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braidpoll · 1 year ago

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BRAID POLL !! :D

currently running :

ROUND 7 PART 4

barbie as rapunzel ( barbie as rapunzel ) vs makoto kurume ( skip to loafer )

ICON BRACKET

ROUND 2 PART 1

Edward Elric ( Fullmetal Alchemist ) VS Katara ( Avatar: The Last Airbender )

ABOUT THA ICON BRACKET : tha eight most iconic braid characters ( decided both by iconicness and tha amount of submissions they received ) will compete in an adjacent bracket . tha winner will then face off against tha winner of tha main braid bracket . this is liek what they do in sports , where certain teams get to skip matches and go straight to tha finals . this way icons can be included but its more exciting ( and fair ) than watching them decimate their opponents each round before making it to tha finals anyways

entire 128 character bracket is too large to take a screenshot of but it looks liek this , and will ( obviously ) be done in sections . bracket list below tha readmore , straight down tha left side and then straight down tha right !! :D

LEFT SIDE :

susie carmicheal ( rugrats )

agent 3 ( splatoon 3 )

peko pekoyama ( danganronpa 2: goodbye despair )

sabi ( pokémon legends: arceus )

princess yue ( avatar: the last airbender )

elsa ( frozen )

mei chang ( fullmetal alchemist )

pippi longstocking ( pippi longstocking )

ran hanamichi ( delicious party♡precure )

xiangling ( genshin impact )

neiru aonuma ( wonder egg priority )

mozart ( classicaloid )

mitsuri kanroji ( kimetsu no yaiba )

cure felice ( mahoutsukai PreCure! )

ty lee ( avatar: the last airbender )

toadette ( super mario bros )

prim everdeen ( the hunger games )

joni savage ( cluefinders )

juniper woods ( phoenix wright: ace attorney - dual destinies )

ahiru ( princess tutu )

leona kingscholar ( twisted wonderland )

yoshino shimazu ( maria-sama ga miteru )

jasminka antonenko ( little witch academia )

dewey ( nurse angel ririka sos )

fiona ( shrek )

cure cosmo ( star☆twinkle PreCure )

tsukimi kurashita ( princess jellyfish / kuragehime )

yui nanase ( go! princess PreCure )

piper mccloud ( the girl who could fly )

turtle wexler ( the westing game )

elyon ( w.i.t.c.h )

lily angel ( all saints street )

pearl ( pearl )

jessica riley ( until dawn )

meg thomas ( dead by daylight )

anissa pierce ( black lightning )

miles morales [ earth 42 ] ( spiderman: into the spiderverse )

espella cantabella ( professor leighton vs. phoenix wright: ace attorney )

petra ( fire emblem: three houses )

kikuri hiroi ( bocchi the rock! )

narumi yatadera ( touhou tenkuushou ~ hidden star in four seasons )

doc mcstuffins ( doc mcstuffins )

ruffnut thorston ( how to train your dragon )

magane chikujouin ( re:CREATORS )

eiko tsukimi ( ya boy kongming! )

emma ( pokémon X/Y )

chizuru maki ( DREAM!ing )

momoko sudou ( araburu kisetsu no otome-domo yo. )

hikaru kujou ( futari wa PreCure max heart )

zossie ( pokémon ultra sun/ultra moon )

madotsuki ( yume nikki )

rin kaenbyou ( touhou chireiden ~ subterranean animism )

shenhe ( genshin impact )

draken ( tokyo revengers )

lettuce midorikawa ( tokyo mew mew )

anne shirley ( anne of green gables )

maria momoe ( ookiku furikabutte )

riley freeman ( the boondocks )

lisa yadoumaru ( bleach )

hikaru shidou ( magic knight rayearth )

demeter ( hades )

lucy maud montgomery ( bungou stray dogs )

ajimi kiki ( pripara )

himari arisugawa ( kirakira☆precure a la mode )

RIGHT SIDE :

shuri ( black panther )

cheryl ( pokémon diamond/pearl/platinum )

rana ( vocaloid )

kirari momobami ( kakegurui )

abigail lincoln ( codename: kids next door )

lila sawyer ( hey arnold! )

penny ( warioware )

fawn ( disney fairies )

sveta ( golden sun: dark dawn )

josie mccoy ( Riverdale)

libby folfax ( the adventures of jimmy neutron: boy genuis )

nori ( barbie mermadia )

ashlyn banner ( school bus graveyard )

julia lazarrett ( marionetta )

luther schneien ( ghost eyes )

naru kanda ( ikemen girl to hakoiri musume )

sid barrett ( soul eater )

kumoko ( so im a spider, so what? )

