Penguin Drum - Character Discussion - Takakura Shouma
 

The purpose of this thread is to provide a place to discuss all things Takakura Shouma related.

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What I like about Shouma is that he plays the relatively down-to-Earth straight-man in this. In other words, he wants to save his sister, but he still has strong (and fairly conventional) moral values, as well as concern for other people in general. There's lines he's not willing to cross, and I think that probably makes him easier for the audience to relate to.

Shouma and Kanba make good foils to one another.


I do think that Shouma has developed some feelings for Ringo.

As well-intentioned as Shouma is, I don't know if he'd throw himself in front of a car for just anyone. And the fact that he showed concern over some light bruises on Ringo's knees when he himself had just awoken from a severe concussion and was hospitalized, is really something else.

Bluntly, Shouma is the only likable character in the story so far, and that makes him pretty important. Kanba is a creepy SOB, I won't start in on Ringo and as for Himari - well, maybe there's potential there if she gets fleshed out.

Shoma is the one you can relate to the most since he's the only in the enitre cast who doesn't have issues. :D

Oh but I'm sure he does. The series has yet to focus on his past, but I'm sure we'll get to it soon enough.

Anyway, I mostly agree with Guardian Enzo that Shouma is the only likable character so far. He's the only character I have some emotional attachment to at the very least. Quite frankly, I just don't even care about Kanba. He could die next episode it wouldn't affect me in the sightless.

I do hope Himari will get a bit more development. Even after episode 9, she still feels more like a device than a proper character.

I think Shouma has issues too, but they're likely the sort of issues that won't make him unlikable and might even make him more sympathetic.

Agreed.

I could see him feeling lonely and unwanted/unneeded - He probably feels like a second fiddle to Kanba. Perhaps he's felt that way his entire life.

Would help to explain how he's clearly grown attached to Ringo, who is someone who has relied upon him a lot, to put it mildly. :heh:

Shouma definitely has issues, for one thing he is as gluttonous as his penguin. I mean in the latest episode he started with the desert (pudding) which really should be kept as last. ;p

I'd wish it was just that, but I think his secret is the worse of them all. I don't have anything concrete to support this though, it's just a feeling I've got.

I don't know if I would say "worst of all" and I am not sure if it even just concerns Shouma.

But I do agree that there is something much darker about Shouma than meets the eye and he IS hiding something.

and considering the creator of this anime :heh:

but i agree. i definitely think he's hiding something BIG too. we've already got a glimpse of the other takakura siblings so save the best for last and all that.

he's quite likable though and i'm enjoying how he's painted as a passive character but he's the only one who's actively trying to obtain the penguindrum.

Shouma is boss.

What about Himari? :(

I'd like to see more regarding Shouma's secret past pretty soon. It'll help, because at the moment it's hard to look at him at being more then just the guy who's being caught up in this whole mess without having any real connection apart from wanting to save his sister.

That depends on what she's going to do from now on. Learning about her past was cool and all, but if she doesn't have any proactive role in the story and remains being just an object of motivation for her brothers, all that character building will be pointless.

There is still plenty of time for her to have a more active role so I'm not giving up on her yet. Shouma is still my favorite by far though.

I agree with this. He may have had more screentime that all the other mains, but he’s the one we know less about. We know about Ringo’s, Himari’s and Kanba’s pasts; what motivates them, what shaped them to be who they are now. But nothing about Shouma.

You can't be saying that none of us here have ever lusted after our sister's sleeping face, or camped under the floor and stalked our crush's house through the night....

....oh wait, no one here did that before?


Joking aside, why do you guys dislike Kanba? I kinda hate him after that ending in ep 1, but all were forgiven after he pulled himself along that truck holding a toy crane, to save his sister. Ringo was kinda annoyed for the first few episodes, but start to feels sympathy for her after knowing her childhood. Himari + PoC? What to hate about them?:D

In short i love the casts so far

Agreed that was the episode that made me like Kanba as well

Personally I like the main 4: Shouma, Ringo, Kanba, & Himari.

I was a little unsure about Himari at first but she won me over in episode 9.


