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「危険な生存戦略」 (Kiken na Seizon Senryaku)
“Dangerous Survival Strategy”
It sure didn’t take long for the penguin hat to find its way on top of Himari’s head again, taking us for another ride with the whole magical girl-like transformation scene. I get the feeling that will be a regular thing along with its recycled footage, which I don’t particularly mind because it does remind me of Sailor Moon’s transformation. As a bonus of sorts, it also comes complete with the possessed Himari shedding off the layers to her costume. It looks like the plan is to make her as alluring as she is mysterious, and thus far, I have to say it’s working.
There’s still no clear indication as to what this Penguindrum that “Himari” is getting Kanba and Shouma to retrieve from Oginome Ringo, but it’s looking very much like the stalker girl’s diary at this point. I highly doubt it’s a mere coincidence that Ringo is a firm believer of fate and destiny, and perceives her diary as a record of everything that’s happened (and will happen) for a reason. What’s more, the diary’s also seen in the opening sequence, further supporting my suspicion.
In terms of progression, calling the sudden revelation that Ringo stalks Kanba and Shouma’s home room teacher, Tabuki Keiju (Ishida Akira), a surprise would be an understatement, especially after the humorous flow of the entire episode leading up to that moment. After all, invisible penguin #1 and #2 (named out of convenience) gearing up and going all espionage to spy on Ringo was not only cute and silly to watch, but showcased what could very well be the ultimate form of voyeurism. I wasn’t thinking “stalker” even when Ringo psychotically scaled the outside of a department store building just to take a picture of a swallow’s nest to show Tabuki. I just figured she’s one seriously messed up girl with more than a few screws loose. Needless to say, that was quickly confirmed.
Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why I’m really enjoying this original series so far — it has a knack for keeping me guessing on what kind of show it’ll turn out to be, as I’m not even sure what genre to classify it as yet. The invisible penguins provide a very cute and lighthearted twist to what started off with the tragic death of Himari and then BAM, we have a full-out stalker who makes regular nightly visits to a teacher’s house just to eavesdrop on him. Or at least, “regular” is what the setup appears to be, given the open ventilation plate that Ringo crawls through to get underneath the house’s floorboards, and the pre-installed radio that she listens in on.
With the way things ended off, I’m not too sure where things are headed, but boy am I enjoying every minute of it for that very reason.
Note: I incorrectly deduced that Ringo’s the possessed Himari last episode. Corrections have been made to the post on episode one.
Preview & End Card
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Ikuhara is amazing. This is already one of, if not my favorite show of the season.
LMAO at the lingerie shop.
it’s greeeaaat!yey
Oh man… the lingerie shop scene made my entire week!
“What holes do their legs go thru?”
“Fool! Those holes lead to the cosmos!”
Ahhh… Ecstacy! Lol.
Your screen caps allowed me to notice another detail – Ringo’s phone strap has a penguin holding an apple on it…
I Didn’t notice that. I guess thats also a hint for Penguindrum. Now i think i got an idea that they may lead to thinking that Penguindrum is a “huge thing(deeper meaning for an iteam)” yet the item was just 1 simple strap.
Thats my thoughts
That penguin on her keychain is also the fourth penguin in the opening.
I don’t think so. The penguin on the keychain is just an ordinary penguin. It doesn’t have the sinister, spiky hair of the fourth penguin in the opening.
I think the black penguin is the helmet.
There are so many penguin images in the episode it would be strange for the phone strap not to be a penguin.
Ringo’s name literally means Apple, so it makes sense
Good find, I didin’t even notice that.
Back to analysis – penguin drum = that destiny stamp? :s
This anime confuses me @_@ Way too much distraction. Show Spoiler ▼
Makes you wonder what else they will be tossing into the fan in the coming episodes.
Anyways, while watching the ep, I think the Penguindrum may be Ringo’s memories (no basis for that claim). I don’t think its actually something tangible
Yamashita is in fact voiced by Ryousuke Sakamaki (坂巻亮祐).
Ah right. I don’t know why I didn’t just double-check the credits. Thanks.
The ending setting up Ringo as a (very) creepy stalker really contrasted well with the overall light-hearted mood.
