Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Kicked out of Heaven for being terrible people, two angels discover the only way back is to kill ghosts in a city that sits on the border between the afterlife and Earth. That's Panty and Stocking in a nutshell. Panty is obsessed with sleeping around, Stocking can't stop eating sweets, and their weapons are literally their underwear: Panty's panties become guns, Stocking's stockings become swords. Their handler is a priest named Garterbelt who can barely keep them on task. The ghosts they fight are born from human sins and desires, which leads to some genuinely unhinged monster designs and scenarios. What makes this 13-episode TV series from Gainax stand out is that it doesn't look or feel like anime at all. The art style is closer to Powerpuff Girls or Dexter's Lab, with thick outlines and exaggerated expressions, then switches to detailed anime-style sakuga for the action scenes. The tonal whiplash is part of the charm. The humor is crude, loud, and relentless: bodily functions, sex jokes, and fourth-wall breaks stacked on top of each other. If you liked FLCL's chaotic energy but want something even less restrained, or if Pop Team Epic's absurdist comedy appeals to you, this hits a similar nerve. Fans of Shimoneta will also feel right at home with the shameless raunchiness. It's not trying to be deep. It's trying to be the most irreverent thing you've ever watched, and it mostly succeeds.