Mawaru Penguin Drum 4 ~ fabulous max

Ringo's deranged fantasy world overtakes reality.

Episode 4 of Mawaru Penguin Drum upsets the apple cart, well… let’s just say it shook up the formula in some ways, while giving free reign to Ringo’s delusions. In the process we (and Shouma) get to watch Ringo’s “magic” diary in action. We also get introduced to a new faction?!?

The contrast between the brothers continues. You can even see it in their faces here.

Kanba “has other things to do”, so he sends his brother to watch over Ringo on her birdwatching trip, with instructions to snoop in her purse. This finally puts Shouma in the position to see her diary, and also see that there are entries (time-stamped!) before the events occur.

This episode includes several run-ins with the city's wildlife.

Ringo clearly lives in a fantasy world, which makes it all the more difficult to determine how seriously to take her view of the diary (the penguin drum).

Because of the big discrepancy between her initial understanding of what the diary entries will mean, and the actual results, it is unclear if the diary really has the power she thinks it has.

In most cases, the events predicted in Ringo’s diary only can be said to have come true in a very literal sense, but the spirit with which Ringo interprets the words has been abandoned. We already saw that when she insisted that everything went “according to plan” when Tabuki ate her curry, even though she wasn’t there to eat it with him. Several similar things happen this week. Notably we never see Ringo writing in the diary (only stamping it complete, as before), but we aren’t given a peek into any other days, so we still don’t know if she is writing these entries herself, or acquired the diary with the entries already filled. Two things that lead toward the latter interpretation: Ringo apologizes to her mother for not fulfilling her destiny (might this mean that she inherited the penguin drum from her mother?), and the chilling attack at the end (why on Earth would Ringo have chosen to write that herself?).

Yuri Tokikago, not only a beauty, but an actress.

Unfortunately for Ringo, the blonde she met at Tabuki’s apartment is still hanging around, and she has the sort of star power that makes for tough competition. Perhaps even more disturbing, Yuri tells Ringo flat out that she knows what is going on, and that Ringo might as well give up. I doubt Ringo will give up easily, because she is a delusional stalker with a magical diary, but any sane girl would have to acknowledge defeat.

The Association of Romantic Victims of Kanba Takakura.

Divine Retribution is also a form of Destiny, because it connects one's misdeeds to the divine punishment.

Kanba was warned many times by Shouma that his womanizing would lead to trouble. Well, it looks like he finally walked into it. Oddly the woman in the middle of the trio (the one with long black hair) ends up targeted by the Penguin Drum. This act of violence in particular makes me wonder if Ringo is really controlling the Penguin Drum, or is merely it’s foolish slave.

Prelude to tragedy at the Akasaka-mitsuke station.

Another great episode. Mawaru Penguin Drum continues to please. I really enjoyed the cut-out puppet theater segments, but the deeper issues, such as the mystery of the penguin drum, and the unexpected violence, really keep this show engaging.