(WARNING!: This review contains spoilers for the last episode of the previous season and the first episode of this season, so you better proceed with motherf*cking caution!)
About fifteen years ago, the world was introduced to Panty and Stocking Anarchy, a pair of foul-mouthed angel sisters who starred in one of the most uniquely-animated anime series to come out of Japan. Any kids who might have wanted to watch it back then but couldn't because they were too young (as well as those who sneakily watched it, anyway) have grown up to a more appropriate age for viewing now, just in time for a sequel to come out. Having watched (and reviewed) the original "Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt" for myself (albeit years after its initial release), I speak for everyone who had watched it at any point before the sequel aired when I say that this sequel was a long time coming. Who would ever think that it would take the P&S crew this long to come up with an explanation as to how Stocking is suddenly a demon? (Seriously, the director, Hiroyuki Imaishi, has apparently claimed to have not put any thought into the original ending, so it could have actually taken him more than a decade to come up with the explanation we get!) Well, even with its original studio, Gainax, not in the picture anymore, we still managed to get a sequel thanks to Trigger, and now, I can follow up my review of the original series with one of its sequel, "New Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt"!
For those who ignored the spoiler warning and don't know what Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is even about, I'll give you the basic rundown. Panty and Stocking are angels who got kicked out of Heaven for bad behavior and now have to kill ghosts plaguing their new home of Daten City in order to earn enough Heaven Coins to buy their way back into Heaven; in the meantime, though, they indulge in their respective obsessions, which is sex for Panty and sweets for Stocking. At the end of the original series, though, Stocking cuts Panty up into 666 pieces, reveals herself to be a demon, and takes off with Corset, the villain of the last couple of episodes. At the beginning of this new season, however, this is revealed to just be Corset brainwashing Stocking into believing she's a demon (which I guess is an explanation that makes sense) and making her cause chaos throughout the city; to stop her, Garterbelt (a priest who watches after Panty and Stocking), Brief (a geek with a crush on Panty), and Chuck (Panty and Stocking's pet), along with Scanty and Kneesocks (two demon sisters from the first season), gather the pieces making up Panty and are eventually able to restore her to her normal self. After a showdown ensues between Panty and Stocking....well, things just go back to the status quo of the original series, with Panty and Stocking gathering up the Heaven Coins needed to go back to Heaven. This time, however, they're joined by Scanty and Kneesocks, who themselves have been banished from Hell and need to gather enough Hell Coins to go back.
Truly in line with the American cartoons that have had an influence on the series (if we're not talking about the more serialized ones that have been coming out in recent years), pretty much any character development the main characters have gone through in the last few episodes of the original is pretty much reset by the second episode of this season. This may be annoying to some, especially those who would have thought Panty and Brief's relationship might have progressed by this time; instead, Panty treats Brief pretty much the same way she did for most of the first season. There's a part of me that doesn't mind, though, as it does allow for the fun shenanigans that we've all come to love from the series. I actually think I've come to appreciate the parody angle that the series has been going for all along even more than with the original series, as I've become more aware of the movies that are referenced, such as "The Fast and the Furious" and "Home Alone". The madlads at Trigger decided to even reference past works from Gainax with a parody of Inferno Cop! Now THAT'S gold!
Speaking of newfound appreciation, I think I've come to find that in the character of Stocking. What can I say? She's a fun character with a cool goth aesthetic! I'll admit that I liked her a little better than Panty this time around, but I do still find Panty to be a good character; she even has some pretty heartwarming moments in this season, such as when she bonds with a ghost cat in one episode. Two more characters I have a newfound appreciation for are Scanty and Kneesocks; they have a cute sisterly bond that gets a decent highlight on it for a few episodes, and they can each be pretty fun when paired with the Anarchy sisters, who they actually have pretty good chemistry with. That's pretty much another point in this season's favor - the introduction of some pretty fun character combinations, which even includes Brief and Chuck. Unfortunately, while the returning characters are as good as ever, I didn't really care for the new ones (except for Gunsmith B*tch; she was pretty fun). The new angel pair introduced in this season, Polyester and Polyurethane, have very annoying attitudes; although I'm sure it's on purpose (and there was one episode that made it seem like they could potentially be likable), I still have an actively unfun time whenever they're onscreen. Seriously, these boys constantly make me think something along the lines of "Kids these days!" when I'm not even sure if I'm even at the age to be thinking thoughts like that! Oh, and there's also this random foreigner character whose name I forgot (if he even has one) who doesn't really have a purpose other than to be a "gaijin" type of comic relief character; he didn't really get that many laughs out of me, though.
Despite the studio change - although with Trigger basically being a successor to Gainax, is it really a studio change? - the animation still looks as smooth and pleasing to look at as ever, with the action scenes being great. The previous season had a lot of sequences of ghosts exploding when defeated, which are still present here and still look cool, although there is a smaller number of them here than I remember there being there. I also thought the little animation sequence present in the ending theme was pretty cute, with a pretty rocking song in "Reckless" to go along with it! Speaking of theme songs, the new opening theme, the very creatively-named "Theme of New Panty & Stocking", is pretty catchy; I've had the "P-A-N-T-Y S-T-O-C-K-I-N-G" part of the song stuck in my head for weeks! Finally, there's the voice acting. Since Amazon Prime got the rights to this season instead of Funimation-which-is-now-Crunchyroll, the voice cast for the English dub (which is the version I watched) has changed. The new cast is decent enough, but I definitely felt the loss of Jamie Marchi as Panty and Monica Rial as Stocking for a few episodes; luckily, Courtney Lin and Cristina Vee are decent replacements, and I got used to their voices soon enough. Is it just me, though, or do the characters in this season speak way faster than they do in the first season? There were times where I had difficulties keeping up with the dialogue because of how fast the characters talked, and I don't recall having that problem with the first season! (It's been over a decade since I watched the first season, though, so that could just be my imagination.)
Admittedly, I enjoyed this season a little less than the original despite all of the praise I've thrown its way, and I'm not even sure why. Still, I can confidently recommend New Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt to fans of the original; it's a pretty good payoff to all of the waiting fans have had to do for over a decade. Well, that about wraps up my review. See you all in 2040 for season three!
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