Mawaru Penguindrum – 19 Review

Episode 19 – My Soulmate

This episode had turned out to be rather sentimental and I was hoping to hear more of the song Grey Wednesday. Sadly, the song wasn’t played. That is definitely my favorite song of the series.

The episode had some rather big revelation regarding Himari and her past and although we are finally getting answers to some of the questions, I feel like there are still plenty of questions left unanswered.

Review

It was shown that Himari was in the Child Broiler during her episode with Sanetoshi so it does make sense that Himari is not part of the family, and so the relationship between Kanba and Himari can no longer be considered incestuous. However, since Shouma was the one who had presented the fruit to Himari, this brings in a whole new complexity. =P Well, despite the fact that the series is coming to an end, this show really does not hold back on its punches.

Takakura Household

Himari is the general focus of this episode with her past and existence coming into question. Although I can understand her whiny attitude, I am still quite annoyed by her character. As it turns out, the person who had presented the fruit of fate to Himari, was Shouma and not Kanba. That really does mess things up. I can’t help but feel sorry for poor Ringo, as it is, she is constantly ignored by Shouma and with this whole new idea that Shouma is Himari’s soul mate, well lets just say that Ringo wouldn’t be the only one left hurt, poor Kanba would suffer as well. This whole revelation leaves us with the question of who Himari is and what Shouma is.

To add to the mix of unanswered questions is the whole issue with Momoka, the Penguindrum, Sanetoshi, the Magic/Fate, the Mission, and the Takakura parents. I am not sure how everything links together but I hope that the script writers do not leave us with any lose ends left hanging around by the end of the series.

The next issue is Kanba. Kanba knew where his parents were yet decided against divulging the information to Tabuki despite his sister’s life being at risk? I am actually starting to wonder if any of the Takakura Household members truly are blood related. Perhaps their real kid had died and these three are all adopted/stolen/rescued children. I mean, how was Kanba able to get into the Natsume household at such a young age and become friends with Masako in the first place? The Takakura family dosen’t seem to be wealthy nor well connected enough for that to happen, then again, Takakura Father is the head of a dodgy men-in-black society so who really knows what power he holds.

Which brings me to the issue of Kanba choosing his parents over Himari. I had honestly thought that he loved Himari more than anything else in the world. But just like all the other characters in this series, the parents of the series have the ultimate hold over the kids and Kanba had chosen to keep his father a secret above protecting his sister’s/lover’s life. Just look at Tabuki and Yuri’s scenes. Yuri wanted had wanted to fill the void in herself left behind by a broken family by creating a family with Tabuki and she had placed that above Momoka in some sense, despite her unrelenting motivation for getting Momoka back. Yuri did say that she had diverted from the original plan of getting things done on her own but had instead seeked the help of Tabuki in hopes of creating a family like environment.

Masako VS Himari

I had enjoyed the conversational scene between Himari and Masako as they were discussing the present Masako had given Kanba. The way in which Masako communicates was always rather fun to watch, but this was definitely one of the funnier scenes for her.

The downside to that situation was that everything got dragged out. Perhaps I was merely impatient to find out the truth behind Himari’s past, but I did feel like the production team did play into that whole scene a bit too much. The whole chasing around in slow motion got boring after awhile and there were way too many scenes that either went by too slowly or were simply unnecessary.

Naturally, things did pick up when the fans had come into play. Those twin fans on the wall of the building beside the Takakura Household did look a lot like the Child Broiler. Perhaps it is the physical location of the Child Broiler? I find it hard to believe that the child broiler is only a surrealistic interpretation of a situation without a real physical location since both Himari and Tabuki did have the same “visual impression” of the situation. Then again, it could simply be like the episode had suggested – merely a similar looking environment that triggered Himari’s memories.

Speaking of memories. I always find it interesting when characters never question their pasts. Wouldn’t you be worried and curious if you are unable to remember a chunk of your life before a certain age? =_=”It is odd how Himari needed Sanetoshi and Masako’s help to get her to question her existence.

What’s with the carrot juice? the rabbits and the human twins were both drinking it.

Sanetoshi

This guy…. is scary.

He obviously knows what is going on yet plays the characters like puppets to achieve his goal. I really can’t wait for when the writers decide to reveal the truth behind Sanetoshi’s actions. He treats everything as a game and sees himself as an activist on the path to getting fate back on the right track by getting the children to finish what their parents had started. Which by the way, is still left unexplained. Argh, all these unanswered questions, I really worry for this series. If the revelations are paced at this rate, we might not be able to get all the answers that we want.

His inability to touch the diary also makes him appear like a judge in a game. It makes you wonder what his role is since this episode pretty much proves that Sanetoshi is a sneaky pig that should not be trusted. He honestly reminds me of a devil with all his manipulative words.

On a side note, I wonder if the two bunnies are meant to represent Himari and Masako. I have no reason for thinking that way except for the fact that I would like an explanation behind the rabbits as well. Hopefully with Shouma being some magical being, we might get an explanation behind the whole Twins Concept in this series and how it relates to everything.

The Blame Game

I had noticed that many of the characters were blaming someone else for whatever reason as to why their life hadn’t turned out the way their wished it might have.

• Shouma blames his parents for everything. (Does Shouma have amnesia as well?)
• Maskao blames Himari for Kanba’s actions.
• Kanba surpisingly doesn’t blame anyone, except perhaps God for Himari’s illness.
• Tabuki is MIA but blames the Takakura family for death of Momoka.
• To me, it seems like Himari is blaming her illness from preventing her from achieving what she wants out of life.

As for Yuri, well, she says she blames the Takakura family but her actions seem to speak otherwise. I really did feel for her in this episode as she appeared to be somewhat like a lost and lonely child seeking the warmth of a genuine family.

Who is we?

Overall

It was another solid episode for Mawaru despite some scenes feeling somewhat slow. I love the sentimental mood of the episode followed by the suspense which had left me eager to find out about Himari’s past. It was odd that this series would choose to reveal and answer a secret in one episode as the series loves to tease the audience with speculations. I guess time is finally ticking down for the show.

Episode Rating: 7.5/10

—

Mawaru Question of the Week:

Which is your favourite character in this series?
(Do not give me weird answers like: “I love the black rabbits! Rabbits are so cute!” If you do, don’t blame me for stalking you like a psycho murderer. =P)

Personally, I love Ringo.

Her character had matured the most through the span of the series. She had started off as a comical psycho stalker and quickly progressed to being infuriating with her unbending will to stick to Momoka’s diary. However, she had quickly redeemed herself through accepting her fate and working hard (in a non scary way) towards winning Shouma’s affections. I can just imagine a heartbroken Rngo by the end of the series lying beside a dead Shouma. T^T

-ra

I have been rewatching Bakemonogatari in hopes of psyching myself up for the Winter Season and Mirai Nikki had me watching Deadman Wonderland again. =P Sigh… I really feel quite sad that Deadman Wonderland had went downhill after episode 7.