I don’t really like the stock footage transformation? sequence. I hope it doesn’t become a regular occurence, since I feel it would detract from the high quality and originality (thus far) of the show
It’s Ikuhara, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happen every episode. Have you seen Utena?
I havn’t actually seen Utena yet, but I’ve heard its very unconventional.
Unconventional is an excellent work for Utena.
Ikuhara makes creative use of stock footage. If he’s using it here, expect a surprise later. I suggest watching it, don’t skip it, every episode. Stock footage gets boring but that makes it useful.
I think Penguindrum are sins like forbidden love(incest), stalking and etc.
I like this anime’s originality.
I guess this penguin’s aren’t just for voyeurism in the near future :D.
Show Spoiler ▼
One thing [among many] I find refreshing about this show is its colorful presentation. It’s like they have no fear of color whatsoever. I’m simply amazed.
The tittle is you translate the first half of it, it’s (輪る) Evil. “Evil” act are consider sins.
“I highly doubt it’s a mere coincidence that Ringo is a firm believer of fate and destiny, and perceives her diary as a record of everything that’s happened for a reason.”
I was under the impression that Show Spoiler ▼
But, yes! I’m loving Penguindrum so much, and I’m glad you guys are covering it.
I thought the same thing…
That sounds about right, but I wasn’t sure if Ringo wrote those future entries herself and is fulfilling them or if it really is her “future diary”. The swallow’s nest in Ikebukuro seems to suggest the latter, seeing as she only found out about it before heading there. However, part of me wonders if she’s really just that twisted, writing her own “destiny” in advance and then making it happen.
That is true – she might have some sort of power that allows her will to be projected on the physical world. That would be interesting!
Man, I already made tuturu as my text message beep thing.
Now I gotta get a copy of Survival strategy for something else.
Maybe when I get emails….
I already got some girls repeating tuturu whenever I get a text message!
Ok. I rewatch the anime again one more time along with the op just to see the diary. I now think that the diary has something to do with Penguindrum.
ops i didn’t mean to reply. sorry. I just got the wrong place to put this ^
They’re changing their sister’s fate, huh. I think Himari is going to die at the end because of the fate concept. Her brothers can’t keep searching for the Penguindrum forever, right? :O
Anyways, I loled this whole episode.
wow, that is a nice way to think of it.
WOW factor!!, This is great anime. This go much better than i expected. I can’t wait for the insert song Rock over Japan to come. Of course with the vocal “Survival Strategy” included of course.
hmmm the symbols in the ending might be the Penguindrums
Divine, did you watch Utena?
Also, I recommend that you start looking out for signs of symbolism, if you haven’t already. They’re all over the place and offer a ton of insight into what’s possibly in store for the story. It’s the signature of Ikuhara’s style as a director after all.
I haven’t even though I’m very familiar and fond of its opening theme, “Rinbu revolution”. That particular song by Okui Masami is pretty renowned as far as anime songs go, and seems to get covered by various artists every year at Animelo Summer Live. I’ll keep the symbolism in mind for future episodes.
Definitely check out Utena. It’s fascinating and has layers and layers of symbolism. Plus the imagery is just beautiful. And yes, the Rinbu/Rondo Revolution is an awesome song.
Definitely Watch Utena. This show has all the earmarks of getting just as dark and twisted. Utena started Very light with a splash of Bizarre. Ikuhara uses the repetition and distinct elements throughout his series to make multi layered points. The Train systems, kids’ dialogue over the shots of the character’s home, and the two girl mascots, Double H (tying into the diary double helix symbolism), reflecting on things in the episode are also Very Utena-esque.
Ikuhara was very proud of making Utena, though it was on a very limited budget. While he directed Sailor Moon (And likely grew a lot as a director) he felt Utena reflected himself better artistically. And while it may simply be that he like women with pink hair there is quite the possibility that there is some sideways relationship between the two series.
I had not know about this show at all but I’m incredibly excited to see where this goes.
I looked into the band that did the ED song. I have to say that I’m completely charmed by it. And I look forward to seeing it (if not “Warped”) get an award for best ED at the end of the year.
