- Last OnlineApr 5, 2018 9:11 AM
- JoinedDec 7, 2011
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
May 2, 2013
I'll be short. I've gone into this show at first with great hopes. It was quite hyped and seemed the most original pick of the season. The very idea of a Demon King and a Hero signing an alliance to put an end to the reliance of the world's economy on eternal war was original and interesting. So what did go wrong?
Basically, everything.
The final result is a unique example of total blandness. This anime is, there's no other way to put it, boring. Horribly so. The characters are generic as they can be, starting with the Demon King, who's got bouncy boobs and is inexplicably
...
in love with the Hero since when he was a newborn, and continuing with the Hero himself (a walking Deus Ex Machina), the Head Maid, every single villain, and on, and on. The story is aimless: there's a bit of plot but it's all serviceable to the thesis of the show, consisting in demonstrating how feudalism is bound to lose its match against mercantilism/capitalism. This is basically the history of Europe in the 16th century, only much more boring, because every invention which changed our style of life springs in some way from the Demon King, who discovers potatoes, corn, the printing press and gunpowder without breaking a sweat. Things happen because they need to, not because it makes sense; whenever some miracle is needed, either the Hero or the Mage pull off some new convenient power, and overall there's never any sense of struggle. This could be excused if the anime was aiming at teaching some relevant economic concept or putting forward some original, compelling thesis. But it does neither, as the economy is trivial and the thesis is even less interesting. I had to watch this series in order to blog it and by the end I hated every moment of it. Don't watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Nov 9, 2012
Back when Gainax produced Neon Genesis Evangelion and changed mecha anime history forever, they say the artists were so tired of the gloomy mood they got while working at that (I can feel for them), they decided to went for something fast, funny, and random as hell for their next series. Now Gainax produced Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, changing mecha anime history forever AGAIN, and even though that's certainly not gloomy, and these series were not produced back-to-back, I suppose it was time for yet another bit of fast, funny, and RANDOM AS ALL OF HELL anime from our favourite trolls. Enter Panty & Stocking
...
(with Garterbelt).
This show, you'll get it by reading all other reviews, is a polarizing one. On a first layer, it's a funny bit of potty comedy that will have you laughing in a very silly way. Watch it from the point of view of someone who feels too adult and mature for this stuff and looks for depth and profound messages (or ecchi moe girls) in anime, and it'll feel like a bunch of bad, unfunny jokes stuck together. But watch it being someone who already went and saw most of what anime has to offer and is getting tired of its clichés, and be willing to go beyond the obvious, and you'll find out that it's a series brimming with originality, audacious in giving the middle finger and trolling the hell out of the viewers' expectations and of the rest of the anime industry, fast, well made, chockfull of parodies and cultural references, and ultimately with a powerful moral/political statement to be made (but not in an exceedingly serious way). Oh, and it's got a lot of excellent potty comedy too.
The plot is easily laid down: we got two angel sisters, Panty and Stocking, who instead of being the epitomes of purity are a little on the sinful side. They've been kicked out of Heaven (one has to admit their vices make them not very effective at their jobs) and have to earn their way back in by killing evil spirits. In this task they are assisted by a priest of dubious morals known as Garterbelt and a weird pet who takes on the role of the resident Kenny (that is, he gets inconsequentially killed every now and then), and who they tell me looks like someone from something called "Invader Zim". I wouldn't know, never watched that show. But I digress.
Panty and Stocking will fight Ghosts and Demons using the eponymous pieces of underwear as weapons. They will confront spirits who are the manifestation of things like poop, snot, and sperm. They will eat sweets. They will fight between themselves. They will have sex (not between themselves. Yeah, sorry, guys, I know I just killed your hopes). They will just slack off, sometimes. And in all of this they will manage to look much more real characters than you'd usually get in anime - because they act like real people, if maybe with some comedic exaggeration, not amorphous, fantasy-fulfilling moeblobs. You want to fap to the 2D image of a pure, chaste girl who will depend entirely on you and do whatever you want her to? "Screw you," says Gainax "here you get a heroine who can kick your butt multiple times around the Earth and will only care about the size of your junk to decide whether she cares about you or not. Deal with it." At which point, the writers put on their sunglasses and drive into the sunset with the sport cars they bought with the income of the mass sellings of alluring Rei Ayanami figurines to ronery otakus, while the "Trolololo" song plays in the background.
