Starting on 27 August, 2025 a series of special podcasts episodes featuring conversations between some of the team behind New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT began airing. It’s our great pleasure to provide English translations of these conversations with permission and approval from STUDIO TRIGGER and FlyingDog. We published part 1 of Episode 1 the other day, and continue things with Part 2 below.

If you would like to read along to the original Japanese audio, the podcast can be heard via Spotify.

☆Taku Takahashi: Since the original PANTY & STOCKING, there've been a few slight appearances of comedy and humor – with Cyberpunk for example though, you were definitely going for something more atmospheric, right? But then jumping back into New PANTY & STOCKING, a flat-out comedy, how is it that you approach comedy works compared to your more serious works? I'm honestly quite curious. 

Hiroyuki Imaishi: Actually, when I'm working on something more serious like Cyberpunk, that's when I want to lean into comedy the most. That feeling of wanting to do something outlandish. When I'm doing something serious, it's not like I'm not doing the outlandish, but I really do just want to make something comedic. So that switch is always present. So I can always be funny – actually, I'm usually having to pump the brakes on it. 

☆Taku: So rather than ever not wanting to make comedy works, you're usually having to hold back?

Imaishi: Right, I'll usually so casually hit that switch, so I usually have to hold myself back from doing so.

☆Taku: Is there a frustration to that? Even if you're working on something fun, having to hold back from hitting that switch?

Hiromi Wakabayashi: Yeah, it was right after we finished making Gurren Lagann, which I felt was a very serious work – it really was like a shonen manga, so we wanted to vent the frustration of holding back – if we were to make a work that let down all these new fans of Imaishi, it'd all be over, right? It was from there that we started working on PANTY & STOCKING, going from something serious into a comedy, which has become somewhat of a staple for Imaishi.

☆Taku: I feel like the first half of Gurren Lagann definitely has that comedy touch to it, then there's the death at the halfway point which kicks things into a more serious direction. So the more serious something gets, you'd say that's when you want to do comedy more than ever? 

Imaishi: That sounds about right -- I mean, it's not like I start to feel off if I don't get to switch into comedy mode, but it definitely starts to build up. If I could, I'd love to just always be doing it. [laughs]

☆Taku: Let's jump into the next question. This one's directed towards myself and Wakabayashi about music. How was it that Wakabayashi and myself collaborated on this project? Was there anything that went smoother than last time with this new project? 

Wakabayashi: I mean, in the 15 years since the original there's been a lot more opportunities for myself and Taku to meet up, whether that's at an overseas event or otherwise. We have a lot of things in common in terms of favorite series and such, so we talk about those pretty frequently too. I think because of those shared references, and because we overall got closer, compared to last time we were able to more directly express what kind of sound we were looking for. How about for you?

☆Taku: I think for me too, when working on the original series there was a lot of back-and-forth via email with the director, things like adjustments and confirmations. This time though, I think there's a lot more instances where I'm just directly calling you or shooting you DM's. When I'd call, there'd be times where you're sitting there with the director, and I think this time I've been getting more involved in my questions, so there were a lot of those – it was much easier and more amusing. We also do have a lot of references in common. We watch a lot of the same movies and dramas, so for things like motifs and so on, it's a lot easier to talk. I don't think there were many instances where we had to redo things this time around. 

Wakabayashi: Rather than there not being too many redo's, I think this time we put in a pretty big order right from the get-go. I think because we had gotten closer, it was a lot easier to just ask for what we wanted. The amount of songs and such.

☆Taku: There really were a lot of songs this time.

Wakabayashi: I remember in the meeting with Sasaki, he had that grin on his face when we discussed how many songs and variations we wanted for the show. I'm pretty sure we ended up getting everything we requested, so there was much better communication on that front. I think with everything we received too, there wasn't really any need for comments from our side. 

☆Taku: Yeah, there really wasn't much comment. I think with the original PANTY & STOCKING too, I really was just throwing a lot at the wall with suggestions for artists for the opening and everything else. I think this time though I was really able to get into the groove, getting involved in every song and putting my all into it. There were a lot of songs where I really hadn't made anything like this before.

