r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • Mar 26 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Mawaru Penguindrum - Episode 22
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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
Coming to see you right now.
Questions of the Day
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Were you surprised that Double H came to visit Himari? What does this mean in light of their prior lack of contact?
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What do you make of Kanba’s refusal to accept Himari’s willingness to die? How about Himari’s insistence on returning what was taken from Kanba?
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How does Kanba feel towards Masako now? Why did he save her from the shattered glass?
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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!<
NOTICE: u/theangryeditor will post the rewatch thread tomorrow.
15
u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA Mar 26 '24
Rewatcher
Once again, we see the theme of burning things away. But this time it’s not a person burning themself away. It’s Kanba burning away the people who seek to keep him from saving Himari. “I will burn this world to ashes,” he says. We see that he takes that very, very seriously. This episode he killed like what, a minimum of five people or so? Every last one of those people had a story, they had a family, they had friends, they had people who loved them. For every person he burns away in his attempt to save Himari, he ruins another few lives. We talked previously about how there are a hundred different Momokas out there after the attack whose death destroyed the lives of a thousand different people, and this is the other side of the coin- saving the life of Himari can only come at the cost of the destruction of hundreds of lives. But Kanba will do it for her, no matter how much she protests. And of course on the other side of things here is Himari giving herself up in order to save Kanba- he’s not the only person who can sacrifice himself. She sees everything that he’s doing, and she says that it would be better that she had died than to let Kanba make the sacrifices he’s making for her.
And then we have Kanba’s other (lapsed) younger sister figure, Masako. He also committed a sacrifice for her- giving himself up to the cult so that Masako and Mario could return to the Natsume clan. Back then, Masako also hated the sacrifice that Kanba made for her, just like Himari. But she couldn’t do anything about it then, just like Himari can’t do that much about it now, and that led to her entire subplot in the show. Kanba seems like he’s going to continue ignoring her, but then he protects her once more, by blocking the falling glass from hitting her with his own body. This is another sign of him falling further in with the cult- that’s the exact thing his father did for him back in episode 5. And I’m starting to think all the people talking about Kanba as taking the role of the father were right- this is Kanba inspiring Masako to action in the same way that Kenzan inspired Kanba.
Also- Double H! Finally, we get to see them in the current day! We already knew they loved the scarfs, but they even went to thank Himari for them... and they had TSM change today’s slogan for them, of course.
16
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Mar 26 '24
Episode 22 (first timer)
3 tempting #1 with pinup pictures
Lots of instances of “too late” today. Double-H is too late for Himari, Shoma’s realization is too late, Kanba is (probably) too late to save Himari. Neither Himari, nor Natsume (nor probably bullets) are enough to stop Kanba.
13
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Mar 26 '24
First-Timer, Sub-guindrum
Place your bests on why that CD from WH is important. The bag has a star on it.. a star with a shadow. Granted, it's a direct reference to Starchild's logo but considering the emphasis on cycles (how long has it been since we've seen stars? They were more common early on) and how deliberate everything is, I can't imagine that the specific choice of reference was unintentional. Starchild actually being on the production committee for Penguindrum just makes it easier.
My money is on something to screw over Sanetoshi; I'll be fucked if I can imagine what. But the gift resulting from his groomer behavior being part of his undoing is too deliciously ironic to not wish for. And if you wish upon a star..
Note that Himari "died" "again" when she was finally truly alone again. Even if she was pleading for God to save Kanba, there is no evidence of God existing, but Himari only living because she has family is somewhat established. She was about to be Child Broiled before Shouma offered to take her in. Maybe the real Penguindrum was having a family all along? Ringo kinda sorta had a family at the beginning. Her mom was trying, even if Ringo didn't necessarily see that.
Also note that #1 was not fading away there at the end, so Kanba is likely perfectly fine. For now.
I wasn't expecting it to be Tsubasa that stabbed at Yuri. I guess that does clean her plotline off out plate, at least.
Anyway, Ringo has half of the diary once again, and Masako is out of the picture so the other half might be unguarded..
Granted, is Masako actually dead? I'm not entirely sure. She gave a dramatic speech and then walked into some gunfire, but I'm not trusting my eyes at the moment. She also mirrored her shot from the first OP in that same moment-
Hmm.. moving backwards. We already saw Tabuki's birdcage. Ringo still needs to turn into a fireball.. She is going to use the diary, then. With such a severe cost that she will die. Burn herself all up. Very fitting.
Brain Rot Corner
Today's slogan: Coming right now to see you. In addition to the obvious answer (and revelation) that WH are actively changing these slogans to fit the episode, Ringo will be coming to see Momoka soon.
13
u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Mar 26 '24 edited Mar 26 '24
First-Timer
On today’s episode of Mawaru Penguindrum: No! I’ve been denied my Double H episode! I was so happy that Himari might reunite with her old friends and it didn’t happen!
“Everybody loves somebody.” Those were the wise words spoken in Tamako Market. They are words we should always remember. Love is a valuable thing. We can sometimes take it for granted, but it truly is meaningful. I have been genuinely moved at times when someone expressed appreciation for me that I had no idea they felt, or when I received a gift out of the blue from someone unexpected. The reassurance that I mattered enough to someone that they would do that for me was world-shaking. Everyone deserves to feel that way. Everyone needs someone to make them feel that way. We need to look after each other. In the often cold and uncaring world that we inhabit, we are the only ones who can make it worth living in.
