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I don't quite understand this thread very much. People seem to be misinterpreting the words of the few to be the words of the majority on this show. There aren't that many people who have seen Utena (I haven't), and so very few of us know of Ikuhara's "genius."
While some people are reveling in their beloved director's style, and letting the story unfold onto them before making judgement calls in the hopes of a repeat of the perceived genius of Utena, I feel a majority of the viewers here are hanging here carefully and cautiously on this show.
Penguindrum's premise was initially very fresh, and its zaniness has been very entertaining. However, it is undeniable that for many, including myself, you need to expand the plot, expand the narrative to keep this story engaging.
I was initially very worried at the start of episode because I thought once again we were about to tread the same ground that the previous and other episodes did. Like Guardian Enzo said, the show has recently felt very imbalanced and it seems over obsessed with Ringo.
I don't particularly dislike Ringo, I initially liked her, and at some point even found her empathetic. While she is still entertaining though, empathy has gone out the window. In her descent into complete and utter insanity, all semblance of care for her problems is not really out there. I'm not even sure if she's pitiful at the moment, but now she's even passed into the realm of disturbing.
Again, like others, I don't know Ikuhara and I can't blindly hold faith that this all sorts itself out in the end. If it does, great, but it's very true that the latest episodes played around too long with Ringo and could've been condensed. There are aspects of the story that certainly can't be fully evaluated until they play their part, but there others that don't change no matter what. That's what this "imbalance" was.
Like Triple_R said, the next episode is certainly going to be an important juncture of this show's run. Is Ikuhara overplaying his hand? Where is the plot being guided to? What is Penguindrum truly about? We hear a lot about fate, among other things, but what exactly is he trying to tell us and should we care? Right now, despite a semblance of a big underlying theme, I haven't been felt compelled to truly care about plot centering around Ringo. I'm not sure if I ever will, and really I'm just confused by the director's intentions.
Now about episode 8 specifically... Like I said before, Ringo has passed into the realm of being disturbing. Where they go with this, I don't know. I'm glad that we once again got a hint of something underneath Shoma's "innocence" that Kanba hinted at earlier, but I'm still looking for the moment that they capitalize on it.
I think I'd have to agree with Guardian Enzo overall about the length of Penguindrum. I don't think they've put to good use so far the 2 cours, and if this persists going into the 2nd cour that would be annoying. There's been now 3 or so episodes in this series that felt very slow in pacing, plot, and characterization.
My initial positivism on this anime is starting to be neutered. I liked what I saw at the end of this episode, as I feel they're starting to stop dicking around too much but they really got to start capitlizing on at least some of the groundwork laid here beyond the extreme Ringo fetish of the director.
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