So much was revealed this episode, but the mysteries still keep piling up.

The Destination of Fate

We begin with a monologue from Sanetoshi (the librarian) about how he hates the word fate. This may remind us of Shouma and Ringo’s monologues in the first episodes. In fact, they aren’t just similar: it is the exact same speech as Shouma’s! How are these two tied together?

The main difference between the two monologues stems from the visuals. When Shouma speaks, we are in a star-filled room with a sleeping Himari. During Sanetoshi’s spiel, the scene is quite similar: we are still looking at a sleeping Himari. But the stars are gone, and Himari is dead. Shouma, although he despises fate, has not lost his sense of wonder and joy as Sanetoshi has.

As for the content of the speech, Sanetoshi is from the Destination of Fate. And he hates the word fate? This is the last person we’d expect to hear this from! At the moment, I don’t think we have enough information to know why yet.

Sanetoshi also appears to know Shouma and Kanba’s father from the past: he puts the photo of the 36th Antarctic Environmental Defense team on the doctor’s table. The father appears to be the team’s leader. The scene is filled with penguins, and one of the penguin logos is quite conspicuous. This is an expedition to defend the environment: we could also call it a “survival strategy.”

Meet the Parents

As others have speculated, the Takakura parents were the masterminds behind the sarin gas attacks. The father seems definitively involved, as we see him entering the Kasumigaseki station, one of the stops where the attack took place. But I doubt that this is the end of the story.

First, note that the father initiates the plan upon hearing of Shouma and Kanba’s successful birth. It is a “survival strategy” not for himself, but for his children. As he walks into the station, the father says that what he is doing will bring peace.

Which brings us back to the penguin corporation and the mission to the Antarctic. How are these things related? I don’t know, and I doubt we have enough information to figure it out yet. But let’s consider the idea that their father did what he did to ensure the survival of the planet and his children.

This segment also fits in quite nicely with Super Frog Saves Tokyo, the book that Himari was searching for in the library. Frog and his friend battle the Worm underground to save the world. No one knows what they have done, and they are despised and scorned. But the fact that one person is cheering for him is enough for frog to keep courage. Similarly, Takakura descends underground to battle forces of evil. His actions are despised and not understood. But Shouma and Kanba are waiting for him, and this is enough.

A Sister’s Innocence and a Brother’s Love

Himari is appearing less and less innocent as the show continues. Now we have her joking about private parts, and delivering line after line of sexual innuendo as her penguin is stripped by and does some bondage play with Kanba’s penguin. Is she acting differently because Sho isn’t there and she is alone with Kanba? Her two personalities seem to be merging closer and closer together.

I’m still leaning towards the idea that the sister Himari and the penguin hat Himari are two facets of the same person, but either way, which person is Kanba in love with? There is more going on between Kanba and the penguin hat than we knew: Kanba knowingly gave her a portion of his life to extend Himari’s. Obviously, he loves his sister, but his more erotic affections seem to be reserved for the alien Himari (e.g., this episode’s stripping). Which girl did Kanba steal a kiss from?

The Myth of Mary

What are we to make of Shouma’s myth of Mary and the three little lambs? It bears some resemblance to the stories of Prometheus and the garden of Eden (and countless other myths).

Mary loves the three little lambs, and can’t wait to spin their wool into thread. Where have we seen thread imagery before? The red string of fate (note that the swirl on the lamb’s bellies is also red). Does Mary want to fix the Takakura sibling’s destinies?

Then we come to the apple tree in the garden, the first tree in the world. It has withered, but its light was once the source of the world’s love, future and dreams. We could see this as akin to the Tree of Knowledge in a gnostic interpretation of the creation story. For those unfamiliar with this version, a (very) short summary: the roles are inverted, and the god walking in the garden is a false god. He keeps the the knowledge of the true god (hidden in the fruit of the tree) from humans, but the true god comes in the form of the snake and gives knowledge to mankind.