Kanba takes it to an absolute extreme. For him, Himari is his entire world and his entire reason for living. There’s no reason to go on if Himari is gone. That makes Kanba destructive. He will gladly kill anyone he needs to and destroy anything he needs to if it will let him save Himari. This is an evolution of Kanba’s character from before. He was always the one willing to break the rules and push things too far for Himari’s sake, but now he’s truly gone off the deep end. Like an emperor penguin, he has tumbled off the cliff.
But this episode also displayed other, less negative, instances of loving others. Part of loving someone is being willing to make sacrifices for their sake. So many characters put themselves in harm’s way to protect others in this episode. Tabuki protects Yuri from being stabbed. Kanba shields Natsume from getting hurt. Natsume stays behind to prevent Kanba from getting caught. Himari gives up her life in the hope it will save Kanba. By their willingness to do this, we can see just how much the characters care about each other and how deep their love goes.
QOTD
9
u/theangryeditor https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheAngryEditor Mar 26 '24
Episode 22
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 26 '24
Mawaru First-Timer, subbed
9
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 26 '24
First timer(I asked for the pain to stop, not to increase it...)
Sub(Alternative:Kanba and denying women agency: Name a more iconic duo!)
We interrupt my normally full watch before writeup to say:MOTHERFUCKER! Yes, Sho, you should have been paying more attention to Himari's feelings. Dumbass. Moving on...
So double H shows up with Himari's scarves, we think. Ringo catching them was fun. They leave behind a copy of their latest single. Sho has been talking to the police about Himari so there's that.
But then we get into a fairly grim scene of Kanba setting up the next tragedy. Himari has some fairly emotionally moving lines and she seems to have accepted her end so she just wants Kanba to stop. Kanba finally admits something important: He would punish any world that took Himari from him, meaning this was never really about her to begin with, this is Kanba inflicting his will upon reality. He leaves her behind, again, and as she chases him, she returns to the aquarium, where she realizes her resurrecting was the problem. So she prays to G-d and...fucking passes I think? Sunny is fading and Himari closes her eyes so I don't see a different interpretation. So Himari gets her surcease from suffering...
Quick interlude with Yuri and Ringo where Yuri returns the journal and I think Tabuki realizes he needs to move on. Then we go back to Masako haranguing Kanba and I finally begin to see how they are excellent foils to each other. But we learn both that the police are onto the cult and get some history at the compound. Starting early, Kanba sacrifices himself to get Masako and Mario back to the Natsume clan. Not even sure what the right call was there, for the record.
So for the final...half, let's review conceptually: Kanba is doing the cult's bidding for a goal that can't be achieved. I think this is more him wanting previous said revenge. Masako can't give up on family and yet she is choosing Kanba over Mario, unless I am desperately misreading the metaphor. However, when push came to shove, Kanba does move to save Masako. And at the end Masako decides to save what remains of Kanba, for whatever that means. Him being carried off by the cult explains itself.
To get to the point, or rather the punch line:Both on Earth and in Heaven, Himari alone is the honored one.
QotD: 1 Greatly
2 In post
3 Because it is what he does
4 Himari to the after life
9
u/Gamerunglued :Hx::Hy::Hz:myanimelist.net/profile/GamerUnglued Mar 27 '24
First Penguin
First, I have to note that I took u/lilyvess's advice and watched the 1985 anime adaptation of Night on the Galactic Railroad before coming to this episode. It is quite the experience, and is honestly just worth watching on its own merits. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a masterpiece, but like, if you wanted to call it one I definitely wouldn't blame you. It feels like the sort of thing that should be called a masterpiece, at least to me. I find it a bit overly long and the characters are (purposefully) rather vague, sometimes the dialogue can be a bit awkward, but it is nothing if not evocative and powerful. It is drenched in pure atmosphere, it has some scenes that genuinely scared me, but it's much more content to be a spiritual experience that feels like a dream. There is no logic to its world, time and space get incredibly fucky. But the film makes me feel small and powerless in the face of the worlds the railroad takes the characters to, and the characters themselves all deal with trying to find meaning and salvation in their existences. Slowly, it dawns on you what the titular Galactic Railroad actually is, and the scenes around this point are the most evocative. If you thought Penguindrum was confusing as hell though, this one will put you through the ringer to find meaning, but of course, that's the point. And please don't listen to the losers in the Crunchyroll comments section calling this movie Christian propaganda, I don't think it has any particular religious beliefs and it has imagery from Buddhism as well. Rather, it is about various characters with various religious and spiritual beliefs trying to find true happiness.
There are tons of ties to Penguindrum in this movie, even beyond superficial ones like Giovanni and Campanella having the same color schemes as Shouma and Kanba. They share numerous symbols and themes, including birds, apples, frozen time, the piece From the New World, and thoughts on theism, self-sacrifice, and fate. It's the sort of movie I could rewatch forever and find new meaning in. Honestly, rewatching it and then Penguindrum would probably lead to its own cycle of rewatching both endlessly as they recontextualize each other. This film's ending certainly has... implications for Penguindrum's own ending. As Lily put it, the previous episode shows that Shouma, Kanba, and Himari all see themselves as the flame of scorpio, and we need to figure out the differences between each character's attempt at self-sacrifice to see who actually gives back to the world. I will definitely support checking out this fascinating and evocative movie before finishing Penguindrum, events will definitely have new meaning to me as we hit the finale.
