Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

パンティ＆ストッキングwithガーターベルト

7.0(1)

OtakuDen

7.7(221,204)

MAL Score

Ranked #1334

Popularity #597

Action
Comedy
Ecchi
Fantasy
Gag Humor
Parody

Episodes: 13
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Oct 2, 2010 to Dec 25, 2010
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Panty and Stocking, the notorious “Anarchy Sisters,” are cast out of Heaven for their shameless behavior and end up in Daten City with only one way back: earn enough Heaven Coins by wiping out the ghosts plaguing the streets. Under the watch of the priest Garterbelt, the two angels take on exorcism work—though they do it in their own wildly unorthodox style.

Their signature trick is as strange as it is effective: they turn their lingerie into weapons to send spirits packing. The problem is that neither sister is especially committed to the mission—Panty is far more interested in chasing sexual escapades, while Stocking would rather indulge her appetite for sweets than stay focused on ghost hunting.

Otaku Consensus

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt lands as one of Gainax’s most aggressively personality-driven original comedies: Hiroyuki Imaishi’s direction, the breakneck episodic pacing, and the mixed-media cartoon aesthetic give it an identity that still feels abrasive rather than dated. Critics and fan reviewers consistently praise its memorable cast, visual audacity, and willingness to parody both anime and Western adult animation, while the recurring criticism is real: the joke hit rate is uneven, and not every vulgar set piece is as funny as it is loud.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt if you want anime comedy that behaves less like a sitcom and more like a sugar-rushed Adult Swim pilot hijacked by Gainax animators. It scratches the same itch as FLCL’s velocity and Pop Team Epic’s anti-format chaos, but with more ecchi provocation, more transformation parody, and a deliberately trashy club-music attitude. The ideal viewer is someone who likes cartoons that weaponize bad taste instead of apologizing for it: rapid visual gags, genre spoofing, abrupt tonal swerves, and heroines written as anti-heroes rather than mascots. With 13 episodes and a largely episodic structure, it is best watched as a barrage of sketches, style experiments, and punchlines rather than as a conventional fantasy action series.

Key Characters

P
Panty(VA: Arisa Ogasawara)
Panty is remembered less as a conventional heroine than as a deliberately shameless gyaru-flavored anti-hero whose confidence turns angelic iconography into a raunchy parody weapon.
S
Stocking(VA: Mariya Ise)
Stocking’s appeal comes from the contrast between her gothic-lolita presentation, deadpan cruelty, and sweet-tooth indulgence, making her the colder counterweight to the show’s louder chaos.
G
Garterbelt
Garterbelt functions as the series’ stern taskmaster and straight-man presence, but the show repeatedly bends that authority figure role into its own brand of sacrilegious gag humor.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Gainax built the series around a Western-cartoon-inspired visual language rather than a standard late-2000s TV anime look, which is why AniList’s Mixed Media tag sits unusually high at 80%. The flattened shapes, exaggerated expressions, and sudden style shifts are part of the joke delivery system, not just decoration.
2
The 13-episode run favors a rapid episodic sketch structure over a traditional serialized climb, aligning with its 90% Episodic tag on AniList. That format lets the staff pivot between parody targets, gross-out gags, action beats, and surreal detours without needing to preserve a stable tone.
3
Hiroyuki Imaishi’s direction is central to the show’s identity: cuts are staged for impact, escalation, and comic timing rather than smooth realism. The result feels connected to Gainax’s high-energy tradition while rejecting the sentimental polish viewers might expect from an angel-themed fantasy.
4
The character design by Atsushi Nishigori and art/concept work by You Yoshinari give the show an instantly readable silhouette language. Panty, Stocking, and Garterbelt are designed to work as icons, joke machines, and action figures all at once.
5
Its soundtrack and presentation lean heavily into club, electro, and music-video energy, which helps separate the comedy from ordinary gag-anime rhythm. The show often feels edited like a barrage of commercials, music cues, and punchlines rather than like a conventional scene-by-scene comedy.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: The series aired in Japan from October 2, 2010 to December 25, 2010, wrapping its 13-episode run on Christmas Day despite being one of the least reverent angel-themed anime of its era.
Fun fact 2: Its reception profile is unusually split between cult enthusiasm and mainstream resistance: MyAnimeList lists it at 7.74 from 221,204 votes, while AniList places it at 75/100 with 3,997 favourites and IMDb lists a 7.3 rating.
Fun fact 3: The core production staff includes director Hiroyuki Imaishi, assistant director Masahiko Ootsuka, character designer Atsushi Nishigori, art director Masanobu Nomura, and You Yoshinari on both art design and concept art.
Fun fact 4: AniList’s top tags frame the show very precisely: Parody at 95%, Female Protagonist at 94%, Satire at 93%, Angels at 90%, Anti-Hero at 87%, and Psychosexual at 83%. Those tags explain why the series is discussed as a style-and-attitude object as much as an action comedy.
Fun fact 5: Glass Reflection’s 2015 review drew over 410,000 views and more than 11,000 likes, showing how strongly the series continued to circulate in anime criticism years after its original 2010 broadcast.