OnlyInThisLight wrote:

Can we has Mawaru Penguindrum forum or a new thread?  Spoiler tags are getting supah numerous.

I think we totally should have a new thread with spoiler warning after the thread title. I'm seeing a sea of white.

Or maybe we should just change the title of this particular thread by adding [spoiler] at the end of it, so people will know that there will be spoilers.

Last edited by Hiraku (12-23-2011 07:34:44 PM)

Thanks, Satyr,

At this point, though, I feel that maybe after we've discussed what we think we saw from our first view through Penguindrum, then we'd probably have a better grasp of what sort of things we want to branch out into separate topics.

In another Penguin-related note, I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time after so long that we finally hear Himari's personal take on the word "Fate". :|a

Can we has Mawaru Penguindrum forum or a new thread?

I think it would be nice if it got a little forum of it's very own. But I'm not sure how active it would be.

Welcome to the Mawaru-Penguindrum subforum. 

Have a blast!

Thanks satyr!!

Thoughts and questions:

Could it make sense that the Princess of Crystal is Sanetoshi? Don't Himari's eyes turn pink in princess form? It would explain her dirty language and nastiness better IMO than the theory that she's a bad side of Momoka/Himari. And make the idea of Kanba making out with her that much more disturbing/hot.

What is the significance of Shouma being Himari's soul mate? They didn't take that idea anywhere, did they? Himari doesn't seem particularly in love with him. Although I'm not sure if she seems in love with Kanba either?

And why does Kanba never save anyone despite his prince complex? When Shouma needs saving he takes a fake diary. He doesn't steal the diary from Ringo. When Himari is dangling by a thread he refuses to divulge information. I personally found his character as frustratingly useless as Shouma. 

I don't really understand the sibling set-up thing and I also don't get significance or purpose. They're siblings, now they're not, did they forget, are they just pretending, why?

WHAT DID THE ENTIRE RINGO-TABUKI SUBPLOT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING TO TAKE UP SO MANY EPISODES? D: I mean, it was amusing as hell, but still...


In a more philosophical level, is what the boys did really a sacrifice? Can we argue Himari and Ringo are making the sacrifice by living? The boys escape responsibility and hardships by giving up their lives, handing it instead to the girls who did not want it; for example Himari who now lives in a tiny little house by herself. Look back to Sanetoshi's words about people living sad lives trapped in boxes. Sure, they appear happy but so did the 'siblings' seem happy when we first saw them. The boys walk off, carefree with their little penguins into the stars free of anything tying them down...while Himari is left crying over things she can't quite remember. Maybe I'm getting too abstract. GOSH, I MUST CRUSH IT SOON.

Last edited by YamPuff (12-24-2011 03:37:50 AM)

Wow, this is an excellent apple chart! Thanks!

In other note, looks like Chiho Saito has also watched the Penguindrum series: http://gyazo.com/a21a643e6a52bf2fe3c3acbb7bbce120

YamPuff wrote:

Could it make sense that the Princess of Crystal is Sanetoshi? Don't Himari's eyes turn pink in princess form? It would explain her dirty language and nastiness better IMO than the theory that she's a bad side of Momoka/Himari. And make the idea of Kanba making out with her that much more disturbing/hot.

Mmm... I doubt it, actually... because the Princess of the Crystal seems to be trying to prevent the advance of the Dark Bunnies.

YamPuff wrote:

What is the significance of Shouma being Himari's soul mate? They didn't take that idea anywhere, did they? Himari doesn't seem particularly in love with him. Although I'm not sure if she seems in love with Kanba either?

I think what happened to them during their childhood was still something very precious. Otherwise, Himari would not have kept the scarf with her all these times. It's just that they were taken in as siblings, and I don't think Himari ever really considered them as someone whom she'd fall in love with. Soul mate doesn't necessarily have to end up as lovers. As children, they were more like a family than lovers, too.

In other note, I think it's just Himari believing, as a child, that Shouma was her soul mate. Her thoughts/feelings toward him probably changed over time. Before she left, she told Shouma that all these times she "thought" he would have been her soul mate.

YamPuff wrote:

And why does Kanba never save anyone despite his prince complex? When Shouma needs saving he takes a fake diary. He doesn't steal the diary from Ringo. When Himari is dangling by a thread he refuses to divulge information. I personally found his character as frustratingly useless as Shouma.

