This was a goofy episode all-around. Reminds me of the Nanami episodes in Utena. Still, it was entertaining, and there were some interesting developments.

I Like my ___ Like I Like my ____

This episode made quite an effective use of repetition, particularly of this phrase. The usage first begins with Masako: “Men are like tea: the first cup is always the most satisfying.” OK, so that’s why she’s obsessed with Kanba.

Then the grandfather uses the same phrase multiple times. “I like my women like I like my tea: the younger the better.” “I like my blowfish like I like my women: stripped by me.” and there are several others. The repetition establishes a contrast: Masako is only interested in one man; her grandfather is a chronic womanizer. A lot like Kanba, isn’t he?

We see a similar repetition with the sword swinging scene. At the beginning of each of Masako’s delusions, we see the grandfather swining his sword, chanting “I will not be crushed. I will not be crushed.” Then when we see Mario swinging the sword… oh, shit.

It’s the same thing with Masako’s dreams. She always kills her grandfather in ridiculous ways, but then when he actually dies, it’s even more ridiculous. And then Masako herself dies (or not) the same way her grandfather did. Vision and reality have become blurred.

In the Shadows of Giants

Last week, we learned that Yuri was haunted by her father, and trapped in the shadow of his humongous statue. This week, Masako is overshadowed by her grandfather, whom she still strives to crush.

Where Yuri had Momoka as a childhood friend to change fate at her behest, Masako has Kanba. Momoka has the power to change fate, but Kanba doesn’t. So all he can promise is to keep Masako company if she’s going to be cursed.

Interestingly, both Yuri and Masako end up becoming what they hate. Yuri becomes the epitome of beauty, making a career as a charismatic and popular actress. As for Masako, we see how her morning starts with a single cup of black tea, as did her grandfather’s. Where her grandfather is obsessed with not being crushed, Masako is obsessed with crushing him.

Or is he obsessed with not being crushed? Everything we see of the grandfather is seen through the lens of Masako’s eyes. The tea scene, which mirrors Masako’s morning, turns out to be part of her dream of killing him. The scene where he heads to the boardroom, as Masako did earlier, again turns out to be part of Masako’s murderous delusions. Who is the grandfather, really?

From Masako’s perspective, he has committed three sins: 1) he believes that people are divided into winners and losers, 2) he sees Masako’s father as a loser and drives him from home, and 3) he doesn’t take good care of Mario, as evidenced by his possibly deadly training regime. Yuri overcomes the idea of being one of the “losers” through Momoka’s love. Masako overcomes this by becoming a winner through her own power: she is the huntress, not the hunted. This is problematic, because Masako doesn’t learn how to love.

Look at how Masako deals with Mario. It’s clear that she does love Mario: just look at what she’s done for him. Masako finds herself in a role similar to Momoka in protecting Yuri, and to Kanba in protecting Himari. But where Momoka can tell Yuri that she loves her, Masako’s way of showing her love is by crushing others and shielding Mario from the world. Also, look at how Masako loves Kanba. By crushing him(?), wiping the memories of his ex-girlfriends, and blackmailing him into meeting her in the hospital.

As Masako dies from blowfish poisoning, she says the she wanted to hear she was loved from someone, but she passes out before she can say who. It isn’t her father. Is it Kanba? Her grandfather? Mario? All three? It’s unclear. The same can be said of her catchphrase, “I need to crush him soon.” Does she need to crush Kanba? Her grandfather? Quite possibly it’s the same person she wants to hear she is loved by.

Survival Strategy

This was the weirdest survival strategy yet. Masako’s maid is spying on penguin hat Himari, and the hat brings the maid into the subway tunnel world. There, she transforms the old maid into a young woman and takes suggestive photos of her. I… don’t even know what to make of this. Since neither Kanba nor Shouma is there, Himari stands on top of #3 and a blowfish.

