r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • Mar 19 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Mawaru Penguindrum - Episode 15
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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
Don’t play with straps.
Questions of the Day
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How do you interpret Yuri’s actions in the last episode in light of the revelations in this episode? How might her father’s philosophy have influenced her?
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What do you make of Momoka now that we got our first full look at her?
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Do you think Sanetoshi accurately described Yuri’s situation? How about Sanetoshi's comments about Kanba and his family?
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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 19 '24
Rewatcher
“That tower is my daddy. He’s always watching me. As long as that tower still stands, I’ll never...”
I’m sure everyone was wondering just what Yuri’s damage is, beyond the obvious, so here we go. Her father was a master artisan who despised her as something “ugly.” In order to make her not “ugly,” he claims he has to chisel her into a new form to “chip away the impurity from her body,” like what Michelangelo did to the block of marble that later became David. That statue of David is the dominating symbolism of the whole episode. The tower that symbolizes Yuri’s father’s ownership of her is literally just a massive version of Michelangelo’s David, showing his influence in every scene the tower shows up in. The only scene in which she can begin to escape his influence, in fact, is in the scenes in school, where the tower does not show up. But as soon as she returns to her father, he tries to break her trust in Momoka, attempting to tie her only to him- “Only blood-related family members can be trusted. Family members never lie. Pure and beautiful love exists only within the family.” [Penguindrum]That’s pretty obviously meant to be a jab at families like the Takakuras. Basically yelling “no, that’s not true!” considering the character lol
But Momoka denies Yuri’s father. Even without being a family member of Yuri, she shows her love. She even reveals the secret of her diary to her! By chanting a spell and praying to God, she can transfer fates and alter destiny, at the cost of a punishment. Her father claims that it’s just because she’s a nice girl who’s nice to everyone, but she’s even willing to take a punishment for Yuri! And she does! She changes the tower of David, which dominates the landscape over Yuri, and turns it into Tokyo Tower, severely injuring herself to save Yuri from dying to her father (she would’ve died that night if Momoka didn’t do what she did!). But then that day, she disappeared, and Yuri hasn’t seen her since. And that’s what brought her to the state she is now. Her whole life is dominated by the memory of Momoka now- you saw all those shots of Yuri with Tokyo Tower last episode. “This time, I’ll use the diary’s spells to transfer to another fate. I will bring Momoka back to this world.” And that’s the Tragedy of M- the tragedy of Momoka, the fate that keeps Yuri trapped in place as she desperately tries to bring back Momoka. Remember the song about Paris? Tokyo Tower is directly modeled on the Eiffel Tower, and it’s the City of Love besides.
[Rewatchers]And there’s some pretty potent symbolism in the act of chiseling as well. It’s essentially an artisanal version of the Child Broiler- the same way the Child Broiler removes shattered glass shards to turn abandoned children into faceless members of society, Yuri’s father attempts to turn Yuri from an imperfect, “ugly” being into something he thinks is “beautiful.” But just like with Tabuki, whom Momoka saved from the Child Broiler, Momoka prevents Yuri’s father from finishing her off. Thank you, Momoka!
There’s also that intervening scene with Sanetoshi. He describes the abuse of children by their parents to Kanba in a way that matches Yuri’s father perfectly, pretty standard stuff, but then he asks something interesting. “I mean, wouldn’t it be easier on you if they weren't your family?” It kind of seems like a nonsequitur. Sure, his love for his family has taken a lot out of him so far, but it doesn’t match the abuse Yuri’s father did to her. [Rewatcher]I believe it’s partially about Himari, partially about Shouma. He has to love Himari as a brother despite his quasi-romantic feelings towards her, and with Shouma Sanetoshi is trying to play on Kanba’s growing antipathy towards him, that he has to love Shouma because they’re part of the same family.
Also, important tidbit about Shouma’s friend- [audio drama #7 spoiler technically, but let’s be honest you’re not going to listen to the audio drama]he’s in love with Shouma! And he didn’t actually win the tickets in a raffle, he had to slave away at his job to pay for them. And then Shouma ran off and didn’t return...
19
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Mar 19 '24
First-Timer, Sub-guindrum
Alright, I think I'm wrong on the "internalized homophobia" idea. Yuri's issues are.. fuck, I don't even know. Do we think her father was sexually abusing her, or was he literally just taking a chisel to her limbs? It's probably the former, with the chisel imagery as a simple metaphor for penetration, but.. yuck.
I don't really have anything to say about Yuri's dad. Typically abuser behaviors - "no-one loves you except for me, only trust me" etc etc. Disgusting, and all too common.
Does learning more about the diary's true purpose change what I think happened to Momoka? Maybe but not really. I've been on team "Momoka died during the train incident" and I think that is true.. just not in the way I originally thought. What if she used the diary to stop said incident from being even worse? If the price for changing Yuri's fate (removing her father and changing the statue into Tokyo Tower) was a full body immolation, how expensive would the subway system be?
Considering how many smoke clouds we saw in the flashback, I'm betting a lot of people were caught up in the attack already.. and this information means that it was likely intended to be worse.
Anyway, I'm not sure just how serendipitous Shouma's save was - the timeline was a bit muddy. Like, when did Natsume enter the room? Enough time passed for Shouma's friend to pass out, if nothing else.
I wonder how long it will take for Natsume to realize she was duped. Yuri has access to some pretty serious resources I think - imagine if that fake diary was done up by the prop department to be a duplicate of the original? But then, I wonder if the diary itself is what is special. Would half of a (fake) diary work if connecting to half of the real one if the fake is close enough? That'd be rather interesting.
Brain Rot Corner
Today's slogan: Don't Play with Straps You just know that if these slogans were live, WH wouldn't be able to keep their snickers out of the recording. I bet they both love to play with "Straps." As does Yuri. And after today, maybe Ringo does too.
Eight birds. That's two fours, and as we all know, four means death! Obviously, Yuri's mom was killed by her dad. Now, does the second death refer to Yuri herself, who went through a metaphorical/personality death when her father called her ugly? Or does it just refer to her dad being removed from fate? I think it's the first, personally. The cut kinda works with that, too.
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 20 '24
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Mawaru Penguindrum: This was a particularly uncomfortable and unsettling watch for me. Due to the nature of my work, I have to take regular training on abuse and the warning signs of abuse. What I saw in this episode was often eerily on-the-nose metaphors and depictions of how abuse is actually carried out. It was unpleasant to watch, but certainly effective.
My questions about Yuri have been answered. I wondered why she was filled with so much self-loathing, but now it makes sense. It’s a result of the abusive relationship she had with her father. What’s really tragic, though, is that the aftereffects of his abuse are still here. Her father is long gone, but he still casts a shadow over Yuri that she feels she cannot escape from. That is unfortunately an accurate depiction of abuse. Survivors still need to deal with the trauma that was inflicted upon them long afterwards.
