They’re just trolling us with Shouma’s car accident now. But seriously, this episode was great. They’ve opened things up into an entirely new dimension.

End of the World Fate

If the Utena vibes weren’t obvious enough before, they’re screaming in our faces now with the library scene. The long elevator ride, the endless rows of books, the cages and ladders, and then that librarian…

We even have the Utena kiss pose.

IMAAAAAGINE!

Himari’s aspirations to become an idol began long before her first survival strategy. Which raises the question: how much of the penguin hat personality (if any) is a being from another world, and how much is Himari herself? When Himari put her hands on her lips and said no, that seemed more like the penguin hat personality than Himari.

And I never imagined that those two girls on the train would actually be characters in the story. The extent to which this show manages to tie everything together is amazing.

Nothing is a Coincidence

This episode forces us to reconsider the original narrative of Himari’s death. Himari picked out the penguin hat at random from the store shelf, and then died outside from independent causes. The penguin hat just happened to be able to revive her from the dead. But nothing is a coincidence in Mawaru Penguindrum. It is the hand of fate. And indeed, it seems that both the purchase of the penguin hat and Himari’s death have the same root cause.

Musings on Symbolism

It’s going to take a while for me to collect all my thoughts on this. But I’ll share a few immediate ones. Many others have already drawn the connection between the apple and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I’m a bit hesitant to make the connection though, except in the superficial sense of simply being associated with knowledge.

In this episode, it’s revealed that the apple is the “fruit of fate”, and Himari receives it as a parting gift from the library. After which she proceeds to die. So perhaps the connection isn’t quite so tenuous after all… Library ==> Knowledge, Fruit of the Tree ==> Death. Himari also shares the fruit with her “soulmate”, as Eve did in the garden.

Then we have Ringo ==> Apple ==> Knowledge of Good and Evil and Momoko ==> Peach ==> Longevity ==> Tree of Life. Momoko is dead, and Ringo seems to utterly lack any knowledge of good and evil. So perhaps the sisters are named after what they lack.

Another major revelation is that the penguin hat is the “wedding veil of the bride of fate.” What does a wedding veil do? It obscures the bride’s face. Which brings us back to the idea that the penguin form / idol act serve as a veil between Himari and her brothers.

Himari is the bride of the destination of fate. What is the destination of fate? To interpret this in a literal fashion, death. And Himari does appear to be the bride of death.

There’s much more to say, but I’ll stop rambling for now. Expect a longer post once more has been revealed and I’ve had time to collect my thoughts. I’d be delighted to hear any of your thoughts on this!

Further Ramblings

• The flashbacks were all good, but it is a bit much. The mirror falling in particular was  over the top. At least Himari’s friends had a reasonable reaction.

  

• But then they ditched her. Did she just transfer schools, or…?
• Himari’s searching for Super Frog Saves Tokyo. We’ve already seen one frog…
• We have Himari about to bludgeon a Koi to death with a baseball bat to give some fresh blood to her mother. They aren’t stopping with the frog scene. The seventh social sin is worship without sacrifice. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

  

• How many animals have we seen so far? Penguins, frogs, snakes, koi, birds, cats, skunks… Something to think about as well.
• The penguin in the library packed a book into the box with him. I wonder what he took…?

My apologies for being less coherent than usual, I’m about to pass out and this episode did not help with maintaining my mental faculties. Again, I’m very interested in hearing everyone’s speculations on the symbolism!

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Shouma, this is definitely not going to turn out well. Every warning siren in your brain should be screaming right now.

As expected.

Good Lord. Last week’s naked frog magicks were crazy enough, but disguising yourself as Yuri to rape him…

Shouma saves the day (well, sort of). Shouma says it all:

Shouma and Ringo’s Relationship

Their relationship has really been one of the highlights of the show for me. I’ve never seen a relationship quite like this one in anime. The two of them despise each other on the surface, but you can catch hints of the fact that they actually value one another.

On Shouma’s end you see this from the fact that he sticks with Ringo even though, as Kanba says, it would be much easier to simply steal the diary. Theft would probably also be less criminal and morally reprehensible than actually helping in her schemes. He shows a concern for Ringo beyond what simply recovering the diary demands. Not to mention his jumping in front of the car.