Next, the black bunnies appear and tell Mary to fetch the ashes from the torch in the Goddess’ shrine and use them to revive the tree. But contact with the Goddess’ torch is forbidden. The black bunnies play the role of the snake, luring Mary to break the taboo.

The rabbits convince Mary and she takes the ashes. Mary, as Prometheus, steals the fire which the gods have hoarded and gives it to mankind. Alternatively, Adam and Eve see the light and their eyes are opened.

But the Goddess is furious, and takes the smallest lamb’s life as punishment. Prometheus is chained to a rock, and his liver is pecked out by an eagle every day. Adam and Eve are exiled (by the false god).

We’ve established the connection to the myth of Prometheus and the gnostic creation myth. But how does Mary’s story fit into Mawaru Penguindrum?

It appears that the souls of the sheep (the Takakura siblings) are the flames of the Godess’ torch.  By sacrificing themselves (as Kanba has done) the sheep can prolong the life of the apple tree.

The next questions are the identites of Mary and the Goddess. It seems reasonable to guess that the Goddess is fate herself, who has afflicted Himari with a curse. Mary, although he bears a female name, is wearing a tie. Mary seems to hold much in common with Shouma and Kanba’s father. He has broken a taboo (executing the gas attacks) as part of a survival strategy for the apple tree. The apple tree in this context could be the Earth itself, if we consider the discussion from earlier.

One last question: what are the dark bunnies? A dark, uncontrollable force fighting against fate: they seem similar to the Worm from Super Frog Saves Tokyo. Why is Sanetoshi leading them?

Further Thoughts

• I wonder what animals the young Tabuki was supposed to take care of? Birds?

• What’s up with Tabuki’s fingers here? After the Sarin gas attacks, the perpetrators mailed a bomb to Yukio Aoshima, the governor of Tokyo, and blew the fingers off his secretary’s hand.
• When Tabuki refuses to believe that Momoka has died, we jump to a shot of a bird in a cage. Her death has trapped him in the past, unwilling to fly and move on.
• Great music in this episode, especially the piano piece towards the middle.
• The myth sequence was beautifully choreographed: the two storylines happening at the same time fit together perfectly.
• Penguin hat Himari claims that she is also from the destination of fate. I’m sticking with my theory that the destination of fate is death.

• D’aaaawwww. Baby Ringo is so cute. She’s always been attached to that diary.

• Sanetoshi’s apple has a different symbol than the yin-yang penguin head. What is it supposed to be? It kind of looks like a candle to me. The Godess’ torch?
• Who is the girl saying “Because punishment has to be the most unjust” at the end?

I look forward to hearing your own theories in the comments!

Note: I’ll be out of town this weekend, so Dantalian will be delayed. As will any first impressions posts for new series.

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This episode was a small step backwards in terms of craziness, but a giant leap forward in terms of Shouma and Ringo shipping.

The Joy of the Hunt

Kanba visits Masako’s mansion, and we learn that Masako sees people as hunters, hunting for the “true form of the object of one’s affection.” What is the true form of her affection? Just as it was with Ringo, I doubt that it is as simple as wanting Kanba as he is. She also claims that love is just a hormonal imbalance in the brain. But her masked allusions to a childhood promise to Kanba and Kanba’s portrait suggest otherwise. This brings us back to last week’s discussion of dualism: Ringo, who claims to be hunting for love, actually isn’t; and perhaps Masako, who claims not to be hunting for love, actually is. Ringo tries to construct a false fate, and Masako attempts to deny a true fate.

Let’s look at one piece of interesting imagery from this segment: When Kanba accuses Masako of being a stalker, images of the stalk of a plant appear. Masako claims she is not a stalker, but a hunter, and the stalks are replaced by crosshairs on an elephant. Hunting and stalking are functionally equivalent, so why is Masako so fixated on being known as a hunter? Observe how Ringo and Masako both engage in the hunt: Ringo seeks to build up a relationship with Tabuki, while Masako destroys her rivals and tries to gain control of Kanba’s life forcibly. Ringo desires a slow, growing love (like a stalk), while Masako (claims she) desires fealty and power, like a hunter.