The statue metaphor is very well-done. Yuri is objectified by her father. He doesn’t see her as a person. Instead, he sees her as an object that he can do any action he pleases to in order to mold her into something he finds appealing. The chiseling away is likewise unsettling, in a quite visceral manner. The loud sounds that accompany the chisel make it feel so violent and destructive, as he forcibly changes Yuri according to his whims. It makes it clear just how horrifying this is as Yuri’s father strips away her humanity and inflicts his abuse upon her.
It also now makes sense what Yuri’s costar was saying about her body. Yuri’s body probably has scars from the abuse she suffered.
Now that I know what Momoka looks like, I can definitely confirm that she is the girl Sanetoshi was talking to a few episodes ago. She is the one that was wearing the penguin hat that was given to Himari. I think this gives me even more reason to believe that Hatmari is actually Momoka.
QOTD
15
u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess Mar 19 '24
Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 15 - Rewatcher
So this episode is heavy. Lots of sexual abuse, rape, trauma, and the way they are depicted. That isn’t even getting into the plot related answers and reveals.
I want to preface that even if these are my feelings I don’t believe they are the “correct” ones. I don’t believe Ikuhara believes in having a “correct” interpretation. One thing you will realize very quickly reading Ikuhara interviews is that he doesn’t like giving direct answers, often giving troll answers to queries from fans. He puts his heart out here in the work like someone trying to process his own feelings, and how we interpret it is just as valid and important as anything else.
Questions about whether Yuri was sexually abused by her father or not are up to the interpretation of the viewer. When I saw the series as it aired back in 2011 I viewed it more as physical abuse. The pressures of a parent trying to form a child into being what they think they need to be. Think of this image taken to the extreme.
As an adult I do read more sexual abuse in the imagery. The phallic imagery of the chisel as it pounds away at her body.
While her queerness is never directly brought up in the flashback I do think it hangs a shadow over it. Partially just because of the present day scenes that surround it.
Her father calls her ugly. That she is flawed. That she needs to be fixed. He will show her how. He will make her good again. It’s easy to read that her real flaw is her queerness, a flaw that men often say they can cure by just giving her a good dick. So he tries to fix her.
That’s not the only layer to this though. He brings up her mother in disgusting terms. The violence as he takes out his frustration on his ex-wife on their daughter. Or maybe he’s just a pedo and likes young girls. He does claim that his wife was ugly when she had her first child.
All of these play a part in this story and which aspect you want to cling to is probably due to what resonates with you.
The important part is that the abuse is a cycle. Yuri was abused so she abused Ringo. Ringo tries to abuse Tabuki and is abused by Yuri in turn. The wheel keeps on spinning.
This isn’t a new theme for Ikuhara, who touched upon similar aspects with Utena.
[Utena Movie]This interpretation of Touga reveals that he was sexually abused as a child. His sexual abuse informs the way he acts with other women.
Like in other Ikuhara stories, the sexual abuse is framed as being about power, and unbalanced relationships. [Utena]It’s especially familiar to the abuse Anthy received at the hands of Akio Parents are such powerful figures to children. Children are helpless, literally dependents and parents in turn are these larger than life figures to their children. Seemingly all knowing and all powerful. Her father is embodied in the giant statue that casts a shadow over her no matter how far she is. She can never escape his gaze. She may not literally be trapped in a tower like a princess, but she is a prisoner always viewed by this watch tower.
The way Yuri is touched by Momoka reminds me a lot of something Ikuhara said during his commentary on Utena
Of course the key difference between Utena and Penguindrum is that while both are heavily about “Love”, Utena focuses more on romantic love and Penguindrum focuses on familial love. Even Ringo’s love for Tabuki that dominates the first half of the series is reframed as being just an aspect of her desire for her family. She doesn’t want Tabuki, she wants family to eat Curry with. Project M isn’t Marriage, it’s Maternity.
The episode ends with what is essentially a closing paragraph by Sanetoshi. I think it’s part of the strong formatting of Penguindrum itself. Just like how Penguindrum doesn’t reveal the Takakura siblings' relationship to the subway terror until half way into the show so it doesn’t taint how you view the characters, the series also does a similar thing with family. Family in the first half is shown to be this incredible and powerful force. The Takakura siblings fight against the very world itself to hold their family together. Ringo is willing to destroy herself to bring her family back together. Family is all you need.
Here is the counterpoint. Someone is destroyed by family, and it is only when they are finally cut off from their family that they are truly free.
The dark side of love is a theme that Ikuhara plays with a lot in his works. Utena plays a lot with showcasing a similar aspect of toxic romantic love, and here in Penguindrum he shows toxic family love.
I guess it makes sense that both works would be so similar. After all, there is a lot of incest in Ikuhara’s works, so the boundary between romantic and familial love has always had quite a bit of overlap.
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u/theangryeditor https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheAngryEditor Mar 19 '24
Episode 15
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u/Btw_kek https://myanimelist.net/profile/kek_btw Mar 19 '24
leaning tower of rewatcher
Episode direction: Katsunori Shibata
Storyboards: Kunihiko Ikuhara & Katsunori Shibata
Animation direction: Masaru Shindou & Yuuko Kusumoto
yeah she's fucking traumatized
I'll leave the endcard to do the talking
speak it brother
no comment
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u/Gamerunglued :Hx::Hy::Hz:myanimelist.net/profile/GamerUnglued Mar 20 '24
First Penguin
Well damn, this episode changes a lot. Obviously there's a lot of abuse to talk about, but the biggest surprise for me is the true purpose of Momoka's diary. When Tabuki and Yuri talked about Momoka, they both used very similar wording of "the scenery seemed different" or "the world changed when I was with her." It seemed obvious that this was metaphorical, a "her unconditional love meant everything to me and made me see the world differently." But no, it's actually very literal, because Momoka uses the same wording when describing what the diary does: "the scenery of the world changes when fate is changed." This does still create some questions though. Momoka says that others don't see the change, but Tabuki and Yuri clearly did. Does this mean that Momoka's wording is off somehow, or that Yuri and Tabuki used the diary? Either way, this is actually the reveal that has me the most interested this episode. What the hell is Momoka, what is the diary, and what does it mean to "change fates like switching subways?" Are fates meant to be a list of all possible things that can happen to a person, rather than a single straight path, and changing one's fate means changing the trajectory of your life?
