- Confirmed in episode 23!
- Unlikely. From all these CAT scant in a doctor's office Himari has a heart condition, and they don't usually work that way.
- Its may just be ADHD. Bakemonogotari does the same thing//
- Jossed. The essence of Mokoka lives within the two penguin hats Mario and Himari wear in their respective Survival Skills transformations.
The 'fate diary,' or Penguindrum, is in fact a book from the pocket dimension of the library annex, and it being brought into the mortal universe and being allowed to influence the timeline could cause a dimensional collapse of some sort. The Penguingun lady will be revealed as actually being a bait-and-switch antagonist, whose real motive is either of little significance or some sort of 'rage against god' towards the inhabitants of the annex, who may in fact write fate rather than simply record it, and who are somehow malevolent or with a plan that doesn't take human suffering into consideration. Penguingun will also probably have some sort of fate diary, or know what's recorded in one, and is using it to try to fight against a future with a negative outcome.
And Sanetoshi is actually either the soul of a dead, very camp librarian, or God.
- Seemingly Jossed by episode 5's flashbacks.
- They have a higher chance to be the Kahirasei-jins from Utena, given their exactly same function and motifs.
- Jossed The mascots are the girls seen in the ending theme, Himari's childhood friends Hibari and Hikari, now an idol group called WH (double H).
- Jossed Neither a woman, nor Utena. Episode 9 reveals him to be Sanetoshi the librarian.
- Jossed. It has nothing to do with animals at all.
- It's too early to say since there isn't much focus on Himari but at least the Hat can possess her easily so she probably doesn't fight against the possession and by extension the prolonging of her life. And some people have noted that her theme seems to be escapism. Those who want to escape have something they disagree with. In her case, maybe her illness?
- Jossed.
The diary is a Red Herring literally...
Or he just be could be a Gender Flipped post-corrupted Utena... (is silenced by the Shadow-Girls)
- Jossed. They are what was left of Sanetoshi after being killed by Momoka, similar in how Momoka split into the two Penguin Hats
- There's a good chance that her name is an alias, even if this isn't true.
- Jossed by episode 15, which features an extended flashback sequence revealing who Momoka truly is. Furthermore, Episode 16 explains Masako's backstory.
- As of episode 19... Confirmed! But with a catch: Himari actually was a little girl rescued from the Child Broiler... by Shouma. Who is her "fated one". YEAH.
- Jossed as of episode 19. Shouma was the one Himari shared the apple with.
- Turns out, he's actually the Penguin King, Mario. Jossed?
- Double Jossed. It's actually Shouma, of all people.
Who either never really died or was revived. Yuri actually is around the age that Momoka would've been if she was still alive, Tabuki refers to her as a "childhood friend" just like Momoka was. . .
- With episode 12, this theory may... have some more fuel to it. It's explicitely mentioned that Momoka Oginome's remains were never found in the crime scene, and only her Destiny Diary was spotted (we see Eriko with it and baby!Ringo in the funeral). Not to mention, while Momoka's face was censored when the picture of her was shown, we saw a bit of her hair in it, and she seems to be a blonde...
- Ironically, this one maybe defused with episode 13 linking Momoka with the Princess of the Crystal instead. But we shall see.
- Definitely jossed as of episode 14 and 15. And then we get more info on Yuri's own role in the whole series. So she was Momoka's friend, and somehow Momoka used the Destiny Diary to save her from her abusive father? WHOA.
- Confirmed! Holy crap!
- Perhaps... Shoma and Kanba are reincarnations of two Aleph members who performed the attacks? Guess we might have to find how the terrorist organization fits in now.
- Possibly technically Jossed. Episode 12 would imply that it was a series of bombings, not gas attacks. The resemblance to the Aleph attacks is unmistakable, however.
- Given that Destiny Diary and Momoka are able to change the reality, the point is essentially moot. What in our world was the Sarin attack by a Shinto-based cult might've been a bombings series by a shadowy terrorist organization in their world. After all, our Tokyo Tower doesn't look like a 300 meter tall David's copy.
- Possibly technically Jossed. Episode 12 would imply that it was a series of bombings, not gas attacks. The resemblance to the Aleph attacks is unmistakable, however.
- Jossed.
- Surprisingly, there's some fuel for this in episode 13. There's a young girl we see in Sanetoshi's library, wearing her hair in a style that strongly resembles what we could see of Momoka's picture in episoe 12. She also wears a dress whose top also looks very similar to the one Momoka was wearing in the picture. And Sanetoshi's words also seem to connect that girl to the Penguin Hat... Hm.
- Confirmed.
- But why Shouma is practically identical to Kanba, if this is indeed the case?
- Hm... While Shouma does resemble Kanba, they're not identical: to start, Kanba has rather narrow eyes when compared to Shouma's rounder ones, and then we have the different hair colors (Considering that they're presented as fraternal twins, this makes sense). Also, while Kanba is basically a younger and redheaded Kenzan and Himari is a teenaged Chiemi, Shouma doesn't bear such strong physical resemblances to the parents (him having Chiemi's personality is another story). And if they're two unrelated children about the same age, it could handwaved by presenting them as fraternal twins, since fraternals don't have to look the same. It's still very heavy speculation, but not completely impossible... we'll have to see.
- Another possibility is that Shouma is a boy rescued by the Takakuras from being Ret Goned in the Child Broiler. Which may have been jossed in episode 19: he WAS at the Broiler, but not in the circumstances we think of.