But the symbol on Masako’s teacup is a stalk, not a hunter. And Masako’s penguin spends the entire segment making out with Kanba’s. Plus there’s the portrait and childhood promise. So is Masako truly a hunter, or a stalker disguised as a hunter? The guise of a hunter may be designed to hide from herself the fact that she is in love.

Ringo’s Realization

I’m completely biased, but I liked how they made Ringo realize that she loved Shouma. I prefer relationships where the couple doesn’t fall in love at first sight: this is too convenient and easy. I prefer when they have to jump through hoops and struggle, as Shouma and Ringo certainly have. So having the two lovebirds start out hating each other gets bonus points from me.

The epsiode begins without Ringo realizing how she feels towards Shouma. The audience knows, however, from a few hints, such as Ringo’s reaction to Shouma’s accusation that she shouldn’t have given up the diary. I should point out here that Shouma had the same reaction as Kanba in the previous episode: preventing his kidnapping didn’t merit risking the only way they had to save Himari. He is actually angry at Ringo for giving up the diary to save him. So for those predicting a fallout between the two brothers, it doesn’t look like we’re there quite yet.

On the train, Shouma tells Ringo “you’re you, not your sister!” and says that he won’t help her. “You’re you, you!” is one of the lines that pisses me off the most in anime— it’s so common, and so profoundly meaningless, yet it never fails to cause an immense transformation in lovelorn girls. Here, though, with Ringo literally trying to be her sister, it actually made sense for once.

After this, Ringo leaves the train, angry that Shouma has abandoned her (another not so subtle hint), and makes another love potion. We could interpret the frog as representing Ringo’s perceive destiny, as she is the princess (Momoka) transformed into a frog (Ringo), and when she kisses the prince (Tabuki) she will turn into a princess and everyone will live happily ever after. But here she is afraid of the frog, and unwilling to press it to her face. Ringo is having second thoughts about this destiny thing. Later, when reading the directions, she repeats the line “he’ll fall head over heels for you” to herself. Could she be thinking of someone else, after her fight?

This time, the love potion actually works, and Tabuki turns into a love-crazed mutant frog. This makes me wonder, though: perhaps the last love potion worked as well. Shouma’s penguin ate it. I believe that that one didn’t only last for a night, too.

Anyway, Ringo says no to Tabuki at the last minute, and Yuri saves Ringo from being raped by a drugged-up Tabuki. Perhaps as an effect of Ringo’s desire for Tabuki wearing off, Yuri doesn’t appear quite so evil at this moment. Yuri has realized before her that Ringo is in love with Shouma, and even gives her some advice. Ringo returns home and meets Himari and Shouma.

Ringo expresses her love best through violence.

Her accusations against Shouma lead us to the next question: what is fate?

Fighting Fate

I’ll be honest: I think that the idea of fate, in the sense that every aspect of your life is predetermined, is downright silly. Even if we don’t have free will, and everything is controlled by hormones in the brain, we still have the illusion of free will, which is much the same.

But there are other understandings of fate which are less nihilistic. The word fate has a variety of different meanings, and usually people neglect to clarify which meaning they’re using. So most conversations of fate tend to leave me bewildered: what are they talking about? Let’s look at a select few versions of fate, in decreasing order of the control it exerts on human lives.

• Predeterminism. Everything is fixed, and you can’t change it.
• Destiny. The final result is fixed, but there are many ways to get there. (e.g., Stein’s; Gate, predestination) The idea of soulmates, where destined lovers are connected by the red string of fate, is an example of this.
• The Gentle Hand of Fate. There is a “fate” of sorts, but it strongly influences reality rather than controlling it directly. Astrology is an example of this.
• Conciliatory Views. There is a fate, but it is fully determined by freely made human choices. (e.g., much of Christianity) There may be exceptions for things which are fully outside of human control, such as predestination.
• No Fate. There is no fate, and all is the result of human choice.