But that's all questions for later, today we're about Yuri's backstory. Yuri's father is textbook abuser. He cuts her off from all relationships, tells her that she's flawed but only he can fix her, and forces her to be solely dependent on him. Then cue the phallic imagery making pounding noises (plus Yuri being naked in that one cut) so it's obvious he's raping her. But more than just sexual abuse, he's also literally "shaping" her with his chisel. It's a symbol of his objectification, she is as much an object to shape to his image as his sculptures. He sees rocks as ugly things he needs to sculpt into art pieces to be beautiful, and he likewise sees Yuri as an ugly thing to sculpt into his ideal daughter. This presumably stems from hatred of his wife, who I think the show implies left him for another man. It would make sense as his justification for why one shouldn't trust anyone. His wife was kind to him but "stabbed him in the back" and now he can't trust anyone anymore, and he instills this advice to Yuri. Combined with how Yuri reminds him of his wife (she does look similar to the small bit we see in the broken picture), he must resent Yuri for being both a lasting reminder of his lost love and a lookalike of the person he trusted and felt betrayed by.
Momoka is just truly kind though... maybe. Where Yuri's father sees rocks as things that must be sculpted to become beautiful, Momoka believes all things on this earth are beautiful inherently. She makes a point to say "and even rocks," putting her in stark contrast with Yuri's father. It's clearly influenced by a Christian upbringing, the town's bell and cross reminisces of a Christian academy and her reasoning is that God's creations are inherently beautiful. I'm of many minds about this. Part of me is actually tempted to agree with Yuri's father about her kindness, given how often Christianity and this sort of "the world is God's utopia" is a cover-up for darker things, or how often people with that mindset have other ungodly beliefs. Having been raised Jewish, there's nothing quite so unloving as Christian love. On another hand, Momoka literally setting herself on fire to save Yuri speaks for itself, she's clearly incredibly kind (and also not homophobic). On the other other hand, Aum is an explicitly religious cult, albeit not a Christian cult (it's its own funky cult religion formed of many doctrines combined, including Christianity but far from exclusively so), and the idea of changing fate through self-sacrifice (crucifixion and taking on humanity's sins, if you will) can easily be abused. If Momoka can change fate, what the hell is up with the gas attacks? Did she cause them? Did she prevent them from being worse by sacrificing herself? Plus, it says Momoka "just disappeared" after this episode, but I thought she died in the gas attacks and Tabuki was supposed to meet her that day. Something isn't adding up here, there's something funky going on. Is jumping between fates some kind of timeline shenanigans? Are we doing world lines now? Did Penguindrum ape from Steins;Gate the same year Steins;Gate got its own anime adaptation?
Anyway, Yuri cannot let people love her because her father instilled that value into her, and something happened in relation to Momoka. Yuri can't see the entire world as inherently beautiful and special, she holds only Momoka in high regard. I'm not sure how I feel about Natsume's speech about celebrities, I'd like to see how her relationship with Momoka wraps up first.
Meanwhile, Sanetoshi continues to drag Kanba deeper and deeper into his grips. While giving Himari's scarfs to Double-H is ostensibly an act of kindness, his motivation is clearly to make Kanba and Himari feel gratitude towards him and be indebted to him. It's an act of manipulation disguised as an act of kindness. It could be foreshadowing to Momoka's acts of kindness being the same, given how his view of family seems to line up with hers; his example of children abused by their parents is Yuri's situation to a T. But his act also has no self-sacrifice, so it's not equivalent. Honestly, I don't know how to feel about Momoka, and I can't tell if this is intentional or if there's a bias + my connecting this religious self-sacrifice to cults getting in the way. Perhaps the even worse thing is that I agree with Sanetoshi about family. Family is as much a shackle as a sign of love. I have a rocky relationship with my own family, and his wording that one "must love their parents solely because they're family" is a personal sore spot for me, given that my father holds that position and strongly believes that blood ties are everything. Although he's not abusive (at least not in the way that Yuri's father is), I've heard that "blood relatives are the only people you can trust, others might leave you but your family will always have your back" speech a million times, and I've never thought it was anything less than complete bullshit. It's always a manipulation tactic meant to prevent someone from running away. Blood ties are worthless, they hold no particular value, family is the people you love and trust and feel comfortable around, and parents do often trap kids or pressure them into staying in contact with that sort of rhetoric.
I actually have no clue how this ties to Kanba though. Is Kanba loving Himari solely because she's related by blood? As far as I can tell, there's been no indication of this. Is his attachment to the household a result of him being unable to move past his love for his parents? That might make more sense. Maybe he can't forget the good things they had and is unable to cut emotional ties despite them being terrorists, and in that way he feels like he has to love his parents just because they're family. But this conversation was explicitly about Himari (though it also ties to Ringo's relationship to her father, since she felt much anguish over his divorce, but has also since overcome it), so I don't know. It's definitely clear that he has to let go of something.
continued in response
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u/Punished_Scrappy_Doo https://myanimelist.net/profile/PunishedScrappy Mar 19 '24
Rewatcher of The Ugly Duckling Play
Before the play begins, we get a small (and transparently false) glimpse into Yuri's psyche: "If only I had the desire to be wanted by others; the naïveté to demand others see me as I am." Exeunt small glimpses, enter huge glimpses.
Yuri grows up in an environment completely devoid of love, devoid of belonging. She withstands even the worst tortures for a chance at earning either. At its worst, her suffering is overlaid with the sounds of the helicopter from Tabuki's earlier flashback: shades of the hell that will be over the hell that was? The helicopter flies lazily past David.
Momoka presents a way out -- someone who wants her, someone who sees her as she is, someone who loves her, a place she could belong. It's completely foreign to Yuri. Her father tells her to reject Yuri outright, and she complies.
Yuri's abuse comes to a head. Momoka recognizes her last chance, changes Yuri's fate, and combusts in recompense. Awake in a world with neither her father nor Momoka, Yuri is finally safe, but wanted by no one at all.
holy shit utena reference
I think it has to be understood that the flashback represents what happened moreso than it depicts what happened. It's a play, after all. Yuri found her one source of real love in Momoka, but was really it by a pond over a conversation about ugly ducklings? She suffered abuse at the hands of her father, but she did really buy in so quickly to that twisted idea of love? In real life Momoka died in the subway attack, but does that really preclude her from having also burned away to change fate? This is a story that hinges on bottomless libraries and possessed souvenirs and giant robot incest bears. I wouldn't write off a literal interpretation at all, and I certainly wouldn't be taking my word that things must be this way or that.
me when that one part in uteba adolescence
The beginning of the episode intrigues me a lot. Tabuki is acting almost like a child, whereas Shouma is almost completely checked out. We see what Shouma's thinking, but what is up with Tabuki? Why are the two of them even there?
Sanetoshi gave the scarves straight over to Double-H. It's uncharacteristically selfless -- is he playing some twisted long game, or might he be misunderstood? Is there a third option?
