That was… just insane. No, seriously: this episode was completely mind-blowing. Even Utena wasn’t THIS good after just five episodes. And I know that Utena had more episodes and the strength of that series was how well it developed its characters and all, this is still something I did not see coming. This episode took the already amazing cast, and made it even better than it already was.
What especially baffles me is how the transformation scene trope is getting completely redesigned here: normally they’re the kinds of scenes that can’t be interfered. They have this formula and this formula can’t be broken. And here Ringo bloody comes and not only takes Kanba’s place, she also manages to completely turn the scene upside-down by clinging out of the hole she dropped out of and hitting Himari back by taking the penguin hat.
Which all lead to the bloody amazing chase scene of the truck and Kanba. Holy crap, this guy got some extra depth here. The direction was just amazing in how it showed how far he’s willing to go for Himari, right after the creators also brought in the fact that a) he indirectly injured his father when Himari got sick as a kid and b) the house they’re living in could be sold if they don’t have enough money. What the hell kind of a character is he anyways? On one hand he keeps flirting around with women to the most extreme degree, and yet he’s also able to get heaps of cash from mysterious sources and for some reason has grown up to be much more mature than his other brother.
The direction of the rest of the episode was also just amazing: it just kept toying around with your expectations and was full of these subtle mood-switches. The symbolism also really helped here.
And the subway messages of the previous were right again: something got stolen in this episode. I did not expect it to be the penguin hat though, and especially not the way in which it happened. The hint for the next episode… yeah. Kanba definitely borrowed his money from shady sources. Something tells me that this is really going to bite him back.
Speaking of symbolism: the cockroaches that the penguins have been exterminating up till now all died. This time they didn’t though.
And how the hell is this happening this early on in the series? The creators must either have some amazing plans, or are playing their biggest trumps first. Ah well, if this series does dull in, there’ll be enough time to rant about it later. For now I’m just enjoying what is by far the best new show of the summer season.
Rating: **** (Fantastic)
My thoughts: HOLLY FUKCING SHIT!!!
@DmonHiro
I second that.
Damn. Looks like I really have to watch this series now!
awesome ! you would think that Kanba is just some playboy. but he turns out to be someone who is very determined to save Himari and protect the family the best he could, even though he resorts to mysterious means. maybe he has been paid to make incidents on ‘fate’ diaries come true.
i like the way the flashback scene is split into segments, you just want to know what happened that night.
After ep4 of KamiMemo I dropped it and decided to pick up Penguindrum. Watched the first 5eps in a sit and I’m liking it very much, so far best show of the season.
UGH YES. Mawaru Penguindrum is just BLOWING MY MIND RIGHT NOW. If this keeps up this might just be a classic (break the jinx!)
I loved the survival strategy scene. Ringo loves fate and destiny, but very ironically she didn’t just passively accept what was happening there. She’s fantastic.
As to the Kanba being more mature than Shoma – really? He recklessly charges in to deal with his problems, just as we saw he did when young. Going after the hat with all his might worked well for him this time. When he ran after his dad it didn’t. He’s now quickly set up a shady deal to get the cash to solve their immediate problems, but that’s not going to be without repercussions. In going after the penguindrum he had no problem with hacking into school records and housebreaking. It makes him great to watch, and it’s great to see he’s not terrified of women like 99% of male anime leads, but mature? Where actually Shoma has been the one cooking for the family, and he’s the one who’s making all the progress on discovering and obtaining Ringo’s diary. He even demonstrated some heroism last week by immediately rescuing Ringo rather than taking the chance to steal or have a further look at the diary (what would Kanba have done?). He did seem to get hit by the idiot ball this week though, talking about the hat to the doctor, and then doing so again to Ringo, without properly explaining the story first.
Asides:
This is the 3rd episode running that Ringo has borrowed Shoma’s clothes.
I think the Double H announcements only relate to the current episode – not all of them have related to the next episode.
the threesome reminds me of Honey & Clover:
Kanba=Morita-kun – flirt, irresponsible guy, capable of great things, obtainer of wads of cash from shady sources
Shoma=Takemoto – nice guy, the hesitant one who fears being left behind
Himari= Hagu, girl-child playing role of Empress
or something like?
Survival strategy better be this epic from now on!
I so often complain about so its only fair to praise this one that has done it right.
To be honest it far exceeded my expectations. I was drawn into the story so fast and everything was done with amazing attention to pacing and very smooth animations.
Its a win….I don’t have to wait for the story to get ‘better’ it is already far better than 90% of what is being done.
