Oh crap [ YURI ] of characters gets so much needed but very disturbing character development.

I really hope (and kinda expect) that Momoka will appear at some point in the series (hopefully sooner than later) because of how much she motivates the actions of Ringo, [ Yuri ] and (probably) Sanetoshi.

So this is what, the third rape attempt in the series involving Momoka? For a deceased elementary school student she sure inspired a lot of disturbing obsession.

Spoiler wrote:

So, does Yuri refer to her orientation when claiming that no-one would call her beautiful if they knew the true her, or is it some other, genuinely creepy secret? It's hard to imagine that she would have been that self-aware in the elementary school when she knew Momoka...

So, here's my wild guess: the Princess of the Crystal, aka Himari's penguin hat is Momoka's spirit in some shape or form.

That was disturbing, poor Ringo Wonder what Yuri secret is...it just can't be the fact that she is a lesbian, I was thinking maybe she's a hermaphrodite? And I don't want her to mess Ringo up...OMG WHAT HAS RINGO DONE TO ME? I think she's my favorite character and I plain hated her in the beginning.

That... was... amazing to the fabulous max.

Malacoda wrote:

I really hope (and kinda expect) that Momoka will appear at some point in the series . . .

Momoka does seem increasingly central to the show, to the point where I wonder if she is the real main character of this anime!  That would make Mawaru Penguindrum something like the anime equivalent of Watchmen: the characters you meet are engaging enough, but the story is really about the one who's dead from the get-go.  We know Ikuhara likes this sort of storytelling from the SKU movie, where the dead princes are important characters motivating the action.

What gets me is that everyone says Momoka was so great, but we haven't actually heard any great things she said or did or believed.  That could be a theme in itself, that how a person is remembered is ultimately more important than who they were.  Or it could mean that we will indeed get more Momoka exposition later.  But my gut says that Momoka herself is going to stay offscreen for a long time -- and if she ever shows up, it won't be in flashbacks, but in the present world.

How the Hell did I not see this coming? Her name is Yuri damnit! (/hits self over the head) And it's Ikuhara!

All aboard the rape train again. @_@ And yes, the red sports car and her fabulous driving skills...so she's Akio now. Well how about that. (/faints)

Last edited by Rose Rust (10-15-2011 07:25:27 PM)

I feel that there's a parallel between Momoka and Dios.

Yuri refuses to believe that Momoka is dead. She said that her first love "vanished". I know that Dios has a completely different story, but to me, he's always just been a phantom existence, like the Sunny Garden.

And, Ringo strives to be just like this mysterious but admirable existence that everyone loves. Something that saved them. Like a prince who saved all the princesses before he is sealed to the end of the world.

That made Ringo sound like Utena. Both of them seem to carry so many traits of the person of their aspiration, yet at the same time, they feel so distant from that aspiration. Maybe they'll never get there.

I feel that the noble things that were portrayed in Utena are instead being presented in a more twisted manner by Ikuni. Aspiration to become the phantom prince that everyone loves, or in this case, a dead sister, here just comes off very creepy in itself, and at this point of the series, also shown to be very dangerous.

Maybe the central message that Ikuni wants to say is that in order for us to progress in life, we need to let go of things, even those that we felt were important to us. Maybe the idea is that even if the precious things forged an important aspect of yourself, it should not be the sole thing that defines you and motivates you. Because, in the end, that's not you.

Last edited by Hiraku (10-15-2011 12:40:12 AM)

oh my goodness. what an episode! so i think " yuri hates tabuki, and married him so she can get close enough for revenge of some sort. wasnt momoka traveling that day to see him? and she died, so she might think tabuki is the reason she died. "  i'm probably waaaaaay off the mark xD but thats what i first started thinking about when i saw that part...(before, you know, she got all up on ringo xD)

I think Masako's family may be of a different but very similar branch of the terrorist group that Kanba's family was in.

The way Kanba referred to the Natsume family, it sounded like the way someone refer to mafia gang.

Plus, in spite of the penguin label on the amnesia bullets, they are different from the ones we usually see. Instead of the normal penguin face, what you see instead is a "slash" across the penguin face, with black on top and white on bottom half of that slashed line.

So it COULD be possible that Takakura and Natsume are working for different departments of the penguin corp.

Not that it's going to be relevant, but for shits and giggles showed my brother literally about a two second long shot of Yuri's car. It's a Jaguar XK Roadster.

Also, I find it amusing that Yuri's ex girlfriendthatlooksalotlikeaguy is looks, and in fact is drawn in, the same style as Oscar from RoV. Not a common thing in an anime for an entire character to be a different visual style.

Loving all the little nods to The Rose of Versailles here. Yuri's girlfriend even does the completely-white eyes thing when she's shocked that happens so often in old manga.

Then again, this is Ikuhara we are talking about, the man who made an allusion to Cantarella while Utena is eating cookie.

cscratch wrote:

Officially my new favorite anime.  So, so, so...  we have to wait how long for the next season? 

The next episode will be up this coming Thursday, so just 4 more days. (So close, yet so far...)