Mawaru Penguindrum

So my dad suggested this anime a pretty long time ago and I'm finally reviewing it! (I never ignore suggestions!) It's a show about the importance of family and penguins. It all begins when Himari Takakura passes away on her trip to the aquarium but she is resurrected by an alien spirit in the form of a penguin hat. It's unclear quite what said spirit is doing in a penguin hat in the first place and I doubt it'll ever be explained because that's how things roll in this show! Anyway, in exchange for Himari's life the penguin spirit demands that Himari's twin brothers, Kanba and Shoma, find her penguin drum. No one knows exactly what the penguin drum is but the spirit thinks that Ringo has it. Ringo is an incredibly disturbed girl who stalks Mr. Tabuki claiming it's her fate to be with him. With the aid of three penguins who are only visible to the three siblings Kanba and Shoma have to find the penguin drum to ensure theirs sisters safety.
After a wacky synopsis like that I'm surprised any one is still reading because it only gets more wacky!! Every time the penguin hat wishes to speak to the twins they enter some kind of parallel world which is under the spirits control. A cheesey pop song plays and Himari steps out of a panda looking robot wearing a ridiculous penguin magical girl looking costume. As the conversation progresses Himari loses parts of her costume in a sailor-moon-esque fashion. It's entirely unnecessary! But the producers must think it's a good scene because the recycle the footage in almost all the episodes!! I understand that it's a scene of impressive animation but it's nothing but self-gratifying; it adds nothing to the series. But that's a problem with the series as a whole really. They've tried so desperately to make this series as quirky and novel as possible that I can't tell whether they are even taking themselves seriously! Invisible penguins? Magical penguin hat? Why penguins any way? None of it makes any sense and I it's not working for me.
There are some good parts though! I like the 'importance of family' theme and the creepy-stalker-girl is a quirk which is entertaining! Seeing Ringo camped out under Mr. Tabuki's house with a crazed expression is hilarious! However, Ringo's back story of a broken family is heartbreaking and the scenes when the twins think they are going to lose Himari really pull on the heartstrings! But the mood is totally ruined when we see the penguins getting up to nuisance.
Don't misunderstand, the penguins slapstick style comedy is a type of comedy I really love! They get kicked and stood on and they steal people's food while still looking adorable. I love that! They are just so over played that they become nothing but a nuisance.
The animation is stunning in the scene when the penguin hat wants to talk to the twins (as I talked about above) but elsewhere it's incredibly lacking. Brains Base have 'stylized' it so that any background people (random people in the street and the such like) are stick figure. Floating toilet signs! That's plain lazy if you ask me! The character designs are incredibly monotonous  Not because the characters are the same at all, in fact, the characters have a lot of variety. But they are so conventional! They have been designed to look like exact representations of their personalities so that as soon a you look at them you can tell what they're going to be like. How boring.
The best example of this would be the twins. Shoma is the friendlier twin so he's got angelic curls and feminine lashes. If that's not a cliche then how about the fact that Kanba is designed to be the opposite. His ruthless playboy attitude is coupled with short hair and scruffy dress sense.
The penguins and slapstick comedy and family messages may cause you to believe that this is an anime created for kids. But the amount of foul language and rude suggestions is shocking! The completely unnecessary name calling makes me want to wash my mouth out with soap! There is no coherence to the plot and I have no idea who it's aimed at. The animation is poor, and the characters designed with little thought. They recycle scenes and jokes with out making progress in the plot. I shan't even watch all 24 episodes of it! In a nutshell, this show is really not worth watching.

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