#Kanba with San-Chan in the end!!!

[penguindrumblr]

Re: Penguindrum Opening

[horse-girl-anthy]

WHAT SHAPES MY SOUL (NASU KINOKO, ON IKUHARA KUNIHIKO)

—Let’s talk about “Penguindrum”. You wrote your impressions of the first episode on your website “Bamboo Broom” when it aired, right?

Nasu: “Penguindrum” had a high level of polish to it. Its character designs and colour scheme had more universal appeal, but it was bursting with the same Ikuhara aesthetic, and on top of that, the theme was “love”. Someone who had been loved unconditionally versus someone who had not been loved unconditionally—he did something great by fully depicting this in a story about boys and girls. It had true style, communicating abstract concepts while keeping them abstract.

But just like “Utena”, it was so advanced. Unless someone seriously sticks with the story or has a lot of knowledge, they might not understand its flavour right to the end. First you’re lured into the Ikuhara world with coolness and eccentricity, and then how much further you venture in is up to you—I feel that’s its policy.

When the PV for the new anime aired after a few years, I was excited, thinking “This is an omen of Ikuhara-san’s return!”, but I still only half believed it. Then I watched the first episode, and was moved by how much it rocked (laughs) If someone unfamiliar with Ikuhara’s works saw the Princess of the Crystal’s “Survival Strategy”, they’d be caught off guard a little. But we know from “Utena” that this stock scene will be core to what’s to come. The phrase “survival strategy” is normal in reference to nature, but when it’s a pretty girl dressed like a penguin saying it, it sounds like some incredible magic words. In a world that’s becoming increasingly easy to live in, she thrusts this survival strategy at two teenage boys and declares, “If you keep living like this, you will die without ever realizing you were alive. You will never amount to anything. But—seek something out.” The stock sequence is so cool and never gets old after seeing it dozens of times, but it’s very important too.

—The work had “1995” as a keyword, using the subway sarin attack as a motif.

Nasu: To be honest, I had my doubts about why he would be handling the sarin attack then. There were so many victims, and I felt like it was too early to use it as a basis for fiction. But when I learned that Ikuhara-san himself strongly felt “There’s no point if we don’t do it before the memory fades. The scars have to remain as scars,” I had to concede defeat twice over.

—What did you think of the characters?

Nasu: I like every character in “Penguindrum” as well, but this time instead of the protagonists I have to declare Sanetoshi-sensei (Watase Sanetoshi) the winner. Man, what an amazing character concept. Right in the opening sequence you see this pink-haired man in a white longcoat coming at you like a gale. He’s clearly the main antagonist, and you can tell at a glance that he’s human trash of a different sort than Akio, but he’s cool as hell. If I were still in middle school maybe I’d have thought “someday I wanna dye my hair pink, put on a white coat and say ‘shibireru nee’!”…

Everything in the final episode was so beautiful, and I still cry my eyes out when I rewatch it on Christmas. “Penguindrum” is the story of the protagonists who weren’t loved by the family that should have loved them unconditionally, as they band together to live their lives as fellow strays. Kanba and the others leave a bond, but Sanetoshi-sensei is left behind again.

He represents those who were never loved unconditionally. He’s a parallel to (Oginome) Momoka-chan, who loved everyone unconditionally. The two did meet, but Momoka said “But I’m going now” and went off somewhere, leaving Sanetoshi-sensei behind. He should have cast away his pride and said “I’m coming too!”, allowing himself to be loved. But being unloved for years was the only thing he had pride in, so he couldn’t yield that. Even after all that talk about love, he prioritized his self-preservation. But I see romanticism in that, and it resonated with me the strongest. It’s a very harsh and heavy story, told in a catchy way with penguins and strong keywords. It’s cute when you enter, but the further you venture inside the more it beats you down. I think it was more intent on conveying a message than “Utena” was.

—What do you think of the Princess of the Crystal’s line, “You lowlifes who will never amount to anything”? I think that phrase may have felt like a gut punch to many people aiming to become creators.

Nasu: I see, so you interpreted it as meaning “You’ll end as a viewer and never become a creator”. I’m in the position of being a writer, so I might have had a subconscious safety barrier there. But if you ask me, I took it to mean “If you can’t obtain true love, everything’s just for show. If you’re never loved and cannot love another, you’ll never amount to anything.”

Creators sometimes choose their own work over love. Just like Sanetoshi-sensei, you might destroy with your own hands the person who might have shared the apple of fate with you, or eat the apple by yourself. That might be what it means to live for your hobbies or your work, but if you look only at yourself you’ll never amount to anything—that’s how I interpreted it. It’s a harsh message.

[cirgaydian-rhythm]

Mawaru Penguindrum Rewatch - Ep. 1

the fucking STARS floating all over Himari and her bedroom - the same fucking stars associated with Ringo from her introduction, all as Shouma talks about (the cruelty of) fate

that gyroscope thingy? the beads on it aren’t red at the start here

And the kids:

“The apple is the universe itself. A universe in the palm of your hand. It’s what connects this world and the other world. / Other world? / The world Campanella and the other passengers are heading to. / What does that have to do with an apple? / Basically, the apple is the reward given to those who’ve chosen, of their own free will, to die for love*. / But everything’s over when you’re dead. / It’s not over. What I’m trying to say is that’s actually where everything begins! / I don’t get it at all. / I’m talking about love!”

