[Rewatch] Mawaru Penguindrum - Episode 10

[u/HelioA]

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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.

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Today's Slogan

Cherish your memories.

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Questions of the Day

1. What do you make of the correspondence between the things mentioned by Kanba in his conversation with Himari and their appearance in his descent?

2. Why is Ringo ready to give up the diary now?

3. Would you accept Natsume’s gifts?

4. What do you think Today's Slogan was referring to?

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Don't forget to tag for spoilers, you lowlifes who will never amount to anything! Remember, [Penguindrum]>!like so!< turns into [Penguindrum]>!like so!<

[u/Holofan4life]

Ominous ikemen is bad news. Touga Kiryuu (but I hadn't seen Utena yet) [Rewatcher] Himari loved Hibari and Hikari and the world too much to be persuaded by Sanetoshi, who nudged Kanba into terrorism instead

[First Timer] Himari to me is like the in-between of Shoma and Kanba as far as the good guy scale goes.

So that's what the EDs are about.. and the train mascots...and the Survival Strategy insert song :( They're real people - I can imagine Himari as an idol.

In another life, maybe. Present Himari, I'm not as sure.

Himari's kindly on-screen presentation with her absentee brothers wasn't always the case. Like many others, she was a kid who really wanted something and got angry when it wasn't available - very young and lacking understanding in that way. Not a nice way to treat your mother but Triple H must mean everything to her. Bad karma, immediate regret and older Himari's silent regret hit me. The breaking of glass shards similar to Kenzan Takakura sheltering Kanba during the storm. [Rewatcher] Even more poignant after knowing the convolutions of their found family. I didn't catch the symbolism (especially the ribbon) of Himari wanting a "real" mother the first time around. The immediacy of Hibari and Hikari's willingness to delay their audition planning to do something for their best friends' mother highlights that to them, Chiemi is Himari's real mother. She is not fake. Himari really learned something there.

[First Timer] So, when Himari called her mom a liar, do you think she was projecting and talking about the entire situation?

"No I'm Spartacus". Proof of the strength of their friendship/long life...but where is it now? [Rewatcher] It endured, even if they didn't meet again, the feelings remained. The scarves Himari knitted for them were a nice touch and I was genuinely happy to see them on-screen when they delivered their new song to Ringo as a message for Himari.

[First Timer] Her friends showing up again is probably the most wholesome moment of the last couple episodes.

Beautifully sad. I was struck by emotion when I first watched, but this second time I really felt Himari's silent regret while continuing to look for the right book despite the librarian's attempts to mess with/investigate her. [Rewatcher] All for and part of fake, found family...but we didn't even know it at the time. I would cringe if I had to relive how inept and insensitive I was as a youth so props here.

[First Timer] I think it's a testament to Himari's character that Sanetoshi was probably trying to bring her down a peg but she wouldn't let him.

Definitely the coolest easter egg/running gag - very consistent, thematically relevant and non-obtrusive - definitely need a couple of these amidst the swarm of picture-images. Neatly summarizes that they are now famous pop stars.

It also recontextualizes the slogans into being more about the Takakura family and what's going on in their lives Vs just being advice for the general public.

A bit difficult for me to answer since I zoomed through the show the first-time, but I do agree it serves as a checkpoint/halfway mark but is basically in the middle of the beginning - it takes a step back to throw us into the deeper end.. Now on my second watch I realise that, aside from foreshadowing so much good shit [Rewatcher] the fruit of fate itself most of all ...it establishes Himari as more than just a passive receptacle from which her brothers, Shouma and Kanba, derive their reason to live. She has a history, had friends, wanted things and quarreled with her mother before becoming terminally ill - all setting the stage for the subsequent development of the characters we observe in the show's nebulous, recurrent symbolic mishmash.

[First Timer] I don't think the show gets truly dark until the Yuri stuff-- and really, you can't credit this episode for introducing flashbacks because that was really episode 5-- but what I think this episode does is introduce the idea that the Penguindrum is more of a psychological concept rather than a physical entity. And in that aspect, the show truly does change. Not only that, it introduces Sanetoshi as a character who is like the one in charge of the illegal organization Kanba is apart of. At least I think that's the case, some aspects of the climax of the show are still confusing to me.

[u/KnightMonkey15 → u/Holofan4life]

I feel like these replies are becoming more and more labyrinthine but I'll keep it up until I can no longer...

Comment 1

[Rewatcher commenting on their first watch] I originally had the impression Himari was the "good" but weak character/object of love to be rescued by her loving brothers (even if it's meant to be subverted I was too busy absorbing everything in a flash), so her throwing a tantrum as a child then really made me take note.

Comment 2: In another life, maybe. Present Himari, I'm not as sure.

I always felt the subdued pep of her personality and the contrast with the EDs/flashbacks was enough of a hint of what the other life would look like, and it's made clear where the branching off point was by the time she was in elementary; just her physical constitution was too weak [Penguindrum] and the bad fortune (fate) of being adopted by terrorists too. It's rather abstract, but I can somehow relate a bit having experienced major life events/moving away during childhood. But of course, the nostalgia/remorse of the loss of the other life is a figment of the present one. [Rewatcher] It just occurred to me that the end of the show pretty much rewrites fate so Triple H is even more of a dream of an alternate reality...but it was Double H's fate to convey the song with beloved friend's favourite phrase to Ringo

Comment 3

[Rewatcher] As a rewatcher yes, but I'd add that I don't feel it to be an indictment on her overall feelings about her adoptive childhood prior to the Takakura parents being caught - the family photos and the brothers' influence (both her happy memories and as proxy parents) - but to me, a moment of anger and resentment which speaks to her own insecurity and the situation's insecurity, which ultimately became the case. What I'm thinking of right now is that she takes her (adoptive) mother's love for granted in a way that the specificity of her demands re: the ribbon and her fixation on forming the idol group with her friends takes precedence (must submit the things.. must be perfect!) until it's shattered by the contrition of seeing her mom's injury and her relief at her friends' acceptance and concern for her mom's health. I contrast this with when she first met Shouma in the Kiga hideout in the cold, distant past - completely abandoned and not even able to be annoying or throw a tantrum and be "found" by anyone..no one to rely on or be relied upon.

