Ah, who cares? I’m just going to talk about two shows this week. Don’t expect it to turn into a habit, but this episode was just too awesome. Episodes 2, 3 and 4 probably turned off a lot of people, but the past two episodes really made up for it.
Episode five was mostly awesome because of Osamu Kobayashi (yeah, the guy from Gurren Lagann’s fourth episode), but this episode was really everything that this series should be: crazy and over the top fast paced action. The first few episodes made the mistake of focusing too much on the shock factor, which is neat for one episode but becomes boring quite fast.
The bitch-fight between the two angels and devils was completely awesome though. The focus was much more on the addictive chemistry between these four than the shock factor and dirty references, and the toilet humour instead got used effectively in the action scenes at the second half of the episode. This was really the first episode of this series where the chemistry between these characters really worked. On top of that, this episode was well paced and didn’t drag on like some of the previous episode as well.
It’s really these kinds of episodes that I expected when I first learned about this series. The second half of this episode just continued building up the action without getting boring: that’s how varied it was, moving from battles with angry cars to toilets, shootouts and random chases: there was a ton of creativity in this episode that went much beyond the usual gimmicks of this series. It’s also here where the music really helped making things even more exciting.
The big question now is whether this show will be able to keep this up. It is the perfect set-up for an action series without any bounds whatsoever, but the creators really need to make use of it and let their creativity run wild like the previous two episodes. If the remaining episodes will be like that though, then this will end up as an awesome series.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
Yeah! Stick that bitch face in the toilet! First half was boring though. And do they use some kind of computer graphic animation in this anime? It works really well!
Agreed with Andrea. The first half was a little slow and it took a while for Panty and Stocking to figure out that they should actually fight the demons, but once that started it was probably the best battle in the series so far.
Yeah, this episode was pretty awesome, i’m glad it’s something you picked up on too.
The introduction of some re-occurring antagonists was pretty good too – perhaps this series will do better with a small bit of consistency.
And as ever, i’m liking the fact I can watch both an anime and cartoon that doesn’t sidestep around themes of sex, and instead makes it something just vulgar and casual, really it’s barely noticeable – so why do so many anime pretend it doesn’t exist? It shows that this anime doesn’t have many boundaries and that in itself makes me want to keep watching it, because Gainax can do absolutely anything they want with it.
Might set a trend of anime not being so pathetically conservative with its themes, which would be refreshing.
@Denizen:
The issue can’t be debated without stopping to think about broadcast standards and target audiences, because those obviously exist both inside and outside of Japan, but there are plenty of manga and even some anime that don’t shy around the issue…for instance, Gainax’s own Kare Kano anime adaptation was fairly straightforward about the existence of sex back in the day, even if it did present the topic in a far less vulgar and more idealized light.
Just as well, the vast majority of American cartoons do not deal with sex or any of its vulgarity either, with only a very few exceptions in shows that tend to be aimed at adults and placed in specific timeslots, but there are more than enough comic books and graphic novels that have already done so in the past.
So I don’t think Panty & Stocking deserves any special merit in this respect. When you break down its constituent elements, it’s not doing anything unheard of.
The show is obviously oozing with style and entertainment value, yes, but I don’t think you’re suddenly going to see any big difference or radical tonal shift in what does or doesn’t get on TV after this thing has come and gone.
I never made it beyond ep 3. (was it the demon wasp bitch @ school?)
I don’t think this thing really deserved a second chance whatever :/
I want you to make believe it’s the first time~
This episode was just too much fun. I’ve noticed that Gainax tend to change tone at about this point in their series’ (episode 6-8ish), so I can’t wait to see if this is their shift from monster-of-the-week to an overarching plot!
One of the best episodes so far! loved those two new demon girls nice to see them show us some new characters for once! and story 😀 plus the animation and action was amazing! love this series ;P
Was I the only entertain more with their sexual puns than this episode? The change of pace is nice, but I was actually somewhat bored with the over the top cartoonish action/violence.
:/