*This is Tree’s translation, as the subtitles weren’t quite accurate

Other than the fact that these kids are replaced by Kanba and Shouma in the last episode, and that it’s an obtuse summary of the ending, it also gives us two things:

1. “The apple is the reward given to those who’ve chosen to die for love.” Apple, or in Japanese, Ringo. It’s no coincidence that there’s a character literally named “apple” in a show with very heavy apple symbolism. And in the end, Shouma takes Ringo’s punishment, allowing Ringo to be with Himari, who is the only character that willingly, knowingly, chose to give up her life force so that Kanba (and everyone else) would survive. (I mean, Ringo, too, also willingly accepts the fact that she’ll die in order to save Himari, so who’s to say who got the fruit ;P) (But I consider Himari’s sacrifice to be more in line with what’s said here, as she chose to die and has a whole scene about it, whereas Ringo merely accepted that she would die if she chose to use the spell.)

2. “Everything’s over when you’re dead. / That’s actually where everything begins.” This might be reaching a bit more, but here it goes: Kanba shared the apple with Shouma when they were both on the brink of death in the boxes. They are both alive because of the fate they shared, which is why, when Shouma burns, Kanba goes, too, but they return essentially back at the age where they shared that fate. They die, and return to where everything began.

I still don’t know what’s up with that weird statue with the two dudes being a ball. And it is clearly two dudes. Every time I see it, I feel like there’s a globe missing between them, like it should be some kind of gay re-imagining of Atlas. I could probably make it about Kanba and Shouma and how they make each other’s world whole or whatever, but, well...it’s a weird statue.

There’s a small sea otter plush and kappa plush (miniatures of the ones Ringo has) by the register where they’re buying Himari’s Hat. Himari’s Hat which is...half of Momoka...that they wrapped in a pink ribbon... lol

Okay, I’m just...I love the little things that keep visually/thematically linking Himari and Ringo.

I wonder if Kanba’s resolve during Himari’s death has anything to do with the fact that he already lost one family...

Tree went back to pause on the blackboard behind Tabuki during the classroom scene - the only translated part of the board is “how embryogenesis works,” but it is talking about frog development. And one of the pictures that’s shown in this episode and gets focused on near the end of the series has Shouma holding a frog (and Kanba’s shirt saying “love frog”), and then there’s Ringo’s whole occult deal with the frogs...

Why are there so many frogs?!?!?!

(Tree said that if this was a “the scorpion and the toad” thing, they were gonna be pissed) (as far as we can recall, it doesn’t fit with...anything, symbolically, but it’s funny, nonetheless)

Red umbrella...when the penguin was sent by Kanba... (Kanba loves his bro, m’kay?)

San-chan teaching Himari how to knit!

Tree pointed out that the penguins’ autonomous actions are reflections of various needs/desires of their human buddies. Kanba and Shouma’s penguins recklessly pursue things to try to fill the “emptiness” they sense in their humans - emptiness that comes from the fact that Kanba and Shouma are two halves of a whole thanks to the apple they shared. They are only “whole” when they’re together, but because Shouma doesn’t remember, there’s a schism and they can’t connect the way they’re supposed to. Kanba’s penguin pursues erotica as a crude representation of the love Kanba desires. Shouma’s penguin consumes everything in sight because it doesn’t know why the emptiness is there (because Shouma doesn’t remember why), it’s just trying to fill the void in any way it thinks it can.

Himari’s penguin, though, is very stable, but is also constantly knitting. Himari picks it up from San-chan, and San-chan knits even when Himari is not. Tree’s theory is that San-chan is stable because Himari is “whole” - she has life force from both Kanba and Shouma. But they’re unstable and unable to connect, so San-chan knits as a desire to weave them back together.

Is the gyroscope around the world in the teddydrum sequence the same as the one in the doctor’s office? I mean, it looks VERY similar, and given that the gyroscope changes in Sanetoshi’s presence and is focused on a lot around him...

Tree just asked if it was supposed to be the Gears of Fate. It probably is, since it’s associated with both Sanetoshi and Momoka.

“If a man ignored fate, and ignored his instincts and DNA to love someone else... Is he really human?”

On the surface this looks like he’s asking if he’s still human for loving his sister, but knowing that Kanba and Himari aren’t related at all (and Kanba knows that) means this interpretation doesn’t hold water. The other argument could be made that he’s ignoring his “fate” as the son of the Natsume clan...but he was already disowned, and it had nothing to do with Himari. So this can’t really be about Himari. So who’s the only other logical person Kanba could love that would be against “fate,” “instincts,” and “DNA”?

It has to be Shouma.

(This is an interpretation that has to be made with the full awareness that media is not created in a vacuum, and nobody’s opinions in the show are meant to be Absolutely Correct - homophobia and the misconceptions of homosexuality are very much A Thing, and even if the author is aware that these are misconceptions, there’s nothing saying that Kanba knows they are. As a story set in a time and world like ours, it’s entirely possible for Kanba to believe that loving another boy is against fate, (survival) instincts, and DNA, especially if he believes that his “fate” was to be with Himari.)

Tree also pointed out that this question could’ve been posed in a platonic sense - as in, he’s chosen to love and protect a family that’s not his own, which goes against basic survival instincts that dictate that he should be loving and protecting his own blood family (whose survival would still continue his own genetic line, even if he himself doesn’t reproduce).

Either way, a romantic love for Himari wouldn’t be going against fate/instinct/DNA, as she’s an unrelated female. So either he’s talking about a platonic, familial love for Himari, or he’s talking about a romantic love for Shouma.