the whole show like that?". Jesus christ
THOSE CHARACTERS:
This won't be hard. We have /eight/ main characters in the show.
PANTY: She loves sex and violence. Her panties turn into a gun named Backlace. In episode 1, she banged four or five guys. I love Panty.
STOCKING: She loves sweets and goth frills, not to mention looking down on her sister's bad habits. "Serves you right! I hope you shit out all your organs! Hahaha!" Also her stockings turn into katanas and she has a bondage fetish. I love Stocking.
GARTERBELT: A large, angry, black afropriest who tries his hardest to make the derelict angels do their jobs. Dude is awesome and intense. Also, a pedophile.
CHUCK: literally Gir
BRIEF: The nerd who follows Panty around, the anime everyfan that the show makes fun of.
SCANTY & KNEESOCKS w/ FASTENER: Creating a beautiful parallel to our lustful and gluttonous heavenly duo(along with terabytes of more fan art), these two demonic siblings are just grand and add a much-needed team of villains for P&S to unknowingly beat each episode.
OH LORD THAT SOUNDTRACK:
Upon beginning this show, I got five seconds in. I hit stop. I hit play.
Yes, my brain said, the theme song is, in fact, electrorock "PANTY STOCKING, PANTY PANTY STOCKING YEOW!!"
As expected from a Gainax original series, this soundtrack is godlike and like Gurren Lagann's, it's extremely varied. The ED alone makes the whole thing worth getting.
The OST is out now btw. It's missing a few good tracks so gainax can release another one later for more $$$ or something though. Still, it's just swell.
TO SUMMARIZE:
Gainax is trollan' weaboos hardcore while simultaneously resurrecting the entire medium with Imaishi's bare, tired hands. If you like style, great music and actual humor then you'll probably like this a lot. Oh yeah, and it's easily a contender for Anime of the Year, right next to Rainbow, DRRR and Sym-Bionic Titan.
Truly a work of art, the only setback is that it isn't dubbed, and due to crunchyroll's indescribable faggotry, it won't be for a while. I have a strong feeling, that with a patented Funi gag dub(WHICH IS COMING IN 2012 OH MY GOD), this show's quality will burst into dimensions the human mind can't even acknowledge.
(editor's note 2013: the dub is great)
