As one of the oddballs who enjoyed both shows near-equally, I can't personally comment on this, but it does recall something I read on someone's tumblr where apparently people who watched MPD first enjoyed SKU less and vice-versa

the poster then went on to speculate that it was because although the themes of the pieces overlap in some ways, their execution is quite different - which, while I don't think can account for everything, is a valid interpretation of fan reaction (and certainly an interesting fan phenomenon as it is)

personally, I think another reason could be because both pieces are so thematically/symbolically rich, that in the beginning, thematic/stylistic elements can seem to overwhelm narrative ones (which are revealed more gradually and thus initially seem less satisfying); it's one of the problems I had with a book I recently read called I Hotel, which stylistically was very fantastic and experiment, but which seemed at times to pay more attention to style over story - they were interesting characters and I didn't mind having to wade through a lot of text just to know what they were saying, but sometime the wading lead me to nothing but theme and a mix of that and character enjoyment, you know?

Basically, it's a tough balance, narrative versus style, but the most rewarding fiction I've read has always managed to straddle that line, and overall, I could think both shows did it skillfully

(then again, I did marathon MPD as opposed to watching it episode-by-episode - could that be a factor as well? Ah, but I'm rambling now, ought to stop)

Either way, I think that any kind of media that merits rewatching/rereading - and I say this in the same breath about thematic works like SKU and just plain fun stuff like Good Omens - is a story well done, in my opinion ;

mistspinner wrote:

As one of the oddballs who enjoyed both shows near-equally, I can't personally comment on this, but it does recall something I read on someone's tumblr where apparently people who watched MPD first enjoyed SKU less and vice-versa

the poster then went on to speculate that it was because although the themes of the pieces overlap in some ways, their execution is quite different - which, while I don't think can account for everything, is a valid interpretation of fan reaction (and certainly an interesting fan phenomenon as it is)

personally, I think another reason could be because both pieces are so thematically/symbolically rich, that in the beginning, thematic/stylistic elements can seem to overwhelm narrative ones (which are revealed more gradually and thus initially seem less satisfying); it's one of the problems I had with a book I recently read called I Hotel, which stylistically was very fantastic and experiment, but which seemed at times to pay more attention to style over story - they were interesting characters and I didn't mind having to wade through a lot of text just to know what they were saying, but sometime the wading lead me to nothing but theme and a mix of that and character enjoyment, you know?

Basically, it's a tough balance, narrative versus style, but the most rewarding fiction I've read has always managed to straddle that line, and overall, I could think both shows did it skillfully

(then again, I did marathon MPD as opposed to watching it episode-by-episode - could that be a factor as well? Ah, but I'm rambling now, ought to stop)

Either way, I think that any kind of media that merits rewatching/rereading - and I say this in the same breath about thematic works like SKU and just plain fun stuff like Good Omens - is a story well done, in my opinion ;

I did see that tumblr post, and it's true. They have very different core messages, and different ways of going about it, with some shared aspects, but ultimately they are apples and oranges For me the real difference between SKU and MP was that as soon as I hit a certain point of SKU, I knew it was a true masterpiece, whereas with MP I'm slowly beginning to realize how good it truly was. And I guess some of that does have to do with holding it up to SKU standards, but I do think it's just a difference in the presentation.

Yasha wrote:

I was actually thinking about rewatching it myself... I'd like to, anyway. Maybe next week.

I enjoyed MPD quite a bit and I think I'll enjoy it more now that I know what's going on emot-keke

It's nice to enjoy the insanity knowing the full clusterfuck of the situation

It's electrifying, even

I'm looking forward to rewatching Penguindrum eventually. I really enjoyed it, both for the references to Utena devices (Rock Over Japan = Absolute Destiny Apocalypse; Double H = Shadow Play Girls; 1, 2, & 3 = Chu-chu, etc...)*, and for the new things Ikuni was doing with the series.

I thought it was a very worthy spiritual successor to Utena, and I like both of them very much, though Utena still holds the advantage. Penguindrum may not be as "grand" as Utena, but it lived up to my expectations of it, which I tried to keep in check after all of the hype. ;

*possible spoilers, highlight to see! I haven't posted in so long I forget if there are spoiler tags now.

Last edited by Imaginary Bad Bug (09-20-2013 08:16:03 PM)

Or I could move it over here, if there's interest. One of the code changes I made to the forum last night is the ability to merge threads or make posts into new topics. Let me know

Just recycled something I wrote before into a Tumblr post:

Punishment, Penguindrum-Style

I guess you could say my biggest problem with Penguindrum is I simple did not care for the characters. One of SKU's strengths is the depth of each and every character, even down to characters like Wakaba. I felt pretty much indifferent to the MPD characters, I suppose I felt they were more caricatures or symbols than fully-fleshed characters. In SKU, you can take out all the symbolism and weirdness and still have an awesome show about fascinating characters - Evangelion as well is an excellent monster of the week show with characters you just can't take your eyes off. But take all the symbolism and weirdness out of MPD and there isn't much left. And I don't mean it in a bad way - just that when I don't connect to the characters of a show I lose interest in what's going on, however good it is.