Mawaru Penguindrum (Penguindrum)

For the Takakura family, destiny is an ever-spinning wheel, pointing passionately in their direction with equal tides of joy and sorrow before ticking on to the next wishmaker. With their parents gone, twin brothers Kanba and Shouma live alone with their beloved little sister Himari, whose poor health cannot decline any further.

On the day Himari is given permission to temporarily leave the hospital, her brothers take her out to the aquarium to celebrate, where the family's supposed fate is brought forth with her sudden collapse. However, when Himari is inexplicably revived by a penguin hat from the aquarium's souvenir shop, the hand of fate continues to tick faithfully forward.

With her miraculous recovery, though, comes a cost: there is a new entity within her body, whose condition for keeping her fate at bay sends the boys on a wild goose chase for the mysterious "Penguin Drum." In their search, the boys will have to follow the threads of fate leading from their own shocking past and into the lives of other wishmakers vying for the Penguin Drum, all hoping to land upon their chosen destiny.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Mawaru Penguindrum, Mawaru Penguindrum
Alternative version:	Re:cycle of the Penguindrum

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Characters & Voice Actors

Takakura, Himari

Main

Arakawa, Miho
Japanese

Oginome, Ringo

Main

Miyake, Marie
Japanese

Takakura, Shouma

Main

Kimura, Ryouhei
Japanese

Takakura, Kanba

Main

Kimura, Subaru
Japanese

Watase, Sanetoshi

Supporting

Koizumi, Yutaka
Japanese

Penguin 2

Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei
Japanese

Penguin 1

Supporting

Kimura, Subaru
Japanese

Penguin 3

Supporting

Arakawa, Miho
Japanese

Natsume, Masako

Supporting

Horie, Yui
Japanese

Oginome, Momoka

Supporting

Toyosaki, Aki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Maruyama, Hiroo

Producer

Ikuhara, Kunihiko

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition, Screenplay

Nakamura, Shouko

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Setting, Key Animation

Yamada, Haru

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

	1: "Nornir (ノルニル)" by Etsuko Yakushimaru Metro Orchestra (eps 1-14)
	2: "Shounen yo Ware ni Kaere (少年よ我に帰れ)" by Etsuko Yakushimaru Metro Orchestra (eps 15-23)

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Ending Theme

	1: "DEAR FUTURE" by coaltar of the deepers (eps 1-9, 11-12)
	2: "DEAR FUTURE feat. Yui Horie" by coaltar of the deepers (eps 10)
	3: "Haiiro no Suiyoubi (灰色の水曜日)" by Triple H (eps 13, 15, 18)
	4: "Bad News Kuroi Yokan (Bad News 黒い予感)" by Triple H (eps 14, 17)
	5: "Ikarechimattaze!! (イカレちまったぜ!!)" by Triple H (eps 16)
	6: "HIDE and SEEK" by Triple H (eps 19)
	7: "Private Girl" by Triple H (eps 20)
	8: "Tamashii Kogashite (魂こがして)" by Triple H (eps 21)
	9: "Asa no Kageri no Naka de (朝のかげりの中で)" by Triple H (eps 22)
	10: "HEROES ~Eiyuutachi (HEROES ～英雄たち)" by Triple H (eps 23)

Reviews

Dec 4, 2011

8thSin

Recommended

I love the word "fate".
You know how everyone talks about this anime called Mawaru Penguindrum?
Just one single show can completely change your landscape.
Such a thought-provoking series is not made by mere coincidence.
It's definitely... fate.
Of course, it's not for everyone.
There are many mysterious, seemingly pointless story developments.
It's hard to accept abstract ideas that start with nothing but confusion.
But I think... Every line of dialogue, every object drawn in the show exist for a reason.
Nothing in this show is pointless.
...

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Jan 10, 2012

Uriel1988

Mixed Feelings

When someone on the Internet describes a work of fiction as 'visionary', it's usually meant as a form of praise, referring to a willingness to defy convention in favor of something more thought-provoking and enticing. As defined by a dictionary, 'visionary' refers to embracing fanciful and often impractical ideas.

Mawaru Penguindrum falls under both definitions.

What Kunihiko Ikuhara of Utena-fame has created here is a show that takes philosophical musings on themes such as fate, love and death; and combines them with slapstick antics involving ghost penguins and ping-pong balls that erase people's memories.