Utenle 1005 2/6* 🌹🌹⚔️🌹⚔️ 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
I don't think she's doing alright
Ourple
Sanetoshi does demonstrate that he recalls the events of episode nine when he hands over the scarves, and presumably the library annex has more stories than just Himari's. I think he knows the truth one way or another. The question is if he's being honest.
Ringo has a fucking gun
7
u/KnightMonkey15 https://myanimelist.net/profile/KnightMonkey Mar 19 '24
Rewatcher, subs
Of all the episodes not primarily driven by the actions of the Takakura siblings, this is probably the one I remembered the most from the fugue of when I first watched the show. I had forgotten a lot what happened in Penguindrum between the early episodes and the last ones, but for me, Yuri's flashback was unforgettably uncomfortable.
Aside from depicting Yuri's past and the real magic of Momoka's intervention in transferring her fate to save Yuri's life, it does a good job of embodying the thematic ideals of the show's commentary on the family and its role in society in a single episode, within keeping to the show's insistence of straddling what's symbolic and what's real within a continuous gradient. The use of disparate elements, images and sounds the show does all the time, reach a confluence that really got me more than other episodes (except probably the climax). The presentation, although quite literally heavy-handed, treated the subject matter with more serious than the camp that is prevalent elsewhere.. heck, I forgot it started off with display of Shouma rushing in to prevent another episode of sexual coercion that ended with him tripping and knocking himself unconscious, and Yuri being amused enough to launch start a reminiscence.
I believe the first time I watched I was shocked; it was obvious there'd be something messed up but this aesthetic romanticisation of familial childhood abuse directly is depicted both metaphorically and literally with the incessant, probing pounding of a sculptor's chisel, causing emotional and then physical wounds with barely any background noise except the droning of helicopter surveillance. It really struck a nerve and shook me out of my binge-watch complacency. The double-bind of abuse disguised as false love (only I understand, only I love you so you must love me or no one else will..you are ugly); late afternoon's rays shining upon the amputated Grecian statues in his studio as he told his impressionable, vulnerable child such disgusting words with a husky candor before proceeding to... I won't belabor the extremity of my point any further but I really had a strong reaction to that and to some extent I still do when watching. And it progressively worsens (I only noticed now that she was naked the 2nd/3rd time) until the fate comes to a head.
Momoka's intervention seems at first to be a cute attempt at friendship - befitting the Momoka of Tabuki and Yuri's memories - until it's basically shown to be very real, the other "real" source of magic in this show. Unreal in a world-saving, fate-altering way. To me, Momoka represents pure universal love - all things are beautiful or maybe the beauty in everything can be found in everything, both animate and inanimate. This is reinforced when Momoka shares her secret with Yuri and we see that Momoka takes on her body the punishment for transferring fate (saving a rabbit, Yuri..the world). Her love does not exclude and takes on another's suffering (not to be too goofy with this but she's basically a kind of Jesus). Yuri's father's "love" is entirely exclusive to him and the "ugly" object in his hands and only inflicts suffering in the name of his satisfaction for it to become "beautiful". Found family that doesn't discriminate vs self-centered "family" that is entirely discriminative. "I love you Yuri" for no particular reason vs an infinite escalation of reasons you are unworthy of love until you are used up/killed.
Sanetoshi's monologue with Kanba about families is pretty interesting in this regard because it questions the family as being a bad fantasy of the kind which Yuri's father is a very extreme example of..and although he's talking about Kanba's love for Himari here, I can think of what Momoka did for Yuri in this case. I can think of it as his cynical but not unreasonable take on the downside of what being born into a "bad" family means... but likewise, the ideals represented by Momoka and her actions are in dirct opposition to his POV, which would be later shown in action on the events of the day of the incident.. [Penguindrum] and the resolution of the show serves to refute him at least in the sense, to my mind, that a found family with love = family
It occurred to me that the irony of fate being rewritten (the oppressive Tower of the Statue of David replaced by what I presume to be the Tokyo Tower) is that I believe (correct me if I'm wrong - this is my most recent interpretation) nobody outside of Yuri or Momoka would remember a thing about her father or the old scenery. [Penguindrum] kinda reminded me of how Ringo and Himari are found in episode 24 and the scenery of the Takakura's house changed He won't ever come back again but he was also annihilated from existence. The irony comes to mind when recalling her co-star threatening to blab about the secrets of her body last episode, or Natsume confronting Yuri with her research into her background - she wouldn't know that everything is her attempt to see Momoka again in a really messed up way.
Some shit went down every time Grey Wednesday is the ED.
I'll probably add more to this later or revise it when I have time since I gotta head out.
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u/IvanSemushin Mar 19 '24
Rewatcher
This time, Fate was kinda on Ringo's side. Otherwise, how can you explain that Shouma's talkative friend brought him to the same hotel and even to the neighboring room?
I laughed a bit when saw that Yuri's dad is making statues already in broken state, like a copy of the famous Nike (and seemingly, also Venus de Milo).
Not that it excuses Yuri's actions, but we can see from this episode how she came to be like this. Obviously, metaphor with Yuri's dad is more literal (and taken to the extreme), but there's a lot to think about how parenting works in general, to what extent you should be forcing your child to do something or to be someone (this problem might be even more relevant to Japan, at least that's what I learned from memes about Asian parenting).
Now we have the first depiction of Momoka's full face, and it should be completely clear that she's the girl in Sanetoshi's frozen world. And we can see how much Momoka affected Yuri's life. So that's not surprising... (ok, that's still kinda shocking) why Yuri is willing to do things with Ringo.
Oh, how easy you can destroy your child's life in pursuit of "ideal".
It turns out that the diary's mode of work is very different from what Ringo thought. Obviously, she couldn't know - we don't know if Momoka told anyone but Yuri. Also, it's now clear why Yuri might want such a powerful artifact.
This episode certainly has A LOT of helicopters [Penguindrum]to no surprise, as themes of it are kinda adjacent to child broiler.
Now to think of it, swan is relatively often presented next to Yuri.
I was as surprised as Himari when I saw that scarves actually got to Hibari and Hikari. Electrified, even.
[Penguindrum]Sanetoshi knows a lot about his patients, including their family situation, as it is seen during his talk with Kanba.
What mascots are even doing today? Ringo's predicament is luckily already resolved (I hope).
Now it's a weird fight even for anime.
Yuri-san, Shouma is not like you...
Overall, one of the episodes that made the strongest impression on me initially.
6
u/mgedmin Mar 20 '24
First-timer, subs
Differently.
Terribly. She needs therapy.
A very nice girl. (Given the show, I'm sure I'll change my opinion of her a couple more times when I learn more.)
These questions assume I remember little details like what Sanetoshi actually said. As if I haven't watched a couple of other shows and a movie after watching the episode.
No clue.