justine courtney ( ace attorney investigations: prosecutor's path )

retsu unohana ( bleach )

jack vessalius ( pandora hearts )

aika s. granzchesta ( aria )

kaname tousen ( bleach )

ludmila ( rune factory 5 )

nikolai gogol ( bungou stray dogs )

jolyne cujoh ( jojo's bizzare adventure: stone ocean )

katniss everdeen ( the hunger games )

violet evergarden ( violet evergarden )

aerith gainsborough ( final fantasy vii )

anna ( frozen )

cammy white ( street fighter ii )

ranma saotome ( ranma ½ )

barbie as rapunzel ( barbie as rapunzel )

rapunzel ( tangled )

bu-ling huang ( tokyo mew mew )

sheeta ( laputa: castle in the sky )

suzuha amane ( steins;gate )

qiqi ( genshin impact )

nah ( fire emblem awakening )

nemu hiiragi ( magia record: puella magi madoka magica side story )

jodie ( daria )

nick hoult ( all saints street )

helga sinclair ( atlantis: the lost empire )

tao ( gokurakugai )

aru shah ( the pandava quintet )

ayşe ( woven )

makoto kurume ( skip to loafer )

library ( misao )

duo maxwell ( mobile suit gundam wing )

revali ( legend of zelda: breath of the wild )

nina ( fire emblem fates )

kiana kaslana ( honkai impact 3rd )

aether ( genshin impact )

kamui ( gintama )

raiden shogun ( genshin impact )

touko fukawa ( danganronpa: trigger happy havoc )

nahyuta sahdmadhi ( phoenix wright: ace attorney - spirit of justice )

haruka hashida ( blue period )

viola ( the witch's house )

nemu kurotsuchi ( bleach )

lingji liu ( ciconia no naku koro ni )

aisha ( romancing SaGa )

ooama no ake no mitori ( len'en ten'eisenki ~ brilliant pagoda or haze castle )

marc ( flying red barrel: the diary of a little aviator )

#pinned #braid poll #braidpoll

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itsamepatches · 2 years ago

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Tokimeki Idol: Start-ING and End-ING

Hey there, everyone! This has been a semi-formal post about "Tokimeki Idol" I've been wanting to make for quite some time, but I wanted to make sure I, at least, unlocked all of the songs before I began working on this. I don't know why I wanted to do this so badly (except maybe analyze its positives and negatives and giving insight for those curious about this game), but it's here, so...enjoy! :B - Patches

By the way, because it has an offline version, Tokimeki Idol is available to play, so I will insert links to download it: Google Play: here! QooApp: here! iOS: here!

Curious about the music? Check out the official playlist!

Official Twitter Official Website

And now...

Tokimeki Idol: Starting-ING and Ending-ING

***************

Once upon a time, back in the early 1990s, there was a series of unique games released by Konami which became notable in the “dating sim” genre due to being nonlinear – that is, it was a dating sim which could be played any way the player wanted to. They could choose what skill they wanted their character to develop during the course of the game, they could pursue a romance with the popular character or the unpopular character. In the end, there was going to be a confession of love once that final school period concluded. That was Tokimeki Memorial. Of course, there’s more to it than just that, but I'm just giving a really brief context about the Tokimeki franchise. In fact, this series became such a smash it, that it sprouted spin-offs (Tokimeki Memorial – Girls Side), manga, a live action movie (just called “Tokimeki Memorial” like a majority of the manga titles), OVA(s), and anime series (Tokimeki Memorial Online)!

So amongst those spin-offs, there was one, in particular that seemed to come and go, and quite frankly, I want to talk about this from a perspective of somebody who enjoys this type of game in particular. You see, dear reader, back in late 2017, Konami streamed a game introduction video for a different kind of Tokimeki series; however, it would be in a much different setting than “dating sim” (or, uh, “puzzle” game in other cases):

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It was going to be a music game – an idol one. Its name: Tokimeki Idol.

Also being referred to as an “idol communication game”, the player is responsible for 15 up-and-coming idols at a music school. Just for fun, the cast consisted of

Nanami Yamashita as Akane Tachikawa

Natsumi Kawaida as Natsumi Kawaguchi

Eri Inagawa as Nanana Katagiri

Reina Kondo as Nonoka Kusakabe

Akane Fujikawa as Izumi Izumi

Yurika Takagi as Koyukimura Sanada

Minori Suzuki as Minato Tsukishima

Natsumi Hioka as Akiha Yuki

Yū Wakui as Francesca Tanaka

Saori Hizashi as Noriko Hibino

Marika Hayase as Haruko Asagiri

Yoshino Aoyama as Tsubasa Aoyama

Honoka Inoue as Midori Tachikawa

Azusa Iwakura as Misaki Himari

Aki Kanada as Rare Mita

The game, consisting of wonderful performers/seiyuu and potential wonderful characters, was to be released in "winter" of that year; however, its official release was actually March 20, 2018.

