History Anime / MawaruPenguinDrum

* ZettaiRyouiki: Possessed!Himari's outfit has very, very high black boots.

* ConspicuousCG: There are computerized images of spinning penguins in an otherwise archaic '90s-looking art style.

%% * ConspicuousCG no context

** There's a flashback to the Child Broiler in episode 9, where Himari first met her soulmate. Careful viewers will notice [[spoiler: that the boy's shoes are blue which is heavily associated with [[RedOniBlueOni Shouma]]]]

** Philia is best shown through Triple-H; Himari's friends Hibari and Hikari share a selfless friendship since childhood that is rekindled later in life. Their bond, represented by the Double-H's CD, help Ringo find Momoka's magic phrase

* TheFourLoves:

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/novelization2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Survival tactics!]]

* AbusiveParents[=/=]ParentalNeglect: A major theme in the show; the majority of the older characters have a screwed up childhood because of them.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MawaruPenguinDrum_1229.jpg]]

* Scenes about Tabuki frequently feature a visual motif of a birdcage. This is a metaphor for his troubled, high-pressure childhood. Tabuki harmed himself in order to escape from from this, but it didn't work.

* BackFromTheDead: Himari.
* BadassGrandpa: Deconstructed with Masako's grandfather, a master swordsman LargeHam corporate CEO obsessed with manliness and power. His misguided attempts at getting frail Mario follow in his footsteps made him a decidedly [[AbusiveParents abusive individual]] and destroys his relationship with his grandchildren.

* CerebusSyndrome

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The aesthetic of the series.

* MindScrew: Slowly increases throughout the series, in typical Ikuhara fashion.

%%* MoodDissonance: Where do we ''start''...?

%%* [[RedOniBlueOni Red Oniichan, Blue Oniichan]]: [[HairColors Appropriately enough]], Kanba is the red and Shoma is the blue.

* AdultsAreUseless: [[spoiler: When it's up to 4 teenagers to stop a terrorist plot]] you're fully in this trope. It ties into a major theme of an indifferent society that ignores danger and abandons its most vulnerable people.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Masako loves Kanba, who loves Himari who cares for Kanba but doesn't show any sign of reciprocating (although the Princess of the Crystal does). Ringo starts out loving Tabuki, who is an engaged adult and her BigBrotherMentor and naturally doesn't reciprocate. She eventually moves on to Shoma, but Shoma is too guilty about [[spoiler: how his parents killed her older sister Momoka]] to let himself love her back. Tabuki's fiancee, Yuri, [[spoiler:would like to stay together to form a fake family that would eventually in her eyes be real,]] a hope that Tabuki abandons, and [[spoiler: their true love was their common friend Momoka... who either died or disappeared from this world]]. Shoma's friend Yamashita is revealed in a audio drama to be [[spoiler: in love with him]]. Later, it turns out that [[spoiler:Himari sees Shoma as her soulmate, with episode 20 showing the two having sweet moments together as children that could be seen as familiar or romantic. The last episode (and the second novel) also shows that Shoma returns his feelings for Ringo, but he has to let her go. ]]

* ArcSymbol: The penguin head logo, which in-universe is the logo for a corporation called Pingroup, which is also associated with the Takakura parents [[spoiler: and their extremist group]]. It is ubiquitous on products throughout the show, including stranger ones such as Masako's ball-bullets.

* AttemptedRape: [[spoiler: In episode 8, Ringo serves Tabuki a drugged montblanc and attempts to rape him so she can bear his kid and finish her Project M. Shoma's interference and Yuri showing up at home stop her, however.]]
** And in episode 11, [[spoiler: Ringo drugs Tabuki with a LovePotion that makes him lust for her, but when she backs off she ''barely'' escapes being in the receiving end of this at the hands of a Tabuki who is '''very''' much NotHimself.]]
** In episode 14 [[spoiler: Yuri attempts to rape a drugged Ringo because she looks a lot like her lost love, Ringo's dead sister Momoka. It is ambiguous if Shouma got there in time to stop it; her lines at first implies that he didn't, but later she contradicts it.]].
* BabiesEverAfter: Ringo tries to invoke this with [[spoiler: Project M]], believing that [[spoiler: giving birth to Tabuki's child will bring her broken family back together and allow her to fulfill her sister's destiny.]] This is portrayed in a negative light, showcasing how crazy she is.

** 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). ]]

* BrotherSisterIncest: Abundant (see AllLoveIsUnrequited). In short: [[spoiler: Kanba likes Himari, Himari likes Shouma. It turns out that they are NotBloodSiblings, and Masako and Kanba are actually siblings, making her obsession with him a case of this as well.]]

* 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.]]
* CassandraTruth: Shouma tries to tell Himari's doctor and later Ringo about the powers of the penguin hat, with no success [[spoiler: until Ringo sees that Himari's life really does rely on the hat's presence]].