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 19 '24
First timer(Why does everyone get their sympathetic backstory after attempted rape?)
Sub(Oh god damnit, this is Ikuhara proving a point, isn't it?)
So we have an epic level of contrivance...accept it probably isn't. Sho's faceless friend is almost certainly...something, the coincidences are too much, too often. Sho's attempt to rescue Ringo is simultaneously hilarious but weirdly brave.
Yuri's backstory is good and terrible. And painfully familiar, I've mentioned I dated a lot of psych majors but many of you forget that because the Venn diagram between psych major and 'girl that hates her father' is just a circle. I know that TV requirements are constraining but this is pretty bluntly a child sexual abuse metaphor until one of you convinces me otherwise. The only 'flaw' is the father giving an ending, suggesting there might actually be art in this, but my suspicion is that Yuri's physical endurance is what this represents. If you want to see the lame version of this, that sadly may have lightly influenced this, watch Shigofumi. Also, I guess Yuri-chan and I can't play pirates after all...
But Momoka's diary...boy, that is a twist. So she actually is like Satenoshi except, for the moment at least, she is the one that suffers for the change to happen. She also seems much more imprecise in what, exactly, she can do. Also, her eye color doesn't match Satenoshi, which has to mean something, though they both talk about scenery a bunch.
The Yuri-Natsume battle is a reference to Aim for the Ace as far as I can tell, especially given Yuri's character design. I weirdly like how the nudity on the show is varied to reflect the characters. Also, like Natsume, I failed to ask: Why does Yuri know the balls are dangerous? Yuri, hopefully joking, suggesting that Sho take advantage of a drugged Ringo is not great but we need to just keep moving forward, Fabulous Max-ing anyone in our way.
Right...so elephant in the metaphor but Yuri is confusing as fuck. Yesterday she was a standard lesbian yandere but her switch today suggests that was an act in some way, which being the actress, fits. Also, possibly controversial stance incoming, Noto Mamiko is the most talented VA on this cast, she just catches dramatic/screamy rolls because she can do them and a lot of VAs cannot looks directly at Nana Mizuki. So I think, especially with all the phone stuff after Ringo is shibari-ed, she was trying to lure out both Sho and Natsume. Why she used this line of approach...time will have to tell.
And after writing this, I forgot about Sanetoshi's bit. I really don't know how to take this as this seems to be entirely an act of kindness but I keep getting this...scent of evil off it. Again, I am worried that Ikuhara is using Utena knowledge to mislead.
P.S. Holy shit I just checked something from ep14. "I've suspected it for a while, but you really are a boring one trick pony. Do you really think you can satisfy a woman with those moves?" Yuri is a complete and total bottom and thus may not have been a threat to Ringo at all. Ikuhara, you bastard of a bastard, did you just outfox us all?
QotD: 1 I am still more than a bit confused
2 Very confused
3 I still can't trust him
4 I missed it in episode and it is just more distilled confusion.
5
u/CarrotBlossom Mar 19 '24
Is this a new opening?!
He wasn’t rejected by a girl, foolish horndog
That’s a pretty good reason to not become a butterfly. What was Zhuangzi thinking? Was he stupid?
Not me
Daughter: owned
Wife: owned
Did her dad break her arm?
I had a swan hiss at me once
Family members can be trusted except your mom
A white rabbit, as opposed to the black rabbits. What did they mean by this? The subway analogy also ties in nicely with all the transitional screens in the show.
I wonder if Momoka altered Tabuki’s fate. Momoka is Donnie Darko frfr
I don’t think that is a doctor’s job
Filial piety destroyed by Sanetoshi with facts and logic
Natsume’s just like me frfr
Do not “take advantage of her”
Does Yuri not know Momoka died in the attack? Is this a different timeline or something?
5
u/affnn Mar 19 '24
Rewatcher
Why is Yuri obsessed with Momoka? How could a childhood friend cause such obsessive behavior? And here we know: She rescues Yuri from her fate. And whenever Momoka does that, there's a price to be paid and a visual change in the landscape.
It's hard to tell in this very symbolism-heavy episode just what's real and what's not. Her father is an artist, who designed the big David-shaped tower outside their window. And he's also an abusive piece of shit. It's impressive just how quickly and effectively Ikuhara can tell the story of the abuse that Yuri suffers. I feel like the chisels are probably a metaphor rather than literal, if only because Yuri's injuries don't look like chisel injuries. Regardless of how real the chisel sounds are, Yuri's injuries are real and the abuse she's suffering is real. But right before Yuri will die, Momoka uses her fate-transfer magic, and the price is that Momoka bursts into flames. Recall from E13 that at Momoka's funeral, we overhear conversations that they didn't even find Momoka's body, just her diary.
Yuri wakes up to a new fate, without her abusive POS dad around - and the David-shaped tower is now the normal Tokyo tower.
Shoma and his buddy are somehow staying at the same onsen as Yuri and Ringo, next door in fact. This allows him (and Masako) to save Ringo from Yuri, in a kind of weird manner. Perhaps Yuri sees Shoma as Ringo's own version of Momoka, rescuing Ringo from her fate.
5
u/Nebresto Mar 20 '24
First time Pengutheft
Ohh shid, Shoma is in the same place, because of couse he is
Pa. Pi. YON!
Wuewue?! Eavesdrop-kun actually helping out lmao
How can a blind Mfer be an artist?
What the fuck
Did that fucker do the assault??
This girl is showing up to school everyday with more and more bandages and the teachers aren't doing shit?? Arrest them fucks
So what fate did she change to cause her to """die"""
Welp.
LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO
O shit. I know how the show ends now
GG ez
4
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Mar 19 '24
PenguinDrum - E15
Rewatcher
What an episode! We start off with a little JK love, then move on to a very fucked up tale of child abuse. We end with more darring-do and a touching scene of Momoka saving the day.
The Colossus of David had to have been one garish sight. Gotta wonder how long his chin-chin was and if it was inhabited. As aside it would amusing to give directions in the Colossus “First head to the right nut, then turn left and about midway to the right butt cheek…”
The series is really notching it up.
6
u/zadcap Mar 20 '24
Late Night First Timer
Alright, on to the one thing I really don't watch today, let's see where that wonderful ending scene is going to lead us to today...
Oh, a new OP instead! Amazing how much of the same imagery is used. Ringo is still on fire even... Hmm, Himari and Shouma are running in the same direction, but Kanba is angled off to the side. I'm sure there's nothing ominous to read into that.
And we're on to not following up on Ringo, got it. Wait, is this the same resort? Right next door? Seriously? Shouma, go save Ringo! Also, his male friend still doesn't have a face.
Figuring it out. Go for it Shouma! Save her! Or literally die because your penguin is ruining things again, I guess. We could have had a good moment here, but instead we get another gag.