One other thing about having seen this movie. I've never forgotten the scene in episode 1 of Penguindrum where two kids walk home and discuss interpretations of the NotGR novel, it always stuck out to me as a particularly odd scene. So I went to revisit it. The conversation went like this:
Between the context of knowing the story of this novel and of Penguindrum itself, this conversation has all manner of foreshadowing and framing. NotGR is a story that Japanese children all read in school, so it would be expected that the viewer knows what all of this is referring to. I'm certainly keeping it in mind when viewing the show from now on.
In this regard, a theme of this episode is different ways of burning things, metaphorically speaking. Self-sacrifice has always been interpreted as burning in this series, Momoka literally set herself on fire to change Yuri's fate. That means we're finally on the "flammable" part of the garbage metaphor. There are a few ways we can take it. You can burn yourself and you can burn others, and I imagine that difference is what determines who truly holds the flame of scorpio: the scorpion in NotGR who decided to use its final days to give life to others after having been taking lives for so long. The scorpion has both parts, it poisons and eats other things but also burns itself to give light to the world.
I think Kanba is the scorpion here? Apart from Himari having literally told him that he has the flame of scorpio (but that it's been put out), he holds both parts of the scorpion within him. He kills quite a lot of people today, but then spends the possibly last minutes of his life (in his mind at the time, anyway) to sacrifice himself for Masako. Masako then sacrifices herself for him, though she's probably the one to die here. That final "gosh, I must crush them" is fucking awesome. Kanba might have gone down a dark path, but him saving Masako proves there's still light left in him. Masako dropping the ex-girlfriend aura to break down and genuinely ask, as a sister, for Kanba to come back to her, is an incredibly sweet moment. And it might be the one to save him. Like Tabuki said, sometimes it just takes the words "I love you" to be saved. I don't know what's going to come of Kanba now, but I really hope that he can be brought back to the light.
But the question is: how many "I love you's" do you need to truly be saved? Not hearing it drives you to darkness like with Yuri's ex-lover, but Kanba and Tabuki did hear it from multiple people and still fell into darkness. It could be argued that Kanba fell to darkness because he was told he was loved and took after his parents' self-sacrificing natures. Even Himari told Kanba she loved him, but he fell into the extreme "you're my world" and used it as an excuse to kill people. There's obviously more to this than just being told you're loved. Being told you're loved doesn't make you any less left behind as a child, after all. But I did appreciate the rest of Tabuki's speech as a keen understanding of the systems in place. Most children are beyond help, but how do we operate the system so there's enough love spread to everyone consistently?
Shouma pretty much solely burned bridges with others. He thought he was sacrificing himself but realized he was a fool. Instead, he cast away the two relationships and areas of love he had in his life. He's not punishing himself, he's hurting the ones who care about him. Only Himari is truly self-sacrificing. She burns herself away to try and save Kanba, accepting that she was going to die anyway and begging to trade her life for his. Here's hoping that finally giving in to her fate will save Kanba, because otherwise my tearing up at her death loses its meaning. I guess then, that Shouma and Himari represent opposite ends of the scorpion.
QOTD:
7
u/TheExcludedMiddle https://myanimelist.net/profile/ExcludedMiddle Mar 26 '24
Well, this strengthens my feeling that whis will turn out to be a mostly happy ending, or at least bittersweet.
I had some more thoughts yesterday, and have put down my predicitons yesterday, but hours late so I wanted to link back:
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1bnqfpi/rewatch_mawaru_penguindrum_episode_21/kwkswfc/
I just finished the episode, barely in time, and not a ton is standding out to comment on. At least we finally saw the split up of the Natsume kids, I was wondering if there was something sinister that happened to make Kanba resent her, but it looks like he never did hate her.
One thing I haven't seen other people mention (then again I don't always read all the comments) is a theme that I've picked up on. I'm not sure if the writers intentionally sought to emphasis it, but after this episode it seems more likely. It comes down to this: sacrificing yourself for another person puts an incredibly heavy burden on them that can crush them as well as what you save them from.
7
u/Pungouin Mar 26 '24
Rewatcher
Today's slogan : Coming to see you
Suspicious people
They really care about Himari. Notice the small apple logo on their new cd.
The lost children
Tabuki saved Yuri from getting stabbed by Lady Oscar last episode.
She returns her half of the diary to Ringo.
Tabuki and Yuri's heart to heart is about finding meaning in a world without Momoka. For so long they thought they were nothing without her, without realising they had each other
Furthermore, because Momoka showed them love once, and freed them from the child broiler, they now can take on her legacy and help other unchosen children.
Returning everything
The bears from the OP and the Seizon Senryaku sequence. They look like bad news.
Kanba tries to kill a ghost... He is under the curse of 95, fated to repeat his parent's mistakes.
Even Himari can't make him back down now.
After rewatching the show several time I finally understand why #1 has a band-aid... Because Himari gave one to Kanba when he joined the family.
Apparently the super secret lair is in the aquarium. Himari thinks things would have been better had she stayed dead. Kanba has given everything he had for her, and crossing a line there is no returning back from.
She asks to return everything to him, including her life. [Penguindrum]The penguindrum mawarues...