On Ringo’s side, it seems that she was actually hurt when Shouma called her the craziest bitch he’s ever met, as she hesitated and recalled his words when she was about to pick up the diary. She also seems to be objecting less and less to Shouma’s presence.

The thing that makes their relationship so interesting is that they actually do have mixed feelings, it’s not simply that they’re hiding their “true” feelings. Ringo is definitely not your typical tsundere, and neither of them fit at all into the molds we usually see.

A Few Quotes

When Ringo leaves the apartment, Shouma says “Breaking up is tough.” I liked this line simply because it could be interpreted in so many different ways.

1. The obvious interpretation: he was referring to Ringo and Tabuki. Except they were never together in the first place.
2. Referring to Shouma and Ringo. He said it as she was walking out on him.
3. Referring to Ringo’s family.
4. Referring to Ringo and her sister.
5. Referring to Shouma, Kanba and their sister.

Another interesting quote was in Ringo’s western delusion, when she confronted Yuri and took Tabuki down from the noose. She tells Yuri, while grasping the diary, “I have something you don’t! That’s destiny! As long as I have this, our fates can’t be changed!”

She’s right, but not in the way that she intended. Because she’s bound to following the directions in the book, her fate can’t be changed— she can’t find a lover of her own, she can’t forget her sister, and she can’t build a new family with her mother. Ringo’s commitment to some idea of “destiny” has left her powerless to change her own fate.

Use of Comedy

One of Mawaru Penguindrum’s greatest strengths continues to be how it fits comedy right into the flow of the story without detracting from the seriousness of everything. As a case in point, see everything the penguins do. There’s so much happening at once that it’s impossible to get bored.

As another example from this episode, we have Tabuki’s dummy, and Tabuki’s conversation with Kanba and Shouma in the classroom revealing where he was the previous night. Then we have Shouma’s speculations on Project Murder-Suicide. He wasn’t too far off the mark— that box was indeed bad news.

Finally, there are Ringo’s delusions. These keep getting wilder and wilder— we had a western today. They’re hilarious, but also give us a glimpse of Ringo’s mind. This week, I especially loved the dream in the aquarium, and how it blended together seamlessly with reality.

Speculations

• It seems like Kanba is doing other work for the penguin hat, as he let it slip to Shouma that he’s also working hard.
• Ringo bought her stuffed animals at the aquarium too. Coincidence?!! (probably)
• Ringo seems to see problems underlying the surface of Shouma and Kanba playing family. I wonder what’s going on there? I assume it’s more than them simply not being home much.
• I’m guessing Shouma getting hit by the car will make Ringo reconsider her destiny plan. Is Shouma dead? I doubt it, but I could see it going well either way.
• Why did the person on the motorcyle rip up the diary? No idea on this one.

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Good lord. This episode was crazy, to say the least. After this, Ringo’s previous actions seem relatively benign.

So right up front, things are not looking up for our friend Shouma:

But even I wasn’t expecting Ringo to infiltrate the school, force Shouma to strip in the middle of a magical circle beneath the light of the full moon, and attempt to spawn frog eggs on his back.

Repressed sexual desire much? Shouma’s dedication to his sister may even surpass Kanba’s.

Ringo as a Witch

I was surprised by this turn of events, but it brought me to an interesting idea: Ringo is a witch. This episode makes her identity as a witch explicit, with the use of magic circles, love potions and frogs. Another item of note is Ringo’s dress: it’s all black. The only parts missing from her costume are the hat and broomstick.

Ringo displays two other components commonly associated with witchcraft, both sexual in nature. First, she is filled with lust, as demonstrated by the fits she goes into when imagining her first night with Tabuki. Second, she is a seductress, albeit not the most skilled one. Both of these attributes are often associated with witches.

And finally, there’s Ringo’s project M, which is itself an elaborate magical spell. Ringo is carefully following the instructions incanting the spell written in the diary spellbook, satisfying all the conditions to achieve her destiny cast the spell to restore her broken family. The spell also serves as a convoluted fertility ritual (more on this later).

