Review: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (Anime)

I got my hands on an early review copy of the upcoming anime series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, and let me tell you, I was blown away. Still to this moment, when I think about the entire series, I picture it as an absolutely perfect show for Adult Swim, if it ever gets the chance. Trust me when I say that viewers new to the series will drop their jaws. The series is vulgar, naughty, dirty, raunchy, shocking, and any other number of adjectives that describe how what you hear and see will blow your mind. With your usual anime title, you expect a grand adventure and a few laughs. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt doesn’t hold back from cursing, battles, sexual remarks and innuendo, and more.

How does the series play out and is it worth buying? That’s what you’re here to find out in my review of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.

As I said above the series is wild from the moment you start it. What is the series about? The story is about the Anarchy sisters, Panty and Stocking, who are also angels from Heaven. Why are they back on Earth? What caused them to be sent back? Panty and Stocking were kicked out of Heaven for being bad-ass bitches, to put it politely. With Panty being a sex addict, and Stocking loving anything and everything sweet, what could go wrong? The girls were sent to Daten City, a place between Heaven and Hell. Here, they meet Garterbelt, who is tasked with keeping these girls in line. With the girls not listening to Heaven, though, why would they listen here? We also meet a pet named Chuck, which felt to me a lot like GIR from Invader Zim. The girls are told that the only way they’ll get back into Heaven is to collect Heaven Coins. Coin collection…sounds easy, right? Well, since coins are a reward from defeating monsters, no, not so easy. Their weapons are true to their names: Panty uses her panties, which transform into any type of gun she wants, while Stocking uses her stockings, which transform into swords.

The visual style of the series is very interesting. At first you’ll think of classic shows like Invader Zim. The style changes during the transformation scenes when Panty and Stocking are creating their weapons, moving into a more classic Japanese art style then back to what it was before. I thought it was very cool to provide two separate art styles in the show. It shows how detailed the artists can get. As for the voice acting, it was done very well for both English and Japanese. I first started the series in Japanese with subs, and it seemed funnier due to some of the translations, but in the end, I like understanding what I hear, so English is what I finished with. The series provided a lot of laughs, and put my mind in the gutter quite often. To get a look at the graphics and audio of the series, take a look at the transformation trailer.

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Overall, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is an awesome anime title that you should pre-order right away. This is a two thumbs up; a “get your ass out there and buy it now” kind of anime. You’ll be wanting to watch this anime from beginning to end as quickly as possible. Of course, this is a mature (or immature) anime, so keep that in mind before buying it for your son/little brother/nephew/etc. You are definitely getting your money’s worth with this purchase. I wish there was more to the series instead of so few episodes, but the plot did a great job at carrying you from start to finish. If you’re looking for a wild, naughty, and entertaining anime, this is it.

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt was provided by FUNimation Entertainment for review purposes. For more information on the anime, please click here.