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nd121 · 1 day ago

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New Panty and Stocking Rant

I will always thank Panty and Stocking for helping me accept that I was queer. To be on the safe side, I am a sex-repulsed asexual. While I have zero desire to engage in a sexual relationship, I can be safe knowing that there is nothing wrong with the pleasures I want.

I remember being on DeviantArt a long long time ago, and someone was sharing fanart they did of Panty and Stocking. Everything was fine until this one imbecile out of nowhere invades and starts ranting about the whole thing by calling it "wasted talent." I wish I could've told that person to go fuck themselves off a cliff. You have no right to call something wasted talent just because it doesn't meet your delicate standards. Nostalgia Critic said that about Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, you know, that really adult parody of animated Christmas films? Even then, he had no right to say that. It's really easy for me to get pissed when someone refers to something as "wasted talent." Panty and Stocking and Dead Leaves are both victims of this label.

I don't care what it is. It's like, you don't have the right to decide what a person creates? People can make what they want? If you're an anime fan and you're offended that Panty and Stocking don't adhere to purity standards, that's solely on you.

Lately, I'm becoming more comfortable with criticizing the things that I enjoy because I feel that they deserve to be at their best. Critics need to step their game up and quit criticizing things for either its own sake or to take away the important elements that make a thing a thing, and then force it to conform to their standards. Start criticizing things because you want to see a thing at its best while staying true to its values. Case in point, New Panty and Stocking. I am very disappointed in how the show has turned out. I dropped it after six episodes.

I really don't want to criticize Hiroyuki Imaishi, but what the hell was he thinking when he started writing this? What happened to these bitches? What in the world are the writers doing?

I wish there was someone to share my dissatisfaction of New Panty and Stocking with. Really. I honestly wish New Panty and Stocking didn't happen. I'm sticking with the OG season one. I mean, looking back on how the first season of Panty and Stocking climaxed from Panty + Brief upward, I think it got too dramatic and out of place given the show's batshit nature. Panty did not deserve to be put through hell like that. I hate it when women are served humble pie for the crime of having desires. It's okay to be a bitch. I know it doesn't just apply to fiction, but I thought I would just get this out. I think there's a stigma definitely towards flat characters and "unlikable" female characters. People love Ash Williams for who he is, right? I think any sort of change to him would kill his character. Why can't women be BAMFs just as much as men are depicted to be?

Panty and Stocking both deserve to remain flat and unlikable.

What do I mean by flat and unlikable?

I will tell you.

I've been doing some reading lately concerning the double standards involving the way men and women are treated differently based on gender. I've read through several articles written in defense of two things. They are both unlikable women, and flat characters. I have been feeling lately that there is indeed a stigma against these two things. Well, I've actually felt that way for a long time ever since Panty and Stocking first aired.

Within media, within film, animation, and video games, there exist powerfully pervasive stereotypes wherein each respective gender must act according to a guideline perceived to be inalienable. I assume one knows how it goes by now, but men are believed to be strong, in control, assertive, and detached while women are the opposite. Women are normally considered gentle, passive, moral, and chaste to name few characteristics. Any attempt to break these commandments in any way must be put down at any cost.

People like Ash Williams because he is a quintessential BAMF (Badass Motherfucker) for example, right? The only possible example of when a female wasn't met with derision when they tried to be a BAMF was probably the original Lara Croft. And, yes, I'm not just implying that people hate Bayonetta for being sexually intimidating; it's out there that people hate Bayonetta for who she is. At any rate, consider the possibility that Ash is also a quintessential flat character, too. Ash's character does not change in the slightest through his escapades, and that is why he is appropriately adored. He doesn't needed to change. Changing his character in anyway would totally kill him. And, of course, this is concerning a male who is male as he can be.

When a female attempts to become BAMFs, they are, especially given the climate, written off as unlikable. I'm propose to call bull on that. When Panty and Stocking was unveiled, otaku despised it. I've said it before and I will say it again, Panty and Stocking very existence is considered a crime because it dared to desecrate what I like to refer to as the Anime Bible. According to scripture, all women are to be pure and innocent, and all men are to be BAMFs who must remind women of their purity. Never must a woman attempt to be a BAMF. In addition, all anime must adhere to an artistic tradition of semi-realism.