* ChekhovsGunman: The pink- and blue-haired girls who appear on subway signs every episode turn out to be [[spoiler: childhood friends of Himari's with an important role in her backstory.]]

* CerebusRetcon: There's strong evidence in the final episode that [[spoiler: Penguin #2's [[RunningGag constant eating]] is linked to Shouma nearly starving to death in a cage as a child.]]

* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: [[WrongGenreSavvy Ringo]] attempts to invoke the romantic aspect of this trope by throwing herself in a pond to be rescued by Tabuki. [[spoiler: It doesn't work out like she planned, but the trope is played straight when Shouma revives her with no physical trauma.]]

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Episode 5. [[spoiler: Ringo vs. Himari's possessor. PUNCH, Ringo wins. [[SubvertedTrope Sorta]].]]

* DistressBall: Caught by [[spoiler: Shouma]] in episode 10, then by [[spoiler: Ringo]] in episodes 14/15, and last by [[spoiler: Himari]] in episodes 18 and 19. (With [[spoiler: Ringo]] also included in the first one). %% needs context

%%** Note that the Princess of the Crystal has [[BearsAreBadNews two bear-shaped mecha; One white and one black.]] %%[[spoiler: The black one is based upon the bombs used in the Kiga subway attacks.]]

*** Motivation-wise, Masako turns out to be one of Nanami Kiryuu [[spoiler: what with the unrequited BigBrotherAttraction and all. She's ''slightly'' more heroic, though.]]
*** In the creepiest way possible, [[spoiler: Yuri's abusive father]] seems to be an expy of [[spoiler: [[Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena Touga's rapist stepfather]] from TheMovie.]]

* FamilyOfChoice: [[spoiler: None of the Takakura siblings are related]] but it doesn't stop them from being a deeply loving family even through constant hardship.
* FanDisservice: Ringo is a very cute girl, indeed, but seeing her in a black negligee when [[spoiler: she's about to rape a completely drugged Tabuki so she can be the mom of his child]] in episode 8 is all but ACK. It's not much better in episode 11, when she [[spoiler: gets the guy to "love" her via a Love Potion, then backs off the sex deal... and Tabuki is so NotHimself that he starts making creepy {{Nightmare Face}}s]]...
** Episode 14 takes the cake. Two cute young women ([[spoiler: Yuri and Ringo]]) bonding and spending a whole day together in an ''[[HotSpringsEpisode onsen]]''? [[LesYay Oh yes]], [[GirlOnGirlIsHot please]]. [[spoiler: A mentally and emotionally broken Yuri drugging up Ringo, stripping both of them naked and [[DudeShesLikeInAComa then trying to]] [[AttemptedRape rape her]], while mentally repeating [[HeroicSelfDeprecation how much she hates herself]] due to her body issues and loneliness]]? While we have LOTS of MaleGaze directed at [[spoiler: the unconscious Ringo]]'s nude body as [[spoiler: she's about to be raped by her dead sister's UnluckyChildhoodFriend]]? [[ShockingSwerve Whaaaaaaat?!]]
** Episode 15 has a quite bit of it, what with all the nudity of a young girl like [[spoiler: a loli!Yuri]] who is about to be [[spoiler: heavily scarred and possibly raped by her father.]]
** The ending card [[http://imageftw.com/uploads/20111105/tumblr_lu712e1XKl1qmd651.jpg for episode 17]] features a very handsome-looking [[spoiler: Tabuki]], with his shirt open and [[spoiler: his glasses off]]. The bad thing? He's actually [[spoiler: leaning his head [[LapPillow on a little girl's lap]]. And while we don't see her face, the little girl is pretty obviously Momoka.]] Aaaaawkward.

** In episode four, the PSA warns riders that falling asleep may lead to possessions getting stolen. Later in the episode, [[spoiler: Ringo passes out after falling into a pond while attempting to get Tabuki to kiss her. Sho ends up stealing her first kiss while giving her CPR]].
** 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.]]

** 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.]]
** In episode 12's flashback, Kenzan calls Chiemi at the hospital and hears that [[spoiler:"the baby" is okay]], even though Shouma said [[spoiler:both he and Kanba were born on that day. They were . . . but not to the same parents]].
** In episode 9's flashback, Chiemi shields Himari from a falling mirror and her face is permanently scarred in the process. [[spoiler:When we see Kanba talking with her at the noodle shop, her face is unblemished . . . because she's just a hallucination.]]

* FullFrontalAssault: In episode 15, [[spoiler: Yuri fights Masako while wearing only a ModestyTowel. Which ends up falling off in the end, right before she wins.]]