Wakabayashi: You got that into it? [laughs]

☆Taku: There was also a point where I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to proceed, and it started to pile up. I was freaking out because the deadline was coming up, but I was thinking maybe it was okay. Then my manager came to me and asked if I was going to make it in time, and I had to ask myself the same thing. But in that moment of uncertainty, I remember suddenly getting really excited, it was like the excitement a kid feels when they see their first typhoon. What was born from that was the song "Reckless".

Wakabayashi: I see, I see.

☆Taku: That song is used as the ending theme for the show, so making sure it had that flow to it – while protecting that rule, I think my perspective is pretty heavily embedded into that song. I think if I'm not in a pinch like that, the adrenaline just doesn't start flowing and I'm not able to create. But for me, one of the things I enjoyed the most was that between each episode we're dealing with all sorts of themes. Usually it's pretty monotone, but with New PANTY & STOCKING, we'll have an episode where it's all about racing, or an episode where there's a murder case, so it feels like I'm making music for different works each time. For me that was the most entertaining part. 

Imaishi: Usually that'd be way too much for someone, right? [laughs]

☆Taku: I mean, I'm not going to say it wasn't too much [laughs]

But if I'm being totally honest, it didn't feel like too much, probably because I was having so much fun. 

Imaishi: That's what we love to hear.

Wakabayashi: I think that's the beauty of PANTY & STOCKING, it's a singular anime but it's like 10-20 genres of anime all being made at the same time. Depending on the episode there were times when we were pretty straightforward about what type of music we wanted. We'd make underhanded requests like wanting three different melody lines within a single song, to which you'd send over three separate songs.

Imaishi: Ah, busted. 

Wakabayashi: Keeping my expressions in check while saying it was just one song, telling that little lie. [laughs]

☆Taku: We ended up having that conversation where I said to just tell me upfront because I'd do it. [laughs]

Wakabayashi: On the order form, it'd say one song, then I'd get a call from Taku like "Be honest, you want three songs for this don't you. It'd be more of a pain to connect it into one song, so I'm going to make three songs. Please just use those three." [laughs] I was like "Thank you!"

☆Taku: I honestly think it was really good that we were able to just talk like that though. I mentioned earlier that I was involved in everything this time, but this time too I was doing it in collaboration with a wide-array of artists and creators. I really do think it's an incredible soundtrack, so please do check it out. 

Moving on to the next question – this one's directed at Wakabayashi. Regarding the direction of the music, you obviously had a clear idea of what direction you wanted to take, but how did you decide on the image of the music when choosing songs for specific scenes?

Wakabayashi: This time we really had a lot of luxuries, things that normally wouldn't be made available to other anime series. This time it's both myself and Imaishi handling series composition, right? As we're working on the series composition, we were able to put in requests for music – for example, for this episode's scene, we want this genre of music, etc. As we're thinking up ideas, we were able to put in song requests. So after we put in the request, we were able to calculate hundreds of possibilities for making the song really pop to create a great episode. I think that's one of our strengths this time around compared to last time. I think the music is better matched to the episodes this time around. 

☆Taku: I'm definitely feeling that too. 

Wakabayashi: I got a taste of that on the original too; there was a scene where I had the perfect sound in mind, so I put in an order for it and it went in perfectly. Thinking about the lines the characters would say and where they'd say them, and thinking that if we put the song here with those lines intertwined, it'd slot in perfectly. This isn't something you get to do on any other projects. 

☆Taku: Ahh, so it's not usually like that. For me what was most fun about this process was getting feedback asking for certain requests like making parts shorter, faster, slower, all to fit in different elements of the show. That really was entertaining. 

Imaishi: I'm just glad you actually were able to have fun with that. We'd love to always do things that way, but it's usually against the rules, changing up an already completed song. It's not something that usually happens, especially with how anime is made. 