Identity Theft

So it appears that the grandfather has possessed Mario: this is quite literally his curse. If Momoka is the one possessing Himari (as seems increasingly likely due to the hair color / eye color match) then this could also be a form of a curse: possessing the children of the perpetrators of the subway incident. Kanba has fulfilled his promise and become cursed along with Masako. Of course, Momoka doesn’t seem to be the vengeful type, and the penguin hat is trying to save Himari. Another possibility is that Momoka changed fate, and is responsible for the Takakura parents becoming the perpetrators. So it is not a curse but a penance.

There also seems to be a link between Sanetoshi and the grandfather. First, while Mario is in the pond, Sanetoshi calls Masako to tell her about the dangers of eating blowfish. It seems that he is somehow involved. Second, this one phrase of the grandfather’s caught my attention:

Is the grandfather Sanetoshi? Perhaps so, perhaps not, but either way, they have a lot in common. The main difference seems to be their attitude: Sanetoshi is sly, while the grandfather is quite up front about everything.

So what can the grandfather tell us about Sanetoshi? Honestly, I’m not sure. The grandfather believes people are divided into winners and losers, so perhaps Sanetoshi believes the same thing.

I am Not Taking that Train

From the train scene at the end of the episode, it seems that Masako’s father may have joined the group that Kanba is getting money from, and was tossed aside when they were done. Or this could simply be referring to how Masako’s father was tossed aside by her grandfather. Either way, with the parallels drawn between Masako’s father and Sanetoshi (the presumed leader of the suited men) the implications are sinister.

Sanetoshi claims that these men have been chosen to “put the world back on track.” Sanetoshi’s goal is to “take back the world.”After Momoka changed fate in some way, Sanetoshi wants to put it back on the original track. The way the world was originally, Mario (and Himari, I would assume) didn’t die. So perhaps Momoka feels guilty for Himari’s death, and is possessing her out of guilt.

Why is Masako so resistant to joining the men on the train, even if it will save Mario? What happened to her father could be enough of an explanation, but she clearly knows more than we do about what’s going on.

In the train scene, Mario passes an apple to Sanetoshi. Sanetoshi takes the apple out from behind the book of fish he’s looking at, and it transforms into one of Masako’s slingshot balls with the pingroup logo. Then he drops it on the ground, and steam is coming out of it. What is this about? Any ideas?

Further Thoughts

• To have prepared the replica to speak, Yuri must have known Masako would attempt to steal the diary. Why? What is their connection?
• Himari is reading a book on adult knitting at the hospital. Ok…?
• I loved the Nutcracker music this episode.
• The ending song worked really well after this episode.
• We only had one scene with Shouma and Ringo, but it was a nice one. Ringo has become Shouma’s stalker now. D’aawww.

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!

Um… what just happened?

Daddy Issues

So Yuri’s past was overshadowed by the specter of her father (quite literally). I’m not the biggest fan of ascribing all of peoples’ problems to their parents. And Yuri’s father is pretty messed up, even to the extent of physically mutilating his own daughter with chisels.

On the bright side: little Yuri is pretty damn cute.

The Knight in Shining Armor

A few things to mention: first, Ringo is the one to call Shouma. This is clearly a call for attention.

Conveniently, Ringo’s room is right next door to Shouma’s. Or is this a coincidence? Perhaps it is the result of Yuri’s meddling.  She doesn’t seem to be in that much of a hurry to get started with Ringo, for one thing. When Shouma trips on the bottle and loses consciousness, she comments on how jealous she is of them.

The Great Escape

Shouma just happens to be next door to Ringo. Masako disguises herself as a maid, has a conversation with herself, strips to a swimsuit, and jumps out the window with Yuri. They have a naked ping pong match, in the dark, with Masako’s slingshot balls in the hot tub. Masako makes her escape with scuba gear. And after all that, the diary turns out to be a fake.

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at this point. It was certainly… unexpected, to say the least. There’s being filled with surprises, and then there’s being ridiculous.

The Diary

I hadn’t thought about it until this week, but what do the symbols on Momoka’s diary represent? On the front we have two entwined serpents, opening up to surround a pagoda with their heads. On the back is a tortoise.

