I can spend every Mawaru Penguindrum episode analyzing this and interpreting that, but when it comes right down to it, what does the anime make me feel? Do I have an emotional connection whatsoever to the story?
Tragedy?
It seems as though this week’s episode wants to take a step back from the intricate plotting to re-center the conflict — to remind us of what’s truly at stake: the tragedy of a dying sister. Unfortunately, I don’t feel anything for Himari. The story’s emotional impact feels oddly missing-in-action.
Kanba says, “Himari always cared for us. I can’t lose her. She’s the world to me.” All we really see in Kanba’s flashback, however, is Himari asking her brother to patch things up with Shoma. If Himari really means the world to Kanba, the anime hasn’t done a good enough job of convincing the audience of this very fact. When a character dies onscreen, even if I don’t shed a tear, I should feel that uneasy pit in the stomach. This episode lacks that oomph to make Himari’s apparent death all that gut-wrenching. When you factor in the incestuous vibes between Kanba and Alter-ego Himari, the whole affair just leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Shoma’s reasoning isn’t all that convincing either:
“The Goddess chose the smallest, youngest lamb. The lamb she chose was a gentle and kind girl. Who likes to cook and knit, and always worries about her good-for-nothing brothers. She was but a little girl.”
Shoma is thus trying to frame Himari’s death as something truly unjust, but I don’t feel it. To be honest, we don’t know Himari all that well; she’s just, as Shoma says, “a nice girl.” When you especially consider the fact that Shoma’s actually quite accurate — that Himari can only “cook and knit” as though she’s a prisoner in her own home — is a peaceful, painless death for the poor girl really such a bad thing? Is keeping some twisted semblance of a family alive more important than Himari’s happiness?
Himari’s death is what sets the plot in motion, but by itself, it’s not poignant enough at the moment to carry the story. As a result, I suppose it’s a blessing that Ikuhara has added so many little bits and pieces for us to think about. The mystery underlying the plot is what makes Mawaru Penguindrum an interesting watch. Whether or not our insane conclusions amount to anything, at least the show’s fun to analyze because — and this may sound harsh — the anime’s emotional core is currently hollow.
Having said that, I wonder if this will be a particularly troubling flaw for the series to grapple with from here on out. Like Himari’s story, Ringo’s arc sounds sad on paper and is certainly intriguing to interpret from multiple angles. On the other hand, its execution didn’t exactly turn most of us into Ringo fans. Do we actually feel for Ringo’s character? The anime repeatedly tells us, “…God must be incredibly unfair and cruel. Because, ever since that day, none of us had a future.” As thought-provoking as this sentiment has been, the anime has not really conveyed that sense of cruelty and injustice in fate that its characters often opine.
Oh well. There’s still more than enough time for the series to rectify this problem.
Plot speculation ahoy!
At the start of the episode, Sanetoshi places a picture of the siblings’ father on a doctor’s desk. Who is the doctor? Is he important to the plot? In any case, we see that the siblings’ father had been a part of a group known only as the Environmental Defense Team. The picture also includes several penguins in the shot. Hell, the building behind them even has a penguin logo emblazoned on one of the walls. Of course, it isn’t the exact same logo as Pingroup Inc.’s, but it is similar in style.
Last week, Shoma confesses to Ringo that he and his brother are responsible for Momoka’s death. This week, he explains that his parents were directly involved in a tragic incident sixteen years ago — the same incident that killed Momoka. Keep in mind, however, that the anime contains no direct references whatsoever to Aum Shinrikyo, the cult infamous for carrying out the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway that the anime appears to be alluding to. What we do see, however, when the Environmental Defense Team began to carry out its plans, is the Diet building in the background. I doubt the building’s inclusion in the anime was accidental.
One more clue before I explain what I’m getting at: later in the same episode, Shoma tells Ringo a story about Mary, her three little lamb, and an apple tree that “had once been the source of [the] world’s love, future and dreams.” Unfortunately, the apple tree is dying and Mary weeps for it dearly. Two mischievous-looking black rabbits then appear out of nowhere and convince Mary to steal ashes from a Goddess’s shrine in order to revive the apple tree. Although Mary is successful in saving the tree, the Goddess punishes her by killing the youngest lamb.
