Ah, Kunihiko Ikuhara. I enjoyed Utena, to a point, but I love Penguindrum. To me, Penguindrum really fulfills the promise of Utena, giving us a similarly psychological experience with themes about society, but with more complex characters and overlapping arcs than Utena had. Sure, the Ikuhara anime that’s more like Utena is actually Yurikuma Arashi, but I never even finished that one (I watched the first six episodes and got what they were trying to say, so I didn’t feel the need to finish it)! Maybe one of these days I’ll revisit that one, and Sarazanmai. I will say that Utena does have a better antagonist than Penguindrum (Sanetoshi is a little dull), but Penguindrum has… penguins!
Mawaru Penguindrum
Mawaru Penguindrum English Dub Criticism… COMING SOON
I’m working on it, you nattering troglodytes.
Mawaru Penguindrum English Dub Sample
penguindrumdub from torchika on Vimeo.
Now stop bothering me about it, you nattering busybodies. Can’t you see I’m trying to have a DBZ-related breakdown? Enjoy this awkward and underwhelming English dub of my favorite anime of 2011.
And yes, that is Monica Rial as Himari.
Now stop posting unrelated comments on my other entries.
Mawaru Penguindrum Review
I hate the word "fate"…
I am a firm believer that a lot of anime (especially the good kind) can appeal to non-anime fans if they just give it a try. Thus, I find myself talking about it a lot with the non-anime crowd, and by "talking" I mostly mean "defending." One of the most common charges I hear is that anime is just too weird. And it isn’t like these people are talking out of their asses. To say that anime isn’t weird would be disingenuous, but is weird really a bad thing? Would you rather have yet another generic product full of the same tired narrative and visual conventions, or do you want something new and interesting that resists classification and cannot easily be put into a mold?