And now...it's time for the plot, a little more info about our awesome 15 girls, the songs, gameplay, the game's lifespan, and the positives and negatives!

Plot and Characters!

Plot: You, Producer-san, are sent to help out 15 students at a music academy become the top idol(s) called Princess Republic Private Music Academy. As you guys climb up the ranking pyramid (the highest position being SSS and the lowest is F), you'll get to know your idol friends. It's nothing dramatic, if truth be told, but because of its short lifespan, who knows where things would've lead; however, if I had to take a guess, it would've stayed in the "slice-of-life/idol" genre.

(!! Sources: Tokimeki Idol Wiki )

Characters!!

Unit: C# (also the main trio) Akiha Yuki: Aiming to be top idol, her motto is “Always energetic with a smile!” Acts upon her ideas immediately and often gets those around her involved as well. She's wanted to become a idol ever since she was in elementary school. Her goal is to become an idol who can make everyone smile. Minato Tsukishima: An average girl who likes playing piano and singing. She doesn't know very much about idols. She was accepted into the idol course without intending to apply, so sometimes she’s a bit embarrassed about performing. She has played the piano ever since she was young. Francesca Tanaka: Her nickname is 'Frannie'. She's a dependable honor student who’s tough on herself and others. Francesca's father is Italian, and her Mother is Japanese, but Francesca was born and raised in Japan.

Unit: Rhythmixxx Natsumi Kawaguchi: A cheerful girl who loves festivals. Since Natsumi is good at dancing, she wants to do work that involves it, which explains why she became a idol. She claims that nobody else looks better in a happi. As a talented dancer, she’s been rivals with Tsubasa since middle school. Tsubasa Aoyama: Tsubasa is a serious, but good person who likes dancing, and has confidence in her dancing skills and stamina. Tsubasa thinks dancing is beautiful, and wants to do all she can to aim for the top. She has a straight-laced personality and hasn’t been able to shake Natsumi since middle school. She’s also particularly good at housework. Koyukimura Sanada: A friendly and relaxed “Yamato nadeshiko” type who loves period dramas and eating. Raised in the country so she’s also good at field work. Her poor stamina is top-class. With the influence of her grandfather, she became fond of historical dramas.

Unit: So Fantastic Nanana Katagiri: A girl with an unique sensibility, who is happy as long as she can have songs and her guitar. Her mysterious phrases seem to be influenced by her favorite teacher... Noriko Hibino: Her hobbies are appreciating movies and quizzes. She seems to be enjoying the pattern of her days being swayed by Nanana as they are. Midori Tachikawa: A cheerful and hardworking girl, who loves to move her body. She admires Nanana and is the younger twin sister of Akane.

Unit: Cookie Paradise Akane Tachikawa: A girl that moves at her own pace, whose usual speech, conduct and actions appears to be joking or teasing but with a still soothing essence. She is the older twin sister of Midori. Nonoka Kusakabe: Her hobby is making sweets, and she has a kind-hearted and quiet disposition. She’s Frannie’s childhood friend, and joined the idol course to follow her. Izumi Izumi (the gremlin): A game-loving girl who dreams of being a nationally-recognized game idol. She’s extremely into retro games and is particularly good at shooting games. Misaki Himari: The senior of everybody, who is an actress since elementary school. She loves animals and also works as a member of the animal breeding committee at school.

Unit: Virtual Kiss Haruko Asagiri: A zero student, who set up the idol department together with the president. A "older sister" character who is gentle and calm, but that hides a hot enthusiasm inside. Rare Mita: She usually has a reserved and spiritless atmosphere, but a switch turns on when it comes to work. She is in the original class (“Class Zero”) of the school’s idol course along with Haruko.

You (The Producer): Because this is a Tokimeki spin-off, it's to be (unfortunately) expected that The Producer is a guy (thanks to a thought from Ahika that goes "I'm interested in what type of woman he likes"; however, that does not seem to be the case, looking into the "title" choices --

"One thing that immediately stood out to me is that while in most other idol games the Producer character is explicitly male, in Tokidoru you choose your title/suffix out of 25 options (including "none") with the last option being explicitly female: お姉さん (onee-chan)" - as tip from Twitter pointed out.

And...

