Mawaru Penguindrum

Well, this episode mostly focused on Ringo, as expected, but I really enjoyed seeing her imagination run freely and painted a better picture of the events at the park. The singing bits were quite nice, and I felt amused/sorry for Ringo by the end of it all. And it looks like she isn't going to be told that Tabuki wasn't the one who gave her CPR, which is probably for the best.

However, I'm really wondering about the ending. One of Kanba's ex's was thrown off the escalator, and Ringo wrote it down in her diary. Did Ringo do it, or did she just see it? Did Kanba do it, or was it someone within the group that doesn't want their plan against Kanba to succeed. The plot thickens...

As some people have theorized, it looks like Ringo's diary tells the future to some extent. Form what I can tell, it was curly-haired gun girl the pushed her down the escalator. There is a time gap of unknown length after the call, so it feasible that Ms. Curls had time to leave her room and go kill the girl. The outfit worn by the killer also matches Ms. Curls while also not looking like anything the other characters wore that day. Ringo probably just saw the girl after she was already dead, although the possibility does exist that she is a part of Ms. Curls' "organization".

Kanba's penguin really is perverse though. His face was really jammed in that waitress' skirt and he has the mirror, too. I wonder if it's just for humor or if it says something about the person they "take after".

I would want to believe that Ringo was the one who pushed the girl down the elevator. It would show how strong she wants her destiny to be fulfilled. With her stalker tendencies, it isn't hard for her to do that. But that's just me.

Yup, I have a feeling that you're right about the curly haired girl, especially from her appearance in episode 5. She seems to have some sort of penguin drum gun that seems to be able to erase memories. Which makes me think that the penguin drum is probably some sort of technology that can do impossible tasks, (such as this one and reviving Himari). Probably Ringo's fate diary is run like this as well.

As for the rest of episode 5, we learned a little bit more about Himari's family, although I almost sure that they were going to imply that the family died in the typhoon, but I guess that we will find out more about them later. Also, the tension with Kanba trying to get back the penguin drum was intense, but I loved it.

I'm honestly surprised that the girl was alive. I was even more surprised that she didn't get killed off after giving Curls all the information she wanted. Even more surprising than that, was the direct confrontation between Ringo and Ms. Hat; a confrontation that Ringo "won". I did not expect that until eight episodes later at least.

I have one theory as to how Kanba got that money, but it's a shot in the dark at this point. What I'm most interested in now is how the character dynamics between Shoma and Ringo will change.

If there's one thing I didn't like about this episode, it has to be the truck chase. It was exaggerated just enough that it broke my suspension of disbelief. The hat getting stuck like that is more or less impossible. Then, that hat gets its other "ear" stuck in that impossible position. Then, Kanba gets dragged around for a nice long time, somehow hanging on and also not getting severe injuries all along his front. And this is all happening while the driver of the truck is completely oblivious to being chased by Shoma, dragging Kanba, and whatever stop signs and stop lights there are near there since he only stopped once during the entire sequence.

I can't wait for some unholy rage from Boushi-sama next episode. :)

Guess Ringo is onboard/or will be since she found out the truth, unless otherwise. Still more interested in Masako Natsume (the chick with the gun) and her overall roll.

Well, after a week break, we certainly got a wild return of events. So, the drill haired girl has a device that is either run with the penguindrum technology or, is in fact, a drum itself, and can alter people's memories. She seems keen on erasing all of Kanba's former lovers, and is also associated with Project M, which leads me to believe that Project M is indeed marriage.

Also, we learned Ringo's true motives: she basically wants to become her sister so that she can get her family life back to how it was before her sister, Momoka, died. It was even interesting to note that the diary was originally Momoka's as well. Because of this, I'm wondering if she has any true feelings for Tabuki herself, or is just trying to channel her sister's feelings...

Did we really need Ringo to blatantly state her reasons for following the diary? I mean, the flashback and stuff made it pretty clear on its own, so bluntly stating it like that is almost anti-climatic.

