Playing Up Desperation (Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt)

Now I'm likely to get flack for the little blurb I have for you this morning, but these thoughts seriously require a home here.

While it's becoming more and more evident that it's probably best to share views on a show after it ends, there are just some projects that are much like sampling foods where some just aren't going to jibe with what it's attempting to accomplish. And that is seriously at the core of my problems with GAINAX's latest.

Horoyuki Imaishi's Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a case study in what I'd like to call Lush Desperation. Even as the product itself is made with an impressive amount of enthusiasm, it is all in the service of some misguided idea of commercial value. Played out more like an early day Cartoon Network show on goofballs, P & S w/ G is likely aiming for a market that has long since become a disposable american staple of cable animation, with an added dash of the crude to make it stand out. And the end result is something akin to many ad campaigns of days past, packed with visual flare, but could easily fill the background with noise, rather than any proof that the product bears any value to the consumer. (An intellectually empty - Adult Swim wannabe -CHECK.)


And that's the tragedy of it all, while attempting what clearly seems to be an overture to international cult success, it fails at being remotely funny or engaging. Just name out any number of CN shows with this type of temperament in ADD-drowned entertainment, and it all just becomes a dull blur. I don't really care about what is happening, nor am I amused at the antics on display. And this is a terrible shame, since the presentation is at times brilliant for the eyes, and has so much talent on display. To see this all squandered in a time most in need of a crossover hit, this is more like forgetting the fences, skipping a low grounder with bases loaded, and just aiming for the pitcher's mound.(with...style?)

While I'm sure many animation nerds will eat it up, there is little to recommend about the pilot, and gives me little hope for future episodes. All I can see is more of the same, with pretty pictures, and more gross-out ala the occasional Korean comedy. It just speaks little to me, and reminds me more of what "Chi" said on ANNCast several months back, regarding the industry's recent number-crunching to seek out the upcoming "fads" in american pop culture. This reeks of that disconnect in a BIG way, and I don't think we're going to see the end of it soon.

What a gorgeous waste of time.