Just finished this and I feel like a lot of it went over my head. I've read up on other people's thoughts and summaries but I'm not really satisfied. Maybe somebody here can help me.
What is Sanetoshi Watase and what does he want? Why (and how) does he extend Himari's life? What does he want from Shouma and what is Shouma's conflict? (The whole terrorist part is confusing to me is he actually a cop killer?) Did Sanetoshi present an alternative way to keep Himari alive to Shouma than the one ultimately realized?
What exactly is Momoka's power and what role did Ringo play at the end?
Why does Mario get one half of Momoka's spirit, is his life in danger the same as Himari's is? He didn't seem to matter much at all other than to temporarily establish a motivation for Masako to obtain the diary.
There is a lot more smaller plot points that I'm not sure about but I have trouble conjuring it all up right now. I'm probably strapping in for a rewatch. Anything I should pay attention to? Any other interesting thoughts? Thank you.
The worst ikuhara show is currently airing right now user
Evan Rivera
Yeah is still have to see it. I will probably just binge it once it is completed since I don't want to put up with the frustration of watching a ikuhara show for months on end
Michael Richardson
I'm clueless about directors. Ikuhara notorious for these type of shows or something?
Hudson Richardson
Sanetoshi is a terrorist that wants to bring attention to the child broiler. He extends Himaris life with magic medicine, in order to get Kanba to do his terrorist bidding. I'm going to assume you got Shouma and Kanba mixed up there. Kanba is the redhead, Shouma blue. Sanetoshi had the medicine, but it was only temporary and wasn't a permanent solution.
Momoka's power is to transfer fates using the diary and the spell. It can change a person's fate into something else. But using the power had a price to pay in that you spontaneously combust relative to what you tried to change. Changing stuff like Yuri and her dad left Momoka with pretty bad injuries from burns, and she died preventing the original subway attacks by transferring fates, it was too big a transfer and she completely burned away. In the end Ringo tried to use the diary and spell to save Himari and prevent Sanetoshis attack, which would have burned her away but Shouma takes on the burden for her.
Momoka split her life into two penguin hats on the day of the subway attacks when her body burned away. Himari ended up with one, Mario the other.
Nathan White
Ikuhara is a master of logically consistent mindfuck ride. It's a guy who releases a book about the entire plot for his show as its airing and lets people read it because they still won't be able to figure out what will happen next.
Henry Morris
Yes and for gay shit as well. I wholeheartedly recommend yurikuma since it is the most earnest and sincere and the least self absorbed in it's nonsense.
Brody Perez
Both Sanetoshi and Momoka have the same power, "the same eyes" as he says to see the different possibilities of fate. He also didn't care much for the child broiler, that was more of an excuse for him to start the cult. I was unsure of his exact goals but it seemed to be to kill as many people as possible like the Aum Shinroko cult. You can also create a parallel to the father in the book Kafka on the Shore of which Penguindrum draws heavily from, meaning Sanetoshi may have been trying to create his own universe. I suspect it's a combination of these.
>Sanetoshi is a terrorist that wants to bring attention to the child broiler Sanetoshi himself seems like an odd entity though. In the story it is said that he already died and is a ghost. I'm guessing there is a deeper meaning to it like he is a symbol or something. There is parts in which he goes on about nobody understanding him and feeling isolated with Momoka being the exception and I suppose that connects to the nature of the child broiler which I'm also confused about. I've read something about it being a metaphor for children losing their individuality and becoming mass produce of society or something. >Sanetoshi had the medicine, but it was only temporary and wasn't a permanent solution Yea but didn't he tell that to both Shouma and Kanba as well though? He said if you keep using the medicine it'll lose it's effect and stop working which is my Kanba got desperate and decided to do what Sanetoshi wants after the demonstration in which he seemingly brought Masako back to life. So it seemed to me like he had more than just the medicine Kanba had been paying for.
Momoka's power I think I understood but in the end the diary didn't seem to matter as Ringo seemingly only needed the spell? So what was the point of the diary in the first place.