Neko Senpai: The best, more important character of the game. After feeding them, Neko Senpai gives you takoyaki as a thanks, which can be used to up the bond between you and a girl of your choice once you give it to her. I would give my life to Neko Senpai.

Phew, so there are our members! So along with their general info, there's also a bonus for each of them, "what she wants to hear from the producer (the player)". Some are kinda neutral like Minato wondering if coffee's good because that's what The Producer drinks, to Akiha's which I mentioned earlier, to Nanana wondering if we like her and what it is that we like about her.

As mentioned at the start, once time passes between The Producer and the girls, you'll get to know more about them and vice-versa. It's all about the bond and making it in the world of idols!

Gameplay!!!

If you've played a music/idol game with characters, then you probably know how the gameplay is: get together a team of five, play a few songs, level up yourself and the characters.

youtube

[!! Source: "Dreaming-ING" gameplay; Inari Kotone - YouTube]

Even though I said the gameplay is basic, I still found it enjoyable overall. And yes, you can either have the MV playing or a still 2D image as your background as you play (which the latter is good for me because I can easily get distracted, not gonna lie).

In addition to playing music, there were also events and stories to unlock consisting of the units, a specific character, or several specific characters. What was neat is that there was also a VR mode - one general and one through the eyes of something tiny, furry, and cute. I actually forgot to try that mode out; however, from the comments I've seen for it, it worked well.

Music!!!!

Music selection is mixed: 1) Some are originals (such as "Dreaming-ING"), 2) Some are (cleverly) covers of songs related to the Tokimeki franchise (ex: Izumi's cover of "Fifnel's Space Suit" *original version can be listening to here*) and 3) others are songs from other Konami games (Vampire Killer, TwinBee, etc -- they can all be found here)

There's a bit of a variety here, but at the same time, I wonder how many more songs from other Konami games would they have put in this game instead of covers or originals. Not like there was anything wrong with that third category, of course.

Knowing the background story of the Tokimeki franchise, I can't help but love the cover of "Motto! Motto! Tokimeki" (an opening song for Tokimeki Memorial) being sung by Koyukimura, and honestly she sounds adorable. Another song, an original, I need to give a shout-out to: "Magic Hour", sung by Nanana.

Overall, the selection is good. Moving on to another critical thing in regards to idol games:

Cards!!!!!

Have a favourite character or two? There's a chance that there might be a card (or two, or ten, or all of them) that you might wanna get because you love them, the outfit they're wearing, or both of those things.

In Tokimeki Idol, their card rankings go like this: N, R, SR, and SSR with SSR being the highest, of course.

Aaaand, here is an example of the cards! Cute as heck! The costumes in this game are mostly good*, but the SSR cards sometimes feel a little underwhelming. I'll talk about them a little bit more once I'm through with this introduction. Which is right about...now.

(*except for the god-awful "cowgirl" costume and the semi-fanservice swimsuits. Hard pass.)

? Reception ?

As expected, there were some positives, and negatives, about Tokimeki Idol. I couldn't find much "reception" or reviews about it besides a few brief ones on QooApp's page:

"The characters are cute!" "The music is great!" "VR mode is awesome!"

"The game feels buggy" "content was boring" "it takes a lot of space (sizes between 2 gb and 5 gb)"

For some people, this whole game seemed iffy to them because of who was attached to it (Konami, who was still stewing in controversy with "P.T." and Kojima...oh, and also the pinball games) and apparently, Konami's mobile game record had been an issue as well, with some not even passing a year and a half. Unfortunately, Tokimeki Idol would become its latest victim, despite the Tokimeki named attached to it.

November 15, 2018...

[Important ① ] "Tokimeki Idol" has continued to operate with the support of many customers, but due to various circumstances, it will be canceled on January 15, 2019 (Tuesday). We have decided to end the management service at 14:00.

So close, and yet so far was that first year anniversary which would've been March 20, 2019. Why did it happen? Not enough money was made because there weren't enough whales (doesn't help when you only make your game available in Japan and not try to make it global despite being a rather rich video game company but hey that could be said for a lot of other games who fell like that)? Lack of players because there wasn't much going on, content-wise? Another bad move on Konami's part? Who knows. The fact the tweet said "various circumstances", there was obviously more than one issue happening behind the scenes which we'll probably never find out.

In addition to the announcement of its closure, a 2.0 offline version would be released. It would be possible to do, pretty much, anything you could in the online version except for the lack of new stories, events, and having a "friend" help you out when you play a live.

As expected, fans of the young game were dismayed, some people thought it wasn't too surprising, given Konami's mobile games record, then there was that one person who probably rambled about how the "idol games" have long since sailed just so they can complain about idols in general because they have nothing better to do, I guess.

