Guys, here's my analysis...to the entire show
First, we gotta start with the allegory that we saw on episode 12... well here's a sluggish recap:
Mary had three lambs and an apple tree, they are his/her two treasures. One day the apple trees started dying, and all the fruits it bore disappeared. Soon after, the two dark bunnies appear and tells him a way to revive the tree, which is by taking the goddess' flames. Then the goddess punished the youngest lamb(Himari).
Okay, here's the thing. In this allegory, everything has to represent something. "Mary" was the father, who ending up having Himari as 'collateral' (remember how you can use life force as like a currency? being transferable?) to regain his other treasures, 'the apples', when he stole the 'flame' from the 'goddess'; the one to told them how to do that is Sanetoshi, obviously represented by the twin black rabbits (sort of life the whisper of the devil).
Well then, first question: What represents the flames and the goddess?
Given that the apple means
(it doesn't exactly have ANY magical properties, but just a symbolic object), this would mean that their father went nuts out of despair with the cruelty of the world (hence he lost his apples - teehee) and planned the attack (with reviving his apple tree being the objective) that eventually caused Momoka to completely sacrifice herself to change 'fate'.
Now, this is the key point: Momoka sacrificed herself USING the Fate Diary, the only object thus far capable of shifting realities (now that apples are out of the equatiion). I can't think of what else the flame could possibly mean, or any other reason their father would be manipulated by Sanetoshi IF NOT for the flames (aka the Fate Diary).
In short: the flames had been the objective all along, and Sanetoshi only used their father as a pawn in an elaborate plan to manipulate Momoka, the wielder and the 'guardian' of the flames, into sacrificing herself.
By any means, the plan was successful, and a part of that flame was stolen from the goddess, only the stolen flames were very faint. The only user that was capable of using these flames was Momoka, so once she dies, what's the point of having something you can't use? Obviously Sanetoshi can't touch the flames himself, otherwise he wouldn't need the help of "Mary" to acquire the flames.
This is where the penguin hats come in. The hats are a manifestation of the fragments of the flame, they are extremely faint on their own while separated from the main body, yet nonetheless, it still has the ability (like the fate diary) to convert life force into tiny miracles (not to the extent the main body can), which is how they managed to keep Himari alive by sacrificing Kanba's life force. But this fragment, being separated from the body, is extremely weak, and cannot sustain this miracle, which is why the quest has always been to acquire the Penguindrum.
Now, for the million dollar question: WHO IS THE PERSON INSIDE THE HAT?
Because there aren't that many clues disclosed so far, I can only speculate.
So on top of my analysis of the story thus far, here's a little crackpot theory:
The FATE DIARY (the flames) and the GODDESS are inseparable, meaning that the flames are at the very core of the goddess. The goddess was much more powerful when she was whole with the Fate Diary, and she deemed Momoka to be its wielder because she has a good heart, and infused her consciousness with Momoka's. However, Sanetoshi, always envious of her powers (or is an entity to the same caliber, except without the all-powerful Diary), decided to seize this opportunity for his own ambitions. After he manages to break off the actual goddess from her source of power and trap her within a hat, all that's left is to convince her to transfer the ownership of the Diary to himself. Since the goddess' consciousness is now infused with Himari's, symbolically, Sanetoshi must make her his "bride" in order to control the Diary. The goddess knew that she was weak and that she might die (along with her host), if she doesn't reunite with the Diary soon. Which is the whole premise behind episode 9. If Himari (goddess inside) had accepted Sanetoshi's kiss, it'd have been all over - she'd live for certain but would have to share the flames with Sanetoshi as she's wed him. But, of course, Himari chose to refuse his offer, and the scene ends with her plummeting back to reality.
BUT, this is where they had one of the most important conversation in the show, which is what I'm basing this entire theory on:
*Himari was still herself, even though this all happened in her deep subconscious*
Himari: Whose bride will I become?
Sanetoshi: The answer to that is already at the destination of fate.
Himari: The destination of fate? Where is that?
Sanetoshi: You should already know that place. I'll tell you the answer when you need me again, after you return to the real world. About the destination of fate, whose bride you are... until then... ***Himari stops the kiss***.
Himari: No.
... cuts to a flashback ... yup. the very same one where Shouma gave her the apple (of hope).
-Sanetoshi is "telling" Himari the answer to the destination of fate (the ending that He wants) by targeting her in the conscious world, because the goddess is dormant inside of her (because she's so weak), Sanetoshi only has to manipulate Himari into becoming her "bride".
-The significance of the flashback is: Himari defied Sanetoshi because she sincerely believed that there's only one person that she can share this with: her soul mate (who also happens to have a good heart), so she entrusted her life on Shouma. |