>Himari ended up with one, Mario the other So was Mario terminally ill as well? Or fated to die? I guess Masako's conflict wasn't entirely clear to me. She wanted to save Mario and needed to fate changing powers for that. Was it so Mario doesn't end up like her grandfather? I don't have this part well in my memory anymore I suppose I'll pay more attention to it when I give it another run. Looking at this image it seems like ultimately Himari was saved because the brother decided to give up their pieces of the apple and sacrifice themselves and Mario and Masako's arc was seemingly not resolved as I assume Ringo didn't use the spell on Mario as well.
Grayson Allen
Oh and what the fuck were the two black rabbits that accompanied Sanetoshi?
Jason Morales
Vessels for Sanetoshi same way the 2 hats were vessels for Momoka
Anthony Watson
Oh I see yeah of course I'm beginning to see all the parallels between Sanetoshi and Momoka.
Hudson Adams
Did you read A Night on the Galactic Railroad? Are well-informed about the Tokyo underground sarin attacks?
William Brooks
Much like Murakami's works, Penguindrum is a story that contains things that are both metaphors and real. So the child broiler is a metaphor, but in the context of the story, it's actually real. The first thing that you have to do when watching Penguindrum or reading a Murakami work is accept everything in the universe at face value.
Isaiah Edwards
>Did you read A Night on the Galactic Railroad? Nope but I've read a summary.
>Are well-informed about the Tokyo underground sarin attacks? I've read the wikipedia article.
And I've read some articles connecting those two to the show.
Samuel Robinson
Yeah I always felt it was an excuse too to recruit people to the cult, but I didn't really have any other motive. I guess the parallels to the Aum Shinroko cult. I never read Kafka on the shore though.
Sanetoshi was probably just lying to Kanba. As for the diary, I think you're right, you dont "need" the diary. I think the diary just had the spell written down in it. Yeah Mario was terminally ill. I dont remember rmuch else about Mario though, that whole subplot was pretty much thrown out by Ikuhara I believe.
I thought the child broiler was more representative of children that fall through the cracks of society, like orphans and generally children that are unloved and unwanted by anyone and end up down a path of destruction like drugs and crime and just end up dying. But I did used to think what you thought, that it was about their individuality but that doesnt really make sense, there isnt really any theme in the story about individuality and becoming a cog in society. The child broiler just rips everyone to shreds, and we see all the grey stick figures in society, but the child broiler destroys those too. Himari is saved from the child broiler because Shouma loved and wanted her.
Isaac Howard
Oh good, a penguindrum thread.
I have two questions.
First of all
I don't get Sanetoshi and how he actually 'exists'. After all, that one encounter with Momka resulted in Momoka spliting into the penguin hats and Sanetoshi into the two bunnies. So...am I missing something here? Because how does the two bunnies AND Sanetoshi show up at the same plane or reality?
Also
What the fuck was up with that one scene where younger Shouma and Kanba were in a cage. I just don't get it. How the fuck did they ended up in a cage. Was it a metaphor for something?
David Myers
Hahaha I was thinking the same thing honestly what the fuck are they doing in a cage I guess it was all just to show that Kanba was chosen and Shouma wasn't with Kanba ultimately sharing his life with Shouma but what is actually happening obviously makes no sense
Mason Davis
Sanetoshi is the leader of Aum Shinrikyo, Shoko Asahara. He extends Himari's life by deferring fate, similar to how Momoka does it. Kanba gets recruited by ghost Saenetoshi to rebuild his cult. The way he keeps Himari alive is functionally the same, only with out the real Penguindrum.
Momoka can "see" fate and she developed a magic spell that allows her to redirect it at herself.
Sanetoshi split Momoka's soul in two, to get her out of the picture after she ruined his terrorist attack. It most likely was him who gave the other hat to Mario.
Dylan Howard
Sanetoshi is a ghost. The bunnies seem to be "his" version of the penguin hats. The cage is a visual allegory to show alienation and isolation.
Zachary Martinez
>Sanetoshi is a ghost.
That's the thing I don't get. If this guy is a ghost, then how the hell is everyone able to interact with him
Nolan Baker
The same way half of Momoka can interact with people.
