See? I told you I would catch up. Although of course because my luck sucks, just as I sit down to write this, I get a little notification saying that episode five of Penguindrum is subbed and online, so that kind of sucks the fun out of the whole experience. But hey, I could just be doing episode three and then I would be REALLY behind. But yeah, here we go.
Over men and horses, hoops and garters, lastly through a hogshead of real fire!
Funny thing, I expected there to be a lot more plot between two episodes than there was. What we did get was a lot more Ringo, something which I honestly don’t care too much for, but I understand her importance, or at least I can make a few guesses. Now as usual, if you happen to know more than me, please refrain from mentioning it in the comments, don’t be a dick. But something tells me that Ringo has had the penguindrum diary in her family for a long time, and it’s something like their family job to make sure that everything that happens in the diary, happens in reality, otherwise things start exploding or some other such nonsense.
When did this turn into Kirby's Dreamland?
At first my theory was that the penguindum was a lot like a Death Note in that it can control people’s actions, sans the part where it kills them. It’s a lot like the Mystic Tome from Makai Kingdom, if anyone has played that old PS2 game (and if you have, props to you!). But now I get the feeling that she’s not actually writing in it, because as we’ve been finding out over these last two episodes, everything has been happening as has been written in the diary. However, none of it happens like Ringo wants, as the diary is very vague. If Ringo herself was the one writing in the diary to make things happen, why doesn’t she just write more specifics for each event? Instead of writing “4:00 First kiss”, why not write “Keiju gives me my first kiss at 4:00”? Same thing, but leaves no room for mistakes.
Dear Diary: You lied to me. F**K you. Love, Ringo~
Of course this then leaves the question of who is actually writing in the diary, or what is making the words appear? I don’t want to speculate that far, because there is so much we still don’t know. Like where the hell did the penguin hat and the blue penguins come from? We still have no idea. Why does that penguin symbol keep appearing everywhere? No idea. Who is that mystery woman with the gun from the opening? No ide—okay, well I have a theory on that as well, because even though you don’t see her face, you see the back of her as she talks to another girl who was part of Kanba’s little ex-girlfriend squad. So the logical assumption there is that she’s another one of Kanba’s evil ex’s who wants revenge.
I can just image that arrow from Ouran in this picture going: "Don't look at the statue! Don't look at the statue!"
So the question remains as to why am I continuing to watch this show? Mainly, this is because I love unanswered questions to a plot that are presented in an interesting way. But also because when a show has music (and not just the opening) that gets stuck in my head, I like to continue watching so I can listen to that song. Kamisama no Memochou has that soft piano-like music that plays when Alice is making explanations and being awesome, and Penguindrum has that fanfare that starts up with the “Survival Strategy”. Plus I always like a good mind-f**k. It’s one of the reasons I watch Lain on a regular basis. Speaking of, I’m overdue for a re-watch of that show…
