Well, I personally love Ringo, and not despite her flaws but because of them. She may be crazy but that only means there's more room for character growth. In contrast, to me Himari seems more like a plot device than a character. This may change in future episodes as the focus on her increases, but more than screen time, I want to see Himari's flaws. If she ends up being just the sweet and kind stereotypical female lead I won't be able to care for her.

How does he glorify her behavior, exactly? Cuz I'm getting just the opposite.

That's how it plays to me. Maybe "revels in" would be a better choice of words. It's a matter of dressing her up in classic moe clichés, the way she's lighted, the way the camera constantly flatters her... She's the "star" - it comes off as a massive directorial crush.

Well, I guess that's one down, or we'll be getting another Seizon Senryaku next episode.

lol

I may (still) not really know what the plot is or where it's going or why I love listening to them say "Destiny!!!!!!!!!" every week, but I'm having a blast tuning in every week, so they're doing something right.

And, yes, Ringo is a creepy psycho, but so what? Let yourself loose and enjoy her character. Real life has more than enough situations in which we have to adhere to social and moral norms. Fiction gives us an outlet; don't agonize over taking it. ;p

Ah, I see. "Revels in" makes more sense to me since I feel like Ikuhara enjoys visually showing how deluded this girl is. Though the "dressing up" feels like deliberate misdirection. It's like he's presenting her as a typical heroine but she keeps doing things that defy the expectations associated with such a character. That some viewers find her disturbing but still "likable" seems to be what he intended, IMO.

I don't disagree that's probably what he intended - he clearly adores her beyond all reason, after all - but it sure ain't working for me. For a few episodes I was at least able to pity her, but really, even that's out the window now.

Mawaru Penguindrum 8

This might be best episode yet. Throughout the earlier episodes, we've been given a glimpse at how disturbed and disturbing a character Ringo has been. In a typical show, if she were to progress beyond that, she'd be turned to her senses by some sort of life-altering lecture or the like. Here,


Those character parts are great, but I find a lot of the scene composition very good as well:

It's been a long time since I've watched a show with direction as assured as it is in Penguindrum. This assurance gives me a lot of confidence for the coming episodes.

I think that's the point. If Ringo doesn't make you uncomfortable, then the show's is failing.

Nah, it's a purposeful juxtaposition of both glamour and discomfort. The direction is meant to present a sequence which is normally sexy/appealing but the lighting, shot selections and music clearly present it as something very wrong.

It's quite natural that folks are going to look back at RGU with a rose-colored fondness after almost 15 years give or take - absence makes the heart grow fonder after all, and with so little to his name Ikuhara has built up quite a mystique around himself. In reality, I find Utena to be quite a flawed series, and subject to many of the same problems I'm seeing here - excessive recycling of material and self-indulgence being foremost among them. Even at that, though, I really can't compare Ringo to Utena. Ringo's disorder and obnoxiousness it at another level, at least for me.

There's no question Ikuhara is a talent, and RGU had moments of surreal genius to it. But what was fresh then (before he recycled it within the same series) certainly doesn't feel as fresh now. Utena would have benefited from being a shorter series, and MPD would have too, it looks like. Attention span and diversity of style don't seem to be Ikuhara's strong points.

Oh, I quite get that. I just feel we need more balance we don't want viewers to be too uncomfortable. The show has basically made Ringo into the real main character so far. And while I've enjoyed all the episodes for the most part, my biggest criticism is the lack of characterization and screen time so far to Himari and Kanba, not that I'm a particular fan of Kanba though. While something like Utena strove to establish all the characters fairly early on, this has been quite different. Ringo is the show and for me that's a scary prospect.

Not to say I would ever drop this show. I'll watch till the end no matter what but I'd prefer the focus widen a bit. Ringo can be a tiring character to follow and we have a lot of potential other characters to focus on.

Hardly; there's no filler here. Everything that has happened so far has been purposeful.

Does it mean Ringo will now stop with her obsession chasing after her sister's life and start living her own? Nevertheless i hope we will see some development with Kanba and Natsume's side of the story.

I will be honest; I think you are whining too much here. Stand back and watch the show as the director plays it out to you - like it or not, up to you - but to decide by yourself that the show would have benefited from being a shorter series before the show is even at halfway mark is only your playing "the critic" to a fault. And as Sides pointed out, not much (I would say not a single frame) has been wasted thus far so you lost me with your "shorter would have been better" argument.

You may not have found Ringo interesting, but I - and many others - watch the show with much arduous interest than most other shows precisely because of her. Do I think she's a crazy bitch? Most definitely. But does that take away from the show? Nope. It adds quite a bit to it instead. I am practically glued to the screen, trying to notice every subtle change - from the very subtle references to external materials to the antics of the penguins - so you lost me with the "attention span" argument as well.

Regarding fresh, the show is fresh alright. It brings to the table stuff you didn't find in anime for years. And no anime thus far has had such a character as Ringo so the one thing you hate about the show is already serving as the counterexample of one of your arguments. Comparing RGU and MPD, I don't exactly see what's so similar about them. Sure they have a somewhat similar art style and there are surreal touches in both. But beyond that, I find the stress of the two show to be much different. RGU was a fantasy while MPD is "real" is how I would put the difference I perceive. I am almost inclined to agree with you in that RGU is somewhat made out to be more than it is but MPD has thus far been a magnificent show. You can disagree with that conclusion but wait until you watch the whole show to call out on how the show could have improved upon. At the moment though, I think you are giving in too much to your desire to criticize a "popular" show to the point that you aren't even having fun watching it anymore.

OT: That was a crazy episode to say the least. I must say I am "excited" for the next episode. Not really in the sense of wanting to see the resolution of a cliffhanger though.

I don't understand Shouma. As everyone in here stated, Ringo is crazy, if not psychotic and make us very uncomfortable. Shouldn't Shouma feel the most uncomfortable as he is the closest to her? I fail to understand why Shouma try his best to help Ringo - as to trying to point out Ringo's fault and trying to lead her to do the right thing. As Kanba said, they should just grab the diary and be with it. With the invisible Penguins, that should be relatively simple. No wonder how crazy RIngo is, she needs to sleep and the penguins can just steal the diary.

It seems some people here don't like Kanba, care to share why? I find him charming, decisive and smart, unlike Shouma.

I love Ringo a lot too. Haven't seen her level of crazy bringing a fresh change of things. The last 5 minutes or so were really good.
This sure is going into my top 10 list of all times.

You clearly aren't getting his character then. Stealing something from someone isn't in his nature. He has been shown to be nothing but a good kid so far and I like him for that. It would be sad to see that part of him change and I hope they keep just this one thing consistent.

Being a nice and kind person doesn't account for much these days? Kanba is cool and pretty GAR agreed, but Shouma isn't smart? How the heck did you arrive at that conclusion.

I think Ringo has reached the peak of her insanity in this episode. She can only get better from now on. The fact Shouma's words reached her means she's not beyond hope yet. What happened at the end of episode will be a wake-up call for her... probably... maybe. Her recovery will obviously take a long time. Her first course of action should be to confront her father with what she saw. She needs to understand that although her family is as good as broken, that doesn't mean her parents do not love her.

I was slightly surprised to see Natsume steal Ringo's diary, since she's been focusing her attention almost exclusively on Kanba thus far. Still not that surprising of course, considering how many times she reference Project M.

She is totally nuts, but Shouma still sees her as a girl first and foremost. A girl who is suffering a lot. He's good-natured, so he wants to help her if he can. It's not hard to understand such feelings.