That aside, Shoma and Ringo have a relationship now that parallels the relationship between Evangelion's Shinji and Asuka. Ringo is reliant on the "identity" of Momoka. Her "true" character thus far, has been based on her desire to follow the diary, which happens to include being with Tabuki. She's trying to love an older man, who she may not actually be attracted to in honesty. What will happen if she actually reaches the end of the diary? As for Shoma, he's just letting himself be dragged around by everyone. He's always being told what to do, but never acting on his own beliefs. Granted, his sister's life is being held hostage.

Lol, that is just the directors being directors. Think it was meant to enforce the idea, but it was sort of anti-climax in a way.

Although for reason, my mind is telling me that Ringo's diary has nothing to do with the Penguindrum, not like it was actually stated what it was in the first place. And the reveal of a new penguin that seems to belong to Natsume. Still trying to wrap my mind around what penguins have to do with the story other than comical relief.

So Ringo's big sister Momoka is died....

ok but we never even saw a picture of her at all during the episode, so I can't assume she real is dead, I say this off the basis of Himari's existence.(Anyone considered dead may not really be dead/ppl can be brought back to life from penguin power.) So I wouldn't be surprised if Momoka is alive. Now related to that, I also wouldn't be surprised if Momoka is in fact, drill haired girl a.k.a Masako Natsume, again I base this off the fact that Masako has a penguin in her possession, so it's possible that she also is alive thanks to some alien-penguin power like Himari? Now Masako should also be the same age as Tabuki correct? Well I don't know about that, I can never tell age in an anime, but I also don't recollect Masako's outfit, if she is still in school/obviously younger than Tabuki then that does blow a hole in my assumptions, but she does look somewhat old enough to fit that criteria, and the whole Project M stuff also makes me suspicious.

Excellent analysis there. You definitely got my thoughts a fluttering, and yes, it is definitely possible that the drill haired girl could be Ringo's sister, especially since we never saw any sort of flashbacks/death scenes with her. She could have died, but, like you said, got revived like Himari did, and decided to just go out on her own. And maybe Kanba did really date her, even if she is older, since he is a bit of a playboy, and I wouldn't put it past him to date an older woman.

My only other remaining thought(other than none of them are related and everything is mere coincidence) is that, while Momoka is still alive, she is the one ordering around Masako, she was most likely the one Masako was talking to on the phone at the end of the episode. Project M, imo most likely is Project "Momoka", not marriage, Ringo talked about becoming Momoka and fate and all that, and for Masako to know about Project M, just makes me more curious about the connection.

True. I could also see Momoka being the one in control and sending out people to do her work, and it would make sense then that the penguin that's controlling Himari's life would know this, since she was the one that told me to go after Ringo in the first place.

So Kanba knows something about how those penguin balls operate ... how deep in this mess is he? Also, just what does he do to get that money?

I'm surprised Ringo didn't have a mental breakdown after the engagement announcement. That single act almost ripped her "identity" apart. Also surprising is that Ringo came to the same "process" as the Hat did, but the conclusions were different. Considering we know that Ringo's Project M = Maternity, it makes things even creepier than before. Think about it ... she wants to become Momoka, but her Project involves maternity. This leaves me with the suspicion that Momoka died while she was pregnant.

Also, poor Shoma. He had to go through all that effort with the frog, and yet his penguin just ate the eggs. He did get his butt patted by Ringo though.

This episode was good overall focusing more on Ringos part in this mess that is Mawaru Penguindrum, like ZeroOBK I was amazed that Ringo didnt have a mental breakdown after the whole engagement deal, apparently the only thing the engagement achieved was to make Ringo 10 times creepier than she previously was...
Also poor Shoma he has to put up with Ringos yandereness just to get that stupid diary that I'm more than certain that isn't the Penguindrum.
I shouldn't forget about Kanba, all i can say for now is that he appears to be in really really deep shit.

will we have reverse rape next episode?! yeah, i wish