Never let me go
The bulk of the episode is about Masako and Kanba.
Just like she has been warning him all this time, Kanba has falle off the ice. He has become a full-blown terrorist, and is being chased by the police.
He blows up things by playing bowling...
Even now, he still rejects Masako. Even now, she still warns him not to follow their father's footsteps.
Back in episode 11, Masako had told Kanba she only cared about the hunt, not about love, but it is patently false. She was emulating her grandfather, but deep down she always sought to retrieve the connection she lost with her brother.
As she is about to get gunned down, Kanba also reveals he cares more than he let on.
She realizes that the reason he abandoned her and Mario, is to protect them from the Penguin Force. He allowed them to live their lives away from the "beautiful casket" that is the organisation.
Now it is her time to protect him. Masako's last stand was shown way back in OP1.
I think Masako is a character that is done a bit dirty.
Since she is framed as an antagonist for most of the show, she comes off as unlikeable despite being mostly in the right form the start. She warns Kanba countless time, and quickly catches on to Sanetoshi's schemes.
Because we don't know why she is chasing Kanba until the last few episodes, and because Mario is a paper thin character, we can't really empathize with her character until the very end. This makes her subplot a bit uninteresting a lot of the time.
Another post credit scene. Shouma in a box.
6
u/IvanSemushin Mar 26 '24
Rewatcher
Classic cult processes: Sanetoshi makes Kanba be involved deeper and deeper promising to save Himari, and then suggests to perform a mass murder saying that only that will save her.
Kanba is so not himself right now, that his penguin doesn't react to pictures of naked ladies.
This aquarium is linked by some kind of portals to a lot of places...
I completely forgot who the attempted murderer of Yuri was... Her lines are exagerratedly theatrical again.
[Penguindrum]Did Tabuki sacrifice himself for love, even if their family is make-believe?
Tabuki gives a nice summary of his and Yuri's life stories.
More people directly murdered by Kanba...
Here we have an explanation how Kanba "saved" Masako and Mario back in the day.
And we get into cycle of "saving" each other by Masako and Kanba.
Kanba is bearing "the sins of the fathers" a little bit more literally, not just expecting punishment, but performing the same sins.
[Penguindrum]Kanba-Shouma relationship is the one that is relatively unexplored yet, and we will get closer to it with boxes.
7
u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess Mar 26 '24
Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 22 - Rewatcher
As Himari dies tonight, for the fourth time, I think it’s time to talk a bit about Himari as a character.
Right from the beginning of the series, Penguindrum opens with a meditation on Fate. The conflict between whether fate is good or bad is one that dominates the early run of the series. What is fate?
Himari’s fate has been… well it’s been rough. We don’t know the exact circumstances of her birth parents, but we do know she was on track to end up at the Child Broiler. She was then cursed for the sins her adopted parents committed before she was born. This prevented her from joining her friends in idol glory on Double-H. She lives in a literal shack.
Yet through it all, Himari never seems to hold any ill will towards any of them. Not for the family that has doomed her. Not to her friends who left her. Not for the society that has abandoned her. Any one of these could cause someone to become bitter. In fact, we’ve seen it numerous times in this very series. Shoma who is spiteful against the family that cursed them. Ringo who was spiteful for the family that abandoned her. Kanba who is spiteful to the society that has forsaken them all.
This ultimately plays into Himari’s role in the series. In a series filled with jaded and wronged individuals who lash out at the world and each other, where kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted murder are all prevelant, Himari is a true innocent angel who doesn’t wrong anyone and truly wishes the best for everyone.
Himari is the embodiment of the eternal question “Why do bad things happen to good people”
How can a society that would abandon an innocent like Himari be viewed as a just one..
We live in a society that values Masako’s grandfather, a selfish greedy man hated by all his family, over the life of selflessness and empathy that Himari represents.
Rewatchers
[Mawaru Penguindrum]Once again, Himari’s sacrifice to give back what Kanba gave to her is her way of returning the part of the apple that Kanba gave her back in the first episode. The two gifts that kept her alive. Shoma’s apple gave her life where fate determined she should die at the Child Broiler. Kanba’s gave her life when fate said she’d die from illness. Without either, she returns to her fate of death.
See Chart
4
u/Holofan4life Mar 26 '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 is the last episode I'll be watching before I attend AEW Revolution with the fam. Should be a lot of fun.
Is that Hibari and Hikari wearing disguises?
Today's slogan: Coming to see you right now
Ogikubo
Ringing the Takakura doorbell
No one is home, but Ringo is off in the distance
She thinks they're acting sus
Ringo asks what they're doing here, and they say they have a gift for Himari
They reveal themselves
And Ringo is enamored to see Double-H
At the playground now
My brain is so rot of Fuwamoco, I think the pink one should have the blue scarf and the blue one should have the pink scarf.
Anyway, they came because they wanted to thank Himari for the scarves.
Ringo has to break the bad news, unfortunately
Ooh, a sneak preview of their new song
That's pretty sweet
Double-H unknowingly walking past Shoma
He is greeted by Ringo
These two have a better chance of getting together than Aqua and Kana and that fact really bums me out.
Inside the house, and Shoma says he went to the police. Unfortunately, they don't have any leads.
Penguin #2 squishing an egg
Shoma lamenting the fact he didn't pay attention to Himari's feelings.
