| Risky Survival Strategy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Risky Survival Strategy" is the 2nd episode of Mawaru-Penguindrum.
Synopsis[]
Kanba Takakura and Shoma Takakura try to find the Penguin Drum as ordered by the Queen Penguin hat. Their first lead is to find Ringo Oginome. And upon finding her, they follow her to see if she has or knows anything about the coveted object.
Summary[]
| “ | I love the word "fate". Because, you know how they talk about "fated encounters"? A single encounter can completely change your life. Such special encounters are not just coincidences. They're definitely... fate. Of course, life is not all happy encounters. There are many painful, sad, moments. It's hard to accept that misfortunes beyond your control are fate. But this is what I think: sad and painful things definitely happen for a reason. Nothing in this world is pointless. | ” |
Starting off as a normal morning at the Takakura household, Kanba, Himari, and Shoma discuss what sort of food the three penguins will eat. They then notice the Queen penguin hat on Himari's head and are transported to the strange dimension they visited the previous night.
Very... commanding.
The Queen entity orders the twins to get the "Penguin Drum," though they have no idea what it is. The Queen tells them to get on the train departing at 0810 hours and wait in the third car by the second door. A girl named Ringo Oginome will get on at Higashi-Kōenji Station and she will be the one who has the Penguin Drum... probably. Shoma, unsatisfied with this uncertain (and frankly suspicious) information, glares at her. The Queen quickly rebutts him, implying Himari's life will be in danger unless they comply. She stresses once again that they must find the Penguin Drum.
| “ | If you fail, consider your sister's life forfeit. | ” |
After dismissing Shoma, the Queen initiates the "survival strategy". On the train from Ogikubo, Shoma recounts that the mysterious hat came from the aquarium the day the three siblings went there together. And that their sister, who couldn't be saved no matter what through modern medicine, really did die. And because of the hat she was resurrected.
Explain yourself out of this one.
Shoma wonders to Kanba what kind of person Ringo Onigome is like. Deducing by the time she rides the train, Kanba finds it probable she's either an office worker or a student. On the train from Higashi-Koenji, the twins try to find the girl in the very crowded train. Unsure of where to even begin, they think this is the perfect opportunity for the two penguins that are with them to be of use... only to find them squashed underfoot (literally) in the packed compartment.
The penguins seem pretty useless after all. Then one of the penguins manages to squeeze through the crowd by wiggling through the side of a teenage girl, and jumps into Shoma's arms. Shoma is at first relieved before the girl rounds on him and demands to know what he thought he was doing when he groped her. Shoma tries to deny this, but doesn't know how to adequately explain the misunderstanding without mentioning the penguin-like creature that she was currently stepping on... that is only visible by members of his family...
Turning on the charms.
Kanba smoothly interjects and charms his way out of the issue with a lie.
| “ | Sorry, that may actually be my fault. My bag was stuck and I yanked it out forcefully. I didn't mean any harm, but I apologize for any discomfort I may have caused... I'm sorry. | ” |
The girl, completely dazzled, accepts the apology immediatly. At Shinjuku-Gyoemmae she turns to get off at the stop while calling out to her friend, Ringo, the girl they were looking for! Kanba hands the penguin to Shoma and tells him to follow the girls. He recognizes the uniform as belonging to Ohka Garden Girls' School, but first he has to go prepare something. Shoma runs after them, but upon realizing it's an all girls school heads to the roof of a building to keep watch from there.
Sneaky.
Kanba pops up behind him and shows him a laptop showing personal files of all the girls in the school, including Ringo's. Kanba then takes Shoma's penguin and marks it with a number "2", his is "1", and Himari's is "3". Kanba then duct tapes a speaker and camera onto the penguins and has them walk into the school and into classroom 2-C. The penguins successfully reach Ringo's desk and tries to dig into her things to find something that could be the Penguin Drum. Shoma, however, feels conflicted and wonders if this is morally sound, as what they're doing is still a crime even if they are the only ones that can see the penguins. Kanba on the other hand, believes they should do whatever means necessary to save Himari's life.