Remember I mentioned how I enjoyed the cover of "Motto! Motto! Tokimeki"? Upon digging up older tweets by the official Twitter page, I discovered it was the final song added to the game. Weird how that works, huh? It's almost fitting, reminding the players/The Producers of its roots - the Tokimeki universe.

And so, on January 15th, 2019 (Japan time), the ending-ing arrived:

[Thank you for playing] "Tokimeki Idol" has ended its operation service at 14:00 on Tuesday, January 15, 2019. We would like to thank everyone who has played the game so far. We hope that you will continue to update to the "offline version ver.2.0".

Epilogue-ING

And here we are today, November 6th, 2022 -- just a few days shy of the announcement's 3rd...uh, anniversary? Oops. This wasn't intentional, I swear.

Despite the game now being offline, there is still activity going on including new singles, consistent tweets on their Twitter account, and even lives to this day!

In honesty, that makes me happy, because I saw potential in this game.

Anyway, yes, you - the curious reader - can still obtain this game and play it. Even though there might be a bit of a language barrier, there are guides and threads out there that'll give you a hand.

The Tokimeki Idol Wikia: this place contains general information about the game, a well-translated guide for the game, and much more. This was the place where I got 80% of the photos used in this post. Thank you, Admin Subaru!

Twitter: An introductory thread made by tip on Twitter, a person I quoted earlier. Tip gives an insight about the game for those curious. (I think this might have been the one which convinced me to play Tokidol too, now that I think about it.)

As a "fun" side-note, on May 21st, 2019 -- months after Tokimeki Idol went under -- Konami tried again with another music mobile game, an all-male one called "Dance Killer Trick!!! -Boys, be DANCING!-".

(...)

It shut down August 5th, 2020, went into offline mode, but if you haven't downloaded it by November 1st of 2022 and you own an Android, you won't be able to play it at all for some dumb reason, so seeing that disaster makes me realize why some people don't like Konami. Yeesh.

"So, what do you think of it though?" Sure, I'll tell you, share my thoughts about what could've went wrong, stuff like that. :B

Patches' Thoughts (The Ending-ING, for real)

I enjoyed the time playing Tokimeki Idol, and I wonder why I never had the chance to play it while it was still online -- probably because I had a lot of shite going on in my life at the time, or because of its short lifespan so I didn't have much time to follow people on websites who knew of it as well. If it had been available globally (like on Google Play, for example), I would've ran into it like I did with the very obscure "Dance Sparkle Girls Tournament" (which was beta "Maika Fantasia"). Regardless of how and when I played, I loved it.

My favourite characters: Nanana (#1), Izumi, and Natsumi.

One of my favourite gameplay maps is probably - from what I can think from the top of my head- "GRADIUS -Four Suite for Two Pianos-" on Expert.

I love the Halloween and Christmas cards, and special shout-out to the Kirameki High School uniform for being an outfit choice - obvious, but I still love it. The cowgirl costumes and go far, far away, though.

I mentioned it earlier, but yeah, the SSR cards feel a little underwhelming, possibly because everybody is standing in place instead of being in some kind of "fantastic" pose with a livelier background. On one hand, I guess Konami wanted to use those models as much as they could, but on the other hand...

...on the other hand, they had 2D art. Where does this style appear? On the title screen (there are several title screen images), CD covers, most of their merchandise, and whenever you reach a new bond level in-game with them. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with using the 3D models (heck, they're cute), but I feel as though having the cards use the 2D art would've helped with the cards' overall presentation.

Fans of idol mobages "ooh", "ahh", and SCREAM IN ALL CAPS over their favourite getting an awesome card with lively colours, an awesome outfit, or both of those things. I understand not everybody will feel the same way like I do about the cards, but I'm thinking of a reason why the poor game seemed to have fallen hard so early in its run.

(games: IdolM@ster Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage; Love Live School Idol Festival *1*)

Like, goodness no, it doesn't have to be super spectacular, but having the girls static with a faint background as the rarest card in the game doesn't give me a huge "wow" factor like these two games above can evoke.

Could it have been the stories that didn't grab people's attention? I, truth be told, have not read any of them, but I have a feeling that it isn't too thrilling. Because they didn't get any other form of media such as an anime or manga, the game and drama cd tracks are all these girls have, and if they got far with those or not is anybody's guess ;;

Another thing I brought up much earlier was how it stayed only in Japan during its run, people such as myself, had to use other means to play the game; however, I understand that expecting a global release so soon is too much, especially if they're not making much of a profit from it. I could see a release in the near future, had this game done well enough. It shouldn't be an issue for a company like Konami, but hey...look at Bandai/Namco with their games despite having enough money to possibly release their games globally,,,*cough*

All in all, I like the game, you might like it as well. I say, if you've got the store on your device (about 1 GB), I say: go for it, you might like it.