I wish more anime’s would do this, make the story good from the first episode. My tip to those other stories that far too ofter make you wait and wait and wait…….
would be this; there is no such thing as a background / filler episode.
Such an amazing story, I’m truly blown away.
It’s quite good but… let’s get real with the symbolism. There is definitely some like he train and how the station signs appear are clearly important, along with the cartoon on the train. But the cockroaches? Really? It’s a running gag designed to give us something to look at rather than talking heads. What could it be symbolic for? How Himari just won’t stay dead?
I’m more interested in the penguin images everywhere than the cockroaches. On the balls in that girl’s gun at the beginning of the episode, on the envelope from the money Kanba got.. But more importantly, on the kid’s father’s jacket in the hospital. Also I thought they were dead, and not just “off somewhere,” although it’s still made to look like they are dead. But whatever is going on, it looks to me like the parents, or at least the father, were a part of it in the past.
If you notice when the bugs appear, they appear in moral dilemmas. Specifically concerning Shoma.
It going to be interesting to see how they use this symbolism when things really go south.
If the Kanba-loves-Himari-more-than-a-sister is true, I thought he toyed with women to erase that side of him or something.
I loved this episode, I was amused at how many bugs fell on poor #2, I wouldn’t like going to that house. X3
Oh yes, fantastic episode indeed! I am also with psgels that the Double H clues caters for both the current episode and the next episode.
The cockroach for me seems to symbolize the person who is downed by the alien. Shouma always fell through, and this episode sees the cockroach not dying and overcoming #2 , and guess what Ringo just did.
Oh hell yes, this episode was insane.
One thing I’ve been curious about is they show some kind of station sign during a transition a couple of times an episode (I think twice this time). Do those signs have any symbolic meaning? Or the numbers next to them?
“Even Utena wasn’t THIS good after just five episodes. And I know that Utena had more episodes and the strength of that series was how well it developed its characters and all, this is still something I did not see coming…”
as soon as I heard that Penguin was only going to be a full season of 24 episodes I thought, ‘oh well they better get things started much quicker than Utena’, and that’s exactly what has been done. nonwithstanding, I continue to be impressed by how consistently mind-blowing the direction/writing/production has been with each new episode and share your hopes that some amazing plans are already established so that we may once again witness a masterpiece.
as you were hinting at, it’s basically unfair simply due to length to compare the enjoyment of Utena to this show. if I were to make a comparison I’d say that thus far, the two shows are accomplishing somewhat similar concepts in very different ways.
¤Troyen
These are all stations along the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line. If you notice the characters never change trains, as all events happen along that train line.
The brothers and their sisters live in Ogikubo near the first station, the aquarium is located in Ikebukuro near the last station.
“Even Utena wasn’t THIS good after just five episodes.”
= i watched Utena’s first episode, and I already thought it’s no match against Penguindrum’s first episode, hehe.
“for some reason has grown up to be much more mature than his other brother. ”
= I think his being the elder twin had something to do with that.
This episode was just insane, another huge dose of foreshadowing. I knew there was more to Kanba,then what was first seen. I’ve actually watched this episode it twice. As of right now, it feels there is a lot,^^ more stuff that we don’t know yet. The remix of the original song was just brilliant timing. Utena’s director really planned this out. If he keeps this up it may surpass(which I’m hoping), it may surpass Utena.
“If the Kanba-loves-Himari-more-than-a-sister is true, I thought he toyed with women to erase that side of him or something.”
You just said what I’ve been thinking all this time. I always avoid incest but I really fell inlove with this anime from the first time I watched this. Even the fact that Kanba might love his sister in a different way. And good thing I didn’t watch this with my brother since we watched Oreimo together. But older brother liking the little sister is somehow new to me..
And that house is too colorful, and the outside walls looks like patches. I think cockroaches will really get in…
Can someone fill me in here? Isn’t this show blatantly shoujo? As in reverse-harem? As in a gaggle of men used for female fanservice?
If it’s as bad as No.6 is getting in that respect (“I need you! I can’t live without you! I’m so inexplicably ATTACHED to you!” + excessive touching + crossdressing + forced dancing), someone please fill me in.
hoiut: um… I think you have this one confused with Uta no Prince Sama… Penguin Drum isn’t even remotely like that.
I haven’t been this entertained by an episode of anime in a long time. I can see why you rated it as a rare “fantastic”, because I felt the same way. It’s so nice to see a show throw away it’s most mundane and typical build-up just to keep things interesting. I almost flashed back to FLCL.
This show, and particularly this episode, is made of so much win. I had some laugh out loud moments throughout.
I don’t even know what I just watched, but I was throughly entertained.