Shoma’s myth appears to be an amalgamation of several stories. First, there’s the nursery rhyme that most of us are familiar with. There are also allusions to Prometheus’s story. Hell, the apple tree that is “the source of [the] world’s love, future, and dreams” might even refer to Yggdrasil of Norse mythology or the forbidden fruit-bearing tree in Christian storytelling. Of course, I’m just making random stabs in the dark here. Don’t take any of my observations just now too literally.
I am especially unfamiliar with any mythology involving black rabbits of ill-portent or a Goddess with ashes that can revive majestic trees. So unlike what I’ve normally done for the past few weeks, I won’t attempt to analyze Shoma’s story; I won’t attempt to interpret anything I don’t feel too confident about. What I will say, however, is that I do get some sort of quasi-environmentalist vibes from the myth.
With this in mind, I wonder if we’re watching some alternate universe where the Tokyo subway was never attacked by some crazy cult. Instead, a radical eco-terrorist group was targeting an important Diet member or more, which would explain the Diet building’s placement in one of the episode’s shots. The father even muttered, “Now, the world will be at peace.” What could have possibly been the eco-terrorists’ goals? To save the world, of course. To initiate the Survival Strategy (for mankind’s sake). To, in line with Shoma’s story, revive the world’s proverbial tree.
Unfortunately, the Environmental Defense Team’s attack came at a costly price: not just Himari’s life but Momoka’s as well. But what if there’s more to this — more to the parents’ sins than just the blood of innocents on their hands? In Mawaru Penguindrum‘s universe, Pingroup Inc. is everywhere we look. What if the eco-terrorists thought they had been operating in the world’s best interests, but in reality, they merely paved the way for a corporation to dominate Japan (if not the world)? Well, this is all just wild plot speculation but the tea leaves do seem to lean a certain way….
Everything else
• When Sanetoshi phones Kanba at the start of the episode, he teasingly asks, “Isn’t it stimulating?” What does he mean by this? Were the siblings’ lives too mundane and boring before the events of the anime?
• In the flashback, the siblings’ father received a phone call telling him that his wife had given birth to a healthy boy: “I see, she had the baby. A boy?” The emphasis in the quoted lines are mine. Aren’t the Takakura brothers twins? While this may have been a logical inconsistency on the anime’s part, I’m willing to bet the glaring omission is purposeful. Ringo thinks she took Momoka’s place by being born, but what if, instead, her sister’s death had led to an extra Takakura child?
• Here’s a neat detail: when Kanba is racing through the hospital to find his sister, he follows along three colored lines. Eventually, two of the lines turn away (presumably down other corridors) and only the red line remains — the red string of fate tying Kanba to Himari, perhaps?
• Younger Tabuki sounded like such a loser. Well, I guess not much has changed.
• I like how Ringo was already munching on her sister’s diary as a baby. The girl already knew what she has to do from the very start, i.e. become her sister! I’m being a tad bit facetious here, but it’s a nice, little detail that makes it hard to think inconsistencies in the anime were accidental.
• A bit of dark humor? Young Tabuki said, “I’ll be sentenced to tickling hell again if I’m late!” Well, maybe he’s not going to hell, but….
• It might not amount to anything, but let’s keep in mind how Tabuki initially reacted to the idea that something horrible may have happened to Momoka.
• What’s with the markings on Tabuki’s hand? They look like scars.
• During Kanba’s flashback (the one featuring Himari making stuffed cabbages), the penguins are perhaps foreshadowing the story’s future events. Or, if we look back to the very first episode, the penguins are imitating their owners. Either way, we first see #1 stripping #3. With Alter-ego Himari’s clothes falling off at the end of the episode, it’s hard not to spot the connection.
At the end of the same flashback, #3 now has #1 tied up shibari-style (I think; I’m no expert of Japanese bondage). Clearly, Kanba is bound and tied to Himari’s life in some way, shape or form. We learn at the end of the episode that Himari can only survive by stealing a piece of Kanba’s life. But more importantly, the whole thing has (unfortunate) sexual implications. The rope play between the penguins is the obvious clue, but Himari’s stylistic penetration of Kanba’s chest cavity is hardly innocent.
• Now that we know that the Takukura parents used to be or still are domestic terrorists, are they currently on the lam? After all, Kanba’s uncle didn’t say that the parents are dead, but rather, the parents won’t be returning.