* GoryDiscretionShot: In episode 21, when [[spoiler: Tabuki gets stabbed by Yuri's jilted lover.]]

* HamToHamCombat: The two fights between [[spoiler: Yuri and Masako]] in Episode 14 and 17. Episode 17 even has [[FeatherMotif feathers]] and [[FlowerMotifs rose petals]] fly about while the two engage in a verbal battle and later begin shooting at each other with weapons.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: What happens to [[spoiler: a very aggressive journalist that harrasses Ringo, Himari and Shouma]] in episode 21. Courtesy of [[spoiler: Kanba and the MIB.]]
** In that same episode, [[spoiler: either Yuri or Tabuki (if not ''both'')]] get a similar treatment when [[spoiler: they find out the truth about Kenzan and Chiemi.]] Right after ''that'', [[spoiler: A MIB attacks them [[KnifeNut with a knife]], and all we see is [[GoryDiscretionShot the blood that falls on the floor]]...]] Then, [[SubvertedTrope it turns out]] it was just [[spoiler: Yuri's [[PsychoLesbian spurned lover]] Tsubasa in for revenge.]] [[PlayingWithATrope Probably]]. [[spoiler: Oh, and Tabuki survives.]]

** [[spoiler: Tabuki]] has some of this going on as well, specially in episodes 6 and 12. [[spoiler: And then both 17 and 18 came along... OH WOW.]]

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: The Episode 13 ending is one for Ringo as she resolves herself to stop trying to be Momoka and be her own person instead, then Episode 14 have her get rejected by Shouma [[FromBadToWorse and then]] [[AttemptedRape almost raped by Yuri]].]]

* HumongousMecha: They're bear-shaped and called Teddydrums. [[spoiler: These teddydrums are used to commit terrorist attacks by Kanba and Sanetoshi]]

* IllGirl: Himari.

* LoveDodecahedron: Ringo is trying to [[spoiler: become her dead sister Momoka]] by coming on [[spoiler: and almost raping Momoka's love]] Tabuki, who is married to the very shady [[spoiler: and mentally/physically scarred]] Yuri, who [[spoiler: also loved Momoka and tries to rape Ringo because they're so much alike]]. And then Ringo starts to fall in love with Shouma whose [[spoiler: parents killed Momoka in the first place]]. The incestuous LoveTriangle between Kanba, Himari, and [[spoiler: Masako]] looks like an episode of ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' by comparison.

** Anything related to the [[spoiler: Child Broiler]]

* {{Mood Dissonance}}: Where do we ''start''...?

** [[spoiler: Mario also has another.]]

** As a corollary... in episode 21 [[spoiler: Masako explains to Himari that yes, Kanba is ''her'' older brother (later on revealed as a HalfIdenticalTwin, and that Kanba [[ItsNotYouItsMe left alongside their]] DisappearedDad to protect them from shame. [[BigBrotherAttraction Yeah]].]]

* ParentalAbandonment: A major theme, happens to most of the characters. Most notably, Mr. and Mrs. Takakura are missing. By episode 12, it is revealed that [[spoiler:they are on the run from authorities pursuing them for the bombings 16 years ago]], and episode 21 reveals that [[spoiler:they were DeadAllAlong, and Kanba meeting up with them in previous episodes was just a hallucination]]. Unlike many other instances, the Takakuras were good parents, and [[spoiler: took in Himari and Kanba after they were abandoned by their own parents.]]
* ParentsAsPeople: Ringo's parents are separated. We only see Eriko Oginome keeping Ringo company at home, and episode 5 has Ringo "going out on a date with Daddy" during which Satoshi mentions visitation. [[spoiler: And he actually remarried or is about to, as he's seen with another woman and a little girl in episode 8, but hasn't told Ringo anything. She sees him with his girlfriend anyway, which is the trigger to her planning to speed up her "Project M".]]
* PerpetualPoverty: The Takakura house is very run-down, and there's the possibility that the siblings will be separated and taken in by others. Their concerned uncle is trying to get them to sell their old house so they can live a little more comfortably in a smaller place, but Kanba will have nothing of it. [[spoiler: He ''does'' receive an apparently large sum of money in episode 5, and we later learn that it comes from the KIGA group, Kenzan's faction. Kanba is apparently not only still in contact with them, but can order them around, including fetching him large sums of money, as seen in his deals with Sanetoshi.]]