The twin snakes are reminiscent of Hermes’ Caduceus. Hermes gave his lyre, made of a tortoise shell, to his brother Apollo to make up for the cattle he stole. In return, Apollo gifted Hermes with the Caduceus. The Caduceus is a symbol of balance and reciprocity, so it is fitting for the cover of Momoka’s diary, where transferring between fates comes at a cost.

Next, note when the diary is torn in two, who has each half. Masako has the side with the two snakes, the Caduceus that belongs to Hermes, the cunning trickster and messenger of the Gods. As Mario’s hat’s / Sanetoshi’s agent, Masako is indeed the messenger of the Gods. And her theft this episode and earlier kiss with Kanba certainly appear to be the work of a trickster.

On the other hand, Yuri has the half with the tortoise, Apollo’s lyre. Apollo is the god of music and poetry, things that are beautiful. Yuri is a beautiful actress and singer. Furthermore, Apollo had plenty of lovers, both male and female (although I don’t think this was particularly unique among the Greek gods).

Savior of the World

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
— John 15:13

Last week’s title was “Princess of Lies,” and this week follows up with “Savior of the World.” It’s a pretty easy connection to make between the title and Momoka. For Momoka loved Yuri so much, that she gave her only life, so that Yuri would not perish but have eternal life. Of course, given that this is Penguindrum, I doubt that it’s this simple: Momoka probably has some dark secret as well.

But let’s run with it for a bit. If Momoka is the Christ, and Yuri is Satan, where does that leave us? The situation is quite similar to Victor Hugo’s incomplete work La fin de Satan. Unfortunately, this isn’t readily available in English, so here’s a summary:

…God is trapped by Satan in his own creation, which God therefore repeatedly tries to destroy, without success. God is clearly not almighty, yet his Opponent cannot unseat him for one unexpected reason: As a former Angel, Satan is desperately in love with God and detests the fetid darkness in which he is compelled to abide, which is tantamount to saying that he hates himself as much as he cherishes his enemy. Eventually the two must come to terms, lest God’s creation be irremediably spoiled and Satan altogether disgusted with himself and his foul surroundings. Strangely enough, the stakes of the final reconciliation of the two mighty opponents is the destruction of the world, envisioned as a positive outcome.
— The Tree of Gnosis, p. 255, Ioan Couliano

That could fit our story so far perfectly. Momoka is trapped by Yuri through her own choice to mess with fate for Yuri’s sake. Yuri desperately loves Momoka, and hates the fetid world she has been left behind in, where nothing is beautiful, almost as much as she despises herself. This leads her to oppose the world Momoka has chosen. Let’s see if the endings match up.

I’ll also note that this fits in well with the association of Ringo with Eve in the gnostic narrative. Eve is given the breath of God, and becomes a divine being trapped in a body of matter. Likewise, Ringo inherits a portion of Momoka’s spirit (through reincarnation). The snake leads Eve to remember her divine roots, as Yuri leads Ringo to abandon her quest to become Momoka and become more fully herself. Alternatively, the archons (Yuri) lust after the reflection of the divine they glimpsed, see the same thing in Eve (Ringo) and rape her. Take your pick.

Random Thoughts

• I just realized Masako’s catchphrase “I want to crush it” seems awfully familiar in the context of the Eden story. God curses man and the snake: “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
• I wonder what this banana could possibly symbolize…? Poor Shouma.

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!

I guess her name should have been a hint. Amazing episode.

The Tragedy of M

Why is Yuri’s play tragic? The ending seems happy at first glance: Yuri and her lover fly off into the sunset, arm in arm, on the wings of a swan. But the reveals from the remainder of the episode paint the play’s ending in a different light. Yuri’s marriage is a lie meant to make her forget her past with Momoka. There is no love between her and her husband: they are but tied together by the cruel wheel of fate (as the swan is tied to the ceiling), unable to fly free. The lie they have constructed weighs down their dreams and true desires, just as the false swan is burdened by the weight of the couple. The feathers that they once used to fly are torn from their wings and scattered in the wind. Tabuki and Yuri are birds in a cage. This is the Tragedy of M(atrimony).