• If we assume that the Environmental Defense Team is somehow related to Pingroup Inc., is this where Kanba gets his money? Masako has a penguin too. Does she represent a separate faction within the same corporation? Himari tells Shoma that in order “to escape the fate that binds [him]…,” he must “[s]top… them….” Who’s them?
I didn’t talk about Tabuki in our post, but that image jumped out at me as well. Remember what he talked about in episode 6?
We were under the assumption that what he described was a fit for Himari’s condition, but it seems more that he was describing himself, and not in terms of life and death.
He is in a superposition of being both outwardly successful, handsome, popular, and being inwardly scared, sad, remorseful. He is both at the same time, and the trigger was Momoka’s “death”. The outwardly successful Tabuki is also the inwardly remorseful Tabuki who’s imprisoned by his memories of the past. It’s the explanation for the caged bird motifs that surround him, and also the duality of the image you posted.
Most of what you’re saying makes sense but…
I never really got the impression that Tabuki was all that successful or popular (I suppose his beauty is a matter of taste).
Well, the successful part may just be from my perspective, since he has a respectable career as a teacher. The popular bit is from the fact that you see him constantly being invited to balls and parties. Mind, it’s mostly because of Yuri, but he’s still hobnobbing with the upper crust.
I suspected that Yuri might play a large role how Tabuki is perceived. As such, maybe the caged bird motif refers to the fact that he’ll pretty much be Yuri’s trophy husband as he still doesn’t really seem all that capable or successful to me. A respectable career as a teacher is hard to judge… anyway, the caged bird thing still gives me pause. A caged bird is admired for its beauty, but lamented for its loss of freedom. So if the past has him imprisoned… from what, exactly? What does Tabuki want to do that he can’t do because of, presumably, Momoka’s death? It seems to me that the story hasn’t really fleshed out Tabuki’s intentions and motives all that much.
I don’t know!
The Environmental Defence Team is associated with the Penguinforce logo, which we’ve seen numerous times throughout the series. There are three penguin logos (and hence, people have assumed, three factions): Pingroup, Penguinforce, and Kiga.
Also, it’s suggested that Kanba gets his money from Kiga, because Kiga’s logo is on the envelopes of money which he receives.
The three penguin factions are obvious, though how they’re related is still a matter for much speculation – not least when one recalls that in ep 9, a Penguinforce label peels off the box in which the penguins are being shipped, only to reveal the Pingroup one underneath.
One thing that has slowly started to bother me a little is that it feels like pretty much anything can happen. Incarnation, punishment and stuff like that. Currently, there doesn’t seem to be any “set rules”. It feels like the story could do what it want to and we would just follow it through. I mean, why is this happening to these characters? If things like these aren’t answered, then I’m not sure what to make of this show.
Your mention of “personal attachment” to Himari made me think of Madoka Magica, which also ties in with my above statement. You see, in Madoka, there were set rules. Nothing felt out of place, which I loved about it.
But as with Pingudrum, at least I didn’t have a big personal attachment to the characters. We knew their motives and judged them by their actions, but that was all. Madoka was all about the story, setting and execution. Pingudrum feels similiar to me in that way, since I care more about the story than the characters. We follow an amount of characters thrown into something bigger.
But this is also where Pingudrum fails, since it basic premise was to “save Himari”. Did we care for Himari? No, I didn’t. What about any other character? No.
The shocking moments of Pingudrum are great, but they lack “ompf”. If you get what I mean.
Agreed.
There’s a sense that literally anything can happen in Mawaru Penguindrum. While that does make things a bit more unpredictable and hence exciting, it also means when a major character is placed in peril and/or seemingly dies, it has much less impact, because there’s a sense of “Yeah, we all know there’s no chance of he or she staying dead, so why should I feel anything here?”
When Sho took a hit from a car for Ringo’s sake, it had little impact on me, because not only did I doubt he was actually going to die from that, but i also thought that even if he did die he probably wouldn’t stay dead.
In sharp contrast, when characters died and/or turned into witches in Madoka Magica, there was a real sense that this may well be it for them, as the rules of the universe were firmly in place, for while magic was in abundant supply, it could only be used in certain ways (with the real power lying in the wish itself).
You two probably have interesting points, but as soon as I see Madoka anywhere in a comment, my brain shuts down. I am so tired of that show being mentioned everywhere.
