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「だって好きだから」 (Datte Suki Dakara)
“Because I Love Him”
Oddly enough, despite all Ringo’s questionable advances toward Tabuki, it only occurred this episode that a girl so obsessed with Kanba might be another stalker in disguise. After hearing Kanba list off all the things that he hates receiving from girls, only to see Masako forcibly remind him of each and every one, I was half-expecting her to kiss him at the very end like she did. The real question now is for what purpose. Just like Ringo, it’s as if she’s adhering to some plan and not really in love with Kanba (not anymore anyway). Likewise, it looks like she’s willing to resort to any means to get the job done — including using her body if need be.
At this point, all signs point to saving Himari’s soulmate, Natsume Mario, who also has a penguin hat on his head and shouts out “Survival Strategy”. For whatever reason, I made a point of figuring out his full name from the credits last episode, but didn’t put two and two together about how he has the same family name as Masako. In all likelihood, he’s either a her younger brother or cousin and caught up in the same life-or-death predicament as the Takakuras. In connection, I’m under the impression that the episode title refers to Mario and not Kanba. The only thing that threw me off is how Masako addressed him as “Mario-san”, suggesting that she sees him as having more seniority than herself. (It’s very unusually to use the -san “gobi” to refer to someone younger unless you’re a servant.)
Unlike Himari’s case, I presume Masako’s been tasked to stop Kanba and Shouma from retrieving Ringo’s diary — in reference to how she always says she needs to “crush them” — and to make Project M succeed. The latter is kind of hard to do if Ringo’s diary is taken from her though, so it raises the question as to what she hopes to achieve by making her hand it over for Shouma’s sake. The one idea I threw out before is that Masako’s Project M could be different from Ringo’s Project M, in which case I’m starting to think that she might be trying to pair Ringo up with Shouma instead of Tabuki. As for the reason why, it could be something as simple as “Mario” telling her to do so because it’s all part of some otherworldly game between him and “Himari”. I gather it’s no coincidence after Sanetoshi revealed that they’re soulmates, so it would be pretty twisted if only one of them could live.
Given that Mawaru Penguindrum does have 24 episodes to work with, I’d love to see a string of episodes devoted to Masako and showing her side of things. It could easily turn my understanding of her completely upside-down and make it hard to perceive who — if anyone — is in the right anymore. This episode did feature Horie Yui’s version of the DEAR FUTURE ending theme (which has many other variations on the single by the way), so I took that as a precursor to some more focus on Masako’s character in the upcoming episodes. I guess I’ll find out soon enough if that’s the case.
ED2 Sequence
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ED2: 「DEAR FUTURE feat. Yui Horie」 by coaltar of the deepers
Watch the 2nd ED!: Streaming ▼
Preview & End Card
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Loved the way Ringo went all out for Shouma. Flags raised everywhere!
Oh and Ringo seems innocent stalker compared to Masako. Oh and isnt it funny how penguins reflect their owners characters?
They’re voiced by the same seiyuu as their owners too.
Kyu?
Kanba is a much deeper character than it seems… solid episode with some pretty good humor (especially #1 and panty fishing 🙂 and finally Ringo was a bit more likeable :3 What makes me curious the most was the diary and its connection with all the characters though… hope they continues to make episodes like this one to mess with our mind :3
and again, thanks for the post, Divine!
i hope the “Oginome Ringo Show” isn’t going to continue.
The animation/artistic direction this episode wasn’t so hot…
yeah, it is one of those “low budget” episode… but then again, the content is intriguing enough to follow I guess :3
Yeah. I hope this doesn’t continue on.
what is the bg music as Kanba goes down those stairs? it’s very familiar but i can’t recall the name.
it’s Dvorak – No.9 symphony “From the New World”/”New World Symphony” 2nd Mvt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ENf4VEhI40
Ah, yes! Thanks for the finding it.
“This incredible movement by Dvorak, written after his visit to America, symbolises a coloured man, slave, who is yearning for a better future for his family, particularly his kids.” Assuming that this is what Dvorak did have in mind, choosing this piece fits very well into the scene, as Kanba descends further into her trap.
How come the link for Natsume Mario in your summary doesn’t link to a picture of him?
I tend to paste the HTML for links while I’m writing and forget to go back and update the image number.
Despite a dip in the budget, plot development and a focus more evenly spread out made this one of the better episodes so far. With the continued dark humor, penguin antics, and head scratching mysteries coming it was a win for me. Truly my favorite anime of the season thanks again for covering it.
Did the animators lost the characters model sheet or something? Just, the faces were so horrible that it was hard to enjoy this episode. But.. all in all it was great to see the story develop.. KANDA <3<3
I still love how each episode answers some questions, then leaves me with more questions…
@reminbee
Hmmm….I find it kinda hard to actually have a low budget episode when they’re taking so many short cuts (the white audience). I think it’s need more “ROCK N ROLL NIGHT” scene.
Speaking of which, do we get to see a Natsume Mario Rock ON! version of the scene?
This episode was entirely done by Keiji Gotoh: storyboard, directing, key animating. I’d expect way better in terms of quality but am not at all surprised by the off-model face distortions.
Next 3 eps are directed by Ikuhara so I’m expecting a significant improvement!
Man, the animation really wasn’t too hot this week ;_;. Aside from that, I thought that this may have been one of the cooler episodes. Kanba’s descent into the dream was stunning and absolutely crazy. I loved it, even though once those bentos came out, I went “Oh wait… shit.”
Honestly, this felt like it was getting boring for me. Not that I was ever crazy about the story, but I’m starting to lose what little interest I had in it. The characters seem to just play out their roles, the surreal scenario is getting a little tiring. I’ll probably continue to watch this for now, but will jump at the chance of moving to a different anime once the new season starts proper.
This show is pure win, I’m lovin’ it! Really want to know all the secrets *_*
“…because it’s all part of some otherworldly game”
Umineko?
Divine, you “forgot” the following. Who picked up the diary after Ringo dropped it, if Natsume was in the room “playing” with Kanba at the same time.
Reading comments here, it makes me glad I diddnt find something wrong with Kanba’s face just because I dont see it enough.. *breathes out*
Penguindrum’s slid off the top of my personal anime piroity watch list. This episode doesn’t really increase its attraction factor. Up to a point you get into the groove of “F this, it won’t do much anyway might as well watch it next week with the next episode”.
That said i found it silly that Kanba never attempted to capture the girl while she was kissing him. A quick arm twist and push to the floor and that should be it
I took some time to get into it be here we are: OFF MODEL.
Penguin Mario 🙂
http://images.wikia.com/mario/de/images/b/bf/Pinguin-Mario_NSMBWii.PNG
Content was good and intriguing but damn, these faces @_@