‘New Panty & Stocking’ Just Tackled the Gen Z-Millennial Divide in the Most Absurd Style

Although Prime Video hasn’t adequately promoted Studio Trigger’s sequel series to the raunchy cult classic New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, the show remains one of the funniest anime airing this season. Its latest episode prominently highlights the contentious generational divide between Millennials and Gen Z.

In its sixth episode, titled “The Brothers from Heaven,” the anime slows down its compilation of short stories to present a unified narrative filled with pop culture references throughout its 24-minute runtime. For those keeping track, this is the second time the show has adopted this approach since its premiere, the first instance being the opening episode, which had to resolve a 13-year cliffhanger. Included among the mayhem of the episode is the anime’s long-teased introduction of two new angel twin characters joining the fray.

In this plot-thrusting episode, two new diving troublemakers crash onto the scene: the “twin twink angels,” Polyester and Polyurethane, played respectively by Junya Enoki (Yuji Itadori from Jujutsu Kaisen) and Yūto Uemura (Thorfinn from Vinland Saga) in Japanese and by Hunter McCoy and Corey Wilder (Zanka Nijiku from Gachiakuta) in English. Teased in the anime’s official trailer, their arrival throws the debaucherous angels, Panty and Anarchy, and the disgraced demons, Scanty and Kneesocks, into a chaotic scramble to buy their way back into Heaven and Hell. In the episode, we learn that Polyester and Polyurethane are Panty and Stocking’s younger cousins—a familial tie that wastes no time delving into generational warfare.

Their introduction, which serendipitously echoes the disruptive flair of KPop Demon Hunter‘s Saja Boys, threatens the show’s entire dynamic with their more high-tech approach, proving to be a precognitive force that makes the girls’ demon hunting for coins like Mario characters obsolete. To add even further insult to injury, Polyester and Polyurethane dish out zoomer quips, mislabeling the millennial girlies “boomers,” using slang (“deadass,” “no cap,” “period,” “sussy”), and calling the girls “Karens,” among other kitschy TikTok lingo.

Not to be outdone, the gender and generational battle throughout the episode has Panty and Stocking firing back with their own insults, representing the millennials in this divide by calling the boys “iPad kids.” While their comeback may not be as substantial as that of the boys, as the old saying goes, “brevity is the soul of wit,” so perhaps the girls are onto something with only one diss registering from their side of the aisle.

All that said, the episode still has its fun with referential humor. Amid their contest to collect the most coins by slaying demons, the episode also continues the series’ signature of pop culture references. Chief among them is a reference to John Carpenter’s They Live, which sees the town of Daten City transformed into a horde of bug-eyed creatures, a Good Burger, and The Matrix‘s infinite armory.

The last of which introduces another new character, Gunsmith Bitch, the show’s second Black leading cast member. Played by Yoshino Aoyama (Hitori Gotoh in Bocchi the Rock!) in Japanese and Krysta Gonzales (Eddy Ripple in Elemental) in English. Gunsmith Bitch’s whole deal is she’s a nerd girl who moonlights as an arms dealer. She also has a sexual attraction to guns. She comes in handy for Panty and Stocking when Polyester and Polyurethane’s Gen-Z angelic iPad-baby tactics disable the girls’ divine weapons.

After a glorious angel-demon team-up, the boys are defeated, and the episode sees the girls reign supreme, with their “uncle Rami” emerging from heaven through a giant hand gag straight out of SpongeBob SquarePants, bringing the boys back to heaven. However, that’s probably not the last we’ll see of them because the episode’s stinger sees their uncle, and Panty and Stocking’s father, deliver an edict allowing them to continue running amok for his daughters.

With an ending like that, fans can expect more shenanigans from Polyester and Polyurethane when new episodes of New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt air every Wednesday on Prime Video.

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