It’s just a recent example, duh. And one of the few I actually can mention. Can’t come up with anything else.
I’m just a Madoka hater. What can I say!
I don’t feel anything significant for the characters either. The Kanda and Himari scenes just give me uncomfortable vibes with the incest and whatnot. The show has some interesting thing going for it but with all this drama it would be better to get the audience to actually care about the character’s plights..
I think anime just relies on the whole dying imouto trope way too often. Need a sad story? Ah, my precious imouto is dying. We don’t really have to flesh this out too much because it’s obviously so sad. It’s a narrative shortcut in a show that already takes plenty (albeit mostly in the animation department).
“In the flashback, the siblings’ father received a phone call telling him that his wife had given birth to a healthy boy: ‘I see, she had the baby. A boy?'”
That stuck out to me too. I don’t think it’s a mistranslation, since the grammar was consistent at several points in the dialogue. It could be a misunderstanding on the father’s part, but I don’t put it past Penguindrum to sneak in a subtle revelation like that amidst the more obvious ones. Out of all the the wild conspiracy and fairy tale ideas flying about, this clue implicating that the boys aren’t true twins, or perhaps not even real siblings, could change the dynamics of this story the greatest.
If they’re not really twins, why would the parents or whoever’s in the know lie about such a thing? I don’t see what use it could serve. Either the timeline shifted somehow due to the attack, leading to one more brother, or one of them’s adopted. Comedy option: Momoka didn’t die but she got horribly disfigured so they had surgery turn her into Shoma and now Ringo’s in love with her own sister.
i’m surprised you didn’t talk about the shallow characters earlier.
it’s one of the reasons i couldn’t get into the show fully. although i get a feeling that the creators
did this on purpose.which reminds me of texhnolyze.
i also agree with Marow and Ryan R. anything can happen. i will go as far as to say that the whole
story, while pretentiously trying to be serious, is actually silly and absurd. now this reminds me of flcl.
while texhnolyse had a solid sci-fi plot and much more immersible atmosphere (by way of not trying to be arthouse for the sake of it) and while flcl actually had the momentum to sustain it’s silliness and relatable characters, both are rated lower than penguindrum, sadly.
It has farting penguins. How serious is it trying to be?
Funny you should mention Texhnolyze when I thought it was all style and no substance. At the moment, Mawaru Penguindrum is fun for me to watch so while the drama doesn’t grip me, it also doesn’t really doom the show.
Rated lower by who?
Plainly obvious bias aside, I was also under the impression that FLCL had fairly high acclaim as far as anime series go. If anything I’d guess Penguindrum is probably less popular on account of the madly inconsistent animation budget. I swear a part of my soul dies every time I see another flowery mock-shoujo paper cut out scene rear its ugly head.
To me, the cutout scenes have been a clever way to utilize the storybook aesthetics one might find in fairy tales and still save money at the same time. They haven’t bothered me as much as the characters randomly losing their eyes.
If it was done in a storybook art style more akin to that episode of Dantalian or perhaps Gankutsuou I would agree, but the one they’ve chosen just strikes me as both cheap and ugly. There’s certainly no feeling of antiquity to it anyway. That said, I did quite enjoy the style of the Mary and the Little Lambs segment from this episode – it seemed a lot more in line with what I was expecting from a storybook.
I agree that the myth was well animated. Hell, far better than any of the storybook sequences, but I guess I just don’t find those scenes as ugly as you do. To me, the art style fits even if it’s relatively low effort.
Is keeping some twisted semblance of a family alive more important than Himari’s happiness?
But isn’t that exactly what Ringo accused Shouma of doing in episode 8? It seems the show is aware of what you are criticizing it for (I should also note the novel made a similar reference to a fake happy family life).
And personally I do feel emotionally connected to the characters. The issue is (and I think what a lot of people are missing) is maybe with the exception of Ringo we don’t know what all these characters are about yet (especially Shouma) We are only slowly getting to know all the characters through a series of flashbacks. Hence the reason why characters said things like “we will have no future” “This is probably our ‘punishment.” etc have simply not been revealed to us yet.
As for Ringo I can’t tell you to feel for her if her story didn’t make you feel anything well it didn’t. But it certainly made me feel something, maybe because I am also from a divorced family and know how hard that is on a child. Sure Ringo took things to extreme, but underneath those extremes are a normal girl who wants a family. When Ringo mentioned she was doing this for her family it also resonated with Shouma who’s family is also not exactly perfect (despite what he tries to pretend). And for me at least the slowly developing relationship between Ringo & Shouma is a quite lovely part of the story.
