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Let me talk about birds of paradise. Male birds of paradise are gifted with astonishing feathers. The feathers would be considered impractical if they weren’t vital for winning a mate. Of course, male birds of paradise can’t win over those picky females with feathers alone. No, they have to dance, uniquely and often awkwardly, and the female will judge. And the males get turned down. A lot.

Do you see what I’m saying? Mawaru Penguindrum is more like a bird of paradise than a penguin. Is it a dazzling, befuddling spectacle? Certainly. Will it woo you? That depends. This isn’t a show for everyone.

Mawaru Penguindrum is ... about a trio of siblings: Kanba, Shoma, and their sister Himari. Himari is a sickly girl, and in the first episode, she succumbs to her mortal illness. But then, a crass, penguin-shaped hat restores her life, and tells the brothers it will do so permanently... provided they find the elusive “Penguindrum.”

If that sounds weird, it gets weirder. The wild-goose chase for the Penguindrum leads the brothers onto the paths of actresses, bird watchers, bunnies, and terrorists. The story shifts from a darkly comedic mystery to a grueling character study to a heartbreaking drama, with these elements only loosely tied in the finale. It’s not easily processed on the first go.

If that sounds like pacing problems, well, it’s a bit more complex than that. If Penguindrum was a conventional anime, then yeah, you could flat-out call it pacing problems. But Penguindrum, thankfully, isn’t trying to be a conventional anime. If anything, it plays out more like a magical realist novel, specifically a Haruki Murakami one.

To those who aren’t acquainted with Murakami, he’s a contemporary Japanese author who specializes in magical realism. In his novels, grounded characters wander through bizarre events as if they’re just everyday life. The characters start with a goal, but they meander and meander before they finally achieve it, in the most unexpected way, at the very end. But that meandering in the middle isn’t filler. It’s reflective of the story’s theme, and it’s meant to flesh out multi-dimensional characters. And social commentary brims on every word.

Penguindrum isn’t shy about the Murakami influence. The show references the author many times, from the direct mention of Murakami’s short-story “Super Frog Saves Tokyo” to addressing the more prevalent themes in Murakami's works, such as terrorism. And, as a magical realist novel, Penguindrum isn’t bad. It never reaches, say, Murakami’s depth (kind of hard to when you have penguins propelled by their farts), but like a good novel, it’s planned and symbolic. There’s thought put into every detail--from the repetition of certain images to the meaning behind characters’ names. It’s funny, too.

And at its heart, much like a Murakami novel, Penguindrum is social commentary. What is the meaning of fate? Why are innocent people subject to the cruel whims of society? What is the meaning of family and true love? Why do we compartmentalize those two concepts into different boxes, instead of allowing them to overlap? And then of course, there’s the concept of morality. What is right in the world? Is terrorism justified? Is cursing those close to them justified? These aren’t easy topics to address in any medium, let alone anime, and Penguindrum does a solid job.

The problem? Penguindrum isn’t a book. It’s an anime, and there are different expectations for it. For one, it’s not packaged in one-go, and for another, people rarely watch anime for social commentary, especially not at the cost of character and plot development. That’s not to say Penguindrum doesn’t take advantage of its medium. The visuals are beautiful and imaginative; the music is addictive and well-employed. Sure, some episodes take budget cuts (as expected of a twenty-four episode series), but this is one of the best-and-unique-looking shows this year.

But story-wise, this show is immensely frustrating. You can’t watch this show for sheer entertainment, or characters you’ll love whole-heartedly, or a plot where every twist will be explained. Ikuhara stresses shocking plot twists over character development and logic, and he repeats these plot twists until they lose their shock value. Slick literary tricks are often more confusing than symbolic, and no, it’s not cool to blast away important plot points as red herrings. The middle wanders like it’s going nowhere, and the second half is nothing like the first half. Penguindrum knows what it wants to do, but it doesn’t want you to know for sure, even at the very end.

So, yes, the show will even annoy the fans it engrosses the most. Even so, Penguindrum is an applaudable effort. Look, how many anime try to be a novel instead of an anime? How many anime bring up mature, taboo subjects, and address them in an absurd-but-relevant way? How many anime fuse realistic human drama with hilarious penguin gags? Penguindrum isn’t a show for everyone. But is it a show worth trying? Yes. Who knows? You might just fall in love.

The Winter 2011 season ushered in the worst ratings for Noitamina (a prestigious timeblock dedicated to short, quality anime such as Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, and Eden of the East) yet. While I can understand the ratings declining because Noitamina’s action offering Fractale is, to put bluntly, complete fail, its dramatic offering, Hourou Musuko, is incredibly good. Admittedly, it's not the best of the timeslot, but it can stand comfortably with most of Noitamina's higher quality shows. At any rate, it makes Fractale even more of a joke.

