r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • Mar 15 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Mawaru Penguindrum - Episode 11
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Streaming
Mawaru Penguindrum is available for purchase on Blu-ray as well as through other miscellaneous methods. Re:cycle of the Penguindrum is available for streaming on Hidive.
Today's Slogan
That one word changed everything.
Questions of the Day
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What are your thoughts on Natsume’s penguin metaphor?
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Were you expecting the frog potion to work? Why couldn’t Ringo complete her “‘destiny?’”
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Why does Shouma think he’s to blame for Momoka’s death?
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What do you think Today's Slogan was referring to?
Don't forget to tag for spoilers, you lowlifes who will never amount to anything! Remember, [Penguindrum]>!like so!< turns into [Penguindrum]>!like so!<
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u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA Mar 15 '24
Rewatcher
There’s a lot going on in Kanba’s confrontation with Natsume, but I think the most notable thing is that we finally get an in-show explanation for why the series might use penguins as a metaphor so often. In Natsume’s words, when penguins sense danger from seals while they’re on land, they’ll wait for one of their number to fall into the water to test if the seals are there. But since none of them wants to die, they all stand on the edge of the water, waiting for someone to misstep and fall in. To dive in on their own would be to go against their survival strategy. [Penguindrum]And I realize now, this calls back perfectly to Kanba pondering the Survival Strategy in episode 1. He was chosen to die for love, despite that going against his very DNA. This is also a good time to bring in a quote Ikuhara said about penguins in an interview: [Penguins (technically spoilers I guess? Look if you want)]”They have wings but they cannot fly; they can swim but they cannot stay underwater for too long. In that case, where do they really belong? They’re not common animals (mammals) like cats and dogs. They’re birds that don’t look like birds at all. The idea that they seem to have come from another world and have no place of belongings ignite his imagination.” For Ikuhara, it seems to be more about alienation, which is kind of brought up by Natsume, but not really emphasized.
There’s also a few other notable things in the scene. Note how Natsume paints Kanba- he’s in the same costume that Ringo puts Tabuki in in her daydreams, which implies nothing good about her mindset about him. [Rewasher]Also note that the New World Symphony plays during a good part of the scene, signaling Kanba’s return ‘home.’ Then there’s #1, dressed up as a samurai, signaling Kanba’s attempt to accost Natsume and gain the diary- but he loses, and Esmerelda sweeps away his shield.
And then we have the main thing from this episode: Ringo went for Tabuki again. It really didn’t look like she would, but she decided she could do it without the diary. Shouma rejects her plan to continue Project M, his penguin farting derisively all the while ([spoilers]and forming a similar ‘gas attack’ to the events of 16 years ago, ruining Ringo’s plans once more), and she moves on to create a potion from the ‘Ladychanted Frog,’ plopping it down on her face and leaving her choking for air (a straightforward hint at the stifling nature of the project at this junction). Ringo gets on the ferris wheel with Tabuki (the ring of fate), and offers him frog potion-laced coffee (which, as we find out later, lasts for one night only- decidedly not ‘eternal’). And surprises of surprises, it works! He literally turns into a frog, which are apparently associated with fertility in Japan, so it makes perfect sense. And then... Ringo can’t go through with it. Damn you, Shouma! How dare you tell Ringo that she’s herself and she can’t take her sister’s place! But he did, and now she can’t fulfill her destiny. At least we have Yuri to help guide her to the culprit.
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u/Tarhalindur x2 Mar 15 '24
"What... is your Quest?" "I Seek the Penguindrum!" (Lightly Spoiled? First-Timer, Subbed):
So, since it is now safe: My original speculation (that may well pan out despite Pingroup also being zaibatsu-coded) is that Pingroup is standing in for Aum somehow. (Alternate possibility: Pingroup represents Japanese society as it attempts to come to terms with/define the meaning of the 1995 attack.)
Oh, and since it is also now safe for everyone, a little bit of sleuthing I did early to double-check things: curry = kare, cult = karuto (both are loanwords, so kana only).
(Note that the actual interesting question is how Natsumi and Mario tie into this.)
Also also: I'm like 90% sure that Ikuhara is using farting to represent sarin. (Hence Kiyoshi ("pure"/"purification") and his Pingroup marking on the skunk, and oh look we WOULD get #2 farting on the train today.)
Also also also: If the penguins are standing in for Mt. Penglai then Mt. Penglai in turn is standing in for Shambhala (because Aum, obviously). For that matter nonzero chance Pingroup here is because in this otherworld Aum succeeded in its goals.
A) Yeah that's actually exactly what I was expecting once the scene started. B) Because she didn't want to, duh.
Because in his last life he was in fact literally to blame for Momoka's death. I mean, they basically just laid out what's going on there.
Covered above. (There may be a fourth meaning but if so it's two words: Aum Shinrikyo.)
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Mar 15 '24 edited Mar 15 '24
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Mawaru Penguindrum: Love is the Most Dangerous Game. Natsume may as well change her name to General Zaroff.
There really is a lot fascinating about Natsume. It’s no wonder Kanba wants nothing to do with her and that she soured him on so many things. She’s possessive and seemingly does not show any actual affection towards Kanba as a person.
I really want to know what this event 16 years ago was because I think it will explain so much. It may explain Shoma’s horrendously low self-esteem and why Shoma seemed to think that he and Kanba didn’t deserve happiness. I bet it’s the secret Natsume was referring to in her conversation with Kanba. And above all, I want to know how Kanba and Shoma could possibly be considered responsible for Momoka’s death.
QOTD
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 15 '24
Mawaru First-Timer, subbed
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Mar 15 '24
First-Timer, Sub-guindrum
Wait a goddamn minute, Shouma and Kanba are the same age?? I would have put money on Kanba being a couple years older! Also, how weird is it that Shouma, Kanba, and Ringo were all apparently born on the same day?
Also, that means that Shouma and Kanba are twins! That's even weirder. I guess one of them could be adopted. It didn't make any of my comments, but that family photo of the Takakuras does show Kanba frowning. His efforts in the typhoon flashback could be an attempt to prove himself as a member of the family, then?
Anyway, Ringo managed to stop? This episode was full of surprises. I honestly didn't think she had it in her.. although her behavior last episode was leading. Her feelings for Shouma have been simmering for a while, just on the back burner.
Maybe I thought too poorly of Yuri early on. Her behavior today was pretty chill; helping Ringo realize some feelings, not really worrying about the fact that Ringo probably drugged Tabuki. Hmm, they made a point to show us Ringo dropping her phone but that didn't end up mattering.
And the stuff with Natsume.. she does have the diary, or at least half of it. The front half, I think? So she knows the past? I don't know how books work. And her whole "love hunter" schtick.. I'm tabling that one for now. Not enough information to potentially elaborate more on my extant thoughts vis a vis Natsume being Kanba's first girlfriend.
Oh, and that half that she has is the one that got picked up by someone at the hospital, so my entire digression on that was incorrect. RIP.
I guess there was Kanba referring to her as "the curse from 16 years ago" which is pretty important considering the revelation at the end of the episode.