Wakabayashi: A while ago on a different anime, there was a scene where I wanted a certain song in there no matter what, but it would have messed things up. So I ended up changing the pitch of the song a little and speeding it up, but when you do things like that the original musician will of course get upset – so I've had experiences like that, and I was worried that this time something similar would happen, so before doing anything I'd always reach out to Taku and ask to which he'd always say "No problem, go ahead! But if you asked, I'd be happy to do that myself." So especially during the first episode, while Taku was probably the most busy, I put in so many requests. Especially for songs around lines from characters. One song would usually be split into four sections, an A, B, C, and D part. I'd say that we're trying to match it all up, but depending on the scene I might want to change the BPM, so it'd be like "Can you make part A this slow, for B can you do this, can you make part D super fast." to which Taku would back-and-forward until he ultimately made five different variations for each part ranging in tempos, basically saying here's everything you could need, go wild. I was elated, basically being free to do what I like. [laughs]

☆Taku: I'd honestly forgotten all about that. [laughs] Now that I'm remembering it, it's totally fine how we were doing it, but if we're doing it again in the future, I'll just go to your studio and we can do it together all at once. [laughs]

Wakabayashi: I could just bring my laptop and go to Taku's office and go over the specifics with you there.

☆Taku: That would be so much better. [laughs] I mean I could just go with my laptop too. Back in the day, I really would have had to lug my whole PC, but these days you can absolutely get away with just a laptop. On the flip-side, just the fact that we were able to do things remotely in this way, I was really happy with, I think for the intensity of a work the timing of music is extremely important. From the beginning we were both saying that we wanted there to be that level of synchronization, so I'm super happy we were able to pull it off.

Imaishi: Thank you for that. 

Wakabayashi: Thank you! 

☆Taku: Carrying on, this is a question directed at both Imaishi and Wakabayashi. Throughout the entirety of PANTY & STOCKING, it's always been a parody work with pop culture references playing a major role. I think this is something that many people agree with, myself included, but in this latest series are there any parodies or jokes you wanted to make but couldn't fit in? 

Wakabayashi: [laughs] Ahh... What a great question. It's probably best if we don't answer that. I want to share but, I really shouldn't – I mean the show's not over yet. There's a lot, but if we were to answer that now people would know that it's not going to come.  

☆Taku: Ahh, that's fair. 

Wakabayashi: But I really am holding myself back here. 

☆Taku: But what you can say is that there are a lot of things you have parodied throughout.

Wakabayashi: Right, and there's a lot more to come. Once everything was wrapped up, even just recently, we realized we forgot to do certain jokes with characters. It was like "Ahh, how could we have forgotten... but I guess it won't be in there now." There's things we want to include, but when it comes to actually finishing the series, there's a limit. So when it comes to this time, there's a lot we wanted to include but ultimately didn't. 

Imaishi: Looking back there were a lot of bits we wanted to include, but thinking on it they probably wouldn't stretch out for even a full minute. [laughs] We figured there's a limit to the amount of flops you can have. 

Wakabayashi: There's times where a bit couldn't last 10 minutes, so we made it into a 5 minute part, right? For those bits where even 5 minutes is too long, we need a 2 minute part. [laughs] Just a single joke for a part. 

☆Taku: Usually it's the opposite though, right? People would normally want more and more time where possible. But for maximizing impact you'd be wanting that shorter part.

Imaishi: I mean it's all silly, the more you think about it. [laughs]

☆Taku: So I know the two of you are fans of international works, comics, Sci-Fi, etc., and I know that you do a lot of parodies of such works, but is there ever a worry that the reference or its meaning will be lost on the viewers? 

Imaishi: I mean, maybe it'd be better if we did worry about those things, but as it stands we don't really worry too much. Our ideal would be that even if they don't understand it, they're still able to enjoy it. If they don't get it, we want to make sure they're having fun with what they don't get through everything that's going on, I think that's the best way to go about it. If they do get it, then they'll be able to enjoy it just as much, that's at least the way I think about it. 

