Panty and Stocking with Garter belt: A review. (English SUBS)
Anime with a taste of westernization; Imagine the power puff girls, invader zim and goth loli got shat on by south park.
Let me break it down. We have two fallen angels (Panty and Stocking), who live in a city on the fault line between heaven and hell, and whose only chance of gaining entrance again to the pearly gates is by killing ‘ghosts,’ who terrorize the city, and earning coins known as ‘heavens’; Ghosts are evil spirits of the dead who gain powers through their spite.
Panty is an angel with a sex addiction whose main goal is to sleep with 1000 men on the surface and can turn her knickers (bizarrely) into a gun named ‘blacklace’. Her sister, Stocking, is a goth loli and sugar maniac who tries to eat as many sweets as humanly possible and can turn her stockings into katanas called stipe1 and stripe2. The oddities of this cartoon do not stop there of course as they both drive in a car called ‘see through,’ are helped by hints from heaven, transferred by lightening to a zipper-dog named chuck and are the encumbrance of an afro priest (called Garter Belt) with a severe S and M problem!
Panty and Stocking do not take their ghost hunting task seriously and show more concern to their hobbies of collecting men, sweets and trouble; they prefer to spend Garter belts’ money than earn their own, leading to an argument which results in amusing consequences and fan service in episode 7.
These strange but likeable characters are backed up with typical comic-esq written sound effects and speech, as well as an animation style that lends itself, or satires even (in the titles and credits ) western films; such as fight club, high school musical, pulp fiction, transformers, dawn of the dead and others. Nothing is safe.
Interesting concept, but how do I rate it as an anime?
Well If you watch anime for the pretty pictures then this is not the anime to watch. The animation style, in my opinion, leaves a lot to be desired and the humour is crude, so if you prefer a witty riposte this will not be your cup of tea, but I think that is why I like it; it is just plain weird!
I don’t really see PSG as an anime, I see it as a parody of western culture, but still love it for what it is. To me it’s a fun jaunt, ridiculously hilarious and is easy to follow; an anime for a lazy night in. With only 13 episodes in the series it’s definitely worth a watch and with a few silly specials floating around the internet it is a gift that keeps giving. I can guarantee you will either love it or hate it, but If you are anything like me and prefer an eclectic mix and don’t mind the rude, crude and just plain lewd PSG is a resounding LOVE!
By Kelly Royle