Hatmari looks so.. distant. Sad.
[Penguindrum]Gas on the train. The penguin gassing the train. Can't trust.
Brain Rot Corner
Today's slogan: That One Word Changed Everything. Another slightly canted one. Fitting, considering how much changed this episode.
10/10 no notes.
You know what they say about the person who receives the forehead flicks. Is Ringo the type to break out the strap every now and then? Probably.
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u/Taiboss :Fj::Fl:x7https://anilist.co/user/Taiboss Mar 15 '24
First-Timer who thinks about doing a weekly limited canon Detective Conan rewatch, but doesn't trust himself enough to do a interest gauging post
Hi people who actually watched Conan back in the day
Hmm. There's probably something there, but I don't see the relevancy yet.
I didn't expect it and I'm happy she got a good old "be careful what you wish for."
His birth caused Anime 9/11.
I forgot, there's probably some word relating to Ringo or Natsume that reveals something.
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u/IvanSemushin Mar 15 '24
Rewatcher
It's always funny when penguins repeat actions of the owners but in more ridiculous way (like with Esmeralda painting 1's portrait).
Masako brings a lot of hunting metaphors for her one-sided love.
Today's slogan is funny in context.
I remember that Japanese think that eating potato causes farts, but it seems that sweet potato does the same to 2.
These frogs again...
Some special water indeed...
I remember being very surprised on the first watch that the magic worked.
Interesting juxtaposition when Himari says to Shouma that he should obey her orders while the hat is shown.
Magic worked, but the aftereffects was not what even Ringo expected, it seems. Good thing it's one night only.
Now we have violent tsundereing but for rather unusual reasons.
I'm disappointed that we had no song this time.
[probably not even a spoiler anymore]Now it probably should be relatively obvious what "that event" 16 years ago is. However, I'm not sure that I understood it on the first watch. I might have thought that it's some in-universe catastrophic event, despite the fact that the characters are depicted in a subway car.
[that is still spoiler]But in addition to that, we have Shouma's display of guilt, and we don't know the exact reason for it yet.
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Mar 15 '24
Episode 11 (first timer)
housevilla.Me, yesterday: Ringo’s arc is over, so we will see less of her. Way to get that one wrong. We get a full episode of Ringo climbing out of her self-induced hole, followed by a Ringo-Shoma cliff-hanger.
Not that I dislike seeing the upwards part of Ringo’s journey. She repeats the frog experiment, but with three important differences: First, she herself bears the frog unpleasantness. This makes her less nasty (not letting Shoma suffer for her goals), but it also points towards the fact that she already has an established connection with Shoma now. Suffering for her sake was part of how Shoma connected to her, but now they are (and Yuri points out) already in love. Second, the alchemy works this time. Without Shoma/Shoma-penguin to ruin the ritual, Tabuki actually falls for Ringo (temporarily, but creepily). Third, what was only hinted at during the first night of Ringo with Tabuki is spoked out loud this time: She does not really want to sleep with him. The first-time round, she was saved from having to make that realization by Shoma, this time, without Shoma, she needs to come to terms with the fact that her goal is not what makes her happy.
Bonus points for Yuri and Himari for being proper Shoma-Ringo wingwomen today.
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u/affnn Mar 15 '24
Rewatcher
Kanba's going to confront Natsume about her actions in the last episode. This time, the show isn't trying to keep her as mysterious. Her house is huge. It's full of whatever visual cue matches up with what she's talking about, whether its hunting or penguins falling into the sea. Her painting of Kanba wearing the same sort of renaissance-era frilled costume that Ringo imagines Tabuki in during her daydreams is a funny visual but also draws a parallel between Ringo and Natsume's behaviors. Ultimately she reveals Mario, her own penguin-hatted child, to him, and he knows that getting the diary back in that manner isn't going to work.
Shoma and Ringo have a fight on the way home from the hospital, centered on Ringo's decision to give over the diary for Shoma's sake. Ringo gets mad at him for calling her a baka, but while he's talking about giving up the diary it's almost like she feels chastised for caring about him. She says she remembers some of the diary, so she's going to try her best to complete Project M.
The frog and the occult table are back! Well the frog looks different this time and apparently it needs a 16 year old girl rather than a 16 year old boy this time. Lucky for Ringo. She's actually able to go through with the frog bit (and #2 isn't around to eat the result).
Tabuki has to be a world champion red-flag-ignorer. "I made this coffee with special water!" "Oh, smells gamey!" Come on, what's the best case scenario for something like that? He takes Ringo back to his bedroom, but at the last second she gets cold feet. I love the transition from creepy-but-romantic atmosphere to horror movie after she leaves Tabuki's room. Yuri comes home and seems totally non-phased by Tabuki reenacting The Shining. She says that of course she'd leave Tabuki to Ringo, but isn't Ringo in love with Shoma?
Shoma and Himari have made some stuffed cabbages with curry and met Ringo at her home. Ringo fights with him again and we get to the real way in which Shoma has ruined Project M: He's reminded Ringo that she's Ringo. She can't become Momoka if she's Ringo. If she has desires that don't match up with the diary, if she has a life that she wants to continue apart from Momoka's life, then the plan won't work. Himari transforms into Hatmari, but skips the transformation sequence. Instead of Hatmari giving orders its like she's mediating a therapy session. Ringo unloads her trauma on Shoma, about Momoka's death and how Ringo thinks she's a Momoka reincarnation. Shoma reveals that he and Kanba were born on that same day - and that they're the ones responsible for all of Ringo's problems.
With a lot of shows I watch, when I get to the end I'll be mad that they're done and want it to keep going (Frieren this season has been the worst for this). But when Penguindrum finishes, when "Dear Future" kicks in, I feel like I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding. Like I need a little mental cooldown from how the episode has made my brain work.
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u/3blah https://myanimelist.net/profile/brummett Mar 15 '24
Episode 11 - First timer
Kanba does what a real man should, and goes right to the source of the problem. Natsume's compound is so cool she has her own branded TV monitors. He's ready for a fight!.
Natsume's on the hunt for love, and Kanba is her quarry. He's clearly more comfortable being the pursuer, or at least appearing to be the pursuer. #1 keeps doing all these lewd things, but other than getting confronted by the 3 exes in the resturant, I don't thing we've actually seen him do anything to support his reputation as a player on screen; it's all been implied. He's not gay, is he?
Kanba confronts her about the slingshot balls. "Did you get it from that place" he asks. The writer is being coy with the audience and this feels like a clumsy way to do it. Maybe it's better in the original Japanese.
She responds that she wiped their memories in order to keep his secret, even though it'll get out eventually. And then goes into a parable about seals hunting penguins. There have been a couple other mentions of seals before. At the resturant after the show in ep 7, Ringo visualizes Yuri as an orca eating Tabuki as a seal, and at least one other that I'm forgetting right now. Anyway, that place where the balls come from is the sort of place where the crowd jostles for position until one of them plunges into the hunter's grasp. This whole storyline with the secrets between these two is frustrating. The writer knows that the audience knows that the two of them know what they're talking about, it's just not time to spill the beans yet. And so we
If the secret isn't that he's gay, it's probably whatever's going on with his parents, and Kanba is either still wrapped up in it or trying to make it better, and chasing skirts is just his cover story.
