Mawaru Penguindrum

Mawaru Penguindrum is one of the best examples of the potential of auteur culture in the anime production industry.

Its co-writer and director, Ikuhara Kunihiko, is notable for his authorial and directorial previous involvement in Sailor Moon…

…and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

His style is distinct enough that every time a new Ikuhara project airs, the bingo sheets must be dusted off and revised:

As indicated by some of the bingo tiles, a significant part of Ikuhara’s strikingly unique directorial style is his use of visual motifs to complement and accentuate elements of the work’s writing. Because of that, I’ll try to keep this as major spoiler free as possible, but a few basic plot details are necessary to be able to talk about this in any meaningful ways.

Penguindrum is a show about siblings. It follows the efforts of two brothers, Kanba and Shouma, as they attempt to save their sickly little sister Himari from death by cooperating with a magical penguin hat. In the process, they confront their family’s dark past. The show is more multifaceted than that brief description might suggest: it tackles topics as diverse as the meaning of family and the importance of blood relations, domestic terrorism, child abandonment and Japan’s so-called Lost Generation.

At this point, a natural question might be “why penguins?” At first glance, especially from the perspective of a watcher of Western TV and film, there might seem to be a critical conflict of tone between the dark, serious subject matter and the visuals of the show. In fact, the show’s distinct magical-realist style, especially its use of visual motifs as logos, signs and symbols, synergizes with the intent of the writing.

This is most evident in the remarkable profusion of corporate-esque logos that pervade the show. These two graphics, detailing almost all of them, have been floating around the internet for a while now:

These appear everywhere, from interstitial stills…

…to food products…

…to grand conspiracies…

to music videos (Linux edition). This omnipresence is no accident of design. A popular and textually (or visually, you get the idea) well-supported theory asserts that the past act of domestic terrorism (specifically, an attack on a subway) is analogous to a real-world terrorist attack on a Tokyo subway and that events in the show metaphorically represent the travails of a nation of children born in the economic bubble collapse of the 1990s, the so-called lost generation; children subjected to hardship by the decisions of their parents’ generation. Of course, the specific thematic meaning of these motifs is up for debate, but a favorite theory of mine is that the proliferation of the symbols associated with the attack and the in-universe plotters (the “95” logo, the penguin silhouettes, the Kiga Group) represent the lingering impact of the attacks on the national consciousness.

This same design style is also evident on one of the show’s most direct and powerful metaphors: the Child Broiler:

The glass children are the ones who fill the streets of the show…

…the ones who go to work every day and lack any sort of individuality. In this terrible place, unwanted and neglected children are crushed and re-molded into the featureless hordes who populate the streets. The clean, attractive design of the logo (which reads こどもブロイラー, Child Broiler) speaks to a national-scale system of uncaring, robotic treatment of children; a critique of a culture in the midst of questioning its worth and legacy.[1]

Now, I recognize that I can’t go into anywhere near as much depth as I’d like in this few words, so this post will have to serve as a sort of recommendation, rather than a rigorous analysis. If any of this seems interesting and you need another well-produced show on your backlog, give Penguindrum a look.

 

[1] Other writers and directors have tackled this perceived national malaise, most prominently among them the late Satoshi Kon. His show Paranoia Agent can be read as such.

One thought on “Mawaru Penguindrum

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