I think this show is genius. It is for the creativity of very episode: they are all different, even in art style sometimes, and the more different they are, the more I liked them! It is for the very premise and concept. It is for the simple idea that Heaven and Hell represent Order and Chaos... only with Heaven being actually the Chaos side. It is because it's an enormous statement about freedom from social judgement, and boy, do we need some of that! It is because of the ending... no, wait. F**k the ending. Not that. Damn you Gainax. You trolled me again.
Still better than End of Evangelion though.
But yeah. Not gonna spoil, but it's a bit of a mindscrew (which kind of makes sense since at that point in the series we already got ALL OTHER KINDS OF SCREW HUMANLY CONCEIVABLE). Doesn't ruin the series though, also because of its episodic nature which never really develops a full-fledged plot.
Also, the art is excellent - american style but incredibly detailed and fluid - and the music is friggin' amazing. Obligatory technical note.
Well, if you read my review and thought it raised your interest, go watching P&S nau. If you thought that I was just trying to rationalize and justify with grand words a bunch of potty humour, or worse, if you thought that you don't want to watch a show whose main protagonist is a "slut" (don't listen to them, Panty, I love you! Wait, why is there an used condom on your bedside table...?), well, if you thought that, then you'll probably be better off not watching it. All the rest of you, have fun with the most unique anime series of all time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Nov 6, 2012
First, a premise: I am NOT a Jojo fan from any previous series, nor I ever read the manga. When I approached this new anime, I did it only out of advice from an online friend, knowing that Jojo's Bizarre Adventure was... kind of a milestone and a very famous manga? Really, that's it. I had no idea what was expecting me. Which actually made it all the more enjoyable.
Now, TO THE REVIEWMOBILE!
Story: 8
The story so far, if not complex or especially well written, is fun, thrilling, and chock-full of action and awesomeness. The first impression I got from Jojo's Bizzare Adventure was that this
...
was going to be a completely over-the-top experience. No subtle psychological games here. This is all about big brawny men facing each other in large-hamming contests not less grand than their mano-a-mano fights. The premise quickly gets so outrageous that it can only be fun - as long as it doesn't take itself too seriously, which luckily is not a mistake this adaptation makes. To sum it up, this is the kind of plot that I could expect Charles Dickens to write after he got stoned on some heavy stuff and watched Hokuto no Ken, Hellsing and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, AT THE SAME TIME. Make of that whatever you want to.
Art: 10
The art is nothing short of awesome to me. The colour are straight out of some hippie's acid trip. It's a compliment, actually! They're gorgeous and out of this world, giving an unreal feeling to the entire anime. The graphic representation of sounds makes this anime into some sort of moving comic. The animation in itself is not extra smooth, but I feel like this is not really important here. The only thing that really annoys me is the censorship, but that's not the animators' fault. The OP, on the other hand, must be the most amazing one in YEARS.
Sound: 10
Forget the soundtrack, which is still excellent. When you have a great rock song like "Roundabout" (by English band YES, no less) for an anime's ED, you know you're dealing with people who has real taste. The song wins the prize for best anime OST this year alone, hands down.
Character: 9
This is where the fun really lies. Jojo is a World of Ham where every. Single. Character. Is out there to chew the scenery in unbelievable ways. The villain is the most... villainous I've seen as of late. Even secondary characters pull off outrageous, ludicrous stunts, both in action scenes but more often in dialogues. Everyone will just scream all the time in the most hot-blooded possible way. It sounds ludicrous? It is. But it's so exaggerated that it works perfectly! Again, the magic element is that the anime doesn't take itself seriously. It's aware of the ridiculous levels of testosterone that are flying around and does nothing to tone them down, with everyone screaming at the top of their lungs in an almost Kamina-esque way. As a result, all main characters and a good deal of the secondary ones pass through as a single troupe of uncomparable badasses; and whenever someone loses a fight, it's only because someone managed to top his badassery with EVEN MORE badassery. And Dio Brando, is the most badass of them all.
Enjoyment: 10
I couldn't give less than a 10 to the enjoyment of this series. To me, every episode is 25 minutes of hysterical, orgasmic fun. It just boils down to that: if you like people acting outrageously, exaggerate exclamations, fights to the last broken bone and the last drop of blood, martial arts and supernatural powers in an unlikely setting, all finely crafted and delivered in an ultra-dense form, this anime is for you. If you don't, well, why do you watch anime?
Overall: 9
A must watch, and possibly the best show of this season!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