Someone mentioned that it didn’t matter that Shouma got hit by the car because he was barely hurt. But it sure mattered to me because it was the first time Ringo acknowledged she cared about Shouma & that the diary cannot tell her everything. In fact it was more significant because he was barely hurt and she still felt guilty. If anything Shouma getting hit by the car was more about Ringo, than Shouma.
Admittedly I do think Himari could use more development (although episode 9 helped, showing she was not exactly perfect) but I don’t think the series needs to justify why Kanba and Shouma love their younger sister. Again it seems she represents the one bright spot for them in what was not a very happy life (something we still don’t know about).
Well, isn’t this putting the cart before the horse? Why devote so much time to Himari’s apparently tragic death when we hardly know the characters and therefore can’t relate as well to them?
My parents didn’t stay together either. With half of every marriage ending in divorce, I think plenty of us “know how hard that is on a child.” Even so, I still don’t think the emotion in Ringo’s story was executed all that well.
It’s hard to get past the part where he’s a gigantic doormat and she’s physically abusive as well as deranged.
But did it make you sad? That’s the problem that a lot of us are having. The show’s interesting to watch, but none of the events make us feel the same emotions that the characters are feeling. We have a hard time connecting with the characters.
Why not? Just saying that she’s a bright spot doesn’t actually show that she’s a bright spot. This is Storytelling 101: show, not tell.
Well, isn’t this putting the cart before the horse? Why devote so much time to Himari’s apparently tragic death when we hardly know the characters and therefore can’t relate as well to them?
Himari “died” originally in the first episode. How much time could they have devoted to that? How much more do we need to know then two brothers lost a younger sister that they loved.
As for this episode I feel it was meant to be sudden but more as a game changer that things are not going to be easy for the characters from here on out. And for me I am more interested in seeing how this will change the characters (I am not even sure if Himari will stay dead).
But did you ever think in the end there is more to this story than two brothers trying to save their sister from death, that maybe that was just the start of a bigger story for these characters?
My parents didn’t stay together either. With half of every marriage ending in divorce, I think plenty of us “know how hard that is on a child.” Even so, I still don’t think the emotion in Ringo’s story was executed all that well.
*Shrugs* The story didn’t work for you, but it worked for me. How a viewer emotionally connects to a character is an individual thing isn’t it? I am just saying just because you do not emotionally connect to Ringo, doesn’t mean other viewers don’t feel for her character. I personally thought her story was executed very well. Like I said behind all her crazy facade, there is a normal teenage girl in there.
It’s hard to get past the part where he’s a gigantic doormat and she’s physically abusive and deranged.
Oh sure Ringo is messed up & needs help but a lot of the “physical abuse” stuff is typical anime exaggerated comedy. As for Shouma being a doormat…sure at one point he came off that way but again in episode 8 he was the first person to outright tell Ringo she was wrong and again to tell her she is not her sister. Hence when it counted, Shouma did speak up. If anything he was the first person to make Ringo question what she was doing. That doesn’t sound like a doormat to me.
But did it make you sad? That’s the problem that a lot of us are having. The show’s interesting to watch, but none of the events make us feel the same emotions that the characters are feeling. We have a hard time connecting with the characters.
I don’t see why Shouma getting hit by a car was supposed to make me sad. Like I said it was more about Ringo realizing she cared about Shouma. I certainly felt bad for her & worried about Shouma. Just like I felt sorry for Shouma and Kanba when Himari “died”. I don’t necessarily think I have to feel the exact same emotions as the characters but I empathize with them all the same.
Why not? Just saying that she’s a bright spot doesn’t actually show that she’s a bright spot. This is storytelling 101: show, not tell.
But the story never actually does explicitly say it (just that Kan & Sho love their little sister) that is what I am getting from the scenes we have been shown. And Penguin Drum is definitely “showing” it’s just letting everything unfold slowly.
I will admit that before episode 9 I thought Himari would be more of a symbol than a character. After episode 9 though I expect we will learn more about her when we need to.
Just to add I am not saying you are wrong for not emotionally connecting to the characters. But I am just offering a counter point that I am a viewer that does connect with these characters.