Thanks, Tokimeki Idol! Let's meet again!

#the world wasn't ready for Izumi and Nanana :'B #and Natsumi :'B #Tokimeki Idol #tokimeki memorial #idol mobage #idol mobile game #Patches is talking

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medea10 · 4 years ago

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My Review of Mawaru Penguindrum

How did I get into this anime? I’ve known of this anime’s existence for a while and was well-aware that this series was directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Anime director of the beautifully complex Revolutionary Girl Utena and…kappas eating people’s asses fame of Sarazanmai! Well, this anime was made somewhere between both of those I just mentioned. And as long as I don’t see penguins eating people’s asses, we’ll be alright!

Kanba and Shoma Takakura are twin brothers living alone with their baby sister Himari. Time has not been kind to this family as these siblings lost their parents a while ago and Himari has been sick her whole life. In fact, Himari is given a few months at the most to live. During one of her brief breaks away from the hospital, Kanba and Shoma take Himari to the aquarium. They do the usual thing like watch the exhibits and buy souveniers. Unfortunately, the day ends in tragedy as Himari collapses. She is immediately transferred to a hospital and is later pronounced dead.

After being dead for a few minutes, Himari jumps up wearing a penguin hat that was recently purchased at the aquarium. Apparently her life has been extended a bit. Being brought back from the dead thanks to a penguin hat was strange enough. Then you have these three penguins hanging around the home all of a sudden doing odd jobs! Then Himari (while wearing the penguin hat) tells her brothers they must find the “Penguin Drum” or Himari will die. Their target for the Penguin Drum lies with a young girl named Ringo Oginome. She contains a diary that supposidely predicts the future. And it goes insane from there!

Survival tactic! Shall we begin?

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: So this anime is a couple of years old and dubbed by Sentai Filmworks. It’s what I would expect. You’ve got the usual voices of Monica Rial and Luci Christian. There are the veteran voices like Hilary Haag, Cynthia Martinez, Shelly Calene-Black, and Dave Matranga. You’ve got voices ranging from great to mediocre. And then there’s…Oh dear.

Hello Illich Guardiola. We meet again.

Yeah, he’s one of the main leads of this anime. And we don’t hear him anymore! Reason why is due to the fact that he was charged with sexual assault on a child, but was really getting married to a 16 year old (with her parents as a witness). Regardless of your thoughts on Guardiola, this is one of his final roles before all this happened. And I have the same opinion as many do with a lot of his roles…he’s okay. Aside from that, I noticed there were a lot of cast changes on a lot of the minor characters throughout the dub. I’m not sure what the case was and I didn’t really notice the change all that much. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Shoma is played by Ryouhei Kimura (known for Hinata on Angel Beats, Takizawa on Eden of the East, Judar on Magi, Hachiken on Silver Spoons, Hiyori on Free!, and Taishi on Tokyo Ghoul)

*Kanba is played by Subaru Kimura (known for Takeshi on Doraemon and Terasaka on Assassination Classroom)

*Himari is played by Miho Arakawa (known for Concordia on Pokemon BW, Sonia on Danganronpa 3, and Ginko on Yuri Kuma Arashi)

*Ringo is played by Marie Miyake (known for Aki on Silver Spoon and Hideki on Love Live)

ENGLISH CAST: *Shoma is played by Blake Shepard (known for Soma on Food Wars, Otonashi on Angel Beats, Natsume on Inu x Boku SS, Alex on Domestic Girlfriend, Kyousuke on Little Busters, and Laito on Diabolik Lovers)

*Kanba is played by Illich Guardiola (known for Yoshino on Clannad, Takamatsu on Angel Beats, Kanae on Maria Holic, Kuze on ef – a tale of melodies, and Shidou on Highschool of the Dead)

*Himari is played by Monica Rial (known for Bulma on DBZ: Kai, May Chang on FMA: Brotherhood, Index on Railgun/Index, Nyamo on Azumanga Daioh, Stocking on Panty & Stocking, and Mei-rin on Black Butler)

*Ringo is played by Emily Neves (known for Kotomi on Clannad, Kanade on Angel Beats, Minene on Mirai Nikki, Kumin in Chunibyo, and Yuu on Watamote)

SHIPPING: Wow, this gets bat-shit early on! Take a sedative, y’all!