Wakabayashi: I think more-so than last time, in New PANTY & STOCKING there's jokes that are definitely a lot deeper cuts, so there's going to be a lot more people who don't get the reference. So what we really focused on this time was throughout an episode's 30 minute runtime, making sure that there were never instances where people understood nothing. Within the 30 minutes there should be instances where they understood at least 5 minutes, at least 10 minutes, that's what we hoped to create this time around. While focusing on that balance, that's how we composed the series. 

☆Taku: I think for the people who are watching the series – there's shows where even if people don't understand the reference, they're still able to enjoy it; there was a movie I watched recently that was just like that. I think if there's enough impact it'll still hit, and with these references scattered throughout, it's almost like an easter egg. It's almost like a treasure hunt looking through the references, and when you find one there's a real feeling of accomplishment. 

Wakabayashi: I think depending on the episode, there's definitely times where it's almost like we've done nothing but line up easter eggs. [laughs]

Imaishi: It's nothing but eggs! [laughs]

☆Taku: I understand that people who get the references really do get it. There was the episode with the dojo – at first when I was watching it, if I'm being honest, I didn't really get it myself. It was based on a work I was intimately familiar with, but it took about a minute before I had that "Ohh!" moment. 

Wakabayashi: I think for us that's the best case scenario. I feel like that's what we want from the viewers. 

☆Taku: I mean, that dog...

Wakabayashi: Oh, that's what you're talking about!

☆Taku: That was the pinpoint that made me realize, not that you can really see it as a dog. [laughs] 

Moving on to the last question for today – this one is directed at all three of us. Aside from all of the different references in the show, you also play around with different styles and vibes throughout, in the new series you made an episode that was just like the old MARVEL cartoons from the 1960s for example. That must have been really fun for everyone to work on. How do you decide the styles and approach to the animation and music when you do these kinds of departures?

Imaishi: That episode in particular, the person in charge of it, Ikarashi, really wanted to play around with that style of animation. So with that as the base, we then proceeded to write the story around that. With the goal of transitioning from the style of PANTY & STOCKING to this different style we ended up making the episode, so in the spirit of changing the style, it was basically an episode based on that. 

☆Taku: I think with that after taking on the American comic style, it changed again two or three times. If I'm not mistaken the actual framing of the episode changes throughout too, right? Jumping between both television and film framings. 

Imaishi: Yeah, it definitely did. With things like that if it's not accurate, the comedy just doesn't hit. The person in charge has to be able to go in with the premise that it can be done. With that episode we pulled all the stops, really just making sure we did everything. That's the sort of thing that comes from people who can draw. 

☆Taku: One of the things I thought while watching that episode was, because there was previously the transformation scene in PANTY & STOCKING, this MARVEL episode felt quite smooth as a viewer. Not that it wasn't disturbing, but you could really just roll with it. 

Imaishi: That was actually one of the places the episode lead Ikarashi took inspiration from. Because PANTY & STOCKING is a show that can change itself up every week, he was able to put that bit in there. 

☆Taku: Just earlier you made mention that you're checking social media, and there's definitely all sorts of comments from people online. You also shared that you're checking those comments, but where would you say the most reactions are coming from? Is there a particular country? 

Wakabayashi: If you were to talk broadly, it'd definitely be international fans that are replying the most to both the official and studio accounts, especially for this project. But at the same time, there's a lot more domestic fans that are also interacting than expected. That was something we were quite happy about. 

☆Taku: When the first trailer came out for the original series, I remember thinking that there were so many English comments. Of course when New PANTY & STOCKING was announced, there were a lot of English comments, but I felt like this time there were also a lot of Japanese comments as well. 

Wakabayashi: Yeah, I mean in these 15 years we spent a lot of time attending international conventions and such, where we'd meet a mix of both very young fans, as well as fans who are about the same age as us, and everyone would constantly ask if we were going to make a new season. It was such a common thing to hear when we went overseas. For the young fans, it was like "Wait, you know about PANTY & STOCKING? Were you even alive when it came out?" and they'd always share that they had seen it, and wanted more. So because we had such a constant stream of people wanting more both domestically and internationally, we ultimately decided to make this new season. I'm being serious when I say that. If you don't have the voice of the fans, you don't make something like this – so the more we hear from everyone, the more I think there's more that can be done with PANTY & STOCKING. 