And yet she gets to die again. And yet we see the same sad event play out for a second time. My point is that the second time doesn’t do anything because (1) it’s repetitive and (2) the anime hasn’t done a good enough job to make me relate to what the brothers are going through.
What are you implying? Why wouldn’t I think that there’s a larger picture? That still doesn’t change the fact that Himari’s death should be gut-wrenching but it’s not and this is a failure of the anime.
So what do you think a more assertive character could accomplish in the same amount of time?
When did I say that other viewers don’t or couldn’t feel differently than I do?
I should feel bad that Shoma got injured but I don’t. I should sympathize with Ringo’s fear that she may have been responsible for him getting hurt, but I don’t. This is where the anime fails: I don’t connect with the characters.
But it does! Kanba says that Himari means the world to him. The anime doesn’t actually show why she means the world to him though. That’s all I’m asking for. If Himari is so important, the anime should show it. Otherwise, I’m not as invested in the anime’s characters as I should be.
When did I say that other viewers don’t or couldn’t feel differently than I do?
You don’t but then you seem to imply that just because you don’t emotionally connect with the characters, this is a problem with the anime itself. Although maybe it is and I am in the minority in feeling for the characters, I don’t know.
That still doesn’t the fact that Himari’s death should be gut-wrenching but it’s not and this is a failure of the anime.
I’ll admit I didn’t find her death “gut wrenching” but that is more because I don’t expect it is the end of her character just yet, so I don’t think it should have been gut wrenching either. That’s not to say I did not feel the sadness and desperation of the characters.
(1) it’s repetitive and
I think that was on purpose (even what Kanba said was a repeat of what Shouma said in the 1st episode). So yes I do think Himari’s “death” and this fighting against fate is part of a larger picture and this repetitiveness is just driving that point home.
So what do you think a more assertive character could accomplish in the same amount of time?
You are right, Shouma is not assertive which makes him standing up to Ringo like that more impressive (at least to me).
The anime doesn’t actually show why she means the world to him though.
But I am kind of confused exactly what they need to show to have this work for you? I certainly feel Kanba’s feelings for Himari, very intensely (maybe too intensely)
And I also feel Shouma’s love for Himari too, and her love for her brothers.
I guess this discussion is going in circles because obviously I can’t make you feel for the characters if you don’t.
Sigh, criticism is inherently subjective. If you don’t agree with me, you don’t agree. I’m not gonna say the anime didn’t fail just because it managed to work for you. Should a movie critic take back what he or she said about Transformers just because it made hundreds of millions of dollars? Just by those numbers, the silly movies worked for a lot of people, but so what? Are critics suddenly not allowed to say that the movies failed based on their judgment?
What does it matter if it was purposeful or not if the execution wasn’t what it should be? Repetition in Steins;Gate helped to established and magnify Okabe’s madness. The repetition in Mawaru Penguindrum seemed to serve no other function than to rehash the same emotions from the first episode and have Sanetoshi re-enter the picture.
Maybe a more impactful scene than Himari making stuffed cabbages for her brothers. Just telling me that they are siblings and one of them is dying isn’t enough. Just telling me that Himari’s a nice girl isn’t enough for me to care whether she lives or dies. I expect more out of a high-caliber story.
I’m sorry to keep replying but two things
What does it matter if it was purposeful or not if the execution wasn’t what it should be? Repetition in Steins;Gate helped to established Okabe’s madness or at least magnify what was already there. The repetition in Mawaru Penguindrum seemed to serve no other function than to rehash the same emotions from the first episode and have Sanetoshi re-enter the picture.
The same emotions? In episode 1 there was a sense of hope that maybe they can escape fate but in episode 12 it is the exact opposite where fate (or what they perceive to be fate) seems to come crashing down on them. The episodes were similar but not the same. Also to have Kanba repeat Shouma’s lines possibly drives home the point that the brothers are connected in their fate (which Kanba basically says in the first episode “this is our punishment”).
As for Himari to each their own I guess but I think there is more impact in a simple domestic scene of siblings making stuffed cabbage together (or eating breakfast as in the 1st episode) then some major scene that should show us why brothers love their sister. Now why Kanba is “in love” with his sister, I don’t think we have truly seen yet.
But as for your first point fair enough!