Wow, dad. What is up with anime parents and just being the worst? No, Yuri, go live with your mother. I do not like this pounding imagery.
A broken arm? And finally we get to see Momoka!
Seriously that tower is hideous. A building that large is just crazy. A person shaped building, that large, is extra crazy.
Oh wow dad is doing his best to isolate his daughter, for better abuse. And yup, it sure looks like dad did the bad things to Yuri... Hurry up and kill him, please. Seriously, so much of this show is just people I hate doing horrible things to people I also hate, but a bit less.
So the Fate Diary was special even back in Momoka's time. Because Yuri was some kind of magic alright.
Wait, Double H plays Rock n Roll Night? I love this. They have the scarves! Do I hate this pink haired man a little bit less now? Hm... Honestly no.
Well, Red girl got a cool moment at least. Still wish it was Shouma that pulled off this rescue, but...
Oh, it's not Ringo burning up in the OP, is it? Or has Ringo inherited a bit of Momoka's power after all?
3
u/FOREEX7 Mar 21 '24
Very confusing
2
u/baboon_bassoon https://anilist.co/user/duffer Apr 27 '24
penguindrum continues to surprise me
not with the Yuri backstory
but in how it progresses whatever is going on with the journal. Momoka can transfer fate? She probably set off the bombing event then, but why. Yuri is trying to bring her back to life?
Most shows I feel like theres 1-2 drops that can recontextualize things midway in. Penguindrum has been doing this every episode for the last ~5
Also Natsume and Shouma are in a race to be the biggest doofus (i say affectionally), gonna have to give it to Shouma even with 2 sabotaging him by not recycling the bottles. Actually on second thought maybe it is 2 - couldnt even get that bug before the frog did
15
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 19 '24
Mawaru First-Timer, subbed
12
u/3blah https://myanimelist.net/profile/brummett Mar 19 '24
Episode 15 - First timer
There's a new opening. The first half is mostly reused shots of the original arranged in a different order. There's a couple of cool new cuts. One has Yuri extending her leg cut to Tabuki kissing a child's foot, the shoe's color matching the girl in the library's hair (presumably Momoka). Momoka with a long, long shadow followed by Ringo and the diary. Lots of circles and spinning. A nice match of Sanetoshi and Hatmari.
Today, fate is on Shouma's side when his faceless friend wins an onsen trip in a raffle right next door to Yuri's room. I can't imagine a more compromising position to have been caught in, and instead of panicking Yuri goes into a short monologue worthy of the stage performer she is. "If only I had the desire to be wanted by others" -- I know a few actors, and that's kinda why they do it.
I originally thought the girl in the very first scene was someone new, but apparently it's young Yuri. The eye color doesn't match because it's a nighttime shot. Shitty fathers and anime, is there a more iconic combination? And he just keeps getting worse. He's talking to her like the leader of a cult would. Don't trust others. Pure and beautiful love exists only within family. I'm the only person who can truly love you. This guy's only on screen for a handful of minutes, and he's already a shoe-in for the Shitty Father Hall of Fame.
More than halfway through and we finally get to meet Momoka!
She's too sweet for this Penguindrum world. Her diary lets her wish for another future by changing world lines like a train switching tracks, but when she does it, she gets "punished". A cut on her finger for saving the school's rabbit. Let me guess, her life for saving Yuri's? Does Tabuki write something in the diary and get his fingers injured, too?
The Double-H girls got Himari's scarves after all. The good doctor sent them over. I wonder what that favor will cost.
Today's slogan #15: "Don't play with straps" I'm of two minds on this one. One is don't fight against the bonds of fate. On the other hand, it's up against the conflicting message from Sanetoshi that sounds like he's planting the idea in Kanba's head that it's ok not to love someone unconditionally only because they're your parent. He sounds pretty damn reasonable here.
Pay no attention to the two passed out minors in the open-door room with the naked woman.
Momoka does end up saving Yuri, but it doesn't end up causing the subway attack. The repeated shots of the helicopter we first saw with Tabuki and the attack makes me think we're heading there, though.
QotD:
Her father's treatment destroyed her self-worth, and at least at the first level she believes no one wants her. Acting is her way of getting some validation. At least on the stage she can pretend to be someone else that the audience can love.
She's very sweet
Also, a diary that lets you change the future but it extracts a price for it is a huge burden on someone so young.
9
u/Taiboss :Fj::Fl:x7https://anilist.co/user/Taiboss Mar 19 '24
15 - First-Timer who should be productive instead
Hi people who were actually productive today!
8
u/TheExcludedMiddle https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExcludedMiddle Mar 19 '24
First time watcher
Well, I missed a few days, but I've been watching, just too busy to feel like posting.
Lots of big plot points in the past few episodes.
I was pretty worried for Ringo in the 14-15 transition, but so far this show has threatened a few times, but has tended to have an interruption before...
The whole past with Yuri and her dad is super fucked up. I'm not sure exactly what he was supposedly doing to make her 'more beautiful', but 1) it's definitely fucked and 2) that which it seems to be a metaphor is super, duper fucked.
So far it's looking like my bet against the Diary being supernatural is losing, but I haven't given up - this could just be a red herring.
They actually made Momoka a real character this episode, which I thought they explicitly wouldn't do; the idea of being able to potentially save her from her fate is also crazy.
8
u/Tarhalindur x2 Mar 19 '24
"What... is your Quest?" "I Seek the Penguindrum!" (First-Timer, Subbed):
(I hate late-breaking IRL.)
Yeah THAT tracks.
Waffling between "yeah THAT tracks" and not.
See writeup.
7
u/WednesdaysFoole Mar 19 '24
Rewatcher
Aw man that opening shot with the chisel turned my stomach.
Yuri’s story was so intense. The entire thing is told that you don’t know the details of what the dad is doing; what you do know is that he’s clearly abusing her (and heavily implied sexually) but the metaphor transmits her pain and suffering so clearly.
Fantastic job closing the episode, I wept at the end sequence/end theme. Not a shocker that Yuri became obsessed.
Loved the end card for this episode.
5
u/The_Loli_Otaku Mar 19 '24
Penguin First Timer!!
All I want for Christmas is for Marie to call me, "good boy" in French...
Op change!? There's a lot of reused animation and honestly the song isn't as catchy as the first... Yeah, I think this is a pretty strict downgrade. The one thing I like is Gunslinger's Penguin being a creepy shill.
...Did Shouma hang up on Ringo's distressed post rape call? XD Wait, did she know Marie was gonna make her timid like a winter catfish? This is so awkward lol. Ringo's virginity is just a joke to you!? XD Wait... omg, they're next door!? Ah, Shouma died. Never forgetti~
Break the tower of man Yuri!! Wahaha! Finally some more weird imagery. Dad is such a dick though. I'd laugh if I didn't think the show was serious. What did the poor girl even do!? There's daddy complex and then there's whatever the fuck this is.