There’s another spectrum that views of fate fall along: is fate fundamentally a good thing or a bad thing? Some see fate as a good thing (such as with the idea of soulmates), some see it as a bad thing (such as absurdists, who consider it “despicable”) and others see it as neither strictly good nor evil (the astrologists and the conciliators).

So when Mawaru Penguindrum discusses fate, which version is it referring to? This seems to vary depending on the context. The Takakura seems to have quite the absurdist view, with fate being the despicable death of Himari and their parents.  Ringo ascribes to the idea of a positive gentle hand of fate, attempting to bring reality back in line with its supposed destiny so that her family can be restored. Masako professes to believe in predeterminism, claiming love is a chemical reaction in the brain.  Tabuki takes a more mixed view, similar to a popular Christian perspective (replace fate with God):

Sarin Gas Attacks

So it looks like everyone talking about the 1995 Sarin gas attacks was on to something. In this episode, Masako mentions a “curse” from 16 years ago, and Ringo claims that her sister died 16 years ago, on the day that she, Shouma and Kanba were born. Does not sound like a coincidence, especially with all the “95”s on the subway.

Furthermore, Shouma and Kanba consider themselves responsible for the death of Ringo’s sister. How could this be possible if the attacks happened on the day that they were born? Perhaps it has to do with…

Recycling

There has been plenty of recycling imagery throughout the show. First, in the OP, there is the red circle with two arrows that crops up next to the librarian (also, in the train for the previous picture). The penguins make their first appearances in recycling bins. Then there’s Himari in the child broiler. And in this episode, when Ringo says that her sister passed away and she was born on the same day, the sign appears again. I believe there are other appearances as well.

Note how all of these appearances center around death. This makes me wonder if the idea is that lives are being recycled. Ringo seems to think that because she was born, her sister died. And since Shouma and Kanba entered the world, two other people must leave it. By being born as twins, they have screwed things up, and so an extra person must be removed from the world to restore balance. Perhaps this is their sin. Himari’s time in the child broiler gives off the feel of recycling as well, like she is waiting her turn in purgatory to return to life.

Which brings us back to Masako’s metaphor at the beginning of the episode. The emperor penguins hover at the edge of the iceberg, waiting for another penguin to dive into the sea first to see if it gets eaten by seals. Both Himari and Mario are afraid to venture on from death, and are waiting for someone else to step off the galactic railroad first.

Final Thoughts and Questions

• Himari’s “Little sister’s orders!” seem quite similar to the penguin hat Himari’s attitude. And the above shot was rather suggestive.
• Masako’s group does not have the other half of the diary. Who does?
• What is Kanba’s secret?
• What is the source of the memory-erasure balls, that Kanba also seems to know about?
• I like how Himari’s penguin tells Shouma’s to stop being a glutton here:

Further Reading on Episode 11

8thSin Fansubs
The Untold Story of Altair and Vega
Lost in Anime
Moe Sucks
Hachimitsu
Iwa ni Hana

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Wow, this may have been even stronger than the previous episode. The previous episode had a great sense of mystery, but this one had a sense of excitement and thrill that we haven’t seen so far.

Kanba

The first thing I noticed is that Kanba really does seem to love his brother (and sister). Ringo’s comment that Shouma’s family life was fake had left me wondering, but Kanba at least gives the appearance of being completely dedicated to his brother and sister. He stays all night worrying by Shouma’s bedside, even though he tries to hide it. One thing in this episode seems to jar with that image though: the actions of Kanba’s penguin. As we’ve seen, the penguin’s actions tend to reflect the thoughts and actions of their owners. And here, for most of the episode, Kanba’s penguin is busy stealing underwear, reading porn magazines, and looking up the nurses’ skirts. Perhaps all is not as it seems… Another hint to this effect is that Kanba does not want to give the diary back, instead entrusting it to Ringo. This is probably just his cool and collected self remaining in control, but let’s leave the possibilities open. Then we have Kanba’s conversation with Himari, which was hilarious. How dense can you be? But yeah, Kanba is a confirmed siscon now. Interestingly, Himari doesn’t seem quite so innocent towards the end of this scene, where she leans in close and pats Kanba on the head. Perhaps this is a glimpse of her true feelings, which are revealed through the penguin hat.