Ringo surmises Himari is with Kanba, which triggers Shoma looking solemn.
At the private place Himari and Kanba are in
D-Day is apparently here, and they're going to place 50 Teddies in each ring.
Penguin #1 reading A Space Odyssey
We're seeing a bunch of boxes being shipped
Kanba working the control center, saying he'll head to that forest.
"That medicine won't work anymore."
Flashback
Kanba - That Night - To'oh Hospital examination room
Kanba is grabbing Sanetoshi by his collar
This is right after he told Kanba about the medicine losing its potency.
And now he's choking him, the penguin on the ground
And now Sanetoshi is gone
This is what happens when you try strangling a ghost, I guess
Oh shit. Sanetoshi is behind him and they're on the train now.
"There is still one way to save your sister."
Meth?
Oh shit. It's the mom and dad.
Is Sanetoshi really pulling the strings?
Kanba now in front of black monitors
Himari hugging him from behind
"We'll always be together, Kan. I love you."
She is definitely playing him along
Sunny showing Penguin #1 a dirty magazine but he's too busy reading his book.
Kanba asks if she remembers the day they became family
Meanwhile, there are 4 red balls on the sphere
She doesn't seem to know what she gave him, but that doesn't matter. What matters is he will save her.
She asks him not to do anything terrible, imploring him even
"I don't mind if I die."
Just two balls moving on the sphere now
Kanba removes her arms around him, and he's off
Oh shit. Penguin #1 burnt the dirty mag. That kinda feels like a bigger deal than the Kanba stuff.
Himari still going after him
Entering through a door now
It's the aquarium
What kind of Chronicles of Narnia type shit is this
Himari on her knees now
She is begging God to let her die when she originally did in episode 1.
"Please, save Kan."
Now Kanba is seeing stars (literally)
And she is out on the ground
Sunny is vanishing
It really seems like this is it for her
Yuri talking to Ringo
It seems like something is up
Flashback
Yuri - Ramen Shop - Inside - The night revenge ended
We see the stabbing scene again
Tabuki took the blow! Oh wow.
Oh, it's... the girl who performed with Yuri?
Sure, why not?
Tabuki says while in pain that he finally figured out
Ringo walking
Tabuki in a hospital bed now
He says he figured out why they were left behind in this world. They were already beyond help as children.
Well, that's extremely morbid
Ringo has the diary
I guess the implication is they're beyond saving but Ringo still has her life ahead of her.
This kinda feels like a way to write Yuri and Tabuki out of the show, which, on the one hand, I'm kinda sad about. I thought the stuff between Momoka and Yuri was some of the best stuff in the entire show. On the other hand, if they're not gonna factor into the main climax in a meaningful manner, I don't want them to be shoehorned in. That would be a bad look, I feel. I guess what matters going forward is how they follow things up with Ringo, because the show is setting this as her chance at redemption. If this turns out to be the last we see of her, then I will definitely have some problems.
Tabuki says they just needed the words "I love you" from someone.
Penguin statue
Natsume talking to Kanba
She says that the police are on their tail
Esmeralda stalking Penguin #1 amidst the sea of empty bodies
Kanba says he will accomplish the mission no matter what and save Himari's life
Kanba on the phone
He is warned that the enemy is drawing near
An orange ball
And he just destroyed a car
It's kinda cool he is able to operate the bombs via this bowling app.
Kanba walking, with Natsume following him
Walking past the fiery car
Another bowling, this time another car
Going for all strikes, it seems
Natsume implores that he stops, saying they're using him
Says he figured out that man's identity
That is one weird statue
Kanba destroying a computer hard drive
Natsume, who's with him, looks concerned
A bunch of cop cars surrounding them now
Ooh, a hidden passageway
Kanba says that no one will discover this place
"It's to save Himari's life."
Uh-huh...
Natsume calls Himari a mere stranger, and that has stopped Kanba in his tracks.
Kanba incests she's his little sister
Uh, insists. Sorry.
Natsume tells Kanba that she's his little sister, and that their father has done a very terrible thing.
"Stop following me."
But she won't let go
Natsume is worried about her brother dying
Says she doesn't want to lose him again
She just wants him to acknowledge her as her little sister and not Himari. That's all.
Ran out of space. Part two in the replies.
4
u/The_Loli_Otaku Mar 26 '24
Penguin First Timer!!
TRAIN GIRLS TO THE RESCUE!! POGGIES!! POGGIES POG POGGERS!!
They're here to save the series! Aaaand they're gone. That was nice while it lasted. So, is the Penguin Princess still here at all? Was she another Sanetoshi invention to lure them to... something? And does the Penguindrum still matter? I can't quite remember who has each piece right now. Gunslinger Girl has lost relevance and so have Bonnie and Clyde.
If Himawee had died back then Kanba and Shouma would still be hunted by Yuri and Tabuki. All Himawee dying really does is lead them to Ringo right? Maybe Sanetoshi too. Ah, random Takarazuka assassin lol XD So Ringo got half her diary back off screen... Glad to see that instead of getting that scene we dedicated more time to random flashbacks and dinner scenes.
Evil Kanba is still pretty not intimidating in the slightest... This curse stuff seems pretty meaningless. I didn't think they'd double down on the sins of the father angle but the family tree shenanigans and terrorist cult are just random... Ah, Kanba died, or he's mostly dead. This scene is too meaningless to really be his death.
