This document provides an overview and analysis of the anime series Mawaru Penguin Drum by director Kunihiko Ikuhara. It summarizes Ikuhara's directorial style and themes. It then summarizes the plot of Mawaru Penguin Drum involving a terminally ill girl who is saved by a spirit in exchange for her brothers seeking a mystical item. It analyzes symbolic elements like penguins and themes around conformity, abuse, and isolation. It also discusses influences from Japanese cults and politics around nationalism and immigration.

2. KUNIHIKO IKUHARA’S TITLE
• Sailor Moon
• Revolutionary Girl
Utena
• Muwaru Penguin Drum
• Yuri Kuma Arashi

3. IKUHARA’S TROUPES
• Non-heteronormative relationships
• Symbolism
• Very Dark Turns
• People as objects/ flower symbolism
• Stylised nudity
• Fetizisation
• Character designs

4. MAWARU PENGUINDRUM
A TERMINALLY ILL GIRL NAMED HIMARI TAKAKURA IS MIRACULOUSLY SAVED FROM DEATH BY A STRANGE
SPIRIT WHO RESIDES IN A PENGUIN-SHAPED HAT. HOWEVER, IN EXCHANGE FOR EXTENDING HER LIFE, THE
SPIRIT TASKS HIMARI'S BROTHERS, KANBA AND SHŌMA, TO SEEK OUT AN ELUSIVE ITEM KNOWN AS THE
PENGUIN DRUM WITH ASSISTANCE FROM A TRIO OF STRANGE PENGUINS.

5. PENGUINS
• “They have wings but they cannot fly;
they can swim but they cannot stay
underwater for too long. In that case,
where do they really belong? They’re
not common animals (mammals) like
cats and dogs. They’re birds that don’t
look like birds at all. The idea that they
seem to have come from another world
and have no place of belongings ignite
his imagination.”
• Penguins manifestations of characters
inner desires and psyche.

6. CHILD BROILER
• Children Broiler is a place where
unwanted children go.
• If children don’t conform to society
they are scene as “unnecessary”. Japan
favours remodelling such youths to fit
the ideal image in Japan.
• Himari Goes to the Child Broiler
because she is abandoned by her
Mother.
• Tabuki Goes to Child Broiler because his
Mother overlooks/ignores him in favour
of his younger brother

7. MASAKO’S FACELESS GRANDFATHER AND YURI’S
SCULPTING FATHER
• Children as victims of child abuse.
• He’s a representation of a force Masako
has to overcome, she doesn’t want to
fill in the details of his face as he is
“worthless man”
• Yuri’s father believes her to be ugly and
she has to overcome this willing to
embrace a different truth.
• Patriarchal Japan - Male dominated
society and having to conform to the
wishes of father figures.

8. BOYS IN BOXES AND THE APPLE
• Main protagonists feelings of insecurity,
lose, isolation and shame
• Fruit of Fate, your heart your love. Your
willingness to share with another person
and open up.
• . Crushing shame of their parents. Starved
of patently love, parents cared more for
their cause than the well being of their
children

9. SEIZON SENRYAKU AND THE UNDERGROUND
• Japanese cult Aum Shinryko, under the
order of their leader Asoko Asahara,
released sarin gas in five subway lines
in Tokyo, killing thirteen people and
injuring a thousand more.
• A surreal symbolic trip into the world of
terroism.
• Haruki Murakami’s Underground as
well as other titles appear on the shelf
in the library.

10. YURI KUMA
ARASHI - LESBIAN BEAR STORM
- HUMANS HAVE CREATED A WALL OF SEVERANCE TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THE BEARS, WHO GREW VIOLENT
AND ATTACKED HUMANS AFTER A FAR-OFF PLANET KNOWN AS KUMARIA EXPLODED, TURNING INTO A METEOR SHOWER
THAT FELL UPON EARTH. TWO BEARS, GINKO YURISHIRO AND LULU YURIGASAKI, SNEAK THROUGH THE WALL OF
SEVERANCE AND DISGUISE THEMSELVES AS HUMANS, ENROLLING IN ARASHIGAOKA ACADEMY AND TAKING AN INTEREST
IN KUREHA TSUBAKI, A HUMAN GIRL WHO DESPISES BEARS.

11. THE STORM
• Group dynamics
• Comradery through shared
ostracisation
• Scapegoating for pressures of school
life
• Form of bullying in Japan

12. SAME SEX RELATIONSHIPS
• Lesbianism still not accepted in
Japanese society but things are
changing
• Lilly's are the symbolic flower of
lesbianism
• At first glance YKA is about Japan
and it’s views on same sex
relationships.
• S System and promoting
homosexuality in youths

13. INTER-RACIAL RELATIONSHIPS
• More likely that Ikuhara is using his
own troupe of lesbians to show us a
more detail comment on Japanese
society.
• Kureha not ostracised because she
has feeling for a girl but that girl is a
“bear”
• Inter-racial is still scene negatively in
Japan with many Japanese believing
it weakens their pure blood.

14. THE COURT - IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALISM
• The court act as a form of border
control.
• Japan is very nationalistic and has
strict rules who can enter the
country.
• They have a poor relationship and
tolerance with migrant workers.

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