Well I gave Sacred Seven another episode to hook me because I trusted it would, so I figure I might as well afford Mawaru Penguin Drum the same chance and allow it a second episode to try and get me on board. What a difference a second episode can make sometimes.
Mind you starting off with a shot of a toilet was not at all what I was expecting and seemed to bode poorly at the outset.
As about anyone in the world watching this show could have expected it doesn't take long into the episode before we are treated to that transformation sequence again (the whole thing....), but this time the two brothers are actually formally given the quest to get the Penguindrum along with instructions on where to start. HUGE!
Honest to god that's all I needed to get into this show, just one clear goal. I suppose having to wait until episode 02 for it isn't terribly bad and my fears that the show would meander were entirely mis-founded. Couldn't be much happier at this revelation.
Another thing I liked about this episode and that was a huge improvement over episode 1 for me is that we get a little more reflection from our two brothers and find that they are indeed very aware of how bizarre the situation has gotten with Himari's resurrection. That kind of makes it a little easier for me to get into the weirdness of this shows premise that we have a grounding factor in our main characters such as that.
Some of the humour in this episode was actually pretty amusing. I'm not normally a huge fan of slapstick, but the stuff with the penguins on the train got some chuckles and our brown haired bro using his handsomeness to diffuse the situation (complete with roses in the background) got a big laugh from this admitted comedy snob.
One other thing I noted is that while Ikuhara has a clear style that permeates this show (especially during the transformation and subway sequences), it's not an overly distracting style (like say Shinbo's during the Madoka fight I saw in episode 02 last night) even at it's most prevalent. I can appreciate the way the backgrounds are done without having it distract from the actual dialogue or plotline of the episode.
Just an overall much better episode than the first one for me. I barely felt that sense of detachment and like I was going to have to familiarize myself with the director to get any of this. By the end of the second episode there's even a subplot developing with Ringo turning out to be stalking someone and going to great lengths to try to impress him. I actually want to see where this is going now, whereas at the end of the first episode I was all kinds of ready to not bother anymore.