* PsychoLesbian: Zig-zagged with Yuri. Initially inverted, as she is portrayed as a reasonable and mature adult in contrast with Ringo's {{Yandere}} antics. After some CharacterDevelopment, she gets more and more extreme and violent in her quest to [[spoiler: acquire the diary, and her love for Momoka definitely reaches PsychoLesbian territory when she tries to rape Ringo]]. But overall, she is a sympathetic and mostly reasonable character. [[spoiler: Yuri's jilted ex-lover]] Tsubasa definitely fits the trope.
* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler: The extreme lengths to which Ringo will go to accomplish Project M. And it is most definitely [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale not]] [[AvertedTrope okay]].]]
** And in episode 11 [[spoiler: Ringo practically finds herself at the receiving end, when she hesitates into having sex with a Tabuki who's just been slipped a LovePotion and he won't back off due to the effect. Again, it's portrayed as rather screwed up.]]
** Happens ''again'' in episode 14, with [[spoiler: Yuri drugging up and attempting to rape Ringo after bonding with her. Many times, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale a female/female rape scene is depicted less rape-like]], but in this one it's clear that Yuri is very fucked up too.]]

** In episode 18, [[spoiler: #3 knits with a ball of yarn that represents the red string of fate. When Kanba says that he wants to live for Himari, the yarn is shown up close, slowly falling and unraveling. ]]
* RescueRomance: Ringo invokes it when she decides to pretend she's drowning so Tabuki will save her. [[spoiler: It fails ''spectacularly'' and she almost drowns for real, so Shoma saves her instead.]] Later played rather straighter between [[spoiler:Shoma and Ringo]], in an incident involving a speeding car, an inconveniently-timed HeroicBSOD, and a DivingSave.
** Also, if you ship [[spoiler: Momoka/Tabuki and Shouma/Himari]], their scenes in [[spoiler: the Child Broiler]] count as this.

** Also, what happens in the [[spoiler: Child Broiler.]]

* RulesOfOrphanEconomics: Kanba actively encourages his siblings not to worry about it, [[spoiler: while he gets money from the Takakura parents' terrorist organization.]]

** Shouma never, ever manages to save Himari or Ringo from trouble, typically either coming in too late, or [[TheKlutz falling over at a crucial moment]]. [[spoiler: The only exception happens in episodes 19 and 20, where he successfully rescues Himari from the Child Broiler, and when he takes Ringo's curse into himself in the GrandFinale.]]
* SceneryCensor: In episode 15, when [[spoiler: Shoma opens the door of Yuri and Ringo's onsen room]], his head blocks the audience form the sight of [[spoiler: a drugged up, naked, and shibari-tied-up Ringo]] ''and'' [[spoiler: the very awake and naked Yuri.]]

** [[spoiler: Masako-disguised-as-a-nurse]] refers to Ringo as Shoma's girlfriend in episode 10, and he denies it again.
** And [[spoiler: Yuri]] asks Ringo ''again'' if Shoma is her boyfriend in episode 11, which she also denies.

** And then in episode 14 [[spoiler:Ringo]] has it done to her by [[spoiler:Yuri]], who spiked her drink so [[spoiler: she can tie up and rape her]].

* 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.)

** The black penguin: [[spoiler: Her name is Esmeralda and she's owned by Masako, who is conducting her own Project M and Survival Strategy]].

** The siblings running: [[spoiler: Kanba runs in a different direction, symbolizing how Shouma and Himari are soulmates... but ''even more so'', his upcoming FaceHeelTurn and abandonement of the Takakura family.]]
** Masako's AssKickingPose in the first OP: [[spoiler: It is the last stance, or stand she makes while she acts as sacrificial bait to get a heavily injured Kanba away from the police.]]
** 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.]]

** And in episode 21, [[spoiler: another one shows how Kenzan and Chiemi took Kanba into the Takakura family.]]
** In episode 22, [[spoiler: young Shouma is seen in a cage with a penguin logo that is ''not'' from KIGA.]]
* StockFootage: Starts up once possessed!Himari shouts her "Survival strategy!". [[spoiler: Except for episode 11.]]

* StrongFamilyResemblance: The Takakura siblings resemble their parents quite a bit, particularly Himari to their mother Chiemi and Kanba to their father Kenzan. [[spoiler: Rather curious, considering Himari was ''adopted'' by the Takakuras after being rescued from the Child Broiler, and Kanba himself was a member of the Natsume clan also taken in by the family.]]

* TechnicolorEyes: When Himari is possessed, she has magenta eyes and pinkish sclerae. [[spoiler: Same goes to Mario.]] Sanetoshi has magenta eyes, but white sclerae.
* TemptingApple: Apple motifs are important from the very first episode and show up everywhere, in Ringo's name and curry to the omnipresent Kiga apples. The fairy tale Shouma tells has elements of the story of Genesis as well. The apples lack some of the evil connotations of many variants of this trope, but seem to represent life and fate, similar to many mythological uses. [[spoiler: Kanba offers Shouma an apple in the Child Broiler, and Shouma later does the same to Himari. In both cases the apple comes with an offer and opportunity to live a new life. In the final, Shouma shares the fruit of fate- an apple, rewriting the timeline.]] Ringo is also an apple, and she holds the key to [[spoiler: the curse of the diary and the power to change fate]].
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: #3 has a pink bow and long eyelashes, but is otherwise identical to the other two penguins. [[spoiler: The other girl penguin, Esmeralda, has longer eyelashes and darker coat.]]

* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: [[spoiler: Masako's grandfather]] thought there were only winners and losers in this world. This seems to be a recurring theme in character flashbacks: [[spoiler: Yuri's father: The beautiful and the ugly, Tabuki's mother: The talented and the useless. Little!Himari: The Chosen and the Unchosen.]] Compare with [[spoiler: Momoka, who believes that everyone and everything is beautiful.]]

* ThroughHisStomach: Ringo reads a magazine at a bookshop that suggests this in episode two. She goes on to try it in episode three, musing as she prepares it that curry must've been the first cooked meal and served this purpose to boot. [[spoiler: Too bad Yuri was also making curry for him...]]
** In episode 11, Shouma is seen cooking stuffed cabbage and his sister Himari notices it's a dish he ''only'' cooks when he intends to ask someone for forgiveness. She then speculates that he's had a fight [[ShipTease with Ringo]] and says [[ShipperOnDeck "I hope Ringo-chan likes cabbage!"]]. [[spoiler: In a subversion, Ringo don't get to taste it, as she knocks the dish down because when Shouma and Himari found her, the kid was in the middle of a huge HeroicBSOD.]]
** Invoked again in episode 17, since Shouma and Kanba's ''takoyaki'' is so good that not even [[spoiler: ''the Princess of the Crystal'']] can resist their taste.
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: [[spoiler: The cafe where Kanba meets his parents as revealed in episode 21. It's actually abandoned, has been for a while, and Kenzan and Chiemi's lifeless and rotten bodies are under a table.]]

* WhamEpisode: Episode 11. [[spoiler: Kanba talks to Masako and then meets Mario. Ringo attempts again to have Tabuki for herself, and it backfires ''badly'' again. She explains her full backstory to Shouma and possessed!Himari. Shouma pretty much screams "ItsAllMyFault" for only later disclosed reasons. The allusions to the Sarin Gas Attack in the Tokyo Metro are laid out at their thickest.]] Holy shit.

** The Child Broiler could be a strange metaphor for [[spoiler: an orphanage or the emotions of abandoned children.]]
* {{Yandere}}: Ringo has shades of this after meeting Tabuki's girlfriend. PlayedForLaughs almost completely, [[spoiler: until we see that she has [[FreudianExcuse reasons]] for it, and until we see the ''[[AttemptedRape extremes]]'' she'll reach.]]
** [[spoiler: Masako]] also seems to be this... for Kanba. It's specially shown via [[spoiler: erasing the memories of Kanba's ex girlfriends (after apparently pushing one of them down a stair!)]] and later [[spoiler: staging a whole HostageSituation both to get Ringo's half of the Diary... and to steal a kiss from him.]] Though she seems to be less... unstable and more calculating than the standard {{yandere}}, [[spoiler: and she also has other motives aside of him (re: Mario).]]
** Tabuki's girlfriend/fiancée Yuri also veers towards this by episode 14, [[spoiler: trying to rape Ringo because she resembles her older sister and Yuri's childhood friend/crush Momoka so much. She too has an extreme FreudianExcuse behind her actions.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Tabuki'' is shown to have some whiffs of this as well, as of the end of episode 17 and the whole of episode 18 -- he actually ''tries to kill Himari'' to punish the Takakura family for the death of Momoka. Again, he has an extreme FreudianExcuse.]]

** [[spoiler:In episode 22, Ringo recieves half of Momoka's diary from Yuri, only to have it burned to pieces in episode 23. And then she's left to die in the flames. Oh, and Kanba burns the other half aswell.]]

* TransformationSequence: One that's more than one minute long. Accompanied by a bubbly Jpop version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jUgDe9lSvo of a stadium rock anthem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsa1ZyrFGj0

%* {{Black Comedy}}: You know how the series likes to turn [[MoodWhiplash comedic situations into dramatic ones?]] Well...

* LoveDodecahedron: Ringo is trying to [[spoiler: become her dead sister Momoka]] by coming on [[spoiler: and almost raping Momoka's love]] Tabuki, who is married to the very shady [[spoiler: and mentally/physically scarred]] Yuri, who [[spoiler: also loved Momoka and tries to rape Ringo because they're so much alike]]. And then Ringo starts to fall in love with Shouma whose [[spoiler: parents killed Momoka in the first place]]. The incestuous LoveTriangle between Kanba, Himari, and [[spoiler: Masako]] looks like an episode of LeaveItToBeaver by comparison.