The Princess of Lies

The episode’s title, the Princess of Lies, refers to Yuri’s status as a celebrity and her propensity for lying. It also appears to be a clear reference to the Prince of Lies, Satan. The tragic character of Milton’s Lucifer bears many similarities to Yuri.

All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
That Glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deifie his power,
Who from the terrour of this Arm so late
Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,
That were an ignominy and shame beneath
This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods
And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,
Since through experience of this great event
In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc’t,
We may with more successful hope resolve
To wage by force or guile eternal Warr
Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,
Who now triumphs, and in th’ excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav’n.

Paradise Lost 1:106-124

Lucifer wages eternal war against heaven, even though he must surely fail: so, too, does Yuri (and Kanba) wage eternal war against fate. With deceit and guile, Yuri lures the unsuspecting Ringo into eating the fruit of carnal knowledge (and hopefully Ringo will share some with Shouma). Yuri claims that she has abandoned her past, but this is a lie: in her pride, she will not bow down to fate and sue for grace. Her body is that of a monster, and no one will ever accept her again.

So what is the mystery of Yuri’s body? I’m going to guess that she isn’t entirely a woman. She’s having an affair with a woman who dresses as a man, and apparently only a woman can satisfy her. So yeah.

To briefly incorporate the ongoing gnostic comparisons, the archons (Yuri) see the reflection of Sophia (Momoka) in the waters, and long for her. When they see the same light of Sophia (Momoka) within Eve (Ringo), they rape her and she bears their children.

Ringo and Shouma

Gah, this was too much. I’ve been shipping the two of them since the second episode, but really, this has exceeded my wildest expectations. The scene where Ringo clung to Shouma’s shirt as he refused to accept her forgiveness was too adorable. He even has her crying. I don’t think she ever did that for Tabuki. The aftermath was adorable as well, where it turned out that Ringo had elaborately planned out her “I wasn’t waiting long” greeting and was embarrassed. I could say more, but just have some pictures.

Other Observations

• Note Yuri’s bondage ropes: they’re red. She and Ringo have become entangled in the strings of fate.
• We see Yuri / Akiho’s car. I was wondering when they’d import this from Utena.

• Masako’s entrance to the subway car was awesome. While she knocks out the men in suits, her penguin replaces Kanba’s perverted pictures with pictures of herself. Then Masako places her foot in a very suggestive position. Kanba is a top-notch womanizer, as his eyes are focused up her skirt the entire time, even as he trips her.
• Masako’s words seem to lend some weight to the theory that Kanba and Himari are not actually related.
• I liked Sanetoshi’s answer to when Himari will be released from the hospital: “When the secrets of the world are revealed.”

Liked this post? Leave a comment, subscribe to our RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter!

The last few episodes have been incredible in terms of mindfuckery and fueling speculation. This episode took a step back, slowed down, and built up a tense and melancholic atmosphere to let the viewers absorb the enormity of the Takakura parents’ actions.

Dual Survival Strategies

Sixteen years ago, Sanetoshi met a pink-haired girl who could hear the world crying out to be saved just as he could. But she would not agree to do things the way he wanted to. Based on the timing and the fact that it was a child, I am guessing this girl is Momoka. Furthermore, based on the way the camera lingers on the hat, we can suppose that she is also the penguin hat. Furthermore, we learned that Sanetoshi is saving Mario for Masako. I mentioned how the light and the dark penguins are duals a few weeks ago, but now we can take this a bit further since we know who their leaders are.

First, let’s look at Sanetoshi and his counterpart’s commonalities.

Hm, this seems familiar.

They’re both full of themselves.

There is always a price.

Here is the key difference. Sanetoshi provides a drug to save Himari. He is the one with the power, as he so ardently proclaims. But the girl with the penguin hat tells Shouma and Kanba how to save Himari themselves. This is why the penguin hat, as we learned in the last episode, does not want the penguin drum to fall into Sanetoshi’s hands. Sanetoshi wishes to control fate himself, as we see from his “experiments”. But the penguin hat believes people should control their own fates. This is why the girl in the library would not follow Sanetoshi.