If anyone is interested in Coaltar of the Deeper’s music, their last album Yukari Telepath is their best, and in my opinion, a great improvement from every single album they’ve made so far. 😐 [Clicky]
note: my apologies if we are not supposed to post links like this. Literally Googling it works just fine though.
Two things I had learned this episode
1. Penguins are awesome
2. Girl Stalkers are scary
I really enjoy Penguin, its so unique
Bitches be crazy!
Still no idea where this is going. Guessing the teacher isn’t as simple as he looks either.
Dood.
Much better than the first episode! Looking forward to this now.
I like how the brothers both said “for Himari” after describing very different plans. It’s a nice contrast between the good brother who will push himself for Himari and the bad one who has no limits, who will push other people.
That which comes into existence is not necessary. The necessary is the prior unconditional. This is a defeater of fate, everything that has begun to exist is conditional, it cannot be unalterable.
https://randomc.net/image/Mawaru%20Penguindrum/Mawaru%20Penguindrum%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
Her reaction to that was so cute.
Stalker girl, pervy penguins and double-helix displays of lingerie. I’m SOLD!
Didn’t quite like the character designs at first but they’re growing on me.
Also, thanks to Oginome Ringo, I now know how a triple lace lingerie looks like ;3
I’m glad they fixed “Nadine” and changed it to imagine in the transformation sequence. Imagination is important since it’s tied to possibility, which doesn’t exist if there’s fate.
That was a very Psycho-like reveal at the end there, she seemed so normal, so cute, and BAM!- creepy stalker. And I was hoping she would hook up with one of the brothers, but it looks like this is the kind of series where we can’t have nice things.
I like all the little touches!! Lots of detail in this anime. There are also a lot of penguin gags in this episode.
i’ll wait for the infinite chain of stalkers stalking the brothers and the stalkers stalking those stalkers etc. to be revealed in epi. 3
That scene definitely reminded me of Zetsubou Sensei wwww
calling oginome ringo; gasai yuno wants her diary back!
that was a nice twist in the end. i wonder, is the diary the penguin drum then? and i also wonder if the teacher is more involved in this penguin drum-thing than expected. ringo’s case already shows that not everything is as it seems (‘future diary’ used for stalking purposes). then there’s the penguin drawing in her diary; could it be that her diary is her own version of the penguins our protagonists have?
stealth penguin drones FTW!
stalkers stalking a stalker FTW!
seems the diary is possibly the “penguin drum”
penguins everywhere! ads, signs, etc!
lol @ lingerie shop (triple lace!)
lol @ subway public ad of molesters catching
Ntohing is as it seems, and I figure that maybe the penguindrum is from the destination of their fate like our friendly penguin hat, so it says what the users diary entries would of/will be if they were keeping it as their diary..
im just watching the show for two reasons the director and the penguins. Oh side note: the girl in this episode disturbs me but at the same time i think shes an interesting character( lol fanservice)
This show was was all over the place but this time it flowed a lot better. I enjoyed this one more than last week.
There’s a lot of WTF going on but it’s still really enjoyable. Really looking forward to this one. 🙂
I thought the two “double-helix” fish on Ringo’s diary were an allusion to the Chinese myth of Fu Xi and Nu Wa. Fu Xi and Nu Wa = creators of China = gods = the entities who controls fate.
As for the apple….. I’m thinking “bad apple” (allusion to Touhou). Interestingly, the lyrics of “bad apple” have several instances of the word “future” (http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Lyrics:_Bad_Apple!!).
I’ll speculate that the “penguindrum” refer’s to Ringo’s heart…. because of the line “I can’t even see the heart that’s leaving me” from the “bad apple” lyrics, and also Kamba’s heart got taken in ep1 by the spirit girl (or was that my imagination?)
I hope that the penguindrum at most refers to the metaphoric heart…… not the actual human heart. I don’t want this to turn into a gore anime.
I was reading her diary and basically, as she said, she has everything planned out already. On the top of final page that she flipped to, the first entry is about her finding the swallow’s nest today and took a picture of it. But there are more entries after “today”‘s. The “destiny” stamp probably indicates completion.
Japanese anime girls are so hot. Damn.
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