Panty And Stocking With Garter Belt

Label:

MangaUK

Certificate:

18

Format:

DVD

Discs:

3. (13 episodes + bonus mini episodes)

Running time:

312 mins approx

Subtitles:

English

Video:

widescreen

Sound:

English 5.1, Japanese 2.0

Release date:

30th July 2012

RRP:

DVD £29.99 - Amazon - Play

Brief synopsis:

Many people believe that angels walk amongst us, doing good deeds, being messengers of God and all that. And it seems that these people are right… or at least partly. Earthbound angels Panty and Stocking aren’t what you’d expect of God’s holy warriors; they’re crude, they’re rude and they’re extremely dangerous to know. When God was bending Moses’ ear with his top-ten list of things that will get you on his naughty list, it seems no one thought to clue in this pair of heavenly reprobates. Booted out of the hereafter for bad behaviour, this foul-mouthed dirty pair aren’t allowed back through those pearly gates until they’ve cleared the streets of Daten City of evil sprits, malicious ghosts and any other loose demons they run across while they’re at it.

Panty has the God-given ability to turn her panties into a handgun capable of obliterating ghosts, ghouls and pretty much anything else that gets in her way while her sister, Stocking, can turn her leg-wear into wicked sharp katanas able to slice through evil spirits like garlic butter. (Who said God didn’t have sense of humour when it comes to naming his angels?) The problem is, the very attitudes that got them both kicked out of heaven aren’t particularly helpful in getting them back into it. Stocking can’t pass a sweet shop, patisserie or bakery without dropping everything to sample the wares and Panty, well she can’t walk past a fit, young, well endowed man (or men) without ahem dropping everything to sample the wares.

If they didn’t have hella-uptight afro-sporting preacher man Garter to keep them in line they’ve never make it back to the Promised Land… But then, even with Garter’s help, realistically speaking they’ve still got no chance.

Comments:

Holy Moly! Here’s something that we haven’t seen for a while; an animated comedy that is actually as funny as it thinks it is. Equal parts savage parody, loving homage and cutting satire, Panty And Stocking With Garter Belt rips through - and into - western (though mainly US) culture, attitudes, social mores, movies, animation, culture again and then sums it all up with a selection of four letter words and an extended middle finger. Panty is an over-the-top example of the Japanese perception of your average bleach-blond, vacuous, man-hungry valley girl and, once coupled to her perky Goth (without the perky) sister Stocking - who takes gluttony to a whole new level - they both proceed to trip the light fandango through all seven deadly sins and back again, stopping off for cake and cock along the way.

As anime goes, I doubt I’ve ever seen one more oriented towards a western audience before. Even the visual sound effects - ala Adam West era Batman - are in English. Bad English maybe, but English none the less. This show couldn’t be more aimed at a US audience if they tried, which they did and unfortunately this meant it flopped in its native Japan when it first came out and not just by a little bit either, it flopped big time. But the producers didn’t care as American audiences loved it which meant if they played their cards right the American audience’s wallets would surely love it as well. Ker-ching!

To try and explain Panty And Stocking With Garter Belt you’d have to try and imagine the likes of FLCL or Dead Leaves (unsurprisingly both directed by the same guy as is directing here) meets Invader Zim / Drawn Together / South Park and pretty much anything that’s been on Nickelodeon for the last gazillion years though at first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking the visuals could be ripped straight from “Powerpuff Girls – The Next Generation” where they all go to university and discover frat-boys. This show looks so little like an anime and so much like an escapee from Cartoon Network’s Adult swim that if you were to show the dubbed version of this show to a diehard anime hater without warning them first they’d probably laugh their ass off the whole way though and never suss where it’s from.
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Parody and reference abound, from the main characters dog almost being a direct clone of Gir from Invader Zim (which lead to Invader Zim’s creator not only commenting on the series, but commenting positively) to a rip-off of Transformers that’s so close to the bone that, if it weren’t for the fact that the US rights holders to Transformers (Hasbro) have proven themselves to be pretty cool about these things recently, I’d be expecting a big fat lawsuit to be arriving on the producer’s doormat any day now. There’s characters from Nightmare before Christmas in the background to a tour though South Park to Tarantino quotes and Garter Belt himself looks like he’s channelling equal parts Chef from South Park and Samuel L Jackson in pretty much anything where he’s the ultimate badass.

Regarding the dub, and listen up because this is something I almost never say… The English dub is absolutely excellent and far superior to the original Japanese in pretty much every way. The script has been “tweaked” in translation to the point where it now has more “f^&k”s per minute than the Blues Brothers (and I mean the original one, not that Blues Brothers 2000 rubbish) and the voice actors, who very rarely get a chance to let loose with a dub, go totally mental while always keeping it tasteful.

Actually, who am I kidding, good taste goes out the window about sixty seconds into the first episode and isn’t allowed back at any time though the whole series, no matter how much in whines and scratches at the door. The series starts as it means to go on, with toilet humour, quite literally too, the first episode has the spiritually possessed contents of hundreds of toilets attacking the population with all the ickyness and gross out moments that you’d expect, and it just all goes downhill from there, but in a good way of course. It just doesn’t let up and never passes up the chance to throw about the kind of scatological humour, phallic imagery and foul language that would make even the creators of South Park blush or the twisted minds behind Ren & Stimpy somewhat moist… don’t think about that bit too much

Extras:

There’s eight mini-episodes, a clip reel of all the best explosions and a “making of” featurette, which is mainly about blowing s^&t up.

