I ended up liking it more the second time. a lot more. it actually reminds me almost perfectly of a murakami novel and when I stopped expecting a perfect anime ending with everything having a resolution for me, rather than for the characters, I enjoyed it.
was penguindrum a flop? I can literally find zero information on the novels and manga in english.
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Agreed, it's definitely an anime that's better after a second watch and time spent thinking about what the show's trying to say.
I was just surprised. For me it went from being maybe somewhere in the top 15 to #1. that's why I'm trying to get my hands on the novels, primarily.
OTP
Was Underground the Murakami work you were reminded of?
I want to save the White Race with Ringo-chan!
There have been translations of a few chapters but if you want to read the complete novels... it's probably time to learn moonrunes
> penguindrum.livejournal.com
no but I might make that my next read. I only have read norwegian wood, which itself has heavy parallels that the fujos never mention. there is a love triangle built out of twisted compassion which slowly destroys all three of them, which parallels a twisted revolutionary/terroristic fervor which is also built from twisted compassion. the theme of purity and virginity also runs really strongly though and the virgin in norwegian wood is also cursed with a sort of illness and dies.
also, just learning to take it non-literally like I would an other anime, and approaching it the way I would a book, helped me enjoy it more
mediocre girl
holy shit i read super frog saves tokyo yesterday
fucking murakami
this makes a whole lot more sense now
best girl coming through
Thank you user. I can actually read runes, it's just very laborious for anything heavier than a manga. Do you have a recommended site for buying import books?
I didn't even realize it was a real book until rewatching the series. It definitely makes explicit half of the ambiguity. The show was definitely written for a Japanese audience. I think it only looks muddled to us because we have different norms regarding justice.
I always thought Kanba's character was ambiguous, but it's pretty clear that he's just evil from a Japanese perspective.
>not Ringo x Shouma
Utter shit taste.
I think you missed the part where Himari and Shouma pledge to spend eternity together in the afterlife in that big ocean, and you see their souls walking together in the ending.
cdjapan, Amazon.jp probably?
Sorry, I'm a bad person to ask since I don't know Japanese and therefore don't buy many books...
Thanks, I'll try cdjapan. amazon is notorious for rejecting foreign credit cards.
CDJapan is good. I use that place to buy volumes of Birdmen. I like their coupon points system too.
>mediocre girl
How do you judge?
this site seems really convenient, thanks.
does anyone have experience buying japanese ebooks online?
She felt more like a plot vehicle than a character. I don't hate her. Shouma might love her more, I'm torn on the issue. He clearly loves Himari too, but their fate on earth was destined to turn their relationship poisonous for as long as it remained on earth. I just don't see how he can be Himari's soul mate, but also love Ringo on earth.
Note that Ringo isn't with them in the afterlife.
But that's about what Shouma feels for her, not what makes her a mediocre girl.
I should have used these images in another order.
Granted. I liked Ringo/Shouma the first watch, because I thought Ikuhara was asspulling us with the soulmate talk, but the second watch I realized that the narrators in Penguindrum are actually extremely reliable, and never really recant anything they say.
Ringo represents the new chance the trio get at correcting their souls (at the cost of their lives.) Maybe that's what Shouma feels.
Supposedly the light novels clarify their feelings more, but I'm not expecting it to become crystal clear. Also, I never paid attention to the Kanji in their names until I started looking for the novel, but it's really important.
Reading the novels now, most of the way through the first one.
Not too many variations from the anime plot-wise so far.
Wait really? I'm really surprised by that, actually.
Well, there's two more novels. Who knows if it'll stay like this.