* OffModel:

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Masako loves Kanba, who loves Himari who cares for Kanba but doesn't show any sign of reciprocating (although the Princess of the Crystal does). Ringo starts out loving Tabuki, who is an engaged adult ''and'' her BigBrotherMentor and naturally doesn't reciprocate. She eventually moves on to Shoma, but Shoma is too guilty about [[spoiler: how his parents killed her older sister Momoka]] to let himself love her back. Tabuki's fiancee, Yuri, [[spoiler:would like to stay together to form a fake family that would eventually in her eyes be real,]] a hope that Tabuki abandons, and [[spoiler: their true love was their common friend Momoka... who either died or disappeared from this world]]. Shoma's friend Yamashita is revealed in a audio drama to be [[spoiler: in love with him]]. Later, it turns out that [[spoiler:Himari sees Shoma as her soulmate, with episode 20 showing the two having sweet moments together as children that could be seen as familiar or romantic. The last episode (and the second novel) also shows that Shoma returns his feelings for Ringo, but he has to let her go. ]]

* ArcSymbol: The penguin head logo, which in-universe is the logo for a corporation called Pingroup, which judging by his jacket, Mr. Takakura worked for. It also seems to be associated with the penguins' faction and appears on [[spoiler:the envelope Kanba's mysterious house payment is delivered in]] and on the [[spoiler:bullets that are used by Masako to erase the memories of Kanba's exes.]]

* ArcWords: "Survival Strategy" and the "Destination of Fate".

** The final few episodes seem to make "Let's share the fruit of fate" into these.

* BabiesEverAfter: The point of [[spoiler:Ringo's Project M]], since [[spoiler: Ringo believes that carrying and giving birth to Tabuki's child will be the corollary to her dreams of getting her broken family back together; however, as we see in episode 8, the lengths she will reach to be impregnated by him are NOT portrayed as okay, but as a sign of how unstable and desperate she is. ]]
* BackFromTheDead
* BadassGrandpa: Masako's grandfather was a BoisterousBruiser LargeHam corporate CEO obsessed with manliness and power. His misguided attempts at getting frail Mario follow in his footsteps made him a decidedly [[AbusiveParents abusive individual]].

* {{Black Comedy}}: You know how the series likes to turn [[MoodWhiplash comedic situations into dramatic ones?]] Well...
* 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]]... [[MindScrew or something.]]]]

** 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). Phew, that's one heck of a chain.]]
* ButtMonkey: #2 gets into some of the most painful and humiliating situations of all the penguins, either through no fault of his own or sheer derp.
** Shouma, very much so.
* BrotherSisterIncest: This is ''heavily'' implied and {{ship tease}}d, especially with Kanba kissing a sleeping Himari at the end of the first episode. As of episode 12, [[spoiler:this is more or less canon]], then in episode 19 it is [[spoiler:subverted, as they are actually NotBloodSiblings]].
** In episodes 20 to 22, it is revealed that [[spoiler:Kanba and Masako are actually HalfIdenticalTwins, which makes Masako a borderline case of this trope]].
* {{Camp}}: Turns into this a few times, Ala [[Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena Utena]] and ''Anime/StarDriver''.
* [[spoiler: CainAndAbel]]: After episode 21, [[spoiler: Kanba is shaping up as a WellIntentionedExtremist Cain with Shouma as a [[BreakTheCutie broken cutie]] Abel.]] There's a sort of subversion, too, as when this trope sets in, [[spoiler: Kanba tells Shouma that they're not brothers anymore.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: If the end credits are anything to go by, the pink- and blue-haired cartoon girls who have been appearing in commercials and on merchandise will make an entrance as actual characters and members of the same faction as Himari's possessor. [[spoiler: Now revealed to be two childhood friends of Himari which shot to fame as a singing group!]]
** There is also this small little girl in a brown dress with pink hair. [[spoiler: Whom is Momoka Oginome. She is introduced as a seemingly minor character, but her presence and influence to the plot ''as a whole'' is hard to miss after her back-story is explained completely.]]

** 1 is prone to squeeze into skirts and has mastered the Floor-Level Mirror Technique.

* ConspicuousCG
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The whole series BUILDS on this.

* DistressBall: Caught by [[spoiler: Shouma]] in episode 10, then by [[spoiler: Ringo]] in episodes 14/15, and last by [[spoiler: Himari]] in episodes 18 and 19. (With [[spoiler: Ringo]] also included in the first one).

* DysfunctionJunction: Everybody has issues.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins:
** Note that the Princess of the Crystal has [[BearsAreBadNews two bear-shaped mecha; One white and one black.]] [[spoiler: The black one is based upon the bombs used in the Kiga subway attacks.]]

