Content Warning: This piece contains discussion of anal penetration and BDSM. Included images include blood, gore and phallic objects. Also every character in this show is named after underwear. It’s not for kids!
Studio Trigger is a favorite among anime fans in the United States, and for good reason. From adapting the cult hit manga Delicious in Dungeon, to (for better or worse) redeeming Cyberpunk 2077 with their series Edgerunners, they’ve gone from strength to strength over the years. Now they’ve revived Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt, an homage to raunchy American cartoons that first debuted during director Hiroyuki Imaishi and scriptwriter (and now assistant director) Hiromi Wakabayashi’s time at now-defunct studio Gainax.
These two idiosyncratic artists took part in a well-attended roundtable interview at Anime NYC 2025, featuring representatives from Bento Radio, Anime Trending, Suitposting, Anime Herald, Nerdier Tides, Anime Corner and of course Yatta-Tachi. What followed was a wide-ranging conversation addressing such topics as anal penetration, the importance of exaggeration in animation, why the legendary Trigger animator Yoh Yoshinari is a “special specialist,” and, most importantly Imaishi and Wakabayashi’s favorite American superhero comics.
Panty & Stocking required that edge
YATTA-TACHI: I’ll start with my most piercing question. A recurring motif in Imaishi-san’s work starting with Dead Leaves is anal penetration and BDSM. Do you have an interest in these scenes?
HIROYUKI IMAISHI: Unfortunately, I do not have those sexual preferences. It’s a part of a joke.
BENTO RADIO: With New Panty & Stocking, you guys came back to a show after over a decade. Was it difficult to get back into that headspace after so long?
HIROMI WAKABAYASHI: We did have the understanding that we were making something that was a little edgy a decade ago. Getting back to that same mentality and passion took some warming up.
Within ten plus years, I do feel like I’d lost some of my edge just through getting old. I also understood that making Panty & Stocking required that edge. It took me a bit to hone myself.
ANIME TRENDING: Given the uniqueness of the show, have there been any interesting reactions or creative output from staff members who weren’t part of the original series production?
IMAISHI: I believe there is a considerable amount of that. We have many of our younger talents involved in production, to the point that some of them were even engaged in entire episodes. The direction of those episodes was based on their artistic preferences.
Exaggerated expression
SUITPOSTING: Your work is bright, colorful, frenetic, and bursting with energy. How do you get yourself in the right mindset to create your style? Are there any specific influences, like albums, artists, or past works you revisit to spark inspiration?
IMAISHI: It’s actually quite recent that I’ve started using high contrast colors. To be more specific, it started with the influence of PROMARE‘s Shigeto Koyama, who is exceptional when it comes to his choice of colors.
ANIME HERALD: German illustrator gurepyon has credited Imaishi-san and Gurren Lagann for their work as an artist. “Imaishi’s works are so important for me because not everything has to be anatomically correct in order to create powerful art. Of course, it requires some fundamentals. But being overly accurate destroys the dynamism.” Do you have any thoughts for gurepyon regarding what makes an image dynamic?
IMAISHI: Unfortunately we are not aware who gurepyon is. Is this person well respected in their field?
ANIME HERALD: Here, you might recognize this. [Shows Imaishi an image by gurepyon on his phone.]
IMAISHI: Oh, amazing! That’s a very Japanese style of illustration.
One of the key characteristics of anime as a medium is exaggerated expression. It’s quite important to overly exaggerate in order to portray a character. gurepyon has a good understanding of what makes anime special as an artistic genre.
Shouldn’t the fans be more confused, too?
NERDIER TIDES: Has the fan excitement for the return of Panty & Stocking shocked you at all?
WAKABAYASHI: I’m happy. I’m also a bit confused, although not concerned, that fans are so receptive. Even the older Panty & Stocking was a mixed bag of normal stories and others that were overly chaotic. Both are now being well-received. So I can’t help but wonder, “Shouldn’t the fans be more confused, too?”
ANIME CORNER: Panty & Stocking switches between different art styles for various kinds of scenes. How is it decided which types of scenes get which art style? Does this add any unique difficulty to the production?
WAKABAYASHI: This goes back to Gurren Lagann. If you pay close attention to the series, you’ll notice a notable disparity in each episode regarding the characters’ appearances. This is due to Imaishi-san’s belief that animation directors should be able to express their own artistic direction. Both old and new Panty & Stocking take a similar approach.
The popular trend right now is for a series to have seamless, on-model designs throughout. Imaishi-san thinks it’s more interesting for animation to be a platform where individual animators can express themselves.
Ten seasons and a movie
YATTA-TACHI: What is your favorite American superhero comic?
IMAISHI: Lobo. I’m a big fan of Simon Bisley!
