Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt News

That's right folks! This week in "Popular Anime Confirmed for U.S. Release by Company Who Makes A Habit of Releasing Good, Popular Anime," FUNimation has finally let the cat out of the bag that you won't need to buy ridiculously over-priced imported Blu-rays of Gainax's latest anime franchise. Sadly, people will have to wait until 2012 for the DVD to come out, but Crunchyroll still hasn't remembered to take the videos off their site (despite it still having that message that it'd be off "thirty days after the release of the final episode"). 

If you'd rather skip the lengthy "how (person x) got into anime", simply scroll past the break to get to the good stuff.  
 
There once was a young boy who loved Power Rangers with a great deal of passion. Every birthday and christmas, this boy would beg and plead for the latest versions of the robots and megazords, and enjoyed nothing more than to transform them, put them together, and take them apart. Then, this boy discovered Beast Wars on Cartoon Network. Nothing was ever asked for that wasn't the new Rattrap, K-9, Optimus Prime, or Depth Charge. The transforming aspect was forefront in his mind. So when he saw a commercial for Gundam Wing showing a robot change into a jet, well, that became the boys' new thing. And that was his first foray into anime.  
  
This boy (yes, its me) went on to discover Outlaw Star, Yu Yu Hakusho, Ruroni Kenshin, Ronin Warriors, and lots more Gundam. But that wasn't enough for the lad, so he begun to branch out in the directions available to him. Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, FLCL, and Fullmetal Alchemist scratched the itch, but anime was turning into a full-blown rash. To satisfy it, the boy, now becoming a teen, resorted to print after reading an article about Shonen Jump in the local paper. It had more Yu Yu Hakusho, and that was reason enough to subscribe (six years later, the 19 volume series run finally ended, becoming the first and so far only multi-volume property to run in its entirety in the magazine). That first volume (volume 5 to be exact) opened up a whole new world, and the boy had officially become an "animeniac" at the ripe old age of 12.  
 
Suddenly, he had an entire bookshelf dedicated to manga (that hasn't changed, though the books are stacked two-deep), including exotic names like Bleach, D.Gray-Man, Buso Renkin, Black Cat, Hunter x Hunter, Hikaru no Go, and of course, Death Note. From there, I (can I please stop talking in the third person now?) further branched out, and as time went on, my tastes gradually, yet obviously changed, especially as I came into my own, hard-earned money. Negima and Love Hina became Hayate the Combat Butler and Air Gear, which became Black Lagoon and Welcome to the NHK, which became Monster, Mushishi, and Vagabond.  

 But as I became more involved in the black and white comic side, the animation got left behind. Toonami and Adult Swim, which planted the anime seed, began to cut back on the medium, leaving me to buy what I wanted.  Early paychecks picked up a number of series I was interested in, including Ergo Proxy, Elfen Lied, Evangelion, Gankutsuou, Le Chevalier D'eon, Samurai 7, GTO, Ghost in the Shell, and of course, BECK. But with a new work schedule and college to deal with, as well as an ever-mounting pile of video games, time for anime was restricted. Time to watch all these DVDs was restricted, and even today I own some shows that I have yet to watch (So sorry Tsukihime...).  
 
Not that I was some anime angel; like most fans these days, I obtained quite a few series through the internet. Black Lagoon, Bleach, and Fate/Stay Night were three such series. I own all three on DVD now. I caught Code Geass and Gurren Lagann through Anime News Network and Netflix respectively. They are quite high on my to-buy list. The idea is that I, save for extreme cases, later buy what I read or watch online. I've been reading Bleach online for 5 years now, yet have bought every english-released volume to date. This is true of every series I have read online. I find this to be a very important point as I detail my plans for this blog.  
 
You see, as a house-squatting college student at the ripe age of 21, I have spent the first day of every trip my parents take without me watching the entirety of an anime that I own on DVD in a marathon format. Through this strategy I have discovered the masterpiece that is BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, as well as Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo and Le Chevalier D'eon. I've also discovered some less amazing shows, like Peacemaker Kurogane, Green Green, and This Ugly yet Beautiful World (shudder). Two weeks ago, that show was Baccano! And, as I experienced one of the most confusing pieces of media I have ever put in front of me, I suddenly rediscovered my love for anime. I don't know if it was the animation, the great dub, or the humor, 
but something clicked, and now I find myself on the precipice of what seems to be a hidden valley of anime. Shows that I have put off or ignored for months or years, despite being greatly interesting or highly recommended. That ends now.  
 
 
 
 

I have put together a list of shows that I feel I have to watch, much like the list of games that I keep at Giantbomb. I'm starting with three relatively short franchises that have all made their mark in the past year.  

• Angel Beats!
• High School of the Dead
• Panty and Stocking w/ Garterbelt

 
I will watch each of them roughly simultaneously, posting my thoughts directly afterward. There will be days where I watch more than one episode, and others where I don't watch any at all (after all, my Sounders are my first priority :P)  

Also, if things go well and people don't rally for my head on a stake, I'd like to do some rewind posts at a later date, going through a show I haven't seen in years. I'll leave that to readers (if I have any) to choose from my library. Of those, preferred reruns would be Gundam Seed, FMA, Yu Yu Hakusho, Death Note, any of the movies, and of course, BECK.  
 
I'll have the first episode out sometime tonight. I'm really looking forward to hearing from anyone :P

Rejoice! The time has come! The greatest anime soundtrack ever has been released! 

One of the best things about GAINAX's bat-shit crazy anime series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, alongside it's Powerpuff girl-like art style and it's unbelievably excessive profanity, is it's damn catchy music. The background tunes are great in their own right, but ever since this kickass transformation scene (clip embedded below), fans of the series (most definitely myself included) have been itching to get their hands on the full soundtrack. I'm delighted to inform those who didn't already know, that it has finally been released. 
 
With all-time classics like D City Rock, Dancefloor Orgy, and Technodildo. One might wonder how they ever lived without this glorious soundtrack in their collection.
 
Here's that transformation sequence I was talking about, and yes, that is poop Panty is covered in right at the beginning -- they're fighting a giant poop-monster. 
No, I'm not making this shit up.
   
Listen to the full version here. 
For those of you who aren't already fans of the anime, this is your window into the madness that is Panty & Stocking. So umm... yeah. 
But all joking aside, this really is a catchy bunch of songs. The song from the clip above "Fly Away" and it's demon-sister counterpart "Theme for Scanty & Knee Socks" are the beats fans have been waiting to hear in full. Along with those you get the intro theme, ending theme, various background music from the series, and of course, it goes without saying that the song from the music video in episode 10 is included too, for those of you who haven't seen that before, check this out: 
   
Also, I'm pretty sure one track is just Panty making sex noises. 
So yeah, just thought I'd let you all know in case you missed it: Panty & Stocking The Original Soundtrack is out. And it's awesome. 
 
Here are some of the full songs, if you want to hear the rest they aren't hard to find on youtube. 

Fly Away  

 

Cherryboy Riot  

 

Theme for Scanty & Knee Socks  

 

Schranz Chase  

 
What's your favourite track?