Penguin Drum - General Discussion

[Nina.Wolken]

And episode 02 didn't disappoint in the least

Spoiler for Episode 02:

Who would have thought that calm and soft looking Ringo was actually a quite terrifying stalker? ^^' We knew from the chart she was in love with Shou and Kan homeroom teacher, but not that was going as far as to dig under his apartment to spy on his privacy....
Now, about the penguin drum : did it just turn out it's Ringo's diary? O__o It seemed like a lot of stuff that just happened were already written in it and more entries (for thing that didn't happen yet logically) were in there too. And well, she did say herself that future was written down in it lol

One thing I wonder is if the brothers figured out her diary was what they were looking after... And is that diary the Penguin Drum itself or simply a part of it...

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Nina.Wolken

And episode 02 didn't disappoint in the least

Spoiler for Episode 02:

Who would have thought that calm and soft looking Ringo was actually a quite terrifying stalker? ^^' We knew from the chart she was in love with Shou and Kan homeroom teacher, but not that was going as far as to dig under his apartment to spy on his privacy....
Now, about the penguin drum : did it just turn out it's Ringo's diary? O__o It seemed like a lot of stuff that just happened were already written in it and more entries (for thing that didn't happen yet logically) were in there too. And well, she did say herself that future was written down in it lol

One thing I wonder is if the brothers figured out her diary was what they were looking after... And is that diary the Penguin Drum itself or simply a part of it...

Well, it seems we don't yet have a rapist... But we got something close.

I still need to remind myself that there isn't suppose to be a single normal human in this show. So I expect the teacher to have surprises of his own.

[Nina.Wolken]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I still need to remind myself that there isn't suppose to be a single normal human in this show. So I expect the teacher to have surprises of his own.

I drew the same conclusion after this episode. A normal (plain?) looking girl turning out to be the kind to--

Spoiler for ep 02:

-- risk her life just to take an hive picture because some kind of (fishy) artifact suggested her to as part of a grand plan to seduce an older man? Not normal. Especially when you consider her degree of obsession over said man.

But we know that Ikuhara likes to portray teenagers as troubled characters and the whole point of Utena was for them to overcome their various issues to grow up and reach adulthood. I don't remember of any adult (who was of any relevance) in Utena.
So maybe we shouldn't worry / be suspicious about the teacher... yet.

[Suzuku]

gg subs are out.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Spoiler for ep 2:

I knew there was something off about the Ringo girl the way she was indifferent to her friends and Shoma and his friend but I never would have thought she was such a creepy stalker ._.

And lack of Himari QQ.

The "message of the day" at the train for episode 2 was "Molest and get arrested" while it was "trash goes in trash can" for episode 1. Hmm...

Oh and that red shoe reference ._.

[Triple_R]

Episode 2 was a very fun watch for me.

Additional thoughts below:

Spoiler for Mawaru Penguin Drum Episode 2:

I very much like this anime stylistically/artistically. It feels intensely insanely imaginative to me, and also rather creative.

I usually don't go for fanservice comedy, but this anime executes it in a relatively (and mostly) original way that makes it much more humorous to me than what would otherwise be the case.

Also, my feeling is that this anime is surrealism done right. It all feels vaguely magical, yet also mature and a bit off-kilter. The plot isn't terribly hard to follow, but also has enough surprising twists and turns to captivate me.

The penguins are also adorably amusing, I must say.

I'm certainly looking forward to more.

[brocko]

Only 5 mins in and already Rock Over Japan shows up lol Imaaagggiiinnneee~
There's probably a rule somewhere stating the more intricate the transformation sequence, the more it needs to be repeated

Spoiler:

New girl is also creepily delicious haha. If extreme stalking were an actual sport, she'd be the world champion lol

[creb]

I spent about 20 minutes trying to imagine what possible functions all those buttons could possibly have for a toilet, and gave up before my head exploded.

[4Tran]

While episode 2 wasn't as mind-blowing as the first one, I thought it was still fantastic. Easily the funniest anime I've watched all year.

Spoiler for Episode 2:

A few points of interest:

I haven't seen such good interplay between two male anime characters in a long time. They seem to be keeping Himari in the dark and I wonder when she'll be brought in full-fore into the wackiness.

The eyecatch is progressing station by station. If that holds, then there's a convergence point after the Episode 5 eyecatch.

The whole episode seems to be poking fun at the growing censorship culture around anime. The Penguins get into all sorts of racy situations, but the audience never gets to see anything that would be censored. It's also a strong statement against the silliness of censorship lighting and steam.

When we saw Kanba like this:

I cheered out loud. While Utena was far from the first show to frame bishounen with flowers, I think that Ikuhara owns the trademark on that.

Originally Posted by Forsaken_Infinity

Spoiler for ep 2:

The "message of the day" at the train for episode 2 was "Molest and get arrested" while it was "trash goes in trash can" for episode 1. Hmm...

Spoiler:

Tokyo Sky Metro's mascots seem to be called Double-H. If the two brothers are supposed to be them as suggested by the ED, then their actions in the ads seem to indicate what their missions are for that episode. I wonder what would count as tossing garbage (someone) in the trash in Episode 1.