*** Penguins 1, 2 and 3 provide some of the PluckyComicRelief
* {{Expy}}: The red and blue-haired girls look like [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure Tsubomi Hanasaki and Erika Kurumi]] untransformed.

** There are several [[Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena Utena]] ones ...

* FanDisservice: Ringo is a very cute girl, indeed, but seeing her in a black negligee when [[spoiler: she's about to rape a completely drugged Tabuki so she can be the mom of his child]] in episode 8 is all but ACK. It's not much better in episode 11, when [[SheCleansUpNicely a Ringo in a very cute dress]] [[spoiler: gets the guy to "love" her via a Love Potion, then backs off the sex deal... and Tabuki is so NotHimself that he starts making creepy {{Nightmare Face}}s]]...

** In episode 23, [[spoiler: Kanba]] goes towards [[spoiler: Shouma]] and [[http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw9e59TiuS1r4jpm5o1_500.gif hugs him rather tightly.]] Looks like HoYay unleaded, huh? Not when this happens after [[spoiler: Kanba's FaceHeelTurn]] ''and'' when [[spoiler: Kanba knocks out Shouma to take Himari away.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: At this point, it seems that the PSA's on the trains serve this role for the story.

** The lyrics to the first OP are told from the perspective of [[spoiler:Momoka, immediately before the bomb that killed her exploded.]]
-->''Round and round, your eyes wander around, searching around the station's platforms''
-->''The sound of fanfare from afar''
-->''The clamorous city making noise, I tried to keep an ear out for all this''
-->''In a world that's about to end''

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: This show is ''absolutely made'' of this trope. The three penguins are responsible for it.
** [[ShooOutTheClowns Shoo Out The Penguins]]: The [[PluckyComicRelief invisible Penguins]] don't disappear ''completely'' [[CerebusSyndrome when things become darker]]- but they notoriously interacted and are seen ''less'' with their humans partners as time passes.

* HollywoodScience: Specifically ArtisticLicenseBiology: Skunks don't work that way.

* HumongousMecha: They're bear-shaped and called Teddydrums. [[spoiler: In episode 22 however, it seems that these teddydrums serve a purpose for terrorist attacks, as directed by Kanba.]]

* JukeboxMusical: With the exceptions of the openings and the first ending, all the songs in the show have been songs by Japanese rock band [[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/ARB_(band) ARB]], [[DoItYourselfThemeTune covered by Triple H]].

* LovableSexManiac: #1 has a... more extreme version of his owner's love of the ladies.

** [[spoiler: That dodecahedron now includes Himari who is actually Shouma's soul mate, Kanba who is in love with Himari, and Masako who is in love with Kanba [[BigBrotherAttraction despite being his full-blooded younger sister]]. ([[NotBloodSiblings Kanba and Himari were actually adopted by the Takakuras]])]].

* MacGuffin: The Penguindrum that the siblings have been sent out to find. At first, it's thought to be Ringo's diary. [[spoiler:It isn't.]]
** Another one would be Ringo's diary, currently being sought after by the Takakura siblings, Masako Natsume, and [[spoiler:Yuri Tokikago]]. By episode 15, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the diary can actually alter reality, at the price of the user's life force]].

** And need we mention, well, ''Yuri''?
* MindScrew:
** Slowly but surely showing up in the second half of the series. At times, Sanetoshi seems to be offering apples--but then they're medicine ampules in other shots. A similar phenomenon occurs with Sanetoshi's {{Creepy Twin|s}} tagalongs and a pair of black rabbits.

* MoreHeroThanThou: The final episode is the equivalent of a ten-car pileup. [[spoiler:Himari has been trying to convince Kanba to give up on her so that he won't be killed, Kanba refuses point-blank out of his own feelings of love and obligation and insists on martyring himself, Ringo comes charging in declaring that she'll finish transferring fate despite the life-threatening consequences, Shouma coughs up his half of the Scorpion's Soul-slash-Penguindrum by tearing it out of his heart, Kanba dies saving Himari anyway, and finally, Shouma transfers the Destiny Diary's curse from Ringo to himself and dies declaring his love for her. Himari and Ringo survive.]] Whoof.

* MundaneMadeAwesome:
** The whole sequence where possessed!Himari briefs the brothers on their mission.
** The two fights between [[spoiler: Yuri and Masako]] in Episode 14 and 17. Episode 17 even has [[FeatherMotif feathers]] and [[FlowerMotifs rose petals]] fly about while the two engage in a verbal battle and later begin shooting at each other with weapons. '''[[HamToHamCombat With absolute glee]]'''.