In the early episodes of Mawaru Penguindrum, we see Ringo infatuated with an older man named Tabuki. He’s a teacher at Shoma and Kanba’s school. But it gets creepier when Ringo crawls under this guy’s house to listen to his various noises, steal curry his girlfriend made, use aphrodisiacs on him, and have elaborate plans to seduce this guy. However, it does get a little sad when you realize this girl is trying to win over Tabuki to somehow become her dead sister (that died the day Ringo was born). But then it gets really fucked up when she tries to rape Tabuki not once, but twice. Yes, you heard me! In one episode Ringo comes up from the floor boards naked as a jaybird and tries to jump in bed with him (thankfully he wasn’t at home). Then in another episode, Ringo drugs Tabuki and Shoma, dresses up like Tabuki’s fiancé and was ready to do the deed. We are eight episodes in at this point and hoping to the anime Gods that this kind of batshit insanity ends quickly.

(It doesn’t. It gets worse.)

From one train-wreck of a character to another! Let’s talk about Yuri. This is Tabuki’s fiancé turned wife. This is the woman Ringo was trying to get rid of so she can have Tabuki all to herself. But it turns out Yuri has history involving Ringo’s sister Momoka. Yuri loved Momoka. So much so that she sees Momoka in Ringo and Yuri ends up sexually assaulting Ringo. And that’s just layer one with Tabuki x Yuri. They have their own ambitions and they all involve Ringo’s dead sister. Their love for each other is quite fake. And it wasn’t until Tabuki got stabbed by a jilted lover of Yuri’s that they just settled for each other.

And then you’ve got Masako trying to shower love on Kanba. They’re blood brother and sister.

Can we talk about something normal here?

Right, this is an Ikuhara directed anime. Nothing’s ever going to be normal here.

After learning about the relationship between the Takakura siblings, I wondered who really loved Himari most and if Ringo was going to get any love either. It was very clear that Kanba was the closest to Himari. I know Shoma was the one that saved Himari when they were children, but there are scenes with Kanba accepting items from Himari that he would never normally accept from any female. Not to mention Kanba willing to sacrifice his own being to save Himari more than once.

As for Shoma, I know he had his fill of Ringo and her bullshit early on. But things became a lot more civil between the two. Almost friendly! But then Shoma learned about Ringo’s sister Momoka dying in a terrorist attack and became absolutely riddled with guilt. Well, that’s because Shoma’s parents are to blame for that attack. So he was very distant with Ringo. But we do get a love confession at the end of the series. But…well, shit happens!

THE PENGUINS: In the first episode, Shoma, Tanba, and Himari were given three penguins shortly after visiting the aquarium and getting that penguin hat that changed everything. These penguins can’t be seen by anyone else and throughout each episode, they’re seen doing ridiculous things. Even during the tensest moments of the series, we’ll see one of these little penguins doing something unbelievable. I think the most ridiculous moment has to be in the hospital where we see one of them stealing women’s underwear. Shoma’s in the freakin’ hospital after getting hit by a car and we have to watch a penguin fishing for panties.

Fine, I admit it. I was laughing my ass off when one of the penguins was fishing for panties. I am an immature degenerate.

MARCH 20TH, 1995: In terms of Mawaru Penguindrum, this is a very important date. First of all, it’s the day that Shoma, Kanba, Masako, and Ringo were all born. Not only that, but this was the date of Momoka’s death when she was in that terrorist attack in the train station. But did you know this particular date has left a mark in Japan? That day was when a cult released Sarin gas throughout several trains in Tokyo, killing 13 and injuring over 5000.

FORESHADOWING?!: It might have been some major foreshadowing where we see Ringo’s plush toys every now and then. Normally I wouldn’t give it another glance, but watching this immediately after viewing Sarazanmai and seeing an otter and a kappa together like that, I’m starting to wonder. Mawaru Penguindrum was made in 2011 and Sarazanmai was made in 2019. Maybe Sarazanmai was in the works for many years and we just didn’t know it.

ENDING: So it’s pretty clear that Ringo’s sister Momoka had a powerful diary. So much so that even after Momoka’s death, people want to get their hands on it. Yuri wants it to revive Momoka. Masako wants the diary to make her younger brother Mario better (as he’s sick with the same illness as Himari). Both Yuri and Masako have part of the diary but can’t really do much with it as it is split in half. Momoka was able to create miracles with her diary when she was alive. Things that are written will come true, but comes at a price to Momoka’s body and she would ultimately die from it.

And then we get the bombshell of Takakura family. Kanba isn’t really Shoma’s real brother. He’s really related to Masako (the girl who’s been chasing him down for nearly half the series). They’re twins! And as for Himari, she’s not related to Shoma either. This makes Shoma the only real Takakura. Apparently, Himari was an unwanted child and was sent to a place called the “Child Broiler” to disappear. Hold the ending for a second!