Panty And Stocking With Garter Belt is available now from most high streets and online retailers but... !DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER! MangaUK unfortunately dropped the ball when it came to authoring the DVD and a few of the episodes have their last few minutes missing, one of which being the finale. MangaUK say there will be a re-release in the next few months, and that those who have already purchased the defective discs should return them for refunds so at this particular moment in time DO NOT BUY THIS SERIES JUST YET! Give it until the new batch is released as one of the effected episodes has its entire post credit sequence missing which is where probably the biggest plot twist of the whole series is located. And for those that have already purchased them and were wondering what the big twist is……*stage whisper*… the US release doesn’t have this problem so if you want to know what you’re missing, YouTube is your best friend ‘till the fixed versions are out.

 

Black Lagoon Complete Series 1 Collection

Label:

MangaUK

Certificate:

18

Format:

BluRay

Discs:

3. (12 episodes)

Running time:

300 mins approx

Subtitles:

English

Video:

widescreen 16;9

Sound:

English 5.1, Japanese 2.0

Release date:

9th July 2012

RRP:

39.99

Actual Price:

£28ish - Amazon - Play

Black Lagoon Complete Series 2 Collection

Label:

MangaUK

Certificate:

18

Format:

BluRay

Discs:

3. (12 episodes)

Running time:

300 mins approx

Subtitles:

English

Video:

widescreen 16;9

Sound:

English 5.1, Japanese 2.0

Release date:

9th July 2012

RRP:

39.99

Actual Price:

£28ish - Amazon - Play

Brief synopsis:

Lowly and unassuming office worker Rokuro Okajima thought it’d be a nice, easy business trip trading his boring desk in grey and dreary Tokyo for the crystal blue waves of the South China Seas. Little does he know that the ordinary looking CD-R he’s been tasked with transporting on his little business cruise is actually in somewhat high demand amongst the South East Asian criminal underworld. Quicker than he can say “One deckchair and margarita, please” he’s taken hostage by the Lagoon Company; a trio of sometimes pirates who are tasked with removing the disc from Rokuro’s possession and presenting it to the local branch of the Russian Mafia. When the deal goes sour - and both the pirates and their hostage find themselves the target of a group of vicious and well equipped mercenaries sent to destroy the data by any means necessary before it can fall into the wrong hands - captors and captive join forces in a desperate attempt to stay alive. So begins Rokuro’s new life as a member of the Lagoon Company with Dutch, the boss, ex-US Marine and Vietnam veteran; Benny, a technical genius on the run from both the FBI and the Mob; and Revy, their foul mouthed, short-tempered psychopathic weapons expert. How long a well-mannered, white-collar worker like him will survive in this crazy cut-throat world that is Roanapur, otherwise known as Thailand's city of sin, is anyone’s guess.

Comments:

Every now and again we post up reviews of anime series that don’t really fit into Sci-Fi-London’s usual remit as they fall into neither the Sci-Fi or Fantasy categories. So what is it that earns them such a place on this fine site? Well mainly for one very simple reason, and Black Lagoon can count itself amongst these merry few, that being they’re just So. Damn. Cool.

If there was ever an anime that was almost tailor made for the American audience then this is it. Being that it's not set in Japan, and only one of the main characters is Japanese or has even set foot in Japan, then there's absolutely no need to know anything about Japanese culture, customs or politics. What you do get instead is a series filled with action, violence, bad language, some more action and violence and a bit more bad language. There was a quote regarding the original Ghost in the Shell movie, which stated that it was the kind of anime that James Cameron would make if Disney would let him. If that’s the case then this is probably the kind of anime Robert Rodriguez would make if Disney fancied having another go. It’s got the snappy dialogue, manic gunplay, incredibly violent and exciting action sequences, blatant sex appeal, plenty of foul language and one hell of a rockingly good soundtrack. Add in some meaty references to some of Hollywood’s finest action movies and a large dollop of John Woo and what you get is hard hitting anime which bursts out firing all barrels with it’s middle finger held squarely in the air screaming “F&*k you” all the way. 

That’s not to say it’s all about the action as each of the main characters, and many of the supporting characters as well, have plenty of back story, mostly tragic, which is gradually being revealed as this series progresses. There’s also subtle questions about the meaning of existence harking back to writings by philosophers such as Sartre and Nietzsche but if you’re here for the action then don’t worry, they’re subtle and won’t get in the way of all the gunplay, of which there is shed-loads.

If you want an unapologetically graphic and brutal action anime purely for mature audiences with absolutely no fluffiness, magical girls or cutesy talking animals in sight then this is the one for you.

Both Black Lagoon Complete Series 1 Collection and Black Lagoon Complete Series 2 Collection are available now on Blu-ray from most high streets and online retailers. There’s also a 6 disc DVD box set set available comprising both seasons for less than 40 quid, but as the Blu-ray’s are at least 20% cooler I know which version I’d choose.