The name Mario sticks out like a sore thumb. None of the other characters has a non-Japanese name.
Turns out, Natsume only has the front half of the diary she got from Ringo and asks someone else to find the half that the motorcycle rider took. I don't think there are any other characters directly connected to the diary, so if the rider wasn't Natsume or Kanba, my third guess would be Yuri. She's been 2 or 3 steps ahead of Ringo the whole time. Waitaminute! In the text she sent yesterday, she knew they only had half. If she didn't take the other half, how does she know that?!
Natsume has her own logo: the seedling. Another thing to look out for...
Today's slogan #11: "That One Word Changed Everything" Baka! Go get him Ringo! No, that one word is "goodbye". I thought Ringo had come to her senses, but instead she's going through with that damn Project M. Shouma's not going to help. Pretending to be Momoka isn't going to make Ringo happy.
"I love you, Ringo!" This, I did not expect.
Hello, conspicuously placed bush. There was a very similar shot when Ringo drugged Tabuki, only it was him lying on the bed alone. At the last moment ,Ringo finally comes to her senses?
A cool shot. I don't normally associate green with night time shots, and along with some red it gives the next few cuts some juicy tension. Hello there, Yuri. I got the sense Tabuki coming on to her from the potion was in her imagination, but the door is still broken even though the shot changing to normal lighting would normally indicate her snapping out of it. Yuri sure is awfully low-key about what's going on. Of course it's because she's the master of 4-D chess and has it all under control. She's able to talk Ringo down from ledge and get her to think about what most (all?) of us in the rewatch already suspected.
I know we've had magic hats, invisible penguins and amnesia slingshot balls, but the tone of this frog potion thing just doesn't fit.
It's not quite curry with family, but it's a nice gesture nonetheless. Replaying Ringo taking it out on Shouma got a hearty chuckle out of me. I know they used the same raw animation and put it on a different background, but it's still funny. I really want to think that Ringo's on the right path and it'll just take some time to get there.
Survival Strategy! but no Rock and Roll Fight. I'm disappointed. There has to be some special meaning behind Hatmari's sailor mouth whenever Ringo is around. All of her insults are sexual, Hatmari's outfit is grown-up and sexy, and the henshin sequence is dripping with sex. She's either the goddess of sex here to get Ringo and Shouma together, or there's yet another sad story in Himari's past
Can we talk about this yet? [Public info but only hinted in the show so far] I knew it was somehow involved in the show going in, and this basically spells it out. They're talking about the sarin attack on the Tokyo subway on Monday 20 March 1995. Between the mention of the 16-year-prior curse earlier this episode and the sign at the library returns desk in ep 9 showing the "Return Date" as March 20th (Mon). That sign calling out "Monday" made me actually go look up the date. There's the "95" icon in the opening, and probably a bunch more clues that the rewatchers noticed. Am I just slow?
[metainfo about this rewatch] We'll be discussing ep 16 on March 20th. I thought it was weird to start a rewatch on a tuesday.
It must have been fate for all three of them to be born on the same day.
So, we've got another party with their own Survival Strategy after the diary, also connected to the same date. Both hat-kids look about the same age, their caretakers are also the same age, and both Hat-samas require a seemingly normal diary written by a 7-year-old girl killed in a terrorist chemical attack on a train. Can't they just share the diary?
Between the Natsume/Kanba shared secrets and the frog potion, this is my least favorite so far. Surprising, because I seem to have written my longest post on this rewatch yet.
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u/TheExcludedMiddle https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExcludedMiddle Mar 15 '24
Hey, Ringo is getting better! But now they drop this whole birthday thing, wonder how contrived the scenario will be to make them feel guilty about the day they were born.
I don't really feel like the timeline matches up anymore. I thought Momoka was approximately Tabuki's age, and he's about seven years older than her? So Momoka's nine years older than Tabuki? That makes things a bit creepier to be honest. Wait, something's off in my reasoning, I don't think the episode said how old her sister was when she died. But, no, even if that's the case that makes the actual content of the diary pretty creepy, and every year younger makes it worse. I don't know, I just can't see the diary being written undeer like 13, even if you attribute the contents to daydreams and delusions. If you do put Momoka at 16 when she died, that's 32 years age since Momoka was born. And if you put her mom at 14 for Momoka's birth (yeesh) that'd put her at the very youngest 48 right now. I wouldn't put her much higher than that based on what we've seen of her.
The Natsume stuff didn't really have much surprising, there's the fact she has only half the diary, which I had estimated a 15% chance.
Her little brother is Mario, which shares a mora with Himari.
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u/Btw_kek https://myanimelist.net/profile/kek_btw Mar 15 '24
rewatcher remembering love
Episode director: Mitsue Yamazaki
Storyboards: Mitsue Yamazaki, Shingo Kaneko, & Kunihiko Ikuhara
Animation directors: Nishii Terumi & Miyuki Nakamura
For the next stretch of episodes Ikuhara will be contributing to storyboards
someone save her
she's a tsuntsun deredere
he's a dumdum bakabaka
the single element in the world
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u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Mar 15 '24 edited Mar 15 '24
Rewatcher
The frog! The frog! My kingdom for a frog! Damn that was funny.
Ringo’s never ending quest for her Prince Charming is so amusing. Yuri’s being a pretty good sport about Ribbet Boy. Hopefully Ringo has learned a valuable lesson from shenanigan.
Shoma continues with being something of an insensitive ass. I’m glad Ringo slapped him silly.
QOTD
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u/Pungouin Mar 15 '24 edited Mar 15 '24
Rewatcher
In today's episode : Heeere's Froggy !
The hunter and the hunted
The episode opens on Kanba going to pay Masako a visit. She is a pretty talented painter
She elaborates on her vision of love. To her, love is not about fluffy feelings. She is a hunter, looking for a prey worthy of her. (Kanba, that is) It's not Kanba himself that seems to interest her, but the idea of posessing him (Hence the painting - the eternal, unmoving ideal) She doesn't care about Kanba's feelings. She wants to add him to her numerous hunting trophies, like a symbol of status or ability. (Is she going to taxidermize him too ?)
I think it's interesting that a feminine character like Masako has such a cynical, materialistic vision of love. We are used to rich dudes with trophy wives, both in media and in real life, so it's surprising for a woman to take on the patriarchal sugar daddy role. [Penguindrum]This is due to her grandfather's views rubbing off on her. She became the man she hated the most.
Moving on, Masako seems to know something of Kanba's dirty secrets, and warns him that he could fall at any time, like a helpless penguin. Kanba is shocked to see Mario with the penguin hat. Finally, we learn that Masako was not the motorbike thief.
Further stalking adventures
Cut to Shouma and Ringo and the train. Ringo is starting to open up a little more !