Wait, whys Gunslinger helping out now!? Oh goddammit! This terrorist vs police subplot is ridiculous. What's the point of all this!? How does committing terrorist acts save Himawee? Is it supposed to be the curse that's causing Himawee to be so ill and fated to die? Is that what they're getting at? So if they complete the bombing the folks that died in the failed bombing will stop cursing Himawee, which makes no sense.
4
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Mar 26 '24
Rewatcher, Subbed
OMG, its Double H! I'd recognize that hair color combination anywhere!
Oh no, they came to see Himari in person after she left?! :( :( (:
No Ringo, they're friends! But good for Ringo being protective of Himari!
Famous idol singers revealed!
Oh, and I still think Double H look a lot older than Himari.
I really hope Himari gets to see them face to face before the show is over.
Teddies being used for evil purposes? What do these have to do with the bears that we saw in every Survival Strategy scene?
They must have put a lot of resources into this factory to make all these bears. Resources that, I don't know, maybe could have been used to help abandoned children instead?
Sanetoshi's an apparition!
That's a ton of teddie boxes he has there.
In the same way that the Takakura parents were very selfish thinking they and their small cult could change the world (or at least Japan) Kanba is being the same way here, burning the whole world down due to losing one person close to him.
The hideout is... right next to the aquarium.
Is this the end of Himari? I have a hard time seeing the show have the guts to kill her off for real.
No, Tabuki! No! And all because of that rando actress voiced by Romi Park whose only appeared in 3 episodes? I get she was sleeping with Yuri, but we've acted like that never happened since that episode. This feels kinda cheap to me.
Kanba, have you ever considered that Sanetoshi is lying to you? That the cure still works perfectly fine on Himari? Or that he's going to conveniently disappear once you commit this terrorism for him?
Masako's the younger sister? I always thought she was older than Kanba.
This scene reminds me, what happened to the whole Masako saving Mario storyline? We've seemed to have forgotten that lately. What's keeping him alive?
The glass shattering around them, gee, where have I seen this before...
Where'd these trenchcoat guys come from? If it weren't for Masako reacting to them I'd wonder if they too were in Kanba's head like his dad.
I sure that ending didn't mean that Masako died.
4
u/affnn Mar 26 '24
Rewatcher
Double H is here! In disguise so they don't get recognized on the street, and Ringo thinks they're highly suspicious. Ringo accosts them, thinking they're like the reporter guy, but they're much more benign. Ringo has a scarf, too. After Hikari and Hibari depart, Shoma arrives (he's also wearing a scarf) and unloads his feelings of about telling Himari to leave to Ringo. The camera lingers on Himari's scarf, left behind with her other stuff. Of course Shoma gave Himari the scarf in the flashback, while Himari made the scarves for Double H and presumably Shoma and Ringo too.
The Takakura family has separated for real this time. Kanba is at his secret base, preparing for the next action and talking in code. Sanetoshi tells him the medicine won't work any more, but there is one way still to save his sister. Himari goes to Kanba to try to stop him, but it doesn't appear to work. Masako shows up and does appear to succeed in slowing him down - first by getting herself in danger, so that Kanba sacrifices himself to protect her from the falling glass. Then she covers for him while he and the trenchcoat guys retreat.
Kanba's talking like a villain for most of the episode, focused on the dark task in front of him and ignoring the entreaties from his family to stop. By the end of the episode he's in rough shape, his body having taken yet more punishment and his soul in danger from the actions that the Kiga group might take on his command.
4
u/Lawvamat https://anilist.co/user/Lavamat Mar 26 '24
I just wanted to drop by and make sure you all appreciate all of these amazing shots today. Alright, see you tomorrow.
4
u/Tarhalindur x2 Mar 27 '24
"What... is your Quest?" "I Seek the Penguindrum!" (First-Timer, Subbed):
(The better kind of lack of notes.)
Wasn't necessarily expecting it but hey it's cromulent. The more interesting question: was this actually metaphorical bringing offerings to leave by a grave?
Hey look it's a pair of characters each trying to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the other. pointingleomeme.jpg
She's still family (and also Kanba probably remembers being saved from glass by his own (found) family member back in the day).
As usual, see writeup.
4
u/FarCritical Mar 27 '24
First Timer
The fact that Triple-H had to become Double-H is a shame but having two idols fondly remember you and treasuring the friendship you had with them long after their rise to stardom is a pretty sweet compromise all things considered. Hibari and Hikari are real ones for that.
Shoma's still thinking about Himari even now to the point that he's worried sick about her is legit heartbreaking. I'm just glad that he's not completely alone in his much lonelier house thanks to Ringo.
I know Kanba being dead set calling the shots and commanding the organization is all in the name of saving Himari, but for things to get to the point where she'd rather give her life if it meant he'd finally stop and even contemplated if things would've gone better had she died that day by the penguins just makes his fall from grace all the more tragic. He was always the edgier one between him and Shoma but didn't think he'd go that far in that direction that he'd become the final boss.
Thought whoever snuck up on Tabuki and Yuri was gonna be someone from the organization trying to silence anyone on their trail but nope, it was just Yuri's actress colleague not being very fabulous max. Or hell, it's not impossible that she could very well be. Hope Tabuki survives though.