Originally Posted by brocko

Only 5 mins in and already Rock Over Japan shows up lol Imaaagggiiinnneee~
There's probably a rule somewhere stating the more intricate the transformation sequence, the more it needs to be repeated

There is - it's called the Utena rule.

Originally Posted by creb

I spent about 20 minutes trying to imagine what possible functions all those buttons could possibly have for a toilet, and gave up before my head exploded.

It's not that unusual for fancy toilets in Japan to come with bidets. See wikipedia for details.

[sa547]

Was doubling over and laughing hard! This episode demonstrates how to combine mindscrew with some sense of humor, with the penguins for added comic relief.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep2:

Up until the end, it was a bit too slow and the penguins' mischief helped me get through it, but the last part was pretty interesting/scary.
Too bad that sparkly and colorful Seizon Kouryaku scene turned out to be stock animation and reused footage took up the first 5 minutes or so.

Mirai... Nik-... *cough*

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I still need to remind myself that there isn't suppose to be a single normal human in this show. So I expect the teacher to have surprises of his own.

Really?
I know she turned out to be weird, but that is about it. The sister herself's personality isn't exactly "abnormal" nor are the brothers.

[Blaat]

Episode one wowed me more but episode two was more entertaining (how contradicting this may sound).
I particularly enjoyed the sibling interaction, Sho is an excellent straight man and the penguins are very amusing to watch (especially #2).

Originally Posted by 4Tran

Spoiler:

Tokyo Sky Metro's mascots seem to be called Double-H. If the two brothers are supposed to be them as suggested by the ED, then their actions in the ads seem to indicate what their missions are for that episode. I wonder what would count as tossing garbage (someone) in the trash in Episode 1.

Spoiler:

I thought it was a reference to the penguins? In the first episode the penguins were hiding in a trash can and in this episode penguin #2 accidentally molested a girl.
Next week will most likely confirm or deny my theory

[Suzuku]

This ep was indeed hilarious and yet strangely serious at the same time. It kept me roped along the whole way, and I was starting to be lead into believing it was a light hearted affair and they were just mistaken in thinking Ringo had the Penguin Drum, but then that curveball ending came and through me completely out of the loop. I couldn't make out whether what was happening was serious or just comedic. I guess we have some snooping to do for little hints in the episode to point us towards the correct path. Anyway, I'm still confused as to wtf is going on lol. And like, it's a completely different confused than what Star Driver made me, which can just be attributed to bad/lazy writing in failing to properly explain the set up of the organizations in the story. Here, the confusion is just...genius.

Oh yeah, any respectable weeaboo should have long realized and known this, but just in case, Ringo=Apple in Japanese. And the character Ringo here is apparently a starch believer in fate, as opposed to Kanba and Shouma. We know that in Penguindrum the Apple represents the universe so...idk lol. Maybe it means in our universe fate is real and certain, and to try and go against it would make you not of this world, or un-human? Which goes in-line with Kanba's monologue in the end of last episode.

[kk2extreme]

I think the penguin princess is trolling them...

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

I think the penguin princess is trolling them...

This.

Also it seems that whatever is keeping Himari alive is what the princess is taking out of Kanba. At least, that is the impression this episode gave me.

[Guardian Enzo]

Hey, who hasn't uttered those immortal words: Are you trying to steal my octopus-shaped wieners?

This was a much sillier episode, but Ringo certainly took it to a very dark place at the very end - somewhat shocking tone shift there. I still think this is a fascinating mess more than a classic at this point, but it grabs your attention like few other shows can.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

I think the penguin princess is trolling them...

The only question isn't if the Princess is the enemy, but if there is an even worse enemy than her that the brothers had to worry about.

Because I once thought that Ringo might have a chance of being an ally. But now... I am not so sure.

[mellomarie]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Maybe it means in our universe fate is real and certain, and to try and go against it would make you not of this world, or un-human? Which goes in-line with Kanba's monologue in the end of last episode.

i was thinking around similair lines. which makes me curious about himari's fate--they can't look for the penguindrum forever.

anyway, excellent second episode. the light-hearted-turned-dark episode reminds me a lot about utena, specifically the wakaba episodes

[Kagura89]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Because I once thought that Ringo might have a chance of being an ally. But now... I am not so sure.

Who in the right mind want a stalker to be an ally.

And here I thought Akira Ishida character to be some kind of suspicious guy but instead we get to know that Ringo is a stalker. Props to Kanba because he has good taste on women lingerie, as expected from a siscon/pimp.

[hoarfrost]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Homosexuality is counterproductive to survival because same-sexes can't breed. So, homos in this series would basically be the antagonists working to thwart The Princess of Crystal's survival strategy. Sure is social commentary.

I don't really wanna have the whole debate about it (I have it enough in other places) but since it seems semi-relevant to the matter at hand, homosexuality occurs naturally in hundreds of species for survival purposes. Some animals are known to form homosexual couples to adopt abandoned children and some studies show that the more children of the same gender a woman has, the higher the chance of each successive one being homosexual, probably for population control. A species that just grows exponentially won't last long, so in that sense population control would be a "survival strategy".