Reviews

The first thing that jumps out about Mawaru Penguindrum is its animation. With its unusual flashbacks, cutscene sequences, and Ringo Production Cutscenes (easily one of the cutest/oddest/funniest approaches I have seen), Penguindrum brings something fresh to the table, the most innovative animation scheme since Bakemonogatari. The plot is quite...unique, to say the best. A combination of mild shounen, mild shoujo, a big dose of cute in the enigmatic Penguins, and an *initially* novel transformation theme (that I skip nowadays. The Apollo 11 spouting out two kidrobot bears gets old reaaaaal fast), the storyline of Mawaru Penguindrum continues to keep me on my toes, particularly because it releases its plot points only reluctantly. The appearance of what appears to be a new subplot with Double-H further deepens my interest, especially when the two Double-H girls have been almost omnipresent in the plot (which, for some reason, takes place largely in largely empty subways, a prevalent theme seen in the animation scheme). The characterization thus far has been incredibly extensive, especially concerning Ringo, the 30% cute, 50% disturbing, 20% pitiable but 100% intriguing character who seems to possess the enigmatic Penguindrum. The dynamic between the pragmatic but womanizing Kanba and the soft-spoken and idealistic Shoma has not yet been explored, but if its anything like Ringo`s backstory, I`m hooked. I have not a clue where this plot is going, but I`m content with being dragged along by the penguins (which provide a welcome relief to the talking, sassy penguins that for some reason have plagued G-rated movies since Madagascar.) Mawaru Penguindrum, like the Penguindrum itself, remains enigmatic--but Im content with unraveling the mystery just a little more once every week.