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courtesy of didgeridoo_Tom
of Flicker
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Friday March 16, 4:40 p.m.
Over the past several weeks, I've been viewing this anime I'd borrowed from my good friend, The Anime King, called "Mawaru Penguindrum". Of course, with his technical know-how, he lent me the whole series via a flash drive. Now, as I've always said, he's probably one of the foremost experts on anime in the country, and I don't think I'm exaggerating on this point. I seem to get any knowledge about anime all from him and in Canada, instead of Japan itself since after all these years, anime is still seen as something of a subculture over in my old home, instead of a mainstream art form. After all, fans of anime are still labeled as otaku, and not connoisseurs.
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courtesy of KamiDigital
of Flickr
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"Mawaru Penguindrum"had originally aired
from July last year to just before Xmas in the wee hours of the morning, which seems to be the prime time for the more cutting-edge
anime nowadays. It's a bit of a mindtwister plotwise:
the Takakura family, consisting of two brothers and one younger sister, get mixed up with a conspiracy involving three penguins (which are attuned to each sibling's personality), urban genocide, a high school girl with a cursed diary and a stalker habit, a seemingly homicidal female assassin with her own penguin, and
a Takarazuka Revue actress. Then, throw in some metaphysics, S&M/lesbianism and a soft spot for
the Marunouchi Line of Tokyo Metro. It's not boring, that's for sure. Still not totally sure what the overall arc is about. And it has some wild swings from typically over-the-top if sometimes clever comedy to very dark adult situations. I would be betting my good relations with my family if I risked showing an episode in front of my impressionable niece....let's say.
Apparently, it has touched upon some interest in the anime community since I've come across several pictures of actual humans doing cosplay with the costumes from the show. Not that you'll ever see me wearing a penguin costume....