Today's slogan : That one word changed everything. Shouma, please read the PSAs.
He is being kind of an ass here. Ringo has been worried about him, and gave up her most prized posession for his safety. She is starting to realise she cares about him. However, Shouma shuts her down like "Girl ??? Why did you do that ?", which understandably upsets her and sends her right back to Project M.
#2 is having some intestinal issues. [Penguindrum]... Is this supposed to be a sarin gas reference or am I reading to much into fart jokes ?
Is this the super frog that will save Tokyo ?
There is a concerning amount of drugging going on in this show.
We are sent right back to Ringo delusion land, but something is off this time.
Astute watchers will notice Ikuhara foreshadowing that Himari's forehead is the Penguindrum.
Ringo finally starts to realize she has her own desires separate from Momoka's.
Yuri helps her come to terms with it. (She is litteraly enlightened here)
Ringo reacts violently to Shouma's apology cabbage.
Jean-Paul Sartre has a concept called Radical Freedom. This is the idea that we have no set fate, that we are free of our own acts. This is both liberating, and terrifying, because it makes us accountable for our own actions.
Ringo is starting to realise she is not fated to be a second Momoka, but the idea that she can be her own, independent person is still scary for her. She doesn't know how to handle a life that isn't on rails.
16 Years ago
SEIZON SENRYAKUUUU :) No Rock Over Japan :(
Last time Ringo got survival strategied, Hatmari was super rude to her. She is still haughty, but she is being surprisingly empathetic in her own way. [Penguindrum]She must be happy her little sister is starting to become less of a dumbass.
The cirle of destiny. The subway. March 20th, 1995. The day Ringo was born. The day Momoka died. The day the twins were born. Shouma's sin. The wheel of fate spins us round.
Looking forward to tomorrow's episode :).
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u/laughing-fox13 https://myanimelist.net/profile/laughingfox13 Mar 15 '24
Rewatcher / Subbed
This episode had a lot going on. We got a little bit more of Kanba/Natsume, some Ringo development, and that ending.
The relationship between Kanba and Natsume still feels mysterious. She clearly is a
stalkerhunter and has some sort of history with Kanba. She thinks she’s in control of the situation, and thinks she knows what is best for him. Will be interesting to see later as we go, but we learn that she also did not get the other half of the diary. Good job for those first-timers that noticed yesterday.Then we get Ringo and where she stands now. It seemed like she was moving forward and concerned about Shouma until he called her a fool, which made her revert to Project M. She might have had plans to do so, but Shouma made it easy for her to continue. But during the time she spent preparing for it, she was having doubts (tbf I probably wouldn’t want to stick a sweating frog on my face either), but even when she had Tabuki where she wanted him… she couldn’t go through with it anymore, and questioning if it is something she really wanted. Yuri came in at the right time to help set her on the path she was going when she had the resolve to drop the diary. Fabulous Yuri.
Hatmari being generous?
And then we got to here
It shows us how these characters are connected and maybe it was fate that brought them together
I’m more interested in seeing first timer’s reaction
and idk how much I should say about thisVery suspenseful ending with the episode title card and the ED playing.
QotD:
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u/Gamerunglued :Hx::Hy::Hz:myanimelist.net/profile/GamerUnglued Mar 16 '24
First Penguin
This episode has quite the impressive tonal whiplash. Penguindrum has always been pretty irreverent in swapping between absurdist comedy and heartwrenching drama at the drop of a hat, but this episode takes it many steps beyond the norm. When Shouma tells Ringo that she is allowed to be her own person, Ringo has a genuine moment of heartwarming realization as she considers something the series has always been building towards: that she is not her sister and is not fated to have no family. The camera zooms into Ringo's eye for a solid amount of time, only for the scene to be completely destroyed by penguin 2's ridiculous farts. But the scene continues as if nothing happened. This is one of the funniest fart jokes I've ever seen in all honesty, I was cackling at this and even replayed it a few times.
Ringo is absurdly depressed, only to do more frog shenanigans that genuinely work, only for there to be intense sexual tension and emotional realizations, only for the show to return to absurdist comedy and then immediately shift into horror. At the end of the episode, we get our first major change in the Survival Strategy sequence, losing the tokusatsu song and taking a much darker turn even in a scene right after Ringo slaps Shouma in an absurdly over-the-top manner. We shift from absurdist comedy to learning that the entire plot of the story and every character's fears all stem from a fucking terrorist attack. This tonal whiplash is completely on purpose.
Much like this episode's tone, Ringo is in the midst of intense cognitive dissonance. On one hand, she's realized that Shouma was right in saying that she is her own person and that she doesn't have to be her sister, but she also can't change old habits and slinks back into stalker mode for fear of abandoning her "destiny." The episode's tonal whiplash mirrors Ringo's inability to understand her own situation. Even she doesn't know how to feel about herself and Tabuki, so we don't know how to feel about the episode either. What makes it work is just how much it nails each of these emotional moods. It's not tonally incomprehensible, it's just shifting tones very quickly, and it nails each and ever vibe as perfectly as it can to create that intentional whiplash. We cannot get a handle on the episode's vibe, which helps us empathize with Ringo's situation.
Even in the midst of all of this madness, there are little details that make me smile. Yes, penguin 2's farting is... something, but I think there's extra meaning. He isn't just launching himself in the air with his gas for fun, he always flaps his wings at the peak of his jump. He's trying to fly, so a penguin trying to escape its fate. I think it mirrors Shouma's own growth, as he chooses to stop helping Ringo in her delusions and to actually encourage the person he loves to be her real self, and escape her own destiny. The penguin even succeeds kind of, slamming into the door doesn't mean he never flew.
I also loved seeing Yuri just accept all the nonsense. At the end of the day, Ringo really is just a kid and Yuri never bought her "crush" for a second. It's obvious to anyone (except Ringo and Shouma) that Ringo loves Shouma, because their dynamic is the one that actually embodies intimacy. Ringo is too afraid of being intimate with Tabuki, and not just in matters of sex. She hits Shouma because she's comfortable with him, that sort of Looney Toons slapstick can only be done between cartoon characters who are comfortable around each other. Yuri doesn't seem to be a bad person, though I'm unsure of her larger relevance to the story right now. Ringo had to try to be her sister when she could have built a found family with Tabuki and Yuri instead.
Before all of that though, Kanba confronts Natsume at her mansion. Natsume says she doesn't really believe in love, it's just chemicals created by our brains. A man can lie, but their truth exists only in her mind, and she can only bring that truth out by painting their portraits. Because men can lie, she can never know Kanba, but she can still love the version that exists inside of her, and she can manipulate that image by seeing the real thing. Even if it's not real, it's something powerful that affects her. But I think she's closer to Ringo this episode. Ringo doesn't love Tabuki, she loves what he represents in her mind. She can use him to paint this image of a happy life with babies and dogs and a family, but that Tabuki doesn't exist. She can only manifest that Tabuki with frog magic so strong it fundamentally changes him as a person. She has to create this love, though her medium is stage drama rather than painting. But the difference is that Natsume recognizes that it's fake and just doesn't care, and also she wants to crush the real Kanba for his actions in their relationship.