But since this is the Shouma thread I will say he is definitely the most relate-able of the main characters. I guess the audience sort of sees the abnormal things going on through his eyes. However make no mistake I think Shouma is not as well adjusted as he might first appear.

I don't dislike Kanba, though i can pretty much understand why people would. The playboy role isn't always that well liked, especially with the 'i'm better then everyone' personality Kanba has been played up as having.

Also, this is a conversation we should be having in the Character Discussion - Takakura Kanba thread.

Going back to Shouma, it will be interesting to see who's opinion on him will change after we eventually find out more about his secret past. It's sure to change some people's views on him.

& it shouldn't be a surprise that my favourite character at the moment is Sanetoshi. :p

Well we still haven't adapt to the new sub-forum yet i guess. I means just several hours ago, we were discussing how painful Kanba should die, while ship on Himari's love, and try to figure out the truth to the existence of humanity in the same thread :D

Shouma also doesn't have such a dynamic characters for us to sorely focus on. In fact, when talk about SHouma, we only can talk about his reactions toward others

I kinda liked that. Now I have to keep track of several threads at the same time it's kind of a pain. :heh:

That's because he lacks a goal of his own. He's just doing what others (Kanba mostly) tell him to do. He needs his own motivations and specific goals.

Hear i am thinking i was the only one who prefers single threads over a sub-forum. :p

Well what I am wondering is can we talk about Shouma in relation to the novel in here? I know there is a novel thread but I think the novel does give more insight into Shouma...since well it IS all in his thoughts.

But for not being able to talk much about Shouma he seems to be the character we've talked about the most so far. :D

As long as the novel talk is in labelled spoiler tags, then i don't think it would be a problem. It's not like you'll be discussing future events.

Best to ask a mod first though, just to be save.

For some strange reason I thought that Shoma would die after getting hit by the car.

I had a weird thought about it too, like the day before ep 10 came out. Suffice it to say, the strange fantasy ended up with Shoma coming back to life and shouting "Survival Streategy!!" to his bro's utter horror.

It's hard to like a mannequin. Frankly, Himari hasn't been developed enough for me to either like or dislike her, yet. As I said - she has potential if she is.

Eh, i'd hardly call her that. Episode 9 was the right amount of development we need right now. No point in being overloaded when there's so much going on.

Yeah after episode 9, I don't think you can really fairly call Himari a mannequin anymore. We say what she was like in her childhood - that's not really the actions of a mannequin character. Good to know she's not just some human MacGuffin.

I like Shoma a lot. There are a lot of stories where everyone but one character is off their rocker, and you're supposed to identify with the one "normal guy" I think he does a good of reacting like I would if I were confronted with the same things.

I also think where it's easy to draw parallels between Kanba and penguin 1 and Himari and penguin 3 (more so after episode 9) There are thinkg penguin 2 does (the gluttonous eating, the need to kill all those bugs, ALWAYS having the bug spray) that definitely indicate that there is a lot more to Shoma than has been shown.

He and Yuri compete for my favorite character. They are the two that I hope to see more development for. I see them as very similar, honestly, and I feel they are both hiding a ton behind their exteriors.

I kind of disagree here. We didn't see a whole lot of Himari in 09 even though she was on screen the whole time - she was really just a plot driver, impassively moving through all the events that weren't flashbacks. She remains a cipher for me - someone for others to react to more than a character in her own right.

But this is the Shouma thread, so enough of that I guess...

You are most definitely not alone. I look at this sub-forum and I go "cba ..." while I would have posted without a second thought were it a thread.

Did you have your eyes closed while watching episode 9? :p That was backstory development for her character, which gave her character a lot more depth then just being what you're making her out to be.

I think you're misunderstanding what Enzo is getting at. Episode 9 gave Himari a backstory to help us understand her character, but her role remains the same: she's still just a device for other characters (ie: her brothers) to react to. She doesn't have any active role in the story, she doesn't do anything. I think that's what he means by "cipher". If you think about it, out of the four protagonist, she's the only one like this. Even Ringo has her own goal, her own mission to follow.

In the end, a story is merely a compendium of actions and reactions. So a character who doesn't "act" but rather serves as motivation for other characters, is more of an object than a character on their own.