This association with witchcraft brought to mind a few further thoughts:

• Tabuki’s girlfriend is also a witch, but a much more powerful one. And I’m guessing that the woman with the slingshot will turn out the same way.
• Thinking along the lines of witchcraft, have Kanba and Shouma made a pact with the devil to save their sister?
• We’ve already tried the throw her in the pond test to determine that Ringo is not made of wood. We should try weighing her against a duck now (a penguin should also work).

Project M

This episode’s big reveal is that the “M” in Project M does not stand for masochist or marriage, but for maternity. A “magnificent and creative plan” indeed, Ringo. Modern girls don’t beat around the bush. Penguin Himari’s reaction to this discovery was priceless:

If we assume that the the slingshot girl has the same goal in mind, Kanba seems to have a stalker as well. Of course, this is by no means a correct assumption, given Mawaru Penguindrum’s propensity for red herrings.

Once again, this fits with the theme of witchcraft, as witches were accused of making pacts with the devil to cause stillbirths, and their carnal lust led them to have sex with the devil and bear his children.

Ringo’s Love Rival

Ringo has pretty much lost at this point to her rival with the announcement of their engagement (not that she had a chance in the first place). I think that Yuri just enjoys playing with Ringo— as I said, she’s an even more powerful witch.

The play was interesting, but unlike other works which skillfully fit a play within a story into the larger context of the whole (see Hourou Musuko, Star Driver, Gunparade March, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, etc.) the play here seemed to be largely intended for comic relief, along the lines of Ringo’s delusions. This and a chance for the animators to go wild. The disco ball, the silhouettes in the audience, the roses and glitter falling from the sky and the sparkles combine for quite the visual feast. The play is called “The Tragedy of M: Paris Falls”, but with the M referring to Marie this seems like just a tease. Although I’m sure we could come up with an esoteric interpretation if we tried.

Further Thoughts

• This show does a great job at putting in amusing details. Tabuki’s bird chirp ringtone, the half eaten sandwiches and the rows of dead cocktails were hilarious.
• The episode used the phrase “sharing a roof” in two complementary scenes. Ringo’s goal is to share one with Tabuki, and Kanba’s goal is to share one with Shouma and Himari.
• I am shipping Shouma and Ringo heavily and am quite satisfied with the direction this episode took in that regard. They are quickly becoming more and more comfortable with each other, as evidenced by how they sleep together under the house, and Ringo’s weakening protests about Shouma tagging along with her (to the party for example).

Site Updates

As you have probably noticed, I redesigned the site to feature Shouma and Ringo. Let me know what you think of the design, especially if you find anything difficult to read with the new color scheme. I’m quite pleased with how the banner turned out, my GIMP skills are improving by leaps and bounds.

I now have a public MyAnimeList account. If you also have an account, feel free to add me as a friend. If you don’t, MyAnimeList is a nice site for keeping track of what you’ve watched and look up details about shows (you don’t think I remember all these characters’ names, do you?).

Finally, I’m experimenting with a new post format, of using headings to delineate sections. I feel like my thoughts are much more organized this way. I’m leaning towards continuing to use this format, so let me know if you disagree. I also started taking notes while I watch an episode, which probably helps.

Ok, this episode helped to satisfy my Shouma and Ringo shipping. 🙂  We got some lover’s quarrels, helping the girlfriend carry luggage, a heart to heart talk with Ringo’s mother and even a make out session on the couch. I’m wondering if as a Ringo and Shouma fanboy it’s time to update my blog banner.

Now that that’s out of the way, it turns out that there’s much more to Ringo than it seemed. The reason she’s stalking Tabuki isn’t because she’s in love with him. It’s because she wants to become her sister who was in love with him, to fulfill her “destiny” and bring her family together in an effort she christens “Project M”.

This makes Ringo seem even crazier than before, but I love it. Not just because it frees her up for Shouma (although that is an excellent side effect), but because it transforms her from your garden variety stalker into a more interesting shade of crazy. I also appreciated how the creators explained so many things through this one twist— Ringo’s parents’ divorce, her relationship with Tabuki, and what turn out to be the tragic origins of Curry Day. It now makes a lot of sense why Tabuki also celebrates Curry Day. Originally, I simply assumed he stole the idea from Ringo. It also casts Ringo’s relationship with her parents in a new light. Based on the fact that Ringo now lives with her mother and isn’t all that close to her father, I would never have guessed that her mother was the one who used to neglect Ringo in favor of her dead sister.

