Mawaru Penguindrum [Review]
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 effects of the Sarin gas attacks, a big Murakami topic. 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? And then of course, there’s the concept of morality. What is right in the world? What is valuable in the world? 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 don’t watch anime for social commentary alone, 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.
Final Score: 8.5
Note: Felt like getting this up before the site gets really busy. Might as well put a heads-up here. We have a few more reviews coming, not all from me. We’ve also got a fall roundup and a winter preview planned (winter preview should launch today), and some of my other teammates may or may not be doing personal yearly reviews. The site should also be doing a yearly review, but don’t expect that for like a month. We’ll be busy previewing the new shows in the next coming weeks, but by February, we have some more editorials planned. Happy New Year’s, everyone! Best wishes for an amazing 2012!
Thanks for reading!
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Tofu
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Ah, yes. Murakami. Mawaru Penguindrum could easily be Murakami-lite, but it isn't quite so. It was a great effort though, and that's commendable enough.
Pretty much. :) I'd prefer even a lite of a lite of a Murakami-lite to all the harem crap we get.
The best thing about Penguindrum is all the catchphrases. I know I'll be saying fabulous max and "LOOK OUT MR. PRESIDENT !!" for a loooong time. (As well as listening to the soundtrack! Yay Triple H!!)
I should probably try reading a Murakami novel/short-story, but what you're saying makes perfect sense. There's just too much symbolism (or, what's meant to be symbolic) and whatnot Ikuhara is trying to shove into Penguindrum that gets lost easily. Also, I wish Mario had a more significant part instead of just being… there… lol. Still a great series though!
You're right. The catchphrases were brilliant. This was definitely a show for the social media age.
Murakami actually suffers the same problems as Ikuhara. He puts in a lot of bullshit that only he understands though not to the extent as the director. Still, I definitely recommend his short stories. A lot of them can be found online. :D
Mario was one of the biggest problems with Penguindrum. I guess they needed a shouta in there, but I still don't get it. :p
!! catch phrases! I keep saying "fabulous max" and my friends are like, "what's a fabulous max? what's that supposed to mean?"
clearly they aren't anime fans…
I do agree that one of the problems of Penguindrum is it treated like a book when it should be an anime. I believed if we are reading the novel, the symbolisms and tricks are going to be much more appreciated. I'm not really familiar with Murakami's works that's why those references didn't really mean anything to me. I felt those are just unnecessary random stuff that weren't explained.
Nevertheless and regardless of its confusing allegories, it was really a fun experience watching Penguindrum because it engaged me to think and overanalyzed the show. The visuals and music are also worth commending. Plus, the finale is beautiful and well-execute, it's just too bad that it wasn't tied well with its other elements.
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They are a bit unnecessary. I think that if Penguindrum hadn't been so self-indulgent and in love with referencing obscure works, it would have been a better show.
The finale was fabulous max, visually, I agree. I wish they had cut off that whole dream segment though where Himari walked naked up the stairs though and put in some solid exposition. >.<
I also appreciate your notes that tie Pengindrum to Murakami – not that I've read Murakami, but at least it opens up another door for me. I think one of the winning points for Pengindrum's mountains of symbolism is that its visuals are so stunning! (fabulous max!) they certainly are kind of lost, but I feel like the show manages to tie everything in pretty well at the end.
and if you don't get it, well I guess that's what blogs and forums are for, haha.
the only point I would disagree with is that the characters aren't well developed; I think all the characters are quite well developed. I know it took just about 24 episodes to develop most of them (haha), but I do feel like at the end, I've got a good grasp on what each character is like, what drives them, and what their aim is. I feel like you can really invest in them (but perhaps not love them) and you're definitely drawn into what happens (or doesn't happen) to them.
a confusing show, yes, but at least it was fun being confused for two seasons!
Thanks! :) Murakami is a pretty fun author. I wouldn't call it deep literature, but he's written some entertaining stuff. His short stories are some of my favorites.
Bad wording on my part. I agree with you that the characters are well-developed. They're one of my favorite casts of the year. :) That said, I feel that Ikuhara often spent time on "shocking" plot twists when he could've spent them on his characters. Also, I feel like the shock value, not the characters, will be the show's most enduring legacy for most viewers.
I love Haruki Murakami~ I didn't know one of his short stories was referenced in the anime though! I can't believe I didn't know! *kicks self* Anyways, I like your comparison to his works, because the two have quite a bit of similarities. The child broiler especially sounds like something he would cook up.
Mawaru Penguindrum isn't perfect, but it's so unconventional and interesting that I hope it inspires more directors to get creative.
"Super Frog Saves Tokyo" is on Sparknotes, but I have two of his short-story anthologies, and it's not in either of them. I didn't notice until much later, so don't feel bad. xD
Me, too. The more Penguindrums, and the less High School DxDs, the better.
All the symbolism and references took away a lot of the enjoyment of the show from me, as I don't like having to think about everything I'm seeing all the time and I don't care much for cultural stuff. The magical realism really killed it for me, with a lot of things happening for no reason or making me wonder at what point it's supposed to be real or a delusion.
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Yeah, magical realism isn't for everyone. I'm from the West, so I expect answers to everything, and with magical realism, stuff happens… because it happens. It was an acquired taste for me.