The second series I’m blogging this season is another obvious one. Even during this season full of excellent series, this one stands at the top with its imagination, execution, style, elegance, characters and delivery. Again, it may not have the most realistic acting (that award is undoubtedly going to Usagi Drop), but the dialogue, the pacing, the writing: just about everything here hits the spot.
Now in a way it is awesome to have one series by Utena’s writer, and another by Utena’s director within the same year. Star Driver was already excellent as a fun action mecha series, based on weird concepts and all, but when just looking at the first two episodes, Penguin Drum really has it beaten. Whereas Star Driver was less serious than it actually seemed at first, Penguin Drum is more serious than it actually seems. On one hand you have these crazy and fun antics between the brothers and the penguins, and on the other hand this does deal about death quite easily, it features a stalker who somehow is related to everything, and even beyond that everything seems to be connected somehow.
There are a ton of hints and counter-references that I’m only noticing now on this second playthrough, like the girl losing her shoe, the train groper warnings, the hints at underwear. As for the latter, it also has the good kind of fanservice: it makes sense within the story, it’s whimsical and doesn’t bog the rest of the episode down. And it’s actually quite hilarious. The penguin’s quirks in this episode really were… unashamed.
Then there is the symbolism, with the huge amount of train references (I can already see numerous other railways coming up on that eye catch map as well), the penguin signs that are actually everywhere on the street (part of the story, or just a nice quirk?). Oh, and yeah: when Heartcatch Precure aired, I mentioned how it had the best transformation scenes since Utena. So yeah: the penguin transformation scene was awesome. Finally like Utena, we have another series that turns them into more than just the main character powering up.It’s still not as good as Utena of course, which had repetitions like, everywhere (it really was one of the select series out there who actually knew how to use repetition correctly), but it’s actually good that this series has similarities, but not too many. This will allow this series to stand on its own, and not in Utena’s shadow. Now all that’s left is to wait and enjoy whether or not this series lived up to the hype it built up.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
There is one way I can tell if a show is going to be great. It’s when watching an episode it doesn’t feel like twenty minutes have gone past. It feels much longer and you honestly don’t want it to end. It a rare feeling for me. This episode did it.
Still I am worried about when the “Battles” are coming into it. The opening hints at some kind of supernatural fights. These could make or break the show. Also seems that a lot of people are putting this show down because they don’t see a point or a plot emerging. They are going onto this show wrong. Do not search for plot or point.(God knows Utena didn’t make a lick of sense) Watch only for style, interesting development and entertainment.
^^Well, despite what you say, a lot of people want story from their anime and anything really. It doesn’t have to be a gamebreaker but it helps.
To be honest, while watching this episode, I thought Ringo would the titular penguin drum herself,that she will somehow interact with the brothers and the end would be them coming to terms with Himari’s death with Ringo’s help. But since the end made it clear that she would be no messiah and infact would make very fast friends with Mika Harima..I’m very curious with what comes next 😀
I can honestly say I’m impressed. There should be more shows like this, whimsical and possessing a unique and somewhat twisted sense of humor yet still managing to be thought-provoking. It’s one of the few shows that are worth watching more than once even immediately after the first viewing. Why?
1. Stunning visuals. The attention to detail is simply AMAZING, even in normal settings. Also like in Star Driver, I never get tired of watching the transformation/recycled scene because it’s so flashy and cool!
2. The small hints left in the background and dialogue one might miss the first time.
3. The mystery and intrigue. Seriously,this show is just coaxing us to make our own theories and get dizzy from speculation.
4. Shoma. Just Shoma. He’s the funniest character in this show(I just love the crazy stuff he does). If this were a full-out comedy, he’d be the straight man.Poor guy.
Anyway, if you guys have the time, I’d recommend rewatching the episode again, because it is totally worth it. Happy to see psgels did just that!
Shoma: ” We will gladly serve you, oh magnificent hat!”
This and Usagi Drop are my current favs of this season, which is really unexpected
This is so much fun to watch, and I love it when the penguin hat yells “SURVIVAL STRATEGY” and the whole transformation of course
Way better than Star Driver for me
@tomphile
You are talking to a story is everything kind of guy. Star drivers story annoyed me to high heaven. But I only focused on that because nothing else was catching my interest.
It was the character development in Utena that made the show for me. I suspect this show will be much the same. That’s why I am suggesting to not focus on plot. My bet is that the penguin aliens won’t even be addressed or explained until the very end of the show. And I highly doubt it will be a satisfying explanation. So rather than focus on that and get disappointed it’s better to have an enjoy what you get attitude.
A terminally ill girl gets saved by the hidden powers of a penguin hat. In return, her brother must help the mysterious force residing in the hat and are helped by cute little penguins that only they can see. Erhm…
I do agree there is a certain charm and mystery to the first 2 episodes (like: wtf penguins? wtf ‘survival’?). It can still become either a complete hit or a complete miss for me at this point.
@Tomtom
Pay attention to the character monologue at the start and end. It explains the greater plot and them of Penguindrum…
Penguindrum is basically an exploration into the idea of what Fate is, what it can be and how different people perceive Fate. Knowing Ikuhara, he’d probably present Fate as its stereotypical definition and then force his characters into surpassing and transforming the definition of Fate and themselves.
Those who watch Penguindrum and think “where’s the plot” aren’t paying enough attention to the plot.
I don’t see how the monologue about fate invalidates what I have said? I agree with you that fate is likely to be the major theme of the show btw.
tags: fairytale, taboos, magical girl, zany humor, avalanche of visual references, dark comedy
**SPOILER**
To get an idea what the Penguindrum is .. look at stalker girl’s diary at the end.
dont see how that is a spoiler…if people were paying attention, Im sure they’ve already figured that out. (especially since the diary helps ringo transform in the op…)
Only anime to floor me since Bokura no by first episode alone(but Kaiba, Angel Beats! and Katanagatari were okay), and that’s a terribly long interim. About time to see Kunihiko Ikuhara thrill me for days on end again.
the penguin dumping shoma everytime he talks kinda reminds me of excel saga
Oh wow, now this is good 🙂 The premise is so silly and yet I was scotched to the screen the whole time. How can they use so many cliche and make them fresh and entertaining!? They sure managed to. And I loved the stalker twist, way to 360 the character. I was like “the classic nice girl who will end up dating the blue-haired guy”….not really! I’m looking forward to the rest of this anime 😀
Exteremely entertaining episode and show … i’m really enjoying the humor and beautiful art … there is also the main theme about “FATE” and how each character perceives it .. and the .. PENGUINS XD
Perosnally i think the Penguindrum has to be the diary notebook+”destiny” apple stamp (or one of them) … it seems Ringo writes down whatever she wants to happen into the diary then stamp it with the “destiny” stamp … then it happens … that’s my guess specially with her “i believe in Fate” monologue … she probably does becasue she can manipulate it XD