One last thing about Ringo. At first I thought her sister died when she was young, but her sister must have been quite old when she died to have done the… erm… *activities* in the diary. You can tell that the mother didn’t pay enough attention to Ringo from the fact that Ringo’s reading material was definitely not age appropriate.

For risk of sounding like a broken record, I’d like to once again point out that the creators are putting a vast amount of detail and creativity into the animation. For example, just look at all the stuff in the fridge, the crazy antics of the penguins, and Ringo’s delusions. Did everyone notice the Death Note on Ringo’s desk? Penguindrum has so much going on at once that it never gets boring.

This week had some non-Ringo developments as well, centering around Kanba. I know, I know, they’re much less exciting, but deserve mention nevertheless.

The two remaining members of the league of Kanba’s evil ex-girlfriends get hit with the memory erasing slingshot, but this time Kanba is there to witness it. I have to say that Kanba appears to know much more about what’s going on than the audience does. He appears to recognize the husk of the sling ammunition in the hospital room, and warns the girls that they are getting in deeper than they should. What does he know?

The biggest question now is how everything is related. Kanba is paid money with a penguin seal, the slingshot girl shoots penguin bullets and has her own penguin, and both Ringo and the slingshot girl are executing a “Project M”. What ties each of these things together? And did Kanba become involved with the penguins before or after Himari’s possession?

This just keeps getting better. I really love the interactions between Shouma and Ringo. I’m not sure if I can quite put my finger on what makes it so much fun to watch though. Part of it is the fact that they both have their own social idiosyncracies: Shouma goes ahead and ask a girl if he can “borrow” a girl’s diary without realizing the implications, and Ringo is, well, a crazy stalker. Another part is that their personalities are so distinctive and different from one another. Shouma is soft spoken and mellow, while Ringo certainly isn’t. The other thing I like about them is how they just don’t get along, even though in many ways they’re so similar. The way they don’t get along is obvious, but their similarities come through in a bunch of smaller ways: their love of curry, their identical reactions on Himari’s revival, and Ringo’s near perfect usurpation of Shouma’s usual spot during this week’s Survival Strategy. They’re also both kind of idiots.

I’m becoming even more impressed with Ringo on her own as well. If anything, her luck turned out even worse in this episode. Her dad doesn’t use their family cellphone strap anymore, and her plan to win the heart through the stomach is soundly defeated by a preemptive strike. Then her newfound best friend’s brother tries to peek at her diary, and her friend then dies. Not exactly the best day. But she still manages to keep spirited throughout. She gives Shouma a great talking to as well. If everyone in Mawaru Penguindrum ends up as well developed as Ringo and Shouma, this is going to be a memorable show.

The survival strategy this episode was even better than usual. This is why rituals like the survival strategy scene are so powerful: it becomes all the more memorable when you break a well-established precedent. All seemed normal at first, except for Ringo taking Shouma’s usual place. The survival scene arrival and confrontation continued along the usual path, up through Ringo falling through the trap door and Shouma complaining to the penguin hat. He even mentions that he can’t get the purse from Ringo because she fell through the door. And then it turns out she grabbed onto the edge. She jumps out of the door, runs up the stairs and throws the penguin hat onto a passing truck. Ringo is a badass. And the reason this scene had so much of an impact is because the entire scene had been repeated so many times and become a ritual, with the viewer developing strong expectations.

The other half of the episode was flashbacks and Kanba’s side of the story. So did Kanba get that money by pushing the girl down the stairs? The girl said that she saw “him”, and since she’s in the league of Kanba’s ex-girlfriends, Kanba is the most likely culprit. Also, Kanba’s money packet had the same penguin seal as the red-haired girl’s bullets. Kanba always seemed willing to go quite far for Himari’s sake, so I can’t say I’d be entirely surprised. I wonder who the red-haired girl who seems to

• The penguins continue to be fun times.
• That doctor was hilarious.