* OverlyLongGag: Anytime the Princess of the Crystal does her "Survival Strategy" intro.
** Masako's series of dreams about [[spoiler:killing her grandfather]]--Hey! Mr. President! Watch out!
* ParentalAbandonment: Mr. and Mrs. Takakura are missing. The siblings' uncle saying he doesn't think they'll come back would imply that they're alive. By episode 12, it is revealed that [[spoiler:they are on the run from authorities pursuing them for the bombings 16 years ago]], and episode 21 reveals that [[spoiler:they were DeadAllAlong, and Kanba meeting up with them in previous episodes was just a hallucination]].
** Prior to this, though, Kenzan and Chiemi were GoodParents. Episode 5 has a flashback in which PapaWolf Kenzan takes a ''very'' ill tiny!Himari (alongside little Kanba) to the nearest hospital in the middle of a ''typhoon'' since there are no ambulances avaliable. And Kenzan does it ''by foot'', carrying little!Himari on his back and with little!Kanba next to him, and he also shields tiny!Kanba from a falling lamp. And in episode 9, Chiemi suffers serious cuts on her face and arms to shield little!Himari from a falling mirror, and must be hospitalized due to her injuries.

* PutOnABus: Sanetoshi's debut in the real world as a doctor at Himari's hospital conveniently coincides with her normal physician, Dr. Washizuka, suddenly taking off for Germany.
** [[spoiler: TheBusCameBack: Dr. Washizuka actually returns around episode 21... the one where we learn that Sanetoshi is DeadAllAlong.]]
* [[spoiler: RapeAsDrama]]: The extreme lengths to which Ringo will go to accomplish Project M. [[spoiler: And it is most definitely [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale not]] [[AvertedTrope okay]].]]

* [[RedOniBlueOni Red Oniichan, Blue Oniichan]]: [[HairColors Appropriately enough]], Kanba is the red and Shoma is the blue.

** In episode 18, [[spoiler: the red string of fate may have been represented with a ball of red yarn that #3 was knitting with. When Kanba says that he wants to live for Himari, the yarn is shown up close, slowly falling and unraveling. ]]

** Ringo's convoluted plan to get Tabuki-sensei for herself, Project M. The "M" stands for [[spoiler: maternity.]]
** And then there's the fact that the woman with the [[spoiler: mind-wipe]] bullets, Masako Natsume, is ''also'' working on some kind of Project M... [[spoiler: and has romantic designs on Kanba.]]

* RunningGag: Penguin 2's hate of insects, which it always exterminates on the spot with a handy insecticide bottle. Which it apparently keeps in a HammerSpace.

* SinsOfOurFathers: Most of the Takakura siblings trouble is due to this.

* SpoilerOpening: It's taken over halfway into the series for anything to be revealed as a spoiler, but things alluded to in the openings (the endings are way too spoileriffic to bother listing items) include:

*** 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.]]

* TalkingToHerself: Finally happens in Episode 22 when [[spoiler:Ringo talks with Double-H, since she and one of the Double-H girls are voiced by Marie Miyake]].
* TechnicolorEyes: When Himari is possessed, she has magenta eyes and pinkish sclerae. [[spoiler: Same goes to Mario.]] Sanetoshi [[spoiler: seen in the OP and named in Episode 9]] has magenta eyes, but white sclerae.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Ringo (though she's not ''that'' tomboyish) and Himari.
** LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Himari and either the Princess or [[spoiler: Masako]].

** '''Episode 19'''. [[spoiler:Himari is ''not'' a born Takakura, but a Child Broiler prospect victim. Shouma is revealed to be Himari's fated person, specifically because ''he'' rescued her from it.]] [[TrollingCreator Ikuhara's]] trolling [[SerialEscalation knows no limits.]]
** Episode 21. '''All of it.''' [[spoiler:Kanba has a tabloid writer killed [[HeKnowsTooMuch for digging in way too much]]. Somebody is stabbed, and it's either Tabuki or Yuri. Kenzan Takakura is revealed to be already dead as well as Chiemi. Sanetoshi is also revealed to have been involved in the 1995 bombings on the subway, and despite being dead, has every intention to succeed at destroying the world this time around. Shouma finally confronts Kanba. Kanba and Shoma fight. Kanba leaves the family. Himari declares her love for Shoma, but she then leaves him. Himari is still gonna die, so she joins Kanba -- to save him. '''And''' we see how Kanba, a member of the Natsume clan, was brought into the Takakura family.]] This is a '''heavy''' episode.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale: ''Penguindrum'' has the adult [[spoiler:Yuri]]'s attempted rape of [[spoiler:Ringo]], an underage sixteen-year old girl.

** Shouma never, ever manages to save Himari or Ringo from trouble, typically either coming in too late, or [[TheKlutz falling over at a crucial moment]]. [[spoiler: The only exception happens in episodes 19 and 20, where he suscefully rescues Himari from the Child Broiler, and when he takes Ringo's curse into himself in the GrandFinale.]]

->''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 opening narration of the first episode'''