Nopy's Blog

A while back, I was compiling a list of the most powerful books in anime. I didn’t get very far because quite frankly, there aren’t many popular examples. Instead, I had another fun idea: who in the world would be most suited or likely to possess the most powerful books in anime? A few days later, a huge news story swept the Korean peninsula: Kim Jong-il dead from a heart attack. For one of the most popular (not in a good way) villans of our time to die of a simple heart attack sounded suspicious to me… like something out of Death Note, wouldn’t you say?

If you haven’t heard of a Death Note before, see the below image for a run-down of how it works:

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Since the end of Mawaru Penguindrum, I’ve seen a lot of people say things along the lines of, “this anime sucked, there was no real story and no explanation whatsoever.” OK, comments may not have been that extreme, but you get the idea. I actually thought that the story was great, and no great story holds your hand through the end. With that said, it’s understandable that there would be some confusion with regards to Mawaru Penguindrum. To try to dispel some of that confusion, I have outlined some of my observations and conclusions here. It is by no means complete and I can’t guarantee it’s what the writer had intended, but it’s how I viewed the series and why I enjoyed it.

I have structured this post so that observations and explanations of small details are listed first. In the conclusion I explain how I viewed the series, and you can just skip to that part if you aren’t interested in the details.

Warning: Do not read further if you have not completed Mawaru Penguindrum (or Revolutionary Girl Utena). The topics that I cover below will spoil the entire series and assumes that you have seen every episode at least once.

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Few anime are as weird or wonderful as Mawaru Penguindrum, just think of the number of series you’ve seen with rockets, teddy bears, a pink stairway, penguins, and a girl in a cool costume all packed into a minute and a half with moe-fied rock music playing in the background.

If that video didn’t give you an idea of what Penguindrum is about, here is the plot summary from MAL:

Three siblings, twins Kanba and Shouma, and the in-and-out-of-the-hospital Himari who’s in poor health, live together at the Takakura home. One day, when the siblings are out on a trip to the aquarium, Himari collapses. The doctors state that nothing can be done for her anymore, but then, a miracle occurs…

The series was written and directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara (creator of Utena), produced by Brains Base, and consists of 24 episodes. Mawaru Penguindrum is one of the most complex anime that I have ever seen. It deals with various themes such as family, revenge, incest, yuri, and most importantly, fate and destiny. Coupled with extensive use of symbolism and metaphor, Penguindrum proves to be a highly abstruse anime for those not familiar with classical literature.

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The cover for the December 2011 issue of Megami Magazine (volume 13) is one of the nicer looking ones with Sena and Yozora from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai against a fall  background. Considering the level of quality seen in some episodes of the anime, I’m glad that illustrations don’t suffer from the same problem.

For the most part, the posters in this volume were average and mainly contained series from this season with a few from the upcoming season. Any images not shown directly on this page, but are linked are ecchi and NSFW.

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This comes a few weeks late, but here is this month’s issue of Megami Magazine, volume 138. The magazine seems to have shifted away from Nanoha and friends and is now regularly featuring the girls from Idolmaster on their covers and in their posters. Volume 138 has a good mix of just about everything, so if you’re looking for variety, you may want to consider getting a copy. You can check out all of the posters included in this volume below. Remember that linked images are ecchi (a.k.a. NSFW).

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Today I bring to you Megami Magazine Volume 137 (October 2011). Since we’re in the transition period between the summer and fall anime seasons, this volume contains a lot of posters from recently finished and to-be-aired series. The cover for this volume features two characters from a new anime that just happened to be announced right in this magazine (which explained why I couldn’t find any extra info on it). More on that once I get to that section in the magazine, but for now, here’s a look at the pin-up posters. As usual, linked images are ecchi (NSFW).

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It’s time for another volume of Megami Magazine. Volume 136 (September 2011) has the most extras that I have seen in a while, and rightly so considering it costs 990 yen rather than the usual price of 780 yen. The front cover features Kurisu and Mayuri from the anime and visual novel Steins;Gate, both sporting cute maid uniforms and nekomimi. I’ve noticed my Megami posts getting longer and longer, so I’m going to try cutting back this time by just introducing the characters and anime in each poster, followed by my overall thoughts at the end. As with every Megami post, ecchi (NSFW) pictures are in the image links, so click at your own risk.

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After a couple of weeks, I’ve finally managed to watch at least the first episode (most of the second as well) of all of the new anime airing this summer. The ones I did not watch are either continuations of a previous season, OVAs, or movies.

I must say that I was impressed with the line-up of titles this time around compared to the last couple of years, but as always, there’s only enough time to watch a few select series. Below you will find my initial thoughts on each one and whether I will be following it or not.

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