Story

Hourou Musuko the original manga nears a hundred chapters, most of which are around twenty pages long. ... Hourou Musuko the anime reviewed here takes these hundred chapters and condenses them into a compact and coherent eleven-episode story. According to manga readers, some things are lost along the way, but as an anime-viewer only, I found the story really complete.

Too often one-cour manga adaptations become advertisements for their source material. For example, while Kuragehime (a Fall 2010 show from Noitamina) has top-notch direction and execution, its open-ended finale practically commands the viewer to read the manga to see what happens next. Hourou Musuko, in contrast, finishes with a very appropriate degree of closure. The protagonist comes to terms, best he can for his age, with the themes of the series, and relationships are realistically resolved.

Still, while the pacing and structure of the story are textbook perfect, I’m a little ambivalent on the content. Since I don’t share Nitori’s issues, I’m in no place to comment on the accuracy of the show’s depiction of transgendered triumphs and tribulations. But I will say that I saw this show more as an “artsy, touching young adult anime drama” (it’s a surprisingly broad category) with transgendered as a background theme. I’m sure I missed many of the nuances, but I feel the show is pretty light on social commentary. Ultimately, I ended up more invested in the relationships between the cast than the issue that much of cast is born into the wrong sex.

Characters

On the subject of cast, Hourou Musuko does a really excellent job at both developing and illustrating its characters. Shuichi Nitori and Yoshino Takatsuki are really well-developed and likable leads. Nitori has many sides, and it’s interesting to watch those conflict both regarding his gender issues and his interactions with his peers. And Takatsuki’s earnestness and loyalty set her apart as a unique and lovable female character.

But while the characterization of a select few is great, the overall characterization is far from flawless. Although Hourou Musuko makes good use of its time regarding its characters–a single scene can reveal a lot about their personalities–it still doesn’t dedicate enough time to the main cast. Nitori's closet friends all get gypped on time in favor Anna and Doi who have romance and rivalry respectively with Nitori. And too much time is spent on a Chiba, a typical (though admittedly well-executed) yandere-tsundere mix as well.

Style

Visuals

Although it’s not as flashy as action shows, Hourou Musuko is a visual feast. It’s easy to admire well-drawn action sequences, but drama is a genre that requires really subtle animation and incredible attention to detail. Hourou Musuko does this and more.

Firstly, the style is really unique. I was initially put-off by the shininess, but the water-color technique is really stunning in motion, and it’s impressive how consistent it is. Secondly, although the characters look distinguishably anime, almost everything else appears very realistic. Not only are backgrounds surprisingly full of detail and movement, but the show does not sacrifice verisimilitude for sparkly backdrops and whatnot typical of anime drama. Flowers don’t sprout upon a character’s introduction; bubbles don’t cascade when a character smiles. When artistic metaphors are used correctly, it can add a lot to the scene, but Hourou Musuko’s avoidance of the trope better suits its soft and serious tone. In short, Hourou Musuko’s art is as solid as its story if not better.

Audio

Sound isn’t a component that usually can make or break a series. There are exceptions, but the sound of Hourou Musuko is not one of these exceptions. It’s very passable, but there’re only a few flashes of brilliance.

For example, the background music is always appropriate (very pretty and soft, just like the rest of the series), but it’s not particularly memorable. Admittedly, the opening and ending songs are catchy, but they’re not catchy enough to keep my attention during their staid sequences.

But I do have to give props to some of the voice-actors. Voice-acting is really important as many of the characters fight against nature to express who they really are. Both Nitori and Takatsuki, the two characters with the toughest job, have newcomers voice them, and the risk really pays off. Asami Seto makes an excellent debut as Takatsuki, balancing Takatsuki’s biological sex with her mental gender. Kousuke Hatakeyama is not quite as good as Nitori, but I’m thrilled they picked a boy around Nitori’s age to play him. Additionally, his subtle deepening of Nitori’s voice as the series progresses is really well done.

Verdict

Overall, Hourou Musuko is a really excellent series. I have a sinking feeling it’ll be quickly forgotten (or at worst, only remembered as the Noitamina show that aired at the same time as that godawful Fractale), but it’s definitely worthy of the timeblock it aired on. For me, Hourou Musuko stands as the perfect example of how to condense a long slice-of-life-esque manga into a short, stunning, and very enjoyable anime. Highly recommended to those who enjoy bittersweet drama with well-written and realistic characters.