WAKABAYASHI: My favorite character is Death, as drawn by Chris Bachalo. I’m just a big fan of the occult. That’s why Panty & Stocking has angels and demons in it.
BENTO RADIO: With the original Panty & Stocking, you were cut short with the ending. Do you want New Panty & Stocking to continue beyond this season? Or are you okay leaving it as it is?
IMAISHI: I’ve been saying since the last Panty & Stocking fifteen years ago that I have plans for ten seasons, plus a theatrical movie release. The initial plan was for a series where I can perpetually create.
That guy must be special
ANIME TRENDING: Can you spread light on what Yoshinari-san‘s Special Specialist role involves?
WAKABAYASHI: Quite literally “special specialist.” He’s so special at what he does that he’s a specialist. Most people’s reactions upon seeing that role is, “that guy must be special.” That’s exactly the reaction we want.
IMAISHI: This goes back to the first series. Yoshinari-san’s taste for cartoon-ish design is a part of his essence. We also heavily rely on his vast library of special effects. So he’s the backbone of the production in that regard.
SUITPOSTING: International collaborations and influences seem to be a big influence on Studio Trigger’s recent work. You’ve worked with Lucasfilm, Netflix, CDProjektRed, and Adult Swim. Are there any artists, studios or directors from America that you’d like to work with in the future?
WAKABAYASHI: I’d love to see an animation by Imaishi using big IP from something like Disney. For example, something in a style even more extreme than Mickey Mouse’s Runaway Brain.
Battle of Hoover Dam
ANIME HERALD: At Anime Expo, Wakabayashi-san said that he already knows the title of a potential theatrical release of Panty & Stocking. Would you care to share that title?
WAKABAYASHI: Panty & Stocking: Battle of Hoover Dam. But I came up with it fifteen years ago. If I started working on it right now, it might be different.
NERDIER TIDES: What was it like to return to such a unique series as Panty & Stocking?
IMAISHI: I need to do something not so serious once in a while to soothe my mind. It’s not that I dislike working on serious series. But I do need a break from that occasionally.
ANIME CORNER: New Panty & Stocking features a lot of staff from the original. How do these original staff communicate the essential elements of the series to newer staff?
IMAISHI: Communicating with the younger staff wasn’t much of an issue, since they could reference the original Panty & Stocking. Being an animator, it’s their job to be able to draw another person’s work. But there were some scenes they drew that I personally fixed or revised.
WAKABAYASHI: If you’ve watched Delicious in Dungeon or Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, you know that Trigger’s animators are pretty good at what they do. But we felt that we needed to teach them how to have fun, to go off form and prioritize dynamism. That is what Imaishi excels at.
We don’t want to hurt anyone personally
YATTA-TACHI: One of my favorite episodes of the original Panty & Stocking was “Vomiting Point,” which was directed and storyboarded by Osamu Kobayashi. Do you have memories of what it was like seeing that episode for the first time? Will there be similarly experimental episodes coming up in New Panty & Stocking?
IMAISHI: Regarding “Vomiting Point,” I was the one who requested that aesthetic. Kobayashi delivered on that point. There’s not much to say in regards to that. For the newer series, there’s not a specific episode that’s like his work, but you might find some interesting aspects sprinkled throughout. All I can say is, watch the whole show and see for yourself.
BENTO RADIO: Given the range of Panty & Stocking and what you guys are willing to touch on, is there anything that you would consider too shocking to cover?
WAKABAYASHI: Our main goal is for everyone to have fun. Even though Panty & Stocking has a lot of aggressive content, we don’t want to hurt anyone personally.
Hanna-Barbera
ANIME TRENDING: What’s your highlight so far of bringing back Panty & Stocking in 2025?
WAKABAYASHI: There’s a lot of scenes that I like, but my favorite right now is the one where they carry Panty’s soul on a mikoshi. I’m confident that this series is the first and last to show such content using the full screen!
IMAISHI: If I was to name an episode that is currently available, I would name Kai Ikarashi’s segment in episode 4, the Hanna-Barbera homage. I personally wanted to do it myself, but I entrusted it to our younger talents. Ikarashi did a much better job than I could have; I’m happy with the results.
SUITPOSTING: Imaishi-san’s work has a distinctive signature that fans instantly recognize. Yet everything you’ve worked on is unique. How do you balance maintaining your style with your need to evolve and experiment as an artist?
IMAISHI: The most important factor is not working alone. For New Panty & Stocking, I’m working with younger talent at the studio. For our previous works, I changed the designer for almost every title. For PROMARE it was Koyama, for KILL la KILL it was SUSHiO. By working with different individuals, I can keep my own artistic taste while maintaining freshness.
Article edited by: Bill Curtis
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