Drawing Parallels

One thing to notice is how closely this episode paralleled the last one. Himari, and then Kanba, descend lower and lower into the floors of the building, reliving their memories on the way. The walls of Himari’s library are bars of a cage, and the walls of Kanba’s library are colored like the stripes of a prison. Both Himari and Kanba feel trapped by the past, although Himari wants to remember hers and Kanba does not. Also, look at how what happens with Masako parallels Kanba’s conversation with Himari. Himari asks whether boys would like homemade lunches, cakes, or hand-knitted sweaters. Kanba says no, they don’t want any of that “made with love” crap, unless it’s from Himari. Then Himari leans in close, pats Kanba’s head and disappears. Masako presents the same items to Kanba: homemade bento, a wedding cake, and a hand-knitted sweater. He rejects all of them, except for the unfinished undersized sweater which he is forced to wear. Notice how Kanba tells Himari that girls always make oversized sweaters: the sweater must have been made long ago. When he arrives at his destination, Masako kisses him and disappears. On a side note, Masako’s disappearance scene was excellent: I really thought she was going to shoot Kanba, but instead she jumped eagerly into his arms. Perhaps her Project M has the same goal as Ringo’s after all. We could also interpret this sequence as Kanba’s fall from innocence: he initially chases Masako’s fleeting image through the fields of white sheets, to the sounds of the music box. Then the music box cracks, and things start to go wrong. He enters deeper and deeper into a relationship, while continuing to feel more and more trapped. He finally ends up in the torture chamber, where he is confronted with a kiss. By the way, does anyone know what music was playing during this sequence? It seems so familiar, like it’s on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t quite warp my head around it.

Dualism

The yin-yang penguin symbol pretty much gave it away from the first episode, but there seems to be a dualistic opposition between what I’ll call the light and the dark penguins. We know that Masako’s goal is to gain control of fate, so it seems logical to guess that the goal of Himari’s hat is the opposite— to free herself from the control of fate. Himari and Mario are paired, as we saw in the previous episode with the Child Broiler. (also, notice the まり in both of their names) I am sure we will see exactly how they are different in the future. Kanba and Masako seem to take on similar roles in both sides of the conflict, as the people who do the dirty work. Kanba is most likely Masako’s “fated” person, but Kanba only has eyes for Himari. They’ve sure done a great job of making Masako seem dangerous, with that crazy slingshot, the dark penguin sharpening the knife, the blowtorches, torture rack and injections. Does Shouma have a counterpart on the other side? I am guessing yes— Tabuki. Note how when Ringo picked up her cellphone it gave a chirping noise, which previously rang for Tabuki. Ringo seems like the type of girl to set individual ringtones. And this also would put Shouma and Tabuki in opposition over Ringo. On that front, Shouma seems to be making some progress, as we witnessed Ringo’s guilt and appreciation for perhaps the first time. Plus, her diary is gone. Fate is now an open book.

Further Thoughts

• Masako tells Kanba he was led by Ariadne’s red thread of fate- a combination of the story of Ariadne and the Eastern idea of how soulmates are tied together by a red string of fate since birth. We could also tie this into the three Fates.
• Masako says that Kanba’s sweater is made of pigeon blood. Penguins are flightless birds, Tabuki learned to fly but can no longer treasure what he sees… whose dreams did Kanba have to sacrifice to get to where he is?
• The dark penguin’s face is shaped like a heart. Back to the dualism surrounding fate of the two penguin clans.

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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