Mawaru Penguindrum is an anime unafraid to break conventional rules. Its story is lucrative and all over the place, and is hilarious yet profound. It has an extensive use of symbolism to convey its morals and message, similar to Kunihiko Ikuhara’s other piece, Revolutionary Girl Utena. It has a nice set of characters each with their own quirks that make them interesting and diverse. The animation is well-done and the soundtrack is stunning. But most importantly, it has irresistibly adorable penguins that you just can’t help but feel like hugging. Such qualities should make Penguindrum an outstanding anime. Unfortunately, various problems, such as its abuse
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of drama and its messy form of narrative, plague the anime and bring it down from what it could have been.
Immediately in the first episode, we are faced with a serious issue: the world is not fair. The issues of the world are incredibly pressing and parallel very well to serious issues in the real world. Take, for example, the relatively recent shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. What did the children do to deserve such a tragic fate? Why did this happen to the poor innocent children? If God is omnipotent and infinitely generous, how could he let such a fate take place? There is no doubt that these questions went through the victim’s parents heads after the incident. Shouma and Kanba Takakura are faced with the same questions when their little sister, Himari, a kind, sweet girl dies an untimely death from her terminal disease. The tragedy of fate is explored throughout Mawaru Penguindrum as the two brothers try desperately try to save Himari from her inevitable death written by destiny and by God.
Though it may seem that this is a “weighty” anime, Penguindrum actually has many comedic and lighthearted moments, mostly in the first part of the anime. This bring us to an important point- The anime is, to many people, divided into two parts. The first half of the anime is something more familiar – it’s like a crazy slice-of-life romcom almost. Many people drop it in the beginning, but it should be noted that Penguindrum is not what it initially seems like. The second half takes a more psychological take, and its use of symbolism drastically increases. It also becomes more supernatural and magic becomes ever more prevalent. The introduction of magic as well as other elements make the second part much more convoluted and messy, leaving viewers often wondering “what is going on?” Multiple events start happening at once and at the same time we have flashbacks throughout each episode, making episodes go all over the place.
Many people say that Penguindrum’s story is “weird,” which is a legitimate complaint. The anime starts with two boys, Shouma and Kanba, losing their sister to an inevitably fatal illness. However, a magical penguin hat reincarnates her but will only keep her alive if Shouma and Kanba find the “penguindrum,” which we don’t know the exact information about. The first person they meet is a highschool girl that stalks a teacher in hopes of having a romantic relationship with him and carries around a diary that tells the future, which is suspected to be the Penguindrum. Sound strange? Well, it only gets more radical from there. They later meet the teacher’s famous, Yuri wife named yuri, a girl with a gun that shoots memory-wiping balls, and a pink haired, ghost doctor who uses magic to try and destroy the world. However, the different feel of Mawaru Penguindrum is also highly refreshing. It’s safe to say that Mawaru Penguindrum is unique and is not very similar to any one anime, making it a nice break from run-of-the-mill series. Its daringly eccentric story creates a fun and new experience. Its production is also very well done, making the story all the more captivating. The brutality of fate, the yearning of someone’s love, the pain of loneliness, among other things are explored through the anime.
What made Penguindrum awesome for me was its astonishing use of symbolism throughout the anime. Many symbols were thought-provoking and cleverly done, a real treat to someone who ponders on them. Some carry with them strong messages and morals of the story, making symbols a large component of the anime. Hell, Penguindrum itself is one grand, magnificent symbol. However, not all symbols were so spectacular. Some of them were one dimensional and had little thought behind them. Many symbols are open to interpretation just like a poem, so you take your own meaning out of each one. There isn’t a universal meaning for some symbols and you figure out your own, though some are flatly explained. Because of this subjective judgment for symbols, I’ll refrain from saying which ones are good or not, and let you pick your own favorites.
Probably one of the biggest problems I have with Penguindrum is its use of drama. A prime example of this is its use of death scenes. Death scenes are repeated over and over to a point they are meaningless and don’t deliver nearly the same effect as the first time (like medicine, to those who have watched it already). *spoiler (though not a big one): Himari dies so many times throughout the anime, and always comes back after a little mourning. When she is finally dead for good, or as we think, we have the crying scenes, the “fate is cruel” monologue, and are left feeling awfully depressed when the episode ends. Then the next episode, she’s alive again like nothing ever happened. A few episodes later, you’ll forget it ever happened. Death is only used as a dramatic component for sadness, but has little real meaning. The triteness of death is just one of the numerous examples of abuse of drama. Another example is meaningless and even misleading suspense. For example, many episodes end or scenes are cut with the main character in the face of danger, leaving us with suspense and excitement. This suspense turns out to be meaningless as the danger actually never existed. The anime deceives the viewers making them feel excited and scared for what is about to happen, only to say that it was just kidding soon after.