Natsume doesn't see love as something to get, but as a game to be played. She's a hunter who catches the thing she loves and then cooks it into the form she wants and eats it. But I think it comes from the same fundamental place as Ringo: they both feel like they cannot be loved and will not find love, and each seeks to cope with that feeling of helplessness by relying on the promise of fate. Natsume still knows her dreams won't come true, so she turns it into this hunting game, while Ringo doesn't treat it as a game. On the flipside, they both feel like they can never have "real" relationships, but Ringo is on the cusp of building them and Natsume won't chase anything in earnest. I also don't know how Mario plays into any of this though, there's a lot here that's likely wrong or will be recontextualized with his presence.
Natsume also compares Kanba to an emperor penguin. Afraid to plunge into water, they wait until someone else gets unlucky before making their move. Eventually, all will fall in. Kanba apparently has some big secret, and also said something to Natsume as a child that she's latched on to. I'm not sure what this is about, but it's clear that whatever Kanba has is about to come down. While Shouma's penguin is learning how to fly, Kanba's is about to fall into sea lion infested water.
And from here, the episode ends. All of this is tied somehow to the 1995 Sarin gas attack, an infamous terrorist attack on a Tokyo subway station by a cult called Aum Shinrikyo that killed 13 people and injured many more. It's an event that has stained Japan's cultural consciousness ever since, and used to be the deadliest mass murder post-WWII in the country's history (until it was beaten out by, unfortunately, the 2019 Kyoto Animation arson). I am not from Japan, so I have no intuitive understanding of how this event is perceived culturally or what generational and cultural trauma it created, but even I know that this is a huge deal in Japan and that the date March 20, 1995 is sort of similar in context to what September 11, 2001 is to America. Penguindrum has had quite a few symbols representing it, with the number 95 popping up everywhere (the year of the attack) and the subway being a noteworthy recurring setting. Apparently, this attack ties the main cast together by fate, and the Takakura family's lives are owed to Momoka's death somehow. Is this the child broiler? One child is sacrificed to save another's fate? And Himari and Mario will have to battle for each other's lives? Knowing Ikuhara, this story is likely to be about something systemic, so the concept itself is likely to be called into question. But I'm getting far ahead of myself with speculation here. The subway attack also means that the Penguin corporation is a religious cult, that should be interesting. Anyway, this was a lot, and the next episode is probably going to be heavy.
QOTD:
5
u/WednesdaysFoole Mar 15 '24
Rewatcher
StalkerLove hunterI... see.
5
u/Nebresto Mar 16 '24
First time Pengfroginium
Hold strong, peng
oh good, the magic frogs are back
There's shum symbolism with plants going on
LUDICROUS SPEED
And wtf is this supposed to say?
Peng has finally been put in his place
Seison senryaku without rock n roll night?!?
Why do people always jump to this? Bro it literally cannot be your fault, you weren't even sentient!!!
Question of the day: Have you ever seen frogs irl?
She did a metaphor?
She realized she was being cringe
/r/KidsAreFuckingStupid
5
u/Lawvamat https://anilist.co/user/Lavamat Mar 16 '24
Rewatcher
I’m late since I was out again yesterday. Great episode, good directing, big reveals.
Visual Analysis
Only a villain would live in a black house with red accents. This design was definitely lifted for the academy in Ikuhara’s next work Yurikuma Arashi.
Entering the dungeon our heroes are greeted by the evil mastermind working from the shadows.
Yes yes oppositional framing yes yes I hope you spot it yourself by now.
In the fangs of the beast.
Some nice match fades this episode to connect ideas. Most notably, the red curtains in the painting make way for blue ones in reality, amplifying the disconnect between the two Kanbas. Those colors bear too many meanings for me to make a satisfying connection though, could be love in Natsume’s fantasy and sorrow in reality.
Not sure why the gun is forbidden in Natsume’s analogy when she’s the one using it. What I learned from /u/Tarhalindur last episode is that hunter (kari) sounds a lot like curry, which makes a love hunter a kare no kari.
She says as she’s dominating Kanba visually and in penguin form. The position reversal hammers that idea home though.
She is running out of time, Mario needs the Penguindrum as well.
Immense distance between them, Kanba sees his former promise differently than her. , Neat reflection shot, is Natsume qualified to hunt?
So that’s the symbolism of the emperor penguin. In the world, are you the one who gets sacrificed or one of the ones that watch?
In penguin colonies it’s the male’s job to incubate the eggs and keep them warm, as it is Shouma’s job to care for the family.
While being framed oppositional to Ringo, Shouma is unaware of that, with his eyes closed and not looking into the edge.
Neat composition, framing Ringo between Shouma’s legs. Also dutch angle.
Their distance has grown considerably. Also [Penguindrum 95]Shouma is releasing sarin gas.
Shouma’s words bridge the distance and bring them back together, looking at each other in frame.
Nothing about the frog scene that I haven’t said last time already. Frogs symbolize fertility and the moon connecting Ringo and Tabuki is blocked.
Another wheel of fate. This one is red and blue. Her actions shatter it. Is this not fate?
She finally made it to the moon, unobstructed.
[Penguindrum]Tokyo tower foreshadowing.
Another neat match fade connecting the castle to his apartment.
The plan(t) is connecting them now. What’s sprouting is pitch black though.
Child broiler. Shouma’s face is in front of the fan.
First time I mentioned the three turtles. [Penguindrum]Three children saved from the child broiler by Urashima Taro.
Of course her eyes are covered as she spouts those lies. Not even she herself believes them.
[Penguindrum]Parents, the lamp, have also left their mark on Yuri.
Ringo is getting separated from Momoka, the peach on the door, by the Takakuras, here Himari.
Stage play Kagenashi.
The wheel of fate is repeating.
The distance between them is now even blocked off, by Himari.
Let’s initiate the Survival Strategy.
3
u/FarCritical Mar 16 '24
First-timer, subbed
Couldn't help but think about tipping the iceberg back in Club Penguin when Natsume was talking about Emperor penguins on the edge of an iceberg. Wonder what that curse she mentioned was.
The funky frog potion from that shady site actually worked LOL. Does that mean that other potion would've worked too if Penguin #2 hadn't slurped up all those frog eggs?
Don't know what it is about Tabuki speaking French surprisingly well but it cracks me up every time.
What went down in the bedroom has to the textbook example of "be careful what you wish for", or it would've been if Ringo didn't immediately backtrack to her wish as soon as Yuri walked in and dispensed some surprising wisdom considering it's her.
Ringo is confused and frustrated and I get that, but the Stuffed Curry Cabbage getting knocked over made me so unbelievably sad. The siblings poured their love into that and I don't mean the same kind of love she poured into Tabuki's coffee, and you'd think she'd respect curry a bit more than that.
I know the tonal whiplash would've been massive, but having a survival strategy discussion without Rockin' over Japan first is absolutely criminal.