This is the epitome of a double standard. I'll flatly admit that Panty and Stocking is the reason I quit anime in general at least for a time. It wasn't just because I thought most anime nowadays refused to experiment with new styles and possibilities. It wasn't just because it didn't imagine like it used to. If I may be direct, anime suddenly became art for people who hated art. Panty and Stocking showed me that there are indeed people out there who, in the immortal words of a BAMF, throw logic out the window and kick reason to the curb. Panty and Stocking showed me that there are people out there who're not afraid to experiment and be creative in ways that most people wouldn't even pretend to imagine.

Why can't women be defiant and stone-cold BAMFs? Why must a character like Panty suddenly become sweet-natured and caring out of left field like this? I may disagree to an extent, but people were outraged over what was considered to be Samus Aran's mischaracterization in Metroid: Other M, right? I truly can sympathize. This was a stone-cold bounty hunter who suddenly developed weakness.

Let me make the case that character development is wholly unnecessary within the world of Panty and Stocking. These characters do not need growth, they do not need to be deep. This suppose to be a place for liberation, right? This is suppose to be a place for creative and sexually expression, right? For Panty to be served humble pie as well as to become concerned with life out of nowhere defeats not just her purpose, but the show's purpose.

I am a hardcore Panty and Stocking fan, and I have just as much of right to constructively criticize the show as much you blindly praise it. It has almost none of the transgression of the previous season, and there's a lot of mischaracterization. Why now is Stocking whining about how hard it is to be Panty's younger sister, and why is Panty suddenly a caring person? Why is everyone worshipping a goddamn cat? I don't think I should lie anymore. Cats are becoming really annoying especially in media. It doesn't just have to do with fuckin' memes. Cats are like the easiest way to sucker in people with their forced, unnecessary, and pandering cuteness. The usage of cats is easy for getting rid of critical thinking. Cat worship in media has become really toxic for me. The last time I expressed this, I was told to get out over and over again in all caps. I didn't come here for that. I don't ever want to see another pandering "heartwarming" episode with an unnecessary character arc again. I came there for strong-willed and independent bitches, and that's what I have been here for. It's like, bitch, where are your balls? Why is there a new absolutely robotic English dub? I truly believe that Jamie Marchi, Monica Rial, and Christopher Sabat et al had no right or reason to be replaced if Shimoneta is anything. This is probably to avoid the controversy over Vic Mignogna.

I came to Panty and Stocking because I knew it was going to subversive in a lot of ways. I've seen Dead Leaves, I knew what was coming, and it didn't disappoint. I am frustrated with New Panty and Stocking because it has almost none of that.

Cartoons have the right to be aggressive and offend. Cartoons were not born as a medium that catered to children. Anybody seen a documentary called "Cartoons Kick Ass?"

…and I am not talking about promoting bigoted ideals before someone puts words in my mouth.

Anime has truly devolved into an art for people who despise art. I don't think the world was ready for any of these creations, and that should've been the time for all intents and purposes when they deserve to be here. The anime community believes both art styles are ugly and the characters vulgar and unlikable. I know I just made a post in defense of unlikable and flat characters, and both Dead Leaves and Panty and Stocking deserve to wear that with pride utterly insane animation aside. Fuck, otaku bash the animation style, too.

I'm sorry, but after being served disappointment after disappointment with this new season, I don't even care about the twinks Polyester and Polyurethane. Panty and Stocking does not need to be deep. It doesn't need to be serious, either, barring serious fun.

I love Panty and Stocking to death, but I feel parodies have been done to death generally. The show needs to be going balls out like Dead Leaves did.

Some people have called the show old, and I don't think that is valid honestly. It had all the time in the world to stay up to date therefore.

After doing some thinking, I think the writers of Panty and Stocking are selling themselves short with the constant parodies. I've written lengths about how the show should be embracing its transgressive nature, and so I think that they should practice more originality. There's so much that deserves to be attacked from Donald Trump to AI to Shintaro Ishihara's Manga Ban to the fact that we're drowning in sequels and reboots. One of the reasons I signed up was because PSG broke the Anime Bible by screwing purity culture and the like, offending otaku.

Anyway, New Panty and Stocking is the ultimate example of wanting is better than having. I'm very disappointed, and I thought the writers were so much better than this.

Now, dare I say, it feels neutered, neutered and robotic. So much edge lost and so much potential untapped. There's definitely nothing sadder or more frustrating than that.

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