☆Taku: Actually when I'm browsing X and seeing everyone's comments, I've been feeling like the level of literacy is really high, or like, the comments directed towards director Imaishi and the TRIGGER team, even if there's a harshness to how they speak, you can really feel the passion from them. Also more so than complaints, it's almost like they're really taking part in the world of PANTY & STOCKING, these people that are really invested – you can tell that they're really taking in everything. When I see that, even I feel really happy. 

And with that, this has been episode one – there will be a second episode, but we'll be bringing things to a finish here, and we hope you look forward to what comes next! This is New PANTY & STOCKING episode one.

For myself, hearing the behind-the-scenes, especially that information that I didn't know has been a lot of fun. Next time we'll be joined once again by both director Imaishi and Wakabayashi, as well as myself Taku Takahashi from m-flo. Please look forward to episode 2. 

New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT is currently on-air, and alongside that we've got some important news: on September 13, 2025, there'll be a large-scale PANTY & STOCKING talk and music event taking place both during day and evening at ZEPP Shinjuku. The event's title is New PANTY & STOCKING FES. Then from late-night at ZERO TOKYO, which is actually the same venue, we'll be hosting New PANTY & STOCKING 1 NIGHT ESCAPE. I'm seriously excited about these events. 

Imaishi: It'll be a very packed day, that's for sure. 

☆Taku: And of course, both director Imaishi and Wakabayashi will be there.

Wakabayashi: We've done a lot of events in our time, but doing three events in a single day... this is seriously a first. 

Imaishi: Somewhere along the line we definitely lost our mind [laughs]

Wakabayashi: I'm seriously questioning if we'll make it through the day – not just us, but Taku as well. 

☆Taku: For real, I'm not as young as I used to be. But I really am looking forward to it. 

Wakabayashi: Likewise -- both midday and evening, we'll have the cast, staff members, Taku who handled the music. Having all three of these sections come together to talk is not something you see very often.

☆Taku: That's true, you'll have events that feature both music and discussion panels separately, but to actually have everything together like this --

Wakabayashi: Right, there really aren't many events like this. It's a talk event where you'll be able to hear Taku's DJ performance. 

Imaishi: What a blessing. 

☆Taku: The voice actress for Stocking, Mariya Ise, was actually my father's student – we've discussed this in the past, but she reached out and expressed that it had been such a long time since we've met, and that she's really looking forward to it, and all the other cast members chimed in like "Let's go!" [laughs]

Wakabayashi: It'd be nice if everyone showed up [laughs]

☆Taku: Absolutely – For those doing both the daytime and evening events, ourselves included, it'll definitely be a blast. Late-night will also be a bunch of fun. 

Wakabayashi: Even among the TRIGGER staff, there's quite a few of them who have asked if we can take them to the talk and club event, and it's like, let's make it happen. I really don't think there's too many anime series outside of PANTY & STOCKING where your work ultimately takes you to the club. Especially ZERO TOKYO, I really don't think there's any other jobs in the anime industry that would lead you there. That's something I want all the staff to enjoy, something that really only can be done with this project. 

☆Taku: Especially because ZERO TOKYO is such a recently developed space, it really is inviting. All of the lighting and LED's are incredible too – for example, you could totally fill the place with PANTY & STOCKING artwork. 

Wakabayashi: Turn it into a bit of its own. 

☆Taku: There's a lot we still can't say, but there will definitely be a lot of wild happenings there. So by all means, we'd love to see you all there. Both director Imaishi and Wakabayashi, myself, and plenty of other incredible guests will be taking part, so let's make something incredible. 

This is Taku Takahashi, director Imaishi, and Wakabayashi signing off for now – thank you all!

Imaishi & Wakabayashi: Thank you!

☆Taku: Look forward to next week!

This is New PANTY & STOCKING Podcast Episode 2's English translation coming soon!