In his mind, he probably believed that what he was doing was exactly what's necessary to save Himari. He was pretty much blinded by his desire to save her, and Sanetoshi used that to his own advantage. It was probably easier for us outsiders to see that what he's doing is fruitless. It's essentially like Faust, who is on this hopeless spiraling path down to damnation, while Himari/Margaret tried to save him with her life.

YamPuff wrote:

I don't really understand the sibling set-up thing and I also don't get significance or purpose. They're siblings, now they're not, did they forget, are they just pretending, why?

I think Kanba, Shouma, and Himari, all know that they're not really siblings. Kanba and Shouma broke off the sibling relationship once they realized that this relationship they've initially established was actually destroying everything they held dear.

Much of the sibling relationship was also being arranged by Kenzan and Chiemi. I think as kids, they didn't really have much say in the matter. I guess they COULD have been taken in by separate members of the Kiga Corp, but they weren't.

Himari was also probably knowingly participating in this "fake family" facade. During her conversation with Sanetoshi, it seemed to me that it was more of her denial to acknowledge the truth than actually forgetting.

(This reminds me, Yuri also proposed to Tabuki the idea of creating a "Fake family", but in the end, she DID hope to establish a real family with Tabuki)

YamPuff wrote:

WHAT DID THE ENTIRE RINGO-TABUKI SUBPLOT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING TO TAKE UP SO MANY EPISODES? D: I mean, it was amusing as hell, but still...

I think it was what it took to introduce all the key characters as they all come gather around, slowly, pulled by the subtle gravity of "Fate" that is Ringo and her diary. Also, Ringo at the time was using the diary for selfish reasons. It was not until she lost her diary, and having heard Shouma's life story that her mentality changed toward someone more altruistic, someone who was able to get over the fact that her dad is no longer coming home.

YamPuff wrote:

In a more philosophical level, is what the boys did really a sacrifice? Can we argue Himari and Ringo are making the sacrifice by living? The boys escape responsibility and hardships by giving up their lives, handing it instead to the girls who did not want it; for example Himari who now lives in a tiny little house by herself. Look back to Sanetoshi's words about people living sad lives trapped in boxes. Sure, they appear happy but so did the 'siblings' seem happy when we first saw them. The boys walk off, carefree with their little penguins into the stars free of anything tying them down...while Himari is left crying over things she can't quite remember. Maybe I'm getting too abstract. GOSH, I MUST CRUSH IT SOON.

I guess that's one way of putting it. After all, it was from accepting the fruit of fate that Adam and Eve were punished by staying alive. For Himari, living on this "borrowed time" was punishment in itself, such that death would have been merciful.

But then, "punishment" and "reward" are just names that we ourselves use to make sense of a situation (That's why we have the phrase, "blessing in disguise", but only after other things had transpired that we called it that). Maybe Himari and Ringo were left behind because the siblings decided that they can entrust the girls with the continuing task to bring "love" to others.

Early on, for Tabuki and Yuri, they thought that living on without their beloved Momoka was some kind of cruel joke the world is playing on them, while maybe they were left behind because Momoka entrusted them with the task of loving the "unloved", so that something similar to what Sanetoshi is attempting to do will not happen again.

... why did Ringo push one of Kanba's ex-girlfriends down an escalator?

Was the diary actually a record of things Momoka had experienced, which Ringo was recreating? Or did Momoka write down instructions for Ringo, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Ragnarok wrote:

... why did Ringo push one of Kanba's ex-girlfriends down an escalator??

That was actually Masako. She was out to get all of Kanba's exes.

yuzukelly wrote:

I actually thought of Video Girl Ai too! (I'm actually really surprised I'm not the only one! XD) I was so excited XD

I'm glad there's someone who has seen that anime other than me! Both scenes were beautiful and touching.

Ragnarok wrote:

chrisb wrote:

Ragnarok wrote:

... why did Ringo push one of Kanba's ex-girlfriends down an escalator??

That was actually Masako. She was out to get all of Kanba's exes.

Ah, so it was! But the event was in the diary, even though Ringo had no direction connection to it. Hm.

Same for the cat that was written in the diary. And the weird skunk with the penguin seal.
Are all these really non-sequitur, though? :|

The skunk and the cat weren't Ringo's doing, but they did directly relate to her. The strongest connection she could have in regards to "the girl in the red shoes" is hear about it on the news.

Momoka's definitely clairvoyant to some extent. She knows what will happen to Yuri when first meeting her, among many other things. But she didn't seem to foresee Sanetoshi's ability to interrupt her spell.