Another major problem I have with Penguindrum is its use of magic, especially in the second half of the anime. For an anime trying to depict the brutality of reality, the unfairness of life, and the powerlessness against fate, it’s not apt that the anime uses magic mumbo-jumbo. Now, the problem isn’t the existence of magic in the anime, but rather its use- it is used as a solution to real problems. Fate is brutal and written in stone… unless you have a magic hat of course. Then you can solve all your solutions by just resetting fate. The implementation of magic puts a strain on Penguindrum’s overall message, and makes the second part even messier.
But by far the greatest issue of Penguindrum is how crazy its narrative gets in the second half. Many things starts to happen at all once on top of frequent flashbacks to events in the past, leading to large confusion. The direction the anime takes is also very obscure and random at times. It attempts to do many things at once, and unfortunately does not succeed.
Penguindrum has a nice, diverse set of characters that have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses. In the Takakura family, we have 3 of the main characters, Kanba, Shouma, and Himari. Their parents have been missing for a while, so the siblings actually take different family roles. Kanba is the masculine head of the family, he’s cold and often resorting to dirty tactics to save Himari, who he dearly cares about. Shouma is the more maternal part of the family, he’s kind and thoughtful, and even cleans and cooks. The two highly contrast each other, and this contrast is further apparent as the anime goes on as their differences go to the point that they part ways as they take their own path to save Himari. The relationship between all 3 family members of the family is beautifully developed and portrayed. The side characters are for the most part interesting and each develop throughout the series. It should also be noted that there are adorable blue penguins that are representations of these three characters.
However, this part of Penguindrum is not all sunshine either. Though the characters do develop over time, the development is highly inconsistent and changes to suit the story. This is especially true in the side characters, whos motivations are enigmatic and always changing. Many characters are also forgotten about after their major part in the story, and end up having little impact on the outcome. A prime example of this is Ringo, one of the 4 main characters. The first part of the anime focuses on her quest, known as “Project M,” but soon after, she quickly forgotten. She appears again at many times after this, but by then is little more than a bystander and no longer plays such a significant role. The backstories for the characters are also sadly all too similar, kind of like the universal “daddy problems” in Neon Genesis Evangelion. They all are suffering similar situations (which, for the sake of no spoilers, will not be explained) and there isn’t much variety. And by the end of the anime, we still only know this much. Though similar and unknown backgrounds isn’t a major problem, it still is somewhat disappointing.
Another fault of the characters is the lack of individual development. Though the relationships between the characters is strong, development on a person basis is weak and highly inconsistent. This is especially prominent in the side characters, but for the sake of brevity,let's just focus on the main characters. We have Kanba, the masculine head of the family. He develops little until the second half, where he takes a radical turn into evil and doing shady business. This transformation made little sense, and was merely to conveniently match with the plot. Shouma doesn't develop much if at all throughout the whole series. Himari is also not a very strong character, as she is, in my opinion, little more than a plot device. She doesn’t develop much throughout the anime, and though she does have things like regret from the past, nothing really comes out of it.One side character with the most flagrant development that I'd like to mention is Dr. Sanetoshi. We know little about him except he supposedly died 10 years ago, his ghost lurks around and plans to destroy the world with magic.
Now let’s get to one of the brighter parts of the anime: its art. The animation is brilliantly colorful, and the image is clear and sharp. At times, especially later on, the art adds a more surreal effect fitting for the anime. Character designs are also very well done, and few characters look completely identical. The background characters are unmoving figures similar to those in bathroom signs. The soundtrack is also top-notch and beautiful, and there is a plethora of very well-done openings and endings, my favorite of which is “Dear Future.”The OST is just as spectacular, and fits into scenes seamlessly and perfectly.
With the flaws in mind, Penguindrum's refreshing uniqueness alone does not label it as an outstanding anime. Criticism aside though, I enjoyed almost every minute of Penguindrum, and despite its flaws, it was very enjoyable. Yeah, Penguindrum was a crazy, convoluted, wild ride, but in the end it definitely worth the experience.
Jan 20, 2014
Mawaru Penguindrum
(Anime)
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Mawaru Penguindrum is an anime unafraid to break conventional rules. Its story is lucrative and all over the place, and is hilarious yet profound. It has an extensive use of symbolism to convey its morals and message, similar to Kunihiko Ikuhara’s other piece, Revolutionary Girl Utena. It has a nice set of characters each with their own quirks that make them interesting and diverse. The animation is well-done and the soundtrack is stunning. But most importantly, it has irresistibly adorable penguins that you just can’t help but feel like hugging. Such qualities should make Penguindrum an outstanding anime. Unfortunately, various problems, such as its abuse
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Aria the Animation is not an anime for everybody. It's perceived as boring to many people, which is understandable. There is little action here and the plot is somewhat slow and aimless. There's also little moe compared to other slice-of-life anime. I should also mention as this IS set in a utopian society, there won’t be nearly as many sad emotions as happy ones, so those looking for a realistic anime should also not expect to find it here; Aria is blissful if nothing else. However, if you are in the mood to watch something relaxing and heartwarming, Aria the Animation would be a perfect
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