The thing with Himari is that we don't know what her motivations are.

Aside from "peaceful happy day-to-day living with her brothers and BFF Ringo" we don't know what it is that Himari wants.

We have a very good idea of what Kanba wants, and of what Ringo wants. Their motivations are lay bare, complimented by extensive inner monologues, and expressed through their actions.

We have a pretty good idea of what Shouma wants (I don't find him as clear-cut as Kanba and Ringo though).

So Himari is the odd one out of the 4 main protagonists.

But this isn't necessarily a problem. We aren't even half-way through the narrative after all. But I do hope we learn a bit more about Himari's motivations within the next few episodes.

The motivation is important only in the context of the action it arises, but the action itself is most important. So even if she had a more clear motivation, if she didn't act on it, she would still be lacking as a character. On the other hand, a character who does pursue a goal would be acceptable even if their motivation was unclear at first. An example is Homura, who until episode 10 didn't have her motivation explored, but was still a proper character because even if we didn't know what was driving her, she still had an active role, she still was trying to achieve something.

If we know a character's motivation, but we haven't seen her act on it yet, that can build up viewer anticipation over "I wonder what she's going to do when she finally acts on her motivation?"

But you're right that seeing a character engage in a lot of actions without definitively knowing her motivation can be mysterious and interesting as well.

The problem is that we have neither of this with Himari so far. Not unless we assume that her and the Penguin Queen are two sides of the same individual.

I've never seen anything like that. A story is about actions after all, so a character doing nothing doesn't really do much for anyone. An acceptable reason for a character to do nothing would be if they don't know what they want to do (or what they should do). Madoka is an example. But if they do know and they still don't act on it, that's just bad writing I think. :heh:

You're right. Himari at the moment has neither. The story definitely needs to focus on her and give her her own story.

I clearly know what Enzo is on about. I just don't agree with it.

Think of a Magnificent Bastard style villain. One who's clearly laid out his chief goals or desires, and ends off by saying "Now, soon, very soon, my ultimate plan will be put into motion" (or something to that extent). That can build up suspense - You know the character's motivation, you're just waiting to see what he'll do to act on it.

Granted, this doesn't work as well with a main protagonist. :heh:

I think there is a lot to say about defining a character based on their inaction. Its easier to like and thereby relate to a character that acts but that doesn't mean a character that doesn't act is ill-defined. By episode 9 we could sort of see why Himari doesn't act and kind of keeps to herself. While she made friends with Ringo, she doesn't seem to have any other friends besides her and her brothers.

There was a time when we see had a goal and dreams but they were dashed and now she's plagued with regret and sorrow for what could have been. They might even be more to that story but we don't know yet. We can also see by the what she reads and that see seems to be someone that reads and watches T.V a lot that she kind of lives in a bit of a fantasy world and might even be living vicariously through them.

I think the heart of Himari character is her inaction and only by analyzing why she doesn't will we be able to understand her. What is she suppressing about herself, why is she suppressing it are questions I think are also relevant to her character.

Very much so, and thank you.

I think all that's cool on an intellectual level, and maybe even at an emotional one. But narratively specking, if she ultimately doesn't act, she will be swapped away but the narrative. To put it in English. What if she didn't want her brothers to risk their lives (and maybe even sacrifice themselves) for her sake? Even if she did feel this way, she would be unable to do anything about it unless she said so, right?

Basically, a character who doesn't act can't affect and change the story because the story is made of actions. So what you said about Himari reads to me like a description of an object. A beautiful object, but an object nonetheless.

That said, I think Himari has the potential to become a proper character and afect the story with her actions. There's still plenty of time for her to realize what she wants to do (now, not what she wanted in the past) and act on it.

And ultimately the reason we're discussing her in the Shouma thread is the point that Shouma (at least for me) is the only character who's been fleshed out and also likable and sympathetic. It's not a question of not liking Himari - it's a question of her not having been developed as a creature of her own reasoning and emotion to blossom as an individual. As Kazu said, at this point she's a beautiful object. That doesn't mean she will be when the series is over, or even in a month.