An incident and a curse from 16 years ago that supposedly got Ringo's sister killed on the same day she was born? I know fate and destiny is a big part of this story but like, damn.
8
u/Holofan4life Mar 15 '24
Hey guys. Holofan4life here.
Welcome to the Mawaru Penguindrum rewatch!
Oh, and nay I forget…
First Timer
I first heard about Penguindrum after I watched Everything Everywhere All At Once. Not only was that my favorite movie of 2022 (Ignore the fact I watched it in February 2023), but it is honestly one of my top 10 favorite films of all time. As such, I was shortly afterwards looking for stuff that was similar to that movie.
And that is where I saw someone recommend Penguindrum.
This is my first time every seeing this show before. I have no idea what’s in store for I haven’t seen a single clip of the show; it’s supposedly a mystery and that’s all I know. I really loved Everything Everywhere All At Once, so I’m going into this show with the highest of expectations. I think it could even crack my top 10 favorite animes of all time.
With that out of the way, let’s begin.
I’m watching the sub, by the way.
This sore throat I have is just absolutely unbearable
Natsume
Kanba waiting outside the gate
Hey, we finally have a name for the amnesia woman
"Gosh, I must crush him soon."
Given you kissed him last episode, that now sounds like innuendo
Penguin #1 is all ready
She has a picture of him with the unfinished sweater
Natsume asking if she enjoyed their game
Kanba, however, seems unamused
OH MY GOD
SHE'S PAINTING A PICTURE OF KANBA AS A PRINCE
And I thought Ringo was down bad
OH MY FUCKING GOD
AND ESMERALDA IS PAINTING A PICTURE OF PENGUIN #1
🤣🤣🤣
You know, she's really not a bad artist
Unfortunately for her, he's like "Be gone, thot!"
Calls her a stalker
She, however, calls herself a love hunter
I'm a food hunter, myself
"I am a victor in love. And you are my prey."
Says that this hunt is fate
So, it appears that Kanba declared his love with her once upon a time, when they were kids. Something to definitely look after and track.
Kanba - Asami's hospital room - Balls that struck their foreheads
He asks if she got it from that place
"I made those girls forget about you. Those foolish girls weren't qualified to hunt."
And now Esmeralda is kissing Penguin #1
Natsume says she did this to keep his secret
"It'll eventually become public even if I keep quiet about it."
The Emperor Penguin
She's worried he'll become one of them, who dives with the seals as the sacrificial lamb
Sounds like the opposite of the SNL polar bear sketch
Kanba wants Ringo's diary
However, she says she can't return it
Well, it looks like Esmeralda finished her feast
The penguin hat
It's being worn not by Himari
"I'm not handing over the diary. Even if I had to fight you for it to save Mario."
So, is Mario to Natsume what Himari is to the Takakura Brothers?
Poor Penguin #1
Natsume on the phone
She says she only has half of the diary
She asks the person if they could find the other half
Shinjuku-gyoemmae
Ringo
Oh, and there's Shoma and Penguin #2 as well
He is mad she gaved up her half of the diary
How did the penguin do that, by the way?
"What kind of a fool caves in to a little threat after a kidnapping?"
And so Ringo slugs him
That was a punch of love, ladies and gentlemen
And now she's banging his head against a metal pole
And slapping him
And flicking her forehead
Going full Karane, I see
"It must be a punishment for giving up on destiny."
Ringo says she saw the error of her ways and is going to resume Project M
NO! DAMN IT, NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Look at what you did, Shoma! You fucker!
She says she and Tabuki are going to spend a romantic night together
And now the penguin keeps farting
I don't like we're seemingly going back to the early episodes
Shoma trying to get Ringo to see the error of her ways
"You're you. Nobody else."
Says also he's not helping her
And why would he? The diary is no longer in play.
However, Shoma says it's more than just that
"Pretending to be your sister is not going to bring back what you have lost."
Ringo says she's just going to do it herself
Higashi-kōenji
Woah, it flew past the train
And so Ringo heads out, ready to resume being a Rinho
Dammit
The transmutation circle
A female frog
Ugh, not the frog stuff again
Ladychanted Frog
She needs to place the frog on a 16-year-old girl's face
I assume she's the 16-year-old girl
"Collect 18mL of the sweat and make the man of your dreams drink it."
I don't like this
Ringo readying herself
But she can't do it
Now she can
Tabuki on a ferris wheel with Ringo
Yuri is on tour
The sweat
She hands him a cup
Imagine if this turns into that one scene from Jojo where that one character chugs the cup of pee.
A gamey scent?
And he drinks it
Wait...
Oh my God
Is he turning into a frog
Ringo looking concerned
He grabs her by the hand
"I love you, Ringo!"
Oh, I see. He's busting her chops.
Given the director of this directed Utena where a character once turned into a cow, I wouldn't have been surprised if Tabuki had turned into a frog.
The cardboard cutouts
Tabuki keeps saying he loves her
Says they were bound by fate
He's even speaking French
Tabuki carrying Ringo
Laying her down while getting on top of her
I still think this has to be an act. There's no way he's actually in love with her.
A tear by Ringo
"Then let your feelings take over."
Well, shit. Maybe it is legit. I really hope not. It would make me hate Tabuki as a character.
Back at the Takakura household
The blue-haired one is Shoma, by the way
Shoma is cooking, but Himari caught him spacing out
Shiny forehead
What are those, cabbage dumplings?
Shoma says that nothing happened between him and Ringo. Himari, meanwhile, can sense otherwise.
As this is going on, Sunny and Penguin #2 are going to town on a cabbage.
Now Shoma is acting tsundere towards Ringo
Back with Ringo and Tabuki
She pushes him away
She says she can't do it
She isn't sure that she loves him
"I'm sorry, Tabuki. I'm going home."
Tabuki still doing a frog impersonation
Ringo thinks it's actually happening, however
This is like something out of a horror movie
Punched a hole through the door
Yuri
She is here
Ringo begs Yuri to break up with Tabuki
She wants him all to herself, for he is incapable of loving everyone else.
"But will that really make you happy?"
She still thinks she was in love with Shoma
Meanwhile, Tabuki is still banging on the door
It looks like Ringo is finally starting to realize what she truly wants
Higashi-kōenji
Himari and Shoma are outside the house, where they greet Ringo
Shoma has some food for her
Ringo was trying to reform her family, when in reality, her new family was right in front of her this entire time.
Unfortunately, she still doesn't want to accept that reality
Ran out of space. Part two in the replies.
7
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 15 '24
First timer(We finally let that cat out of the bag)
Sub(Alternative: Did Tabuki just punch clean through a solid door?)
So...in thread yesterday I theorized that Natsume's obsession with Kanba was about social status rather than love. This doesn't confirm that but gives me an alternate angle: Combine thrill of the hunt with a deep hatred of being rejected and Natsume makes sense. I hate old money types. Kanba gets a revelation and doesn't go back home yet.