Along the same lines, both the penguin hat and Sanetoshi have mentioned the Scorpion’s heart while referring to Kanba. AJthefourth explains how this is a reference to Night on the Galactic Railroad:

Scorpio was caught by a weasel and was about to be eaten. Scorpio tries to get away, falls into a well, and just as he is about to die begins to pray. He thinks back on the creatures he had eaten and killed in his lifetime, and wishes that, upon his death, he would at least be eaten by the weasel so that the weasel would live another day, instead of his dying in vain in a well. He tells God to look inside his heart and ensure that in his next life, his body will be used for good and happiness. He then turns bright red and becomes a flame that lights up the darkness of the sky.

The penguin hat sees the scorpion’s heart (a.k.a., Kanba’s) as beautiful. But to Sanetoshi, it is hideous and charred.

The Fickle Goddess

The Goddess came across as even crueler in this episode than before. She decides to spare the third lamb, because “it would be no fun if the punishment ended here.” But perhaps the most disturbing part is that the rabbits, which originally led Mary into taking the ashes of the torch, agree with the Goddess. The rabbits were creatures of the Goddess all along; they were “called forth by the world” itself.

Continuing with our discussion of Gnostic myth from last week, we have the unwitting snake / rabbits, which the spirit of the Logos departed from before the demiurge’s curse. And Sanetoshi is developing similarities to the demiurge himself: he believes himself to be the only one in the world, the creator of all that is, before he glimpses a shadow of the pleroma (the girl’s footsteps). But the light will not return to him, and in his anger he seeks to recreate the image he has seen (in Sanetoshi’s case, through drugs and controlling fate). Himari bears a resemblance to Sophia: she is both a saint and a prostitute, for one, and utterly unknowable.

I’m planning to elaborate more on all of this in a future post. For the record, I don’t think that Penguindrum is influenced directly by gnosticism. Rather, myth and anime are both products of the human imagination, and reveal the underlying structure of the human mind. So there should be no surprise that the stories are similar.

Music

I generally don’t pay much heed to the music in anime, but this episode did a fantastic job. I’ll point out two examples.

First, consider the scene where the police come to take the children away. A slow, subdued piano place plays in the background. But when Shouma opens the door, silence reigns. Silence is often the most effective music. Next, we hear a buzzing / ringing sound in the background, indicating that something is not right. As the cop steps into the house uninvited, a lower tone joins into the cacophony. The second officer steps past the threshold, and the phone begins to ring, joining in the mix. Kanba’s anger builds while he speaks with the officers, and Himari offers him the phone. “Stay in your room!” Kanba shouts. Himari jumps back, and all sound ceases. This segment was fraught with tension from the music.

Later, in the hospital, a subdued piano piece begins once again, and continues until the flashback in the hotel. The phone rings and silence returns. Their uncle tells them to turn on the TV, and a sneaky, plodding percussive piece begins, but slowly at first. This piece gives the viewer a gentle tingle of foreboding. It continues until the Takakura parents’ faces are shown on the television. Then, the same ringing noise from earlier makes its return, and builds into a crescendo. Ohhhhhhhh crap.

The beat changes slightly, and the song continues. Once Himari wakes up, the bells fall back and the brass enters in. Shouma continues the goddess’ story as this jazzy little tune carries on. The Goddess begins speaking her line, “It would be no fun if the punishment ended here.” The snare speeds up and plays a steady beat for a small crescendo. Then silence once again, while the Goddess continues speaking. As she finishes, the last two notes play, ending without closure, leaving us expecting a few more notes. “That’s right!” the rabbits supply. And we stop for a commercial break.

The music in these two segments and the way it was aligned with the animation and voice acting were exceptional, and allowed me to become fully engrossed in the story.

Further Thoughts

• After the attacks, they built a sky metro? Could this fit in with Masako’s talk on how light and darkness must coexist? The underground Hole in the Sky?
• I enjoyed how Sanetoshi broke the fourth wall.
• Ringo has moved on from trying to become Momoka, with some excellent advice from Tabuki. But I like how she still believes in fate, despite all that has happened.

Liked this post? Subscribe to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter!