First Impressions: Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

6:00 PM on 10.02.2010   |   Ben Huber

Welcome to the most divisive show of the season!

GAINAX, masters of the animation medium. "Well, supposedly, right? What do they think they're doing making this crazy Powerpuff Girls-lite show now? Looks like utter crap!" That's certainly a popular point of view on this show. Another perspective is that this is "the second coming and it will rejuvenate anime!"

I don't really think that's correct either. Mike LeChevallier and I decided to tackle the First Impressions of this show together -- and while we don't think it's the best thing since sliced bread, it is a ridiculously over-the-top and fun show. Hit the jump for our full thoughts on it.

Ben: ‬ The art. Obviously a lot of people either like to or dislike the art, it's been a pretty contentious talking point. What's your opinion on it and how the show uses it?‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪You know, I thought the art would become some sort of a large focus point for me as I watched the show, yet, within the first few minutes of episode 1, I totally ceased to pay attention to the art and simply attempted to gain some sort of idea as to what this series is actually going to be about. This is probably due to the fact that the art style was what many people were either complaining about, or claiming was awesomeness prior to the airing.‬ We can of course get into the two occasions just within the first episode that the show actually CHANGED animation style.

‪Ben:  ‬ ‪Absolutely.‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪Three, actually. Though two were the same style.‬ The transformation scene, which was unarguably a high point. And then when each of the two demons were destroyed: the shit monster and the car/truck/train thing. When it went live-action...I have to admit I was laughing pretty hard.

‪Ben: ‬ ‪While the live-action bits were very funny, the transformation scene was a very self-aware point in the episode. It was GAINAX saying, "yeah, we know what our die-hard fans want. And we're going to give it to you."‬ And they gave us one hell of a transformation scene.

‪Mike: ‬ ‪Agreed. Although, like I said before in the fall preview podcast, I don't think GAINAX really ever goes into a production with the idea of trying to deliver fan-service.‬ I mean, just from this first episode, I think it could go almost 50-50 with people saying "YESSSSS" or "DROPPED". It was interesting that they put the shit monster bit first, as I felt that was by far the weaker of the two mini-stories.

‪Ben: ‬ ‪Oh, definitely. The speed-demon story ended up being much stronger from a storytelling perspective (communicating the laughs and being clever at it) as well as the action scenes. Although, as long as we're getting this type of variety (in artists, storyboarders, and directors) each week, I think we'll continue to see a stellar mix of episodes.‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪I've watched this first episode twice, and it actually felt stronger the second time. As I was essentially viewing it the first time around to get all the plot details fleshed out as I could (they're in there, just buried), the second viewing allowed me to get a feel for the characterization as well as just how fluid everything came together.‬ The first 5 or so minutes of the episode are slow, no doubt. I didn't really enjoy the scene where Garterbelt was trying to brief (lol) the girls on their mission. Speaking of the girls, I really like both of them.

‪I found it a nice change of pace that, without any sort of guidance towards their objectives, they would basically just sit around on earth doing their favorite things: Panty would have sex and Stocking would eat sweets.‬

‪Ben: ‬ ‪Indeed. While I will say that some limited use of these traits will work better in the long run. If the punchline of every joke featuring Panty is "Wow, she's such a whore" then in the end it's going to get stale. In fact, I felt this happening a little bit in the first episode already.‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪Yeah, I can't really argue against that.‬

‪Ben: ‬ ‪So I do think some proper moderation of the comedy will result in a stronger show.

‪Mike: ‬ ‪Although Panty had some great lines: "Go fuck your bike, douchebag." That had me going for a minute.‬ There are some other clever bits of comedy in there not having to do with Panty's vice. Example: the names of things. Their vehicle is named See Through. Panty's gun is named Backless. Did they say what Stocking's sword is called? Lace? Fishnet?

‪Ben: ‬ ‪Haven't heard it yet.‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪So people were harping on this because it seemed like a Powerpuff Girls rip off. To be honest, that show did not pop into my mind once during this episode. And I watched the Powerpuff Girls regularly.‬ What about you?

‪Ben: ‬ ‪I tweeted something similar earlier: can everyone please stop making the Powerpuff Girls comparison? Because there's really nothing there aside from a vaguely similar art style. Although, if we want to talk about origins, Imaishi is very much a Western animation fan. This is probably really obvious if you've watched it or seen the trailers, but he did list PPG and Invader Zim as some influences. In the end though, that can be said of a lot of artists, and Imaishi just had the chance to make his dream "Western" show‬.

‪Mike: ‬ ‪The biggest comparison to a Western animation so far for me is that Chuck, their dog, is basically GIR from Invader Zim.‬

‪Ben: ‬ ‪Which Imaishi admitted, I believe.‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪Indeed.‬ But this show is very much Japanese, the voice acting cast is very strong...and features some of our favorites from this year's strongest anime. Panty's VA also voiced Holly from Heroman, and Stocking's VA did Mika from Durarara!!

‪Ben: ‬ ‪Indeed. Let's actually hit up the music a bit. I felt that it was pretty much fantastic all the way around. You?‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪It was probably the best part of the episode for me.‬ The only track I wasn't totally a fan of is the OP.

‪Ben: ‬ ‪I'm going to be very interested in the OST whenever it shows up.‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪Taku Takahashi does a great job.‬ GAINAX never slacks in that department.

‪Ben: ‬ ‪So before we mention our closing thoughts, (and we touched on this briefly already) I thought I'd ask: what do you think needs the most improvement in the show?‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪I'm with you on what you were saying about the comedic content earlier. If the show wants to continue to be largely a comedy, it needs to find different ways of delivering that humor than just Panty's sex-capades.‬ Also, I'm not sure how formulaic the show is going to continue to be. I see the basic formula that the first episode laid out, and, while it worked, it might get tiresome overtime if they don't find different ways of presenting it. It's GAINAX, so I have faith that they will.‬

‪Ben: ‬ ‪Yup, in the end I feel that the show just needs a little more technique in shipping the humor. If they can improve on that, it'll end up being exactly what Imaishi is hoping it to be: a fun, crass, and entertaining show with tons of little tributes to Western cartoons.‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪I saw a lot of people on Twitter and message boards shouting out that the show is "just plain stupid" or outright "dumb." I have to argue that it's actually relatively smart in the way it pulls off what it does in just this one episode. The production team established many aspects of the show that people were hesitant about, and they either brought people in who were likely to keep watching, or alienated those who were already talking crap.‬

‪Ben: ‬ ‪It's definitely going to be the most divisive show this season‬

‪Mike: ‬ ‪GAINAX is one of the few companies that can bring fan-service without actually trying to do so.‬ The fans service themselves. (No innuendo intended.)
‪

Ben: ‬ ‪Well.‬ I think I'll leave it at that.

So what do you guys think? There's a comments box down there... you can use it if you want.. I put it there just for you. N-not that I like you commenting or a-anything...

[Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is streaming on Crunchyroll!]