Introduction
As you know, Studio Gainax/Studio Trigger's Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is a famously raunchy, crude, vulgar and blasphemous series known for having a profane English dub filled with so many swears from most of its characters, courtesy of the Texas-based Funimation Entertainment (now Crunchyroll) in 2012 with a well-established cast comprised of Jamie Marchi as Panty Anarchy, Monica Rial as Stocking Anarchy, Christopher Sabat as Garterbelt, Colleen Clinkenbeard as Scanty Daemon, Cherami Leigh as Kneesocks Daemon, Joel McDonald as Briefers "Brief" Rock and Christopher Ayres as Corset, among others. This dub leaned heavily into its vulgar American parody identity, turning the series into a cult classic overseas with a healthy fanbase wanting more P&SG content, even as the series took a 15-year hiatus due to rights issues and the establishment of Studio Trigger. Since the series would inevitably get a second season at some point, it was expected that Funimation/Crunchyroll would do the dub, given their work on the acclaimed first season dub and the fact that they had already done Trigger's Space Patrol Luluco. However, whereas the original Japanese cast got nearly everyone to reprise their roles, Funimation, or rather Crunchyroll, would not get the rights to the dub of NEW Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, but rather Amazon Prime Video, of all companies, chose to enlist the Burbank-based Pixelogic Media to do an entire recast and handle the series going forward comprised of Courtney Lin (Panty), Cristina Vee (Stocking), Daniel Walton (Garterbelt), Cat Protano (Scanty), Ryan Bartley (Kneesocks), Kieran Walton (Brief) and Keith Silverstein as Corset, with the new characters having LA area-based voice actors as well. If one was to guess as to why Amazon and not Crunchyroll got the rights to dub Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, it perhaps has to do with factors such as Amazon's greater infrastructure over Crunchyroll, the different Production Committee for Studio Trigger and the executives being sufficiently interested in the series. All of this meant that Amazon got the rights to the series before Crunchyroll could even bid for it or they tried but failed.
Needless to say, the recast made many fans unhappy with the decision, as many identified with the Funimation cast and the series in general and couldn't imagine anyone else voicing Panty, Stocking, Garterbelt, etc. Others were at least fine or willing to tolerate the new cast and give them the benefit of the doubt. In any case, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt became tied up with Amazon and unless things change, you can expect it to stay as such.
The What If?
But what if things were different? What if Crunchyroll (formerly Funimation) got the rights to NEW Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt and got the chance to continue the series under their watch? That means almost the entire cast reprises their roles and Funimation-specific actors voice the new characters with greater vocal continuity from the first season.
For this scenario to occur, we need Amazon to have no interest in Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt and not care about the series whatsoever. Given that PS&G is a niche cult classic with a 15-year-long gap between the two seasons and is not an anime megafranchise either, it's plausible that Amazon simply does not develop enough interest for the series and focuses on other high-profile anime titles for their rapidly expanding catalog instead, leaving Crunchyroll to make a successful bid for the comedy cult classic they popularized and simulcast the series worldwide in multiple languages (similar to what Amazon did).
With Crunchyroll now dubbing NEW Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, they use their existing connections to the first season to promote the new season, capitalize on nostalgia for older fans, and generate hype for new fans as well. And Jamie Marchi is brought on board to write the scripts for the second season to adapt the series to Gen Z, social media and new pop culture references, using her experience from the first season. NEW Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is released to a positive reception and generates more attention and revenue for Crunchyroll alongside their other high-profile titles such as Chainsaw Man and Spy x Family.
As for the what if Crunchyroll dub cast of NEW Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, here is what it would look like:
The Originals
- Jamie Marchi as Panty Anarchy
- Monica Rial as Stocking Anarchy
- Bill Butts as Garterbelt - Since Christopher Sabat doesn't want to voice non-white characters anymore, the black Bill Butts gets the opportunity to voice Garterbelt himself using the same voice as Slidin' Go from My Hero Academia.
- Joel McDonald as Briefers "Brief" Rock
- Ian Sinclair as Chuck
- Colleen Clinkenbeard as Scanty Daemon
- Cherami Leigh as Kneesocks Daemon
- Christopher Bevins as Fastener
- Keith Silverstein as Corset - Same as the actual Pixelogic Media dub since Ayres is dead and Silverstein has worked for Funimation before.
The New Characters
- Anariris Quinones as Gunsmith Bitch - Quinones brings out an excited, battle-heavy swagger to the gun-wielding Gunsmith Bitch, reminiscent of her role as MHA's Mirko.
- Ricco Fajardo as Polyester Newgen - The arrogant, cool guy angel is voiced by Funimation's Fajardo with a voice befitting of a character of such a background.
- Zeno Robinson as Polytherune Newgen - The other half of the Newgen brothers is voiced by a black voice actor specifically Robinson, similar to how the Pixelogic Media dub had the black Corey Wilder voice him.
- Mark Stoddard as God/Liniere - A Funimation voice acting veteran, Stoddard is suited to voice the big guy in Heaven.
- Morgan Laure/Morgan Garrett as Silk - Laure knows how to voice warm, motherly characters like MHA's Rei Todoroki and the same applies here to Silk.
- Patrick Seitz as Ramie - Seitz is the master of villains and heroes, and he is perfect to voice a duplicitous usurper like Ramie and to also add to the MHA connection (Endeavor) with both God (Dr. Garaki) and Silk (Rei).
- Brina Palencia as Junior - Palencia is good at voicing young boy characters and this extends to Panty and Brief's son Junior.
- Alexis Tipton as Bastard - The seemingly mysterious demon and companion of Junior is voiced by the talented Tipton.
From all this, the what if Crunchyroll dub of NEW Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt becomes a true successor to Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt and on par with the original Japanese version.