History Anime / Penguindrum

Yeah. This show is [[WidgetSeries very]] ''[[MindScrew weird]]''.

* WidgetSeries

* BookEnds: At the start of the first episode, two random kids walk by the Takakura house while discussing Miyazawa's ''Night on the Galactic Railroad''. The series ends with [[spoiler:Kanba and Shouma, now revived and reborn as preschool children, walking by the house discussing Miyazawa's ''Night on the Galactic Railroad''.]]

** Even the ''lyrics'' can be considered spoilers at least in hindsight). The second OP gives us [[spoiler:''"Boys come back to me"''. Both Shoma and Kanba have their [[{{RetGone}} existences rewritten]] so they are reborn as the kindergarten-age boys seen in front of the Takakura household in episode 1. Himari has no memories - at least conscious - of her brothers by the end of the GrandFinale, yet she's moved to tears because of a note they managed to leave her, prompting her to desire what is said in the lyrics.]] What's more, Himari actually does say [[spoiler:"come back to me" to Kanba. Since the title can also be translated "Boy (singular), Come Back to Me," the song may have been named for that very moment.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Himari and Ringo survive and begin to live happy lives, and Yuri and Tabuki seem to be moving on to be better-adjusted people, but at the cost of Shoma and Kanba [[RetGone vanishing from existence]]. Leans a bit to the sweet side at the end when Shoma and Kanba return as young children, revealed that they were given a new life after giving up their previous ones to save their friends and family.]]

be moving on to be better-adjusted people, but at the cost of Shoma and Kanba [[RetGone vanishing from existence]]. Leans a bit to the sweet side at the end when Shoma and Kanba return as young children, revealed that they were given a new life after giving up their previous ones to save their friends and family.]]

* FiveStagesOfGrief: Upon learning of Himari's condition in the first episode, Kanba goes through the first four stages in about a minute.

* CainAndAbel: Zig-zagged. [[spoiler:After episode 21, Kanba has a HeelFaceTurn that breaks up the family and transforms his relationship with Shouma into this. Largely played straight, with the older Kanba as a WellIntentionedExtremist Cain and the [[BreakTheCutie broken cutie]] Abel Shouma working in opposition. It's also subverted, as Kanba reveals they are NotBloodSiblings when the breakup happens. And they don't end up defeating each other exactly.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Himari and Ringo survive and begin to live happy lives, and Yuri and Tabuki seem to be moving on to be better-adjusted people, but at the cost of Shoma and Kanba [[RetGone vanishing from existence]]. Leans a bit to the sweet side at the end when Shoma and Kanba return as young children, revealed that they were given a new life after giving up their previous ones to save their friends and family.]]

->''I hate the word "fate." Birth, encounters, partings, success and failure, fortune and misfortune in life. If everything is already set in stone by fate, then why are we even born? There are those born wealthy, those born of beautiful mothers, and those born into war or poverty. If everything is caused by fate, then God must be incredibly unfair and cruel.''\\\

The story follows the three siblings of the Takakura family: twin brothers Kanba and Shouma, and an ill girl Himari. Their parents are gone, and they live in a small bungalow alone. Poor Himari ''dies'' during a trip to the aquarium in Ikebukuro; while Kanba and Shouma grieve over her death, she is suddenly brought back to life by a [[BenevolentAlienInvasion mysterious entity]] (one who [[SealedBadassInACan apparently resides in a souvenir hat]] purchased at the same aquarium) who offers them a chance to extend Himari's life for a price: to bring her the "Penguindrum."

* ACupAngst: Ringo, though it only comes up as a minor note in her introduction. (And considering her design, it's a sort-of informed flaw.)

** The first and last lines of the first episode are both "I hate the word 'fate'."

** Another is "Let's share the fruit of fate." Despite it being only stated in the finale, [[spoiler:it is what Kanba tells Shoma as he saves him from starvation, Double-H's newest album title (named with Himari in mind, as according to them she cherishes the phrase since it's the same thing Shouma said to her as he saved her from the Child Broiler), and Momoka's spell to use the Fate Transferal, which Ringo does use in the episode (and she learns of from Hikari and Hibari aka Double-H).]]

** And onto episode five, where the PSA mentions to "borrow responsibly." [[spoiler:This time, while he is ON the train, Kanba is seen being handed a good deal of money by [[ConspicuousTrenchcoat an unknown man in an overcoat]]. The cash presumably helps him pay off whatever is still owed on the siblings' house.]]

** Ringo's name means "apple." [[BilingualBonus It derives from the Chinese "ping guo" which just happens to sound a bit like "penguin"]]--and the series generally uses "''pingu''" for "penguin" instead of the orthodox "''pengin''".

* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Three teenagers living in a rundown shack after [[spoiler:their parents go on the lam as wanted terrorists]] and the only adult who shows any interest in their situation is an uncle who stops asking questions after Kanba comes up with enough money to cover the mortgage. (Though considering it's Kanba, the uncle likely knew that it simply wouldn't work -- Kanba is ''that'' stubborn.)

** Even the ''lyrics'' can be considered spoilers at least in hindsight). The second OP gives us [[spoiler:''"Boys come back to me."'' Both Shoma and Kanba have their [[{{RetGone}} existences rewritten]] so they are reborn as the kindergarten-age boys seen in front of the Takakura household in episode 1. Himari has no memories - at least conscious - of her brothers by the end of the GrandFinale, yet she's moved to tears because of a note they managed to leave her, prompting her to desire what is said in the lyrics.]] What's more, Himari actually does say [[spoiler:"come back to me" to Kanba. Since the title can also be translated "Boy (singular), Come Back to Me," the song may have been named for that very moment.]]

** In episode 9 it's revealed that the labels on the bins the penguins were hiding in in episode 1 are marked 'Recyclable' (1) 'Flammable' (2) and 'Non-Flammable' (3). [[spoiler:In the end Shouma gets consumed by the 'Cursed Fire' caused by the fate transfer spell. Both of the brothers get seemingly reincarnated as young children whilst Himari survives.]]