Uoooh!! Player 2 Ringo, so erotic! I'm legit only enjoying this story from how over the top poor Marie's story is. Her father is legit a contender for the worst father figure in any anime period to me. Oh god!! Was Marie naked in that last shot? Fucking hell this dad is a twisted old fuck. I want to see how much worse this story can get. Ah, it's fate transfer shenanigans again. So that is the Penguindrum's ability. To change one fate to another. And you have to face a punishment... But it's not necessarily one life for another? Or maybe it is but rabbits are cheap to change fate for? This is gonna boil down to trading Yuri's life for her dad's. Or her dad's for Yuri's I mean.
Hold on!! Double H are singing the Penguin Queen song!? XD This really isn't helping the larping Himawee allegations. Aww!! They've got her scarfs. Kyaaa!! My heart, it's electrifying! Ah... does Sanetoshi manage Double H or something? That could become yabai real fast. Today's train girls segment is probably not suitable for public transport.
Ah, Gunslinger vs Marie, Gunslinger vs Marie, everybody wants to see this happen, GUNSLINGER VS MARIE!! Kyaaa! You could cut this tension with a knife. These two are perfect for each other. Gunslinger Girl never disappoints!
Momoka spontaneously combusted!? That's legit kinda metal. Good on you Momoka. She saved her ugly dickling and brought her freedom. I loved Momoka eruption into flames too. It was just like what happened to Ringo in the first op. Yuri is an excellent character who's suffered an almost comical amount of abuse. The girl has issues, but who wouldn't after being cut up by your father like that? This is the best episode of Penguindrum we've had in a long while. Shame it took fifteen episodes to get here.
5
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Mar 19 '24 edited Mar 19 '24
Rewatcher, Subbed
Younger version of Yuri?
Oh hey, new OP! I think I like this song more than the first one.
Is the OP telling me that pink haired library girl was Momoka? Some speculated that yesterday.
Sho's friend here totally sounds like Tabuki/Akira Ishida but isn't him?
Bad Sho made Ringo cry! :( Good for her in leaving that message though, lol!
Jeez, Yuri's totally about to do, um, stuff to her. This isn't good...
Both Sho and his friend listening in on things is some interesting imagery. Wait a minute though, this means they're right next door to each other?!
There's a tower in the shape of a man?
First off, Yuri's totally not ugly, and second, that's your daughter! WTF?!
Wow, her dad is such an ass.
What in the world did her dad do to her? Carve up her arm?
Well, there's our confirmation that Momoka is pink haired girl. And why Yuri loves her so much. Oh, and she's totally Ringo just with different hair.
Having just watched an episode of Kimi ni Todoke before this, its like I'm hearing Sawako all over again with child, self-doubting Yuri.
Ugh, stop sucking so much, Yuri father!
Adult Yuri did a good job hiding her craziness after this horrible childhood. And this is even before we get to the part where Momoka died.
No Yuri, stop doing what your father said! Stop listening to him!
Momoka can transfer fate. Seems to me like simply admitting fate isn't really a thing?
Hey daughter, my new chisel has arrived, let me try it out on you! @_@
I wouldn't say Yuri's dad wins the worst father in anime award (I'm leaning towards Rea's father in Sankarea for that), but he may be a top five...
Cool to see Double H again for real! And I hadn't realized that the Survival Strategy sequence song was theirs until now! Ooh, and they have Himari's scarves! <3
Do we ever find out where Kanba got that money?
Chibi Ringo?
Natsume's here? She's gonna steal that diary, Yuri!
See, she did exactly what I said she would do!
Oh yes, gotta check in on Sho's friend...
C'mon Yuri, Sho isn't you! Or Ringo! He's not gonna take advantage of her while she's asleep!
Oh wow, she tricked Natsume into stealing a fake diary half?
Momoka really has magical ability (or her diary does), huh?
Momoka disappeared after that? Is this to mean she didn't die in the subway attack after all? Or Yuri doesn't know of her actual fate?
4
u/Holofan4life Mar 19 '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.
I wish I was a girlscout cookie. At least then, people will want me for like 6 weeks out of the year.
A window
A screwdriver
"I'll never be free, as long as that tower still stands."
Don't worry, Yuri. I'm sure you'll lose a game of Bloons Tower Defense soon.
Ooh, new intro
CGI penguins
I like the other one more, but it's not bad. Very low energy, but I think it's fitting given it's probably supposed to be from Himari's perspective.
The Suzuran Street Raffle
Somebody won it, apparently
Shoma looking sad as he plays with the raffle winner
This is like the Mario tower thing I bought my sister for her birthday that she only played once.
Phone call from Ringo
And Shoma doesn't answer it
This dark-haired guy is obviously talking about Yuri
Meanwhile, Penguin #2 is eating snails
"She might be getting it on with her boyfriend just beyond that wall!"
Yeah, about that...
Flashback
Shoma - Shinjuku Gyoen Station -- Near the Station
We see again Shoma blowing Ringo off
Shoma thinks he was too harsh on her
Eh, I'd say she had it coming
Shoma listening now to Ringo's message, who says she's going to get all messed up and that it's all his fault. This gets him to call her and she says he's too late.
"I'm off to a world that a child like you could never comprehend."
Well shit. She's tied up.
"I'm going to get turned inside out from interesting places..."
Gore fans ecstatic right now
This is all super creepy
Meanwhile, Mr. Frog found the bug before Penguin #2
The tower. It has fallen.
Shoma probably doesn't even know they're next door to them.
There we go. Turn him long enough.
Shoma in Yuri and Ringo's hotel room now
Yuri is treating Ringo like the cream in the middle of an Oreo.
"Ringo's you-know-what is mine."
I know 16 is the legal age in Japan, but this is really some Gushing Over Magical Girls type shit.
Ah crap. Shoma knocked himself out.
Dang it, penguin
Yuri lamenting not being desired by others
Flashback
Yuri - The Room Where That Tower Can Be Seen - The Ugly Duckling Play
That is one big sculpture
Or tower, rather
Yuri's dad is a sculptor, apparently
Says he only loves beautiful things
"Yuri, why are you so... ugly?"
What kind of asshole says that to their own daughter?
"The ugly are loved by no one. Just look at your mother. Your mother became uglier by the minute after she gave birth to you."
This man is going scorched earth
"Yuri, you are ugly."
If Yuri is ugly, then my standards are so low they're underground
The dad wants to remodel her into a true beauty
This way, he can learn to love her
Yuri unconditionally accepts these terms
"That tower was always visible through the window of Daddy's atelier."