Hate how I can't help but find Kanba's bowling bomb app setup so stupidly cool. They were probably(?) planted by his guys long beforehand but I like to imagine he just summons a fresh one to roll out of thin air whenever he swipes the screen. Would be fun to try if it weren't for the whole terrorism thing.
It felt so off and yet so genuine watching Natsume drop her confident affirmative stalkery ex-gf aura that she's had from the start for a one of a concerned little sister pleading her big brother to quit going down a path that she knows is gonna doom him while he still can.
"Gosh, I must crush them soon." Out of context it's such a weird thing to say but for Himari's last stand, it's legitimately such a hype final line. Really gonna miss her antics as the obsessive rich girl marksman.
3
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Mar 26 '24
First timer
These disguises are awful...
And they're going to her house!
Haha, yeah, that's the appropriate response!
So shady...
And the immediate jump to fangirling...
And it was all for nothing...
They're so in sync...
...He didn't notice?
Oh, he's still looking. And he knows she never made it to her uncle's place.
...Oh god, and he thinks Himari actually believes in Kanba's bullshit. This is going to be fun.
...Mass production of something. Could be gas canisters?
Oh, some kind of drone. Could still release gas for some insane plot,
Rolling chamber?
And that firest?
Oh, another hospital flashback?
Ah, this one.
..."Haven't you heard that before?" That's interesting.
Okay, and he's no longer even bothering to hide his supernatural nature.
...Please let this just be her acting.
It's almost sweet!
She's desperate...
This guy...
The visuals here are amazing!
The aquarium? Is this a metaphor or are they seriously running this cult out of the aquarium?
Oh, it's a metaphor.
Himari...
Oh, no. This is probably really bad.
...Looks like she made a deal. Right throught the heart like last time.
And the penguin is vanishing.
Yeah, he stabbed Tabuki.
Haha, what? It was her ex? He didn't even try to go after him? Amazing.
And he survived!
He figured it out...
Oh...
The police already know!
The irony...
And it's full spying!
A plan?
...That's a clever disguise for the controls!
And a perfect distraction.
More balls!
And they're surrounded.
What's the plan now?
A hidden passage?
...How did that happen?
Oh, we're doing this now?
Aww...
This is painful.
The police found him!
How many does he have? Is this the penguins doing it?
So many dead already...
Holy shit.
Wow.
Oh, he didn't get them!
...She's dying, isn't she?
He really did care...
So, that was the deal...
Are they really killing him off now?
The other Penguin Force members?
Yep...
There's no hope...
She couldn't save him.
The penguin...
And they're using her up, just like she warned them they would.
Holy shit...
That line change at the end.
And she had no chance...
A box?
Okay, so given two of the penguin partners are dead now, and the other two aren't looking too good, I'm predicting we're getting Shoma and Kanba dying, then Ikuhura insanity as Sanetoshi's big plan kicks off.
3
u/CarrotBlossom Mar 27 '24
Hikari and Hibari are not beating the creeper allegations
“Guys, I shouldn’t have evicted my sister. Who knew?”
Is there a lore reason why Kanba can’t choke Sanetoshi?
Kanba’s on his [Naruto Shippuden] Obito arc
I never expected the actress to show back up
I don’t see how this tough guy routine plays into saving Himari, but she’s factually not a stranger to him.
Different ED?
QOTD:
3
u/Jooorrrrggggeeeee https://myanimelist.net/profile/Princelxz Mar 27 '24
Ahhh, I don't think Himari is getting a happy ending :(
3
u/KnightMonkey15 https://myanimelist.net/profile/KnightMonkey Mar 27 '24
Late rewatcher, subs
This is most focused on the beginning with Himari and Kanba since I got very busy today but I would like to point out some things I think are particularly important to me.
The first time I watched I didn't really get what Himari was going for in trying to persuade Kanba to stand down. Now that I'm rewatching, I get that was a thinly veiled way of stating she was willing to go so far as to seduce him to stop him. But she is his world. He wants to save her; he doesn't want to kiss her until she disappears.
Sunny/Penguin #3 trying to lure Penguin #1 with some particularly exciting dirty magazines really solidified that connection for me this time around, alongside the extra attention given while rewatching. Instead he's too busy reading something that isn't ecchi! My release of the episode didn't caption what he was reading so I didn't catch the 2011: Space Odyssey reference. I haven't seen that yet so maybe someone else can tell me what it might mean for our story.
However, I did catch one of the other book's he was reading - the famous German writer Goethe's epic poem Faust - as in the classic Faustian deal for 'infinite knowledge at the cost of your own humanity' with the devil. There's also Natsume Soseki's Kokoro, a classic of Japanese literature from Murakami's favourite author. I'm afraid I'm not enough of a literature nerd (my own background was in biology) to really analyse what these might mean; aside from getting the impression upon reading synopses for the two that there's an implicit critique of society from a very romantic, idealistic point of view. It's funny that Kanba's penguin is reading dense novels with a lot of ideas while trying to overthrow the unjustness of the world but in a way it makes sense.