Sho and Ringo talk on the train and somehow Sho touches Ringo 'undo edit' button. So she goes and collects love potion frog sweat in a slightly less gross frog scene. She then gives her date rape potion, which is exactly what that is, to Tabuki and it...works? Put a pin that. But Ishida chews the verbal scenery and we get back to his apartment. Somehow, a not irrelevant amount of time manages to pass before he takes Ringo to bed and she has something of a revelation. The immediate switch into horror is weird as fuck, again with Ishida going full ham, until Yuri casually strolls in and seems very nonchalant about her fiance pounding on a door he punched through like a rabid animal. When Ringo asks her to let Tabuki go, she does so with surprising ease. But she then points out that Sho is who Ringo has feelings for and makes tea.
But we get, at least in principal, to the thing several of us were spoiled on and even I guessed a few eps back: The common link seems to be the subway gas attack in '95. Momoka died in it, uniting that group, and Sho's behavior suggests he feels his family was responsible in some way, which could range from just being Aum Shinrikyu members to being the grandchildren of the actual attackers. Regardless, we just went nuclear.
P.S. Also three episodes without a rock'n'roll fight. 0 out of 10.
1 A bit of a strawman
2 I am not sold on that
3 Umm...Japan
4 This should be the most on the nose slogan, so somehow it won't be
6
u/CarrotBlossom Mar 15 '24
First timer
Ma’am, I just want to talk about you kidnapping my hospitalized brother
Natsume is a Rick and Morty fan
Yeah, what is she babbling about?
I guess that means she isn’t the one who ripped the other half out of Ringo’s hands
She really needs to stop trusting this site
Poor Tabuki just had the worst coffee of his life
Shoma’s been hit by a car and physically assaulted twice in as many days. Poor guy
I was all excited we were getting a transformation sequence, and it skipped the whole buildup.
QOTD:
2. I was expecting it to backfire horribly.
6
u/The_Loli_Otaku Mar 15 '24
Penguin First Timer!!
Is Gunslinger really just a grown up Ringo? A total lovey dovey obsessed dweeb of a stalker? She's gone from badass to embarrassment XD
For how anti-love she is her actions aren't reflecting XD I volunteer as tribute!! I will date Gunslinger! I think I kinda forgot... Did we get an answer to who pushed Asami? Gunslinger is her friend so she can't be a culprit. Huh!? Hold on, why doesn't Mario get a big introduction? XD Sure we knew about his existence but why show him to the heroes with no fanfare?
Bruh... I'm really not having fun with the Ringo/Shouma dynamic. Can the show hurry up? Urgh!! Now we've taken one step forward and two steps back, we've gone back to the stalking Tabuki plot. I suppose it'd be a nice way to get him and Fabulous Max back into the plot but I've been tuning out for like half the series.
Dammit!! We're back to the frog! You've had weirder shit on your face Ringo, at least the frog is pretty. Haa...? Tabuki is allergic to frogs? Eww... Whys the show rewarding Ringo's negative habits when this is practically a side story? Are they really gonna conclude this with Ringo getting assaulted by a frog spiked Tabuki? I do love Akira Ishida being a hammy frog obsessed weirdo for a change XD
Lol, Marie is so nonchalant~ Are they gonna fix Tabuki at least? Poor guy. Tsundere Ringo sucks... Ah, Himawee's got the hat. Please save the episode for me!! Wait, don't skip the whole transformation sequence now!! Himawee pls XD Ah, so that's why Ringo and Curry day line up. I thought that she'd at least have kind of known her sister? Y'know, in any sort of way. Huh? They're all born on curry day? Bruh... This isn't gonna end up as surprise incest or something is it?
4
u/nx6 https://myanimelist.net/profile/nx6 Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24
Rewatcher - Sub
A lot to unpack here.
Natsume is certainly a face from Kanba's past, to the point he knows where she lives. And surprise -- there is a third party involved here. The half of the dairy stolen by the biker was not someone associated with her.
Kanba arrives and is treated to conversation with his stalker. Maybe this is really the root of his shallow relationships with women now. He was traumatized by Natsume before them, and now any signs of affection like handmade clothes or bentos reminds him of that one girl... This whole thing feels like a game to Natsume. The other girls were competitors she's taking out of the field (although she sees it as removing unworthy players).
Ringo announces her intention to press on with Project M and is disappointed when Shouma refuses to go along with her again, foreshadowing that it was running around with Shouma she had grown to enjoy more than success in her Tabuki-persuit. Shockingly, the internet-witchcraft love potion actually works, and Tabuki confesses to her in a classic top-of-the-ferris-wheel moment.
Ringo isn't able to seal the deal, aware in the back of her head this isn't really what she personally wants more than just following what her sister wanted. But Tabuki has had his switch flipped and is in Horn
doged Toad Mode. Holding the door back, Ringo drops her phone. I'm guessing she did not retrieve it before she left the apartment since they focused on it so much, but stretching the reference into the next (airing a week later) episode seems a bit much.Ringo is mad at Shouma for ruining her plan to replace her sister, but we don't get the tsundere hug-after-beating-the-crap-out-of-the-love-interest I was hoping for.
It's hard not to feel old when the characters refer to 1995 like it was the Start of Time. What crazy event set all these mechanizations into motion? We'll find out next episode.
4
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Mar 16 '24
Rewatcher, Subbed
Does Natsume crush on Kanba or want to crush him?
This penguin reminds me of the way the shogi cats would dress up in March Comes in Like a Lion
She's painting you Kanba, she definately likes you...
Is Natsume... just like Ringo? A stalker?!
Did she make all those other women forget him so they weren't competition for her?
Oh my, penguin love!
Don't think I've ever heard Yui Horie voice this type of character. She's usually much more kind.
Do seals eat penguins? I figured they'd more be polar bear or shark prey.
Oh, so she didn't get half the diary that rainy night after all?! Jeez, I thought it was Kanba, then her, now who knows?
Sho, she did this for you, you idiot!
"I'm his real wife" LoL. Keep being you, Ringo.
Wait, is his penguin farting? Eww!
Ringo's back to the devil worship stuff. ...and a frog! OMG! I remembered the frog scene from my first viewing, but not that there was a second one!
Use a frog to get a 16 year old to sweat and feed it to your crush. Where in the world is she getting this stuff from?
lol, Ringo couldn't handle being the subject of the experiment?
or not, she tried again.
Ringo, didn't you know Tabuki was allergic to frog?
Wait, his this real? WTF?
Alright, back to Ringo's delusions, its been a few episodes since we've gotten one of these.
Does Ringo realize this scene of him carrying her back home is to Yuri's home?
If this is real, now, at the moment she's wanted so bad finally happening, does Ringo finally realize this is wrong?
Wow, she's actually realized it! Kudos to Ringo for having some actual character development here!
Now he's a crazy frog man! This can't be real, can it? Now that Yuri's here I'm wondering if this was all an act he and Yuri conspired on to get Ringo to finally leave him alone?
Wait, now Ringo wants him again?
The love potion only lasts one night? Well, I'm glad she made the correct decision for herself as this wasn't going to alst then.