Back home Himari and "San-chan" browse a magazine looking for dishes to cook, when the phone rings. On the other end is the twins' homeroom teacher, Mr. Tabuki, who is calling concerning her brothers.
The Spy Twins.
On the rooftop the boys continue their surveillance of Ringo, who is having lunch with two friends, Yukina (the girl on the train from earlier) and Mari. Yukina and Mari discuss the train incident from earlier, describing how charming Kanba was, while Shoma lacked presence. Ringo is distracted and looking up information on a red-rumped swallow's nest located in Tokyo. The then apologizes and abruptly leaves, and heads to a department store at Ikebukuro. The twins continue to follow her from a simple bookstore to an elaborate lingerie shop. While Ringo browses through the undergarments, Kanba makes a far-fetched theory that the lingerie she's looking at is the Penguin Drum. When she leaves the clothing and walks away, the theory is proved moot... nearly.
| “ |
Shoma: ...I guess not. |
” |
Worth it.
Ringo slips out of the store unnoticed by the boys, but they manage to find her again quickly. Exiting to the fire escape they spot her inching along the side of the department building for some inexplicable reason. One again they send out #1 and #2 to try to follow her, but they fail miserably. Ringo then appears to take a picture of something, but of what, they couldn't tell.
At Ogikubo, Ringo appears to be waiting for someone. Kanba once again theorizes it has something to do with the Penguin Drum, or even that the picture she took is what they're after. Unexpetedly, Mr. Tabuki walks around a corner and Ringo runs up to him to enthusiasticly show him the picture she took of the red-rumped swallow's nest. Tabuki is shocked and delighted at the rare photo opportunity and asks her how she managed to get it. Ringo shyly mutters it's a secret. Tabuki then heads off, sending his regards to her mother and walks home. Ringo says goodbye but waits a moment before starting to follow him to his house.
Shoma wonders what she's doing by tailing the teacher home, so Kanba simply states that she's fallen for Tabuki. The penguins then indicate that they will follow her to see what she's up to.
| “ | Very well, go forth and redeem yourselves! | ” |
This... doesn't seem right...
The penguins snoop around the property but can't seem to find her. Then #1 looks under the building and spots an unscrewed air vent. Baffled, Kanba tells them to continue following her. The penguins go in and come across her crawling under the house. At one point she stops to lay on her back, then grabs a sound transmitter that seems to be receiving noise from inside the house. The twins look at each other in uneasy understanding.
| “ |
Kanba: It seems like she's doing to Mr. Tabuki what we're doing to her. |
” |
A perfectly normal reaction to a crush.
After awhile of comfortably immersing herself into her own world, Ringo turns onto her stomach and pulls a pink notebook titled "Diary" out of her bag. Flipping through the pages she stops at a pre-written notebook entry that says: I found a swallow's nest in Ikebukuro. Tabuki was really surprised when I showed him the picture. Then stamps the word "Destiny" at the bottom of the entry.
| “ | Don't worry. Your days of eating dinner alone are almost over. After all, from now on I'll always be with you. I won't let Tabuki-kun be lonely. It's ok. The future is already written right here. Nothing in this world is pointless. I believe in fate. | ” |
Characters Introduced[]
Allusions and Symbolism[]
- They'd mentioned on Kosopin that they "definitely wanted a character named Ringo" and were glad that the kanji they'd already chosen had the Chinese reading "pingu/penguin." [1]
- Ringo's name is Japanese for apple.
- Ringo Starr is the drummer for The Beatles
- Ringo is followed by stars.
- Reminder: The show is called penguinDRUM
- The insert song lyrics are "I'm just a Rock and Roll man- We're just a Rock and Roll band"
- Himari says "Imagine" in the survival strategy sequence, which is the title of the most popular song by John Lennon, another member of The Beatles.
- The CD release of the Dear Future has a remix of the song by RIngo Deathstarr
References[]
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