dirufacade wrote:

Aiko, Yuuko and Keiko?  Where?  ?_?  I'd be curious to get a screen capture.  One of my homeys and I are starting to think there might legitimately be some kind of tie-in between Penguindrum and Utena.

Kanba's exes. Seems they find it hard to let go. They seem to be ruled by mysterious girl in the shadows, who is reminiscent of nanami, sort of. Actually, she's more like Juri, and Yuri is Nanami with a boyfriend. We don't see her, but she looks like the girl in the opening sequence. Sorry if this is spoilerific - but after a week it should be fair game.

Haven't watched it, but 5's ALREADY SUBTITLED. And has a shout out to of all people, Klimt.

So I was talking to my roommate about Mawaru Penguindrum and he mentioned that apparently his mother has been really enjoying it.

I was just like O_O;

His mother is *not* the sort of Internet-savvy person who would know where to find *achem* pirate pooty.  Apparently she's getting it on the... television?  They claim to have found it while channelsurfing.  Similarly she doesn't speak (much) Japanese, so I'm assuming they stumbled onto some sort of sub.  My friend was able to repeat some of the plot details they had told him as well as some decent speculation so I know it's not some sort of mix-up either.

WTF.  Did Iku somehow break reality to get this show into the brains of middle aged American women?  Is the show being broadcast in some way that Maryland beach people can access it?

I'm so freaking confused by this.

Aelanie wrote:

She certainly has spirit, daring to assault the incredibly foul-mouthed Penguin Lady.

Totally cracked me up. Best survival strategy meeting yet. It was all amazing; Penguin Lady calling Ringo a creepy phycho stalker. Sho's funny expressions. And Ringo and Penguin Lady's cat fight-- I've got a lot more respect for Ringo now! Also, I like how Sho gets called 'furniture.'

This show gets better and better.

Oh man this episode was just...WOW. My respect for Kanba and Ringo has grown exponentially. Also, the music during the truck chase was awesome.

ETA: Penguin #1 bandage suddenly makes sense.

Last edited by Malacoda (08-05-2011 08:41:13 PM)

GOD I LOVE THIS NEW EPISODE!

Though I'm actually wondering if Himari goes to school... Is it okay for kids in Japan to not attend classes?

I'm also happy to see the less-than-obsessive-stalk version of Ringo. I'm wondering if her attachment to Tabuki was subconsciously her next best thing from being able to hang out with her own dad.

Kanba is just reeking of awesome, too.

Just a thought about the characters' names and such, and their possible parallel to Utena. Tabuki, for one, I felt like he is basically a grown-up version of Miki. He loves bird-watching, and in the opening sequence, there's him with the bird cage motif. Miki's bedroom has a picture of bird flying away. Makes me wonder if Tabuki is actually a representation of untainted innocence (yet surrounded with people who are obviously anything but). Tokikago's name also meant "Time cage". Maybe so long as Tabuki is with Yuri, he'll be caged in his own little world of innocence, without seeing what's actually going on around him, and completely oblivious to what Ringo's doing.

And, Yuri actually knows what's going on (Your curry was good), and she somehow (intentionally or not) manages to keep Ringo from getting to Tabuki. That time when Yuri brought a boxed lunch when Ringo's lunch was ruined by birds reminds me of how Anthy brought her own supersized bento that makes Wakaba's own lunch looks like crap. Does Yuri possess the similar passive-aggression as Anthy does? Is Yuri also a "witch"? I'm very curious what role she plays toward the end of the fateline. (This also makes me imagine what happens if Miki ACTUALLY wins over Anthy as his bride. I'm betting they'd be doing things not so different from Tabuki and Yuri)

PS: Is it just me, or is the fact that Yuri's voiced by Noto Mamiko, the same person who voiced Enma Ai from "Jigoku Shoujo", just added an extra level of creepy to the character?

As for Ringo, with her name being apple, and the fact that she would follow her "fate" (albeit sometimes misunderstood her diary, thereby seemingly denied her of her destiny), seems to represent the concept of "Universal Gravitation". With apple inevitably falling to the ground due to gravity, she'll ultimately, without second thought, rush to the end of her destiny. Whatever it is, hopefully it's nothing like what the opening sequence entails.

What differs hugely between Utena and Mawaru Penguindrum is that, adults generally play a much bigger role in the storyline than Utena does. We vaguely get reference to what kind of people Miki's father and Wakaba's mother may be like, but that's it. I felt that this is a new "direction" that Ikuni's heading, considering that some of his major influence involved works that had to do with overthrowing adults and authoritative figures.

PPS: Guys, this wiki is awesome: http://penguindrum.wikia.com/wiki/WH

Last edited by Hiraku (08-05-2011 07:27:21 PM)

Whoa man, Fukami as in Sailor Venus Fukami?
That's awesome!

Hiraku wrote:

Whoa man, Fukami as in Sailor Venus Fukami?
That's awesome!

Yup. Ikuhara has brought some of the Sailor Moon cast with him for Penguindrum, just like what he did in Utena.

Hikaru- I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in episode 1 that Himari had to drop out of school due to her illness, I'm thinking their probably okay with that, considering she was sick enough to drop dead

PPS: Guys, this wiki is awesome: http://penguindrum.wikia.com/wiki/WH

You know, I never noticed that those subway girls were the two girls in the end credits with Himari until I looked at them on that wiki. </slow>

Last edited by HonorableShadow (08-08-2011 03:01:13 PM)

I'm so torn on trying to have the patience for this to eventually come out on DVD so I can import it, or just sticking to the subbed youtube videos. @___@ So far I've only watched the first episode but the very positive feedback here on how it keeps getting better is making me terribly fidgity.

World of S & M... did that manga even finish?  :/

FYI, the fact that there's no penguin fix for me this week is actually sort of breaking my heart a little.  :/