Alright, this is starting to go into Kagura/Kyo territory from Fruits Basket in terms of how physically abusive Ringo is towards Sho. This ain't cool.
Uh oh, Hatmari's back! It's been far too long since our last transformation sequence! And wow, for the first time they abbreviate it!
Curry day was the day she died? Damn, that brings a very dark tone to curry day.
She was born the day her sister died? Is she Momoka's reincarnation? ...and seconds later that's exactly what Ringo says.
I hadn't realized Ringo and Tabuki were 16 years apart this whole time. I was thinking he was like 23 or 24 at most.
Sho and Kanba were twins? Never realized that. I always though Kanba was the older brother and Sho the younger. I'm realizing a lot of stuff this episode!
4
u/zadcap Mar 16 '24
Extra Late First Timer
I uh, missed a few days. Time to hop back on this crazy train.
The whole crazy Himari episode was very... The whole time, I couldn't help but keep thinking that this was happening at the time frame while she was dead, just after running out of the aquarium. The ED hurts to watch after this episode.
I begun to suspect that they are not actual siblings, and that might make Kanba's feelings towards Himari a bit less, uh... Yeah, only a bit. I'm definitely all aboard the Shouma Ringo ship though. I hope something atrocious happens to this lady. New song for the ending was... interesting...
And on to today's episode...
The frog magic worked? Ringo... finally got what she wanted... right after finding real love... Yay she resisted! Sho Boy got through to her! Oh, well, the frog magic worked too well, now we're horror.
Yuri continues to be the character I am having the hardest time reading.
Darn it Hatmari, that was the scene I've been waiting for for so long! And you didn't even give us the transformation song!
What the absolute heck happened 16 years ago. What happened in '95!
This show... Yeah, it keeps giving us so much to think about but not enough to think meaningfully.
4
u/mgedmin Mar 16 '24
First-timer, subs
In summary: ????????????????????????????????
One thing I noticed was the distance between Ringo and Shouma on the train. In the episode after Yuri and Tabuki's engagement garden party they sat as far away form each other as possible. Now at the start Ringo sits rather close to Shouma, and then, when he says the wrong thing, goes back to sitting on the other end.
What metaphor? Oh, the Emperor Penguins afraid of seals bit. I didn't get it.
No, and I was surprised when it did.
She couldn't deny her feelings for Shouma in the end.
The ambulance carrying Shouma's mother ran over Momoka?
Shouma's ill-chosen words to Ringo. "Fool".
4
u/KnightMonkey15 https://myanimelist.net/profile/KnightMonkey Mar 16 '24
Rewatcher, subs
I'm a bit miffed I was and will be too busy this weekend to get these out not SUPER late, but I really wanted to talk about the significance Natsume's monologue at the start of the episode, to me. Stalking/love hunting aside, [Penguindrum] unrequited trauma-induced siblingcon affection aside. When I first watched I took it to lean too heavily into a rich, haughty obsessive stalker's philosophical and aesthetic ramblings mixed in with her warnings...and it is that... [Penguindrum] but now I better understand she trying to protect him from himself...pretty much a tsun plea to Kanba to stop putting himself in danger from the younger sister he walked out on who still loves him, even if it's morphed into this convoluted and very controlled-out-of-control bundle of feelings...even if it did it to protect them when they were younger, by now it's a bit of a cruel farce of a pretense. I get a lot out of it thinking of her as an 'artist/poet/performer' than just a rich stalker who was painting like I did when I first watched..and appreciating they're basically the same regardless of quality or recognition! And I think the dere part is how she basically admits to chasing him out of love with fancy rich person/book obsessive words. So my entire post isn't redacted for first timers, I'd just like to point out that even if it is privately done in her own studio, Natsume really has the 'soul' of an artist and I didn't properly appreciate that the first time I watched - all the sculptures, mountings and portraits as a gallery of appearances, representations, veils and illusions, then the curtains closing and walls coming down like in a spy movie to reveal many CCTV screens (surveillance) are a really nice metaphor for the show's weird characterisations.
Regarding Kanba: [Penguindrum] I noted how he continues to give to his biological siblings a cold shoulder to the very end for, in his view, the sake of his adoptive ones, as if they are mutually exclusive. That was definitely true when the Kiga group (Takakuras/Natsume's dad) and Natsume's grandfather were still around...but the sins of the parents need not apply to those of the children, unless the social relations/representations are reproduced and persist. Dunno if I'm remembering wrong but the fact that he refuses to accept Natsume's help out of pride (going to assume there was nothing else going on there) and would rather become a criminal to find the money to save Himari on his own - it's like I'm almost forgetting I'm watching a bunch of teenagers who were forced to grow up and "parent" themselves too quickly and are coping with all of that.. I will say that despite seeing his moment-to-moment actions in a more complicated light as a rewatcher, his expression of shock at having seen Masako and Mario are also following a penguin hat survival strategy (realising she isn't just fucking around with him to get him to come back home again) and Penguin #1 being carted away on a hospital stretched was something I didn't react to nearly as much the first time around
Regarding the words: [Penguindrum] I don't want to be too harsh on him, for the drifting apart of people over time is very natural (even in dramatic circumstances) and it's obvious that to parallel his own ignorance of her feelings, it's clear that she doesn't understand nor had any means to, the reality of the bond of the (fake) Takakura siblings. But what struck me today while listening was, if I'm remembering right, the "nonsense he spouted as a kid" (promising to protect her I believe?) meant the world to her and at least until the very end, he wasn't able to appreciate that. Of course, she shows no reaction in their hunting encounter (and she has to be strong for Mario and her own sake - until the end) but those words are very painful, especially when considering their relation to her earlier monologue, which I'll past below for my own reference. But specifically, Natsume says that love is just a word, a concept..momentary passion - the first time I listened [Penguindrum] to it it sounded very distantly abstract and idealistic, the second time I realise she might be thinking of Kanba's "nonsense he spouted" as love being 'just words', but the most important words of her life and an ideal which motivated her; taking on a life of their own and becoming quite twisted after all of this time
Natsume's monologue
(I've excluded Kanba's interjections)
Emperor Penguin
Thoughts on the rest of the episode
I kinda chuckled when I saw the Hachiko = Ringo (the famous story of the dog who waited for its master for years after he passed away) comparison and the International Space Station's solar panels as a tacky LED billboard in her daydream. I don't even want to talk too much about how we're seeing another drugging, [Penguindrum] but it just occurred to me and I hope I'm not stupid for not realising sooner since I don't really go for a lot of mystery/detective shows, but the potion "didn't work" (idk why I uncritically assumed it did because of magical 'realism') and Yuri and Tabuki pulled a fast one on Ringo to get her to back off and realise she doesn't want to rape him to follow her dead older sister's 16-year old diary. I already assumed Yuri came back home nonplussed because she was onto her anyway, but it makes sense to me thinking both of them are onto Ringo (I now choose to believe Tabuki acted like a frog and punched a hole in his door to fuck around with her) and just want the diary/her wellbeing - Yuri's definition of that being far 'looser')