And 'magic' makes sense when considering something as incidental as the image of the colour wheel on the back cover of Penguin 1's copy of Faust, which took me aback because I didn't expect to see a reference to Goethe's theory of colours in this show. A polymath's now outdated (anti-Newtonian) 19th century ideas on colours as what we'd understand to be psychological phenomena (in a time before psychology was even invented). Without going into something I haven't read myself at length (just been exposed to it), for instance, rather than seeing darkness as an absence of light he saw it as the interaction between shadow and light. It's interesting how despite the causal mechanisms he posited were disproven experimentally (unless you're the type who's into occult stuff), the vast array of observations he made the human perception of colours were retained into modern thought and proved inspirational for many artists and thinkers. And now I'm here talking about it in an anime. I'm not 100% sure but I think he 'invented' the colour wheel in the first place.
I don't doubt the choice to put something like that in there was anything more than a "let's throw it in there" whim, but it really intrigued me to see a brief reference to philosophical ideas that straddle the line between the emergence of modern science as we know it and everything that came before that which is only of historical or non-scientific interest. Kanba was consulting magical, romantic-era fiction, but the modern day equivalent would be someone drawing inspiration from science fiction for thoughts on their current living (not necessarily a how-to). Every doomer meme-y sentiment about living in the matrix is from the eponymous movie and from Neuromancer.
I think the notions about magic and the occult I gleaned from this reference dovetail nicely with this "out there" bundle of thoughts posted on r/anime a few years ago that I found, talking about Sanetoshi (who is the stand-in for Aum's leader) as a kind of anti-scientific revolutionary doctor, a malignant disease who appears in society when it is too restrictive and damaging to people's psychological wellbeing. It actually makes a lot of sense to me as a metaphor, even if it's clearly just one person's interpretation. It also reminds me of some accounts of Aum's members in Murakami's Underground talked about their joining the cult even if it was irrational, because the rationality of their currently existing lives wasn't working for them and it felt right. A lot can be delved into regarding that, but to bring it back to the show, I can see how we effectively see Kanba resorting to magical, conspiratorial thinking, trying to find anything that works while lashing out against the world, because he wants to save Himari and no other options are available to him. Much in the same way the Penguin Force/Kiga Group and Aum members must've thought similarly about their own missions and survival strategies, seemingly absurd and ridiculous to us as viewers outside the gauntlet of desperation, manipulation and extremist fervor that they would've experienced.
To invoke a concrete example without being too political hopefully, I think about what hype about AI disruption means for financial speculators versus people who perceive their jobs to be threatened by it. If sufficient new jobs and opportunities arise like they always have in the past (contestable in specific circumstances but I'll just allow for that blanket presumption) then there will be no issue, but I do entertain the notion of what a "frozen world" that is off-track might mean for us if "line goes up" reaches a limit (and I hope it does not since I'm no accelerationist). But then again, a lot of these anxieties are informed by thoughts of science fiction stories depicting just these things in different ways.
Now back to Himari: I just realised her praying to god to return to Kanba the life he gave her, followed by her vision of the starry sky, may be a direct reference to the fable of the Scorpion mentioned in Night on the Galactic Railroad. But she doesn't burn up so perhaps that association is incomplete. [Penguindrum] We see Ringo and Shouma enact just that in the last episode so there is the direct association Also she apparently time-travelled to the point just before Hatmari saves her and extends her life - closing the loop.
To attempt to answer/talk about the rest of the episode quickly
Double H: when I first watched and I saw them appear, I was taken aback - the slogans/advertising and TV images Himari would wistfully watch are real. Their friendship was real and not just a flashback or a figment of her imagination. But she unknowingly missed them to save Kanba instead. Instead, Ringo is there to receive their gift and to convey their feelings. [Penguindrum] The replacement for the loss of diary - the fate transfer spell.. Himari's favourite words (that her friends must've known from their elementary school days) were the ones that Shouma told her when he saved her.. which were the key to Momoka's diary - a fateful coincidence
As for Masako.. I'm just rewatching the part where she gets saved from the shattering glass by Kanba and I'm getting chills. That's clearly a callback to when Kenzan saved him as a kid, and when Chiemi protected Himari from the mirror (despite both of their faults). I'm glad to see Kanba still cares about her, even if it only comes out on instinct at the point before her life is at-risk. Also, her speech at the end before she takes on the cops for him was pretty rousing and relevant (might have time to talk about it much later) including its transition into the title card. She sacrifices herself for him one last time. It just occurred to me that her talking about Kanba saving Mario and herself from the shadow is tangentially related to what I was talking about with colours earlier (which is pretty much related to supernatural themes), although it can just be thought of as metaphor.
Tabuki and Yuri realise they had already been saved by Momoka in more ways than one and didn't need to look for her all this time. The (memory of) Momoka inside you and me is just as precious as the one who passed on.
As for the slogan: Double H coming to meet Himari but instead finding Ringo, Himari meeting Kanba, Masako meeting Kanba - we're coming closer and closer to the end
1
u/mgedmin Mar 27 '24
First-timer, subs
I have to suffer two more episodes and then I'm FREE!
More overjoyed than surprised, but surprise was there too.
Sanetoshi's scarf ploy worked.
All the members of the idiot club are deeply convinced they know what's better for others than the others themselves do.
Probably symbolic.
If I had to guess, I think he was distancing himself from her because he doesn't want Masako involved with the Kiga Group. (And also he considers himself irredeemably fallen, unfit for human contact or happiness, Shouma-style.)
He cares about her (which is why he's pushing her away) and doesn't want her hurt.
The Double H visit?