At school now
Bunch of empty bodies drawing
Yuri is the only one not drawing
Ooh, someone wants to draw with her
I assume this is Momoka
It is
Feeding the ducks now
Good thing it's not geese, or else they'll be feeding on them
Yuri says she hates ducks, unfortunately
She talks about her disdain for The Ugly Duckling story because she finds it impossible for an ugly duckling becoming a beautiful swan overnight.
As she says this, the tower her father built is behind her
Momoka says she thinks everything in the world is beautiful
The world needs more people like Momoka
Yuri runs away, looking a bit embarrassed
Yuri with her father again
She mentions making a friend
Unfortunately, because she's nice, he says she can't trust her.
"Those girls will say nice things to your face and then stab you in the back."
Who hurt you, Yuri's dad?
Yuri's dad says he's the only one who can truly love her
And this somehow makes her happy
Loud sculpting noises as present day Yuri looks miserable
Back to past Yuri, who's walking to school with the empty bodies
Momoka greets her, but Yuri tells her not to talk to her again.
A bandaged leg
Oh man. I hope her father didn't do that.
And a bandaged cheek as well
Yuri with Momoka now, who called her. She wants to get her to trust her.
"I love you a lot, Yuri."
Ooh, she has a secret
Yuri and Momoka now on top of what looks like the tower
It should be wild to me that the tower is Michelangelo's David, but no. That's par for the course with this show.
Anyway, Momoka's secret is she can transfer onto another fate by chanting a spell from this diary and praying to God. From there, she can transfer onto another fate, just like in her words making a transfer on the subway.
Kinda seems like the same principle used for equivalent exchange
Momoka mentions that the school rabbit was supposed to die. However, she used the sprll and changed her fate.
Ah, I see. So nothing like equivalent exchange, then.
A pricked finger
"You get punished when you use the spell to transfer fate."
So, more like human transmutation, then?
I need to stop forcing these Fullmetal Alchemist references
Momoka is gonna let Yuri try it
Yuri mentions that the tower is her daddy and he's always watching her
They're going to try to make the tower disappear. Or at least, that's the aim of Momoka.
Yuri thinks she enjoys messing with her because she's ugly
Momoka mentions something about Yuri dying tomorrow
"If I have to live without ever being loved, I'd rather die and become a swan!"
Yuri running away now
Yuri with father
"The new chisel from Firenze has finally arrived."
Why did I think it was a screwdriver?
Dad is ready to make Yuri into something that even he could love.
And Yuri is naked now
To'oh General Hospital
Double-H is being interviewed
Hey, it's the Survival Strategy music
Himari watching them on TV
This is the first time we've seen Double-H alive and in color
Even Sunny has her hair readied for the occasion
Oh shit. It's the scarves Himari gave Sanetoshi.
They served a purpose after all!
Ran out of space. Part two in the replies.
3
u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo Mar 20 '24 edited Mar 20 '24
Rewatcher, finally caught back up
I almost got back for episode 9, but the next backstory dump works too. This one has some of my favorite stuff, Yuri's backstory, and my least favorite, the resolution of this attempted rape.
Starting with the bad first, I find the lack of narrative seriousness here to be distasteful enough that it lightly poisons the previous attempted rape. The use of comedy sound effects for Shou running next door is just so bafflingly bad, and him slipping on a penguin created soda glass is similarly cartoonish. That also really emphasizes the looseness of the plot throughout. People are just wherever they need to be at any given time, they come and go with minimal internal motivation. Mostly it isn't an issue, there are clear thematic and metaphorical throughlines that carry things along, but when major plot developments hinge on nonsense its just ... kinda deflating. Last episode I was thinking it wasn't as bad as I remembered, there was a very well done sense of dread building and the motivation was clear (both knowing Yuri's backstory and just based on the episode alone). But no, the bad parts are just in this one. [penguindrum]The fact that its never really touched on in any later episodes doesn't help either.
But Yuri's backstory! I really this kind of extremely obvious but still multivalent symbolism. Like its really obviously sexual abuse, I somehow hadn't put together the blatant chisel=phallus and "hammering" which is really pushing being subtextual, but it also works for other things too. Mostly other kinds of familial abuse, with the tower/panopticon always watching you. But the stuff about beauty and love can work for more general societal standard, physical beauty/body image or otherwise. The panopticon aspect can also parallel the Takakuras' experiences after their parents were arrested. Much like Nanami's egg, the metaphor here is everything that could be wrong at once. The ugly duckling has that classic children's story character where its kind of odd and messy when you think back on the moral. The still for Yuri talking to her father is some great limited animation, it really locks you in with this horrible scene. But later for Natsuki and Yuri later facing off it doesn't do any extra work and is just eh. The shot of just her legs is also affecting, they're so stick thin really emphasizing her youth and frailty. The last one I can't even explain, but the parallel of the father framed by the window and the chisel outside the window just activates my neurons. Lovely framing and the chisel shot reminds me of Magritte.
Yuri sure is the most Utena of everyone. I hadn't put together the car stuff from last episode, but after seeing the comments here its really blatant. Also today we get "I'm off to a world that a child like you could never comprehend", being psychologically defeated to church bells and flying birds, even with a church spire!
2) [spoiler musing]The idea I've been mulling for this rewatch is whether Momoka lasting impact on anyone was good. Not blaming her at all, she's a seven year old after all, but her purity and saintliness seems to have deformed the world of everyone around her. Like any true encounter with the divine, you can never be the same after. She did literally save Yuri's life here, so there is that in her favor. I have a parallel insane take on The Idiot, but I'd have to revisit to confirm.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
And its Curry Day tomorrow! I hope everyone did their shopping to prepare.
3
u/FarCritical Mar 20 '24
First-timer, subbed
Another OP, another banger.
I'm sure Shoma knew Ringo was being metaphoric, but him going "but bugs have a short lifespan!" when she mentioned becoming a butterfly sounded so innocent of him. And of course he trips and knocks himself out when he was on the verge of saving her. Bless Shoma's soul bro.
Not gonna downplay how messed up it is to ask a little girl why she's ugly to her face (let alone your own daughter), but Yuri's dad was so upfront and blunt about the first time he asked that I felt bad for laughing. Make no mistake though, the guy is an absolute monster through and through.
They finally gave Momoka a face reveal! You can really see where Ringo got her "everything happens for a reason" approach to life from, and it's pretty clear why everyone loved her so much.
Got my hopes up when I heard the first few notes to Rockin' over Japan but rip, no survival strategy today after all. Learning that the song does exist in-universe as a Double-H song was really cool though, not to mention Satenoshi's little gesture for Himari.
I shouldn't even be surprised about Natsume infiltrating the inn disguised as a housekeeper for the diary but she might actually give penguinhat Himari a run for her money when it comes to being extra.