If that sounds difficult to take seriously to you, don't bother watching this show. ... It's going to get a lot weirder.

The overall product is audacious, if nothing else; presenting the story 2 brothers, Kanba and Shoma, who promise to help a mysterious entity track down an object called the Penguindrum in a desperate attempt to ward off the death of their sister, Himari. Their quest has them run into a slew of messed up characters and situations, and before long the narrative turns into a complete mess.

There are several reasons for this.

A big problem is that the series has absolutely no regard for logic and consistency, even within its own narrative. At the start of the series, Himari is brought back to life after succumbing to an incurable disease. Her death and subsequent revival are treated as tragic and miraculous, respectively. Makes sense. What doesn't is that this is repeated several times over the course of the series, treated with the same impact every time. Viewers, however, might be puzzled or annoyed by this repetition seeing as it raises the question as to how severely this series treats the concept of death. This is exacerbated once another character reveals that he's been dead for over a decade, after which the story moves on, completely unaffected by the revelation.

Character development also tends to be very inconsistent. Motivations, personalities and even backstories can change from one scene to the next just to suit the needs of the plot. The aforementioned memory-erasing ping-pong balls are liberally used to retool previously established plot-points to the narrative's convenience.

Other, basic issues also plague the storytelling: many of the back stories feel interchangeable (crappy childhoods galore), some characters who get a lot of screen time end up being completely insignificant while others are introduced seeming important only to be forgotten about before anything could even be done with them. The latter goings-on of the story also feature hackneyed developments involving terrorism, delusions (it's all in your head!) and cliffhangers (someone was stabbed! but who?) that end up not mattering in the slightest.

Most damning of all, however, is the clumsy way the overall product comes together. The shifts in tone – from whacky to dark and vice versa – are as frequent as they are jarring, and it all too often feels that the subjects about which characters are philosophizing have very little to do with the story of two brothers who are attempting to ward off that which should be inevitable.

*WARNING! The following paragraph contains spoilers about the general tone of the ending! WARNING*

Speaking of which, the ending cops out on that in a major way. The series spends a lot of time emphasizing how ordinary people are powerless in the face of fate and that struggling against the inevitable will often result in greater tragedy. One would expect such a story to end on a tragic note as is befit for a something that fancies itself an exploration of fate, but the actual ending turns out rather bittersweet; mostly leaning towards the sweet considering the dark events preceding it.

*END SPOILERS*

All that said, the series must certainly be praised yet again for its unique style. This show isn't just different for the hell of it. Ikuhara combines audio and imagery in striking ways, constantly delivering scenes that will shock and surprise. Even if you end up disliking the series, there's a definite guarantee that you'll remember it. Which is more than can be said for a lot of other stuff.

In closing, I'd like to say that while many others would opine that the Mawaru Penguindrum's unique style, impeccable direction and interesting themes make for a wonderful anime, I think that there are too many issues with the overall product to really consider it great. Many of which, I feel, can't be chalked up to mere artistic idiosyncrasy.

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Nov 19, 2014

ktulu007

Not Recommended

Mawaru Penguindrum is one of those rare anime that doesn't have some form of source material. It was created by Brain's Base, the same studio behind Durarara & Baccano. The co-writer and director was Ikuhara Kunihiko. You may not know his name but you probably recognise his other works. He created and directed Revolutionary Girl Utena and served as the director for large segments of the Sailor Moon anime. I have to say, this sounds promising. So far, the two anime I've seen from Brain's Base have been at least decent and Ikuhara does amazing work. If they screw this up I'm going to be ...

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Poll: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 14 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) RainbowMagnet - Oct 13, 2011	218 replies	by jumbosan »» Apr 13, 6:01 PM
Poll: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Yumekichi11 - Sep 1, 2011	217 replies	by jumbosan »» Apr 13, 6:58 AM
Poll: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Blackbird - Jul 14, 2011	176 replies	by jumbosan »» Apr 12, 11:17 PM
Poll: Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) zimno - Jul 7, 2011	351 replies	by jumbosan »» Apr 12, 10:26 PM
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Takakura, Himari

Oginome, Ringo

Takakura, Shouma

Takakura, Kanba

Watase, Sanetoshi

Penguin 2

Penguin 1

Penguin 3

Natsume, Masako

Oginome, Momoka

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