WHAT?! A Child broiler! Where unwanted children are gathered and are burned and turned into smoke. What kind of holocaust shit is this?! Dude, burning children is not cool! I had to do a double-take when Tabuki told his story about that place. But when I learned about Himari almost dying there, oh hell no! I just had to get that off my chest.

BACK TO THE ENDING: Despite Kanba and Himari not really a part of the Takakura family, they’re still getting the brunt of the blame for what their parents did. I mean, their parents are part of a terrorist organization that caused the death of a lot of people. So it does get to the point where Tabuki snaps and tries to kill Himari as revenge for Momoka. And Shoma has been a depressive basket-case since learning about Ringo’s sister dying as a result of his parents. This happy, little family that Shoma, Kanba, and Himari built is crumbling down. Kanba is actually in cahoots with his parents who are still alive and not in prison. Himari and Shoma remember the truth that Himari isn’t really their sister and that Shoma saved her. This leading to Himari leaving Shoma to go with Kanba!

Kanba is pretty far gone at this point. His objective is to save Himari and that’s all. He doesn’t care about his real siblings Masako and Mario. Mario is just as sick as Himari and can only live because of a special penguin hat much like Himari’s. Kanba is following in his parent’s footsteps of setting off bombs and causing mass destruction. In a showdown between him and police, he was already pretty beaten up and Masako ends up saving him and taking the brunt of the attack. And that’s when Sanetoshi steps up!

Yeah, this guy has been seen around almost hauntingly throughout the series. Halfway into the series, he was the doctor with special viles to help Himari live. Yeah, he’s a ghost, but he still twerks things to his liking. He’s the reason why there are two penguin hats and surprise, those hats are really Momoka split in two. Sanetoshi then has Himari and Masako live a little longer. And then he burned Momoka’s diary while Ringo is surrounded by flames. Next to come will be Kanba’s big bang by setting bombs all over the train. A revisit to what his parents did on the day of his birth. Thankfully, he was stopped by Ringo who recited something related to the diary and her sister. We end this stand-off with Shoma admitting his feelings for Ringo and a final touching moment between Kanba and Himari. Kanba and Shoma end up disappearing and wiped away from everyone’s memories.

Okay then!

So Masako and Himari don’t remember them having an older brother and Ringo doesn’t remember being told she was loved. But it’s a happy ending I suppose. Mario and Himari aren’t going to die like what was indicated throughout the series. Tabuki and Yuri are going to stay together and bury the hatchet over losing Momoka all those years ago. But there are still clues that indicate that Shoma and Kanba indeed existed. So will we ever see them again? Who the hell knows? Ikuhara-san gives me headaches.

Yep, it’s an Ikuhara brain-fart classic. It was a fun yet confusing ride. And isn’t it just perfect timing that while watching Penguindrum, they announce a recap movie? The franchise is still as popular as ever if the crowd-funding site reached its donation goal in less than one hour. I know it’s been 10 years since the anime’s debut and it’s only a recap, but who knows! We could get an extra at the end that could indicate a return or something that involves the girls reunited with Kanba and Shoma.

Oh dear…um, who’s gonna play Kanba if this gets picked up overseas? Because there’s no way Illich is ever coming back.

Once again, I always enjoy the art and animation here. No matter what Ikuhara anime you watch, you can tell that there’s so much inspiration from Rose of Versailles. And why not? That’s a great freakin’ anime, somebody relicense it please! But art alone isn’t going to hook a lot of viewers to this one if you aren’t used to this kind of thing. Many of Ikuhara’s animes deal a lot with fate and destiny and going through the weirdest things imaginable in order to get there. It won’t always make a lot of sense. And when you see penguins roaming around doing weird-ass shit, even during the serious moments, you might get thrown off.

Once more, I recommend you watch Revolutionary Girl Utena and Yuri Kuma Arashi first to get your feet wet. Then watch a few Bakemonogatari episodes too. I know Ikuhara isn’t involved in the Monogatari series, but it’s good practice. Then, I think you’ll be ready to take this series on.

If you would like to watch Mawaru Penguindrum, all 26 episodes are available to watch on Hi-Dive.

Now what’s my next Sentai…AND NO, I WILL NOT REVIEW REDO OF HEALER!

Hell yeah! Shoujo-Ai in the house!

#anime review #mawaru penguindrum #shoma takakura #kanba takakura #himari takakura #ringo oginome #masako natsume #momoka oginome #sanetoshi watase #keiju tabuki #yuri tokikago

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