For me, the feeling was "it's so wrong but it's so AWESOME at the same time!" It's very different from most other shows I've watched, I can't really compare it to anything. The closest thing would be Bo Bo Bo, but even that is entirely different.
Misanthrope SupremeI haven't watched the show, so I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about, but I might have a guess as to what you mean.
There's a movie called Soul Survivors
in which, whenever the option is present for something predictable and obvious to happen, that predictable and obvious thing almost never happens. Some of the things that happen in it are cliches, but they're all out of the context in which those cliches normally appear. It has a nonsensical plot, unlikeable characters, and no payoff in the end, and I can understand why it got 4% on Rotten Tomatoes. But I enjoyed watching most of it, because it was so unusual for me not to know where the plot was going and who would live or die. (For instance, this is the only horror movie in which I have ever seen the protagonist kill the initial villain partway through the movie in such a way that he remains dead through the rest of the movie.)
Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?
edited 16th Oct '11 7:11:06 PM by feotakahari
That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something AwfulTonight I tried coke for the first time. For some reason, the entire night felt like a PSG episode to me. Including spending a fairly successful couple of hours at a gay bar.
Why can't I get girls? Is it my destiny to be a man's man?
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.For me the biggest WTF I've ever had is either Mononoke (that japanese symbolism...) or the first season of Higurashi (wait, half of them are dead at ep 4, how are they gonna continue... OSHIT they just started over?! Wait, WHAT?! How is this ohwhathehellisgoingON!!!)
Loved both, though Higurashi actually had an explanation in the 2nd season... AND IT WAS WORTH IT, averting The Chris Carter Effect.
edited 1st Mar '12 10:25:51 PM by Muzozavr
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Come on, Mononoke was fairly simple. The graphics were kinda weird, but once you get used to it it's just a way of pacing and giving rhythm. I especially loved the "doink" sounds.
Nah, Mononoke was straightforward but still pretty beautiful.
Panty and Stocking, on the other hand, has no right to be a good show but ends up being that damn good of a show.
edited 2nd Mar '12 11:24:13 AM by Ramus
The emotions of others can seem like such well guarded mysteries, people 8egin to 8elieve that's how their own emotions should 8e treated.I found Panty And Stocking far too self-aware, and also far too concerned with gross-out humour. It (at least, the three or four episodes I saw) was all but screaming "Oh ho, how positively wacky and random we are! Nobody sure could possibly expect that! Also, more poop and vomit, the audience loves that! More!"
If we want to talk about confusing and interesting popular works, I'd rather mention for example Perdido Street Station — now that I liked.
Or, if we can get a bit old-fashioned, Kafka's short stories are utter perfection.
edited 2nd Mar '12 11:34:35 AM by Carciofus
But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.I'll admit the show is largely hit miss on an episodic level but doesn't that seem like a bad comparison? Panty and Stocking and the classics of old are really nothing alike. Panty and Stocking stands on its own merits of feminism and individualistic views but not in the same manner those books and stories talk about their own views. Seriously, watch more of it.
edited 2nd Mar '12 11:31:21 PM by Ramus
The emotions of others can seem like such well guarded mysteries, people 8egin to 8elieve that's how their own emotions should 8e treated.![]()
From Briefers Rock's perspective, it is a Kafka Komedy...
... I've gotta admit that I stopped watching Panty and Stocking after a few episodes because the feeling I got while watching was more along the lines of, "what, still nothing but sex jokes?"
As such, I guess I can't guarantee that I perfectly understand the feeling you described, but provided that I do, then aside from the obvious FLCL, I think Tokyo Godfathers is a movie that gave me a similar sensation.
other than Pa Sw G, only one other show gave me that impression after the first episode: FLCL. that feeling of "... okay, what." made me want to keep watching to find out.
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt. For those who remember following that series, maybe you'll know what feeling I'm talking about. Like, you're savvy. Very savvy. Most commercial films, you can see them coming from a mile away. But then there's this show, it takes you off-balance, off-center and off-timing, every single time. And yet, it's not just Dada or surrealism. There are rules, and they're somewhat consistent. There's even (some) continuity. But your mind is still completely blown every episode, and you have no idea what the writers are gonna do next. After nearly every episode, people were so disconcerted they could only way "WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH".
Are there any more shows that gave you that special WTF feeling? Is it possible to give a good, clear definition? What is it, what causes it, how do you distinguish it from stuff like Holy Shit Quotient or Wham Episode or Big-Lipped Alligator Moment?
edited 16th Oct '11 7:14:54 AM by PacificState
A case of true love has the same redeeming power as a case of genuine curiosity: they are the same.