- As of episode 20? Jossed! Himari is a Child Broiler kid, while Kanba is from the Natsume clan and Shouma is the only Takakura biological kid. Oh, the Irony.
- Kanba doesn't have to be of any relation to Natsumes to be called "onii-san" by Masako. It's actually a normal, if rather informal, way to address a stranger. Though this theory was officially confirmed as of Ep. 21, when we see the funeral of their dad.
- And then episode 23 states that Kanba has a twin sibling... and it's Masako.
- It's also speculated by some that he might have a strong desire to kill or harm either himself or others, covered under his nicer traits. He once pins Kanba to the floor, almost chokes Ringo and has a very erratic behavior when Himari temporarily dies again, while #2 keeps spraying bugs everywhere and passes up saving Ringo from drowning. His inner monologues in the novels also squarely put him as a Type B Stepford Smiler: he looks and acts normal, but feels very empty inside, and maybe that's why #2 has... erratic behavior patterns as well, dominated by a possible need to "fill" himself whether with food or with bug killing.
- Jossed. It actually probably has something to do with the fact he was about to die of starvation in the KUGA group box. Or a reference to the fact he's always acting like a Team Mom for the brothers. Or both.
- Confirmed by the last chapters, being that he was the leader of the KIGA Group in the 95 attack.
- Jossed The objective of the Survival Skills is to end the world. The person that rejected him (His lover) was Momoko, and the one that stopped him in the 95 terrorist attack.
- All but explicitly confirmed now. And with Ikuni the Shrug of God is the only option.
- Confirmed in episode 23.
- The problem with that is that his fingers were already scarred before the attacks.
- Were they? I only remember them being shown at Momoka's funeral, not before. I could be mistaken.
- Yep, they are scarred in his childhood scenes as well. Perhaps Yuri's father did not appreciate a boy getting close to his daughter at some point, and decided to put his chisels to work? Perhaps this caused his "dissappearance" (i.e. prison for child abuse)?
- Jossed in episode 18. Tabuki inflicted these injuries on himself as a child, apparently before meeting Yuri.
- Jossed, As far as him being Himari's fated person goes. In episode 19, it's revealed that Shouma is Himari's fated person.
- Jossed in Episode 18.
Notice how her father keeps talking about how she was imperfect and ugly and that he would sculpt her into something beautiful. His "coup de gras" or whatever he called it in the show would evidently be chiseling away her penis which under these circumstances would probably lead to a painful death, which is where Momoka steps in.
Also, episode 15 opens with Yuri saying:"I'll never be free as long as that tower still stands." This "tower" is continually referred to by her and may be a metaphor for certain organs which her father would finally "sculpt" away in an effort to make her truly "beautiful".
Her being a lesbian/bi-sexual also adds some weight to this theory, though it is by no means proof.
- But if all this is indeed the case, why does she develop injuries to her arm and leg? Wouldn't her father focus on the offending organ right away? I find it more probable that Yuri's father was referring to psychological rather than physical "ugliness", and that from his perspective a "work of art" that he created was ugly because it wasn't entirely under his control. I believe that he was aiming to twist Yuri's psyche to complete dependence towards himself with the abuse, and when he realized he couldn't get it work forever, decided to kill and possibly preserve her in some way to permanently make her completely his's.
- The second paragraph of this post explains it. He could have possibly used the skin from her arm, leg, and face to construct that organ.
- However, there's how Shouma aka Mr. I "Flinch When I See A Girl's Panties" didn't say anything about Yuri's naked body when he got to see her fully naked. If Yuri truly was an hermaphordite, he would've pointed it out. Same goes to Ringo; she would've noticed Yuri's penis if she had it, when they were bathing.
- If anything, the explanation behind that link disproves the idea. If Yuri's father had indeed intended to perform a sex change operation on Yuri, then this would have been exactly what Momoka prevented by making him dissappear.
- Jossed in episode 18. Tabuki inflicted these injuries on himself as a child.
- Likely to be jossed in episode 18. Tabuki says that Momoka died/disappeared to stop the bombings.
- Maybe. Tabuki might have just been guessing thats why she died.
- Oficially jossed in episode 23.
- Likely to be jossed in episode 18. Tabuki says that Momoka died/disappeared to stop the bombings.
- On the other hand at one point Japanese fans commented that it sounds like a washing machine brand, and we've also zoomed onto a washing machine commercial with a prominent penguin logo. Ikuhara be trolling.
- If you think about it again though, this might actually be the case. if Himari and the princess of the crystal actually turn out to be one and the same and Himari's instrument in Triple-H was that "penguindrum", that might be why she wants the boys to retrieve it Most likely it's just trolling though as the troper above has pointed out.
- Maybe the child broiler is actually a real place and he uses the crushed souls of all those forsaken children to power his ampules.
- Jossed. They are bonafide medicine for Himari, although the are probably magical, given that Sanetoshi himself is a ghost
- Jossed Yamashita is still irrelevant.
- Jossed. The penguindrum is confirmed to refer to the life and fate of Kanba, shared between the three brothers. It takes the form of a Red Orb, The Heart of the Scorpion
- Jossed as of episode 21. Kanba is from the Natsume clan, and Shouma is the only Takakura biological kid.
- I initially thought this as well, but the children look