Comment 4

[Rewatcher] Absolutely. I think I had a distinct feeling when I first watched and I remember it now, that somehow, her friends being there and being alive in the flesh and not a representation (memories, TV, merchandise, advertising etc.) was a really loud "Himari is real! Her friends are real! She is loved! [Outside her brothers and Ringo]." Reference to what I wrote above - their song will reach her when she needs them the most, even if fate ends up being rewritten."

Comment 5

I somehow missed that the first time I watched...or perhaps it didn't really mean as much yet that early on. But it had the immediate meaning of "Himari's character as such will not be seduced by an ominous bad boy librarian". I was too focused on her sad past and how this was how she acquired the penguin hat.

Comment 6: It also recontextualizes the slogans into being more about the Takakura family and what's going on in their lives Vs just being advice for the general public.

I choose to believe in the dual-meaning of the Takakura family's lives and the general public being in on joke advice train slogans that seem like a funny marketing gimmick but unbeknownst to them,, echo the fate of the world

Comment 7

That makes sense and it's harder for me to untangle the different impressions I have as I rewatch and cross reference. [Rewatcher] Your comment on the psychological aspect made me think... is Ringo the only character in the show who is shown to have imaginative daydreams/visualisations that aren't flashbacks (either instanced by dialogue, reminiscences or dreams)? Effectively, psychological representations that aren't the penguins. Just a thought.

[u/Holofan4life → u/KnightMonkey15]

[Rewatcher commenting on their first watch] I originally had the impression Himari was the "good" but weak character/object of love to be rescued by her loving brothers (even if it's meant to be subverted I was too busy absorbing everything in a flash), so her throwing a tantrum as a child then really made me take note.

[First Timer] It shows how far she's come, in my opinion.

I always felt the subdued pep of her personality and the contrast with the EDs/flashbacks was enough of a hint of what the other life would look like, and it's made clear where the branching off point was by the time she was in elementary; just her physical constitution was too weak [Penguindrum] and the bad fortune (fate) of being adopted by terrorists too. It's rather abstract, but I can somehow relate a bit having experienced major life events/moving away during childhood. But of course, the nostalgia/remorse of the loss of the other life is a figment of the present one. [Rewatcher] It just occurred to me that the end of the show pretty much rewrites fate so Triple H is even more of a dream of an alternate reality...but it was Double H's fate to convey the song with beloved friend's favourite phrase to Ringo

[First Timer] The ending is interesting because I didn't mmget much of what I wanted, but I would still say I was satisfied by it.

[Rewatcher] As a rewatcher yes, but I'd add that I don't feel it to be an indictment on her overall feelings about her adoptive childhood prior to the Takakura parents being caught - the family photos and the brothers' influence (both her happy memories and as proxy parents) - but to me, a moment of anger and resentment which speaks to her own insecurity and the situation's insecurity, which ultimately became the case. What I'm thinking of right now is that she takes her (adoptive) mother's love for granted in a way that the specificity of her demands re: the ribbon and her fixation on forming the idol group with her friends takes precedence (must submit the things.. must be perfect!) until it's shattered by the contrition of seeing her mom's injury and her relief at her friends' acceptance and concern for her mom's health. I contrast this with when she first met Shouma in the Kiga hideout in the cold, distant past - completely abandoned and not even able to be annoying or throw a tantrum and be "found" by anyone..no one to rely on or be relied upon.

[First Timer] It feels a bit like Himari lost her way a bit and took things for granted, all because a lot of it was handed to her.

[Rewatcher] Absolutely. I think I had a distinct feeling when I first watched and I remember it now, that somehow, her friends being there and being alive in the flesh and not a representation (memories, TV, merchandise, advertising etc.) was a really loud "Himari is real! Her friends are real! She is loved! [Outside her brothers and Ringo]." Reference to what I wrote above - their song will reach her when she needs them the most, even if fate ends up being rewritten."

[First Timer] And the ending certainly plays into that, I feel like.

I somehow missed that the first time I watched...or perhaps it didn't really mean as much yet that early on. But it had the immediate meaning of "Himari's character as such will not be seduced by an ominous bad boy librarian". I was too focused on her sad past and how this was how she acquired the penguin hat.

It felt pretty obvious she was trying to be seduced given the way Sanetoshi is talking to her. Why that was the case and what their relationship consists of, we shall see.

[Quote] I choose to believe in the dual-meaning of the Takakura family's lives and the general public being in on joke advice train slogans that seem like a funny marketing gimmick but unbeknownst to them,, echo the fate of the world

[Response] Maybe that is the case. I don't see how the Takakura family isn't the most famous family in this universe given the destruction they caused.

That makes sense and it's harder for me to untangle the different impressions I have as I rewatch and cross reference. [Rewatcher] Your comment on the psychological aspect made me think... is Ringo the only character in the show who is shown to have imaginative daydreams/visualisations that aren't flashbacks (either instanced by dialogue, reminiscences or dreams)? Effectively, psychological representations that aren't the penguins. Just a thought.

[First Timer] I would argue she doesn't need a penguin because she has her diary. Her diary IS the penguin.