But
I dunno why you think this is the case when Himari flat out tells Shoma that he can still derail the train of fate (paraphrasing). If anything, I feel as though she’s just manipulating them to action because they seem to be dawdling with their mission. And what better way than to act as though their sister will die even though we know she won’t stay dead for the rest of the series.
Your point stands. E minor being unable to ‘connect’ with the characters and then prescribing this as the ‘failure’ of the show is untenable.
Believe it or not, we all have characters we dislike/like regardless of the show and we all tend to agree/disagree on whether we like/dislike them. Me saying I didn’t feel a personal connection to Okabe of Steins;Gate then ‘blaming’ it on the show for it’s inability to facilitate this connection (or empathising/relating/whatever you want to call it) is ludicrous.
My inability to form a connection is the sum of what I like/dislike/beliefs/values etc etc, ie it is inherently subjective. So basically the ‘blame’ (or failure) in relating to a character largely lies with the viewer. Hence, blaming the show comes across as pompously absurd.
Don’t get me wrong, I like reading these posts – but this particular bit of analysis – dare I say it – sounds a little a childish in comparison to the usual interesting points which discussed on this blog.
I don’t know why you guys take any criticism of a show you like so personally. I think it failed in one particular area. It just so happens that it didn’t fail for you. Great, we’ve discussed it so let’s move on. But no, apparently this means that I’m “childish” because I don’t prescribe to some standard that criticism must remain as objective and detached from the audience — in this case, me — as possible.
I believe criticism is subjective. If you don’t agree, this is just the wrong blog for you. And for you, I guess my blog has failed, huh? Oh well, I can’t succeed with everyone! Pompously absurd, we go! And it’s funny. Had I said, “Wow, I can really connect to these characters. Therefore, the aniime really succeeds here!” this would have been equally subjective, but I doubt anyone would have taken any offense whatsoever.
You want to know what’s childish though? Resorting to personal insults because you disagree with someone.
I know that the strange myth amalgam was never discusses but could the two black rabbits represent trickster deities in the story? They might represent a chaotic force that compels humans in this anime to try and go against fate–which would explain their allegiance to Sanetoshi. But now the question of Sanetoshi’s motives comes into play. If he is from the destination of fate, then what at that destination is he trying to change? and just what are in those cases that his little black bunny helpers are carrying? so many mysteries and questions…. :D (Also totally called the incest thing)
But why rabbits? What is particularly chaotic about rabbits?
You know…I could have sworn I’ve seen that building in the series before…
Excellent post as always. I also did not feel moved by Himari’s death. In fact, the only character that I have any sort of attachment to is Shouma, oddly enough.
Shoma’s too weak-willed for me. I can’t really say any of the characters currently do it for me. Watching Mawaru Penguindrum is only an intellectual exercise at the moment. I guess the last sentence will sound worse than I really want it to be, so I’ll just re-iterate that I still think this is a good show. It’s just not perfection.
Why are you so touchy? I wasn’t insulting you. I was saying that in my opinion I believe blaming a show for you not liking it or it’s characters is childish. You’re completely free to like/dislike what you want to – but it’s not the show’s fault for that – it’s what you personally bring to the table.
Blaming the show for not fulfilling your ‘needs’ is akin to your average weaboo complaining that ‘omg I can’t believe the creators of my favourite anime which I pirated of the internet didn’t make this exactly how I wanted it!’ It’s a childish way of looking at things.
Chillax dude.
Oh, okay. As for your other argument…
Then what’s the point of critiquing anything? You can use this to defend any bad movie. Think the characters in Transformers are shallow and uninteresting? Well, it’s not the film’s fault you don’t like its characters! Sex and the City is tripe? You’re just crying that they didn’t make a movie for you!
it’s all odd…at first, altux thought Himari was a very loving girl, but the episodes after taht showed that she’s just normal, and the thing with her mother made altux degraded her even more. Ringo by far has the worse cicumstances, but at the other end, the setting and her behaviour portrays her as a, well, “villain”, not a victim. Looks like the chain and bind are so intense in these series, knowing that the enemy you must defeat are the situation and circumstances, not the person that’s fighting you.
Pingback: Notes of Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 12 | Organization Anti Social Geniuses
I love your reviews… They’re so well-written…*_*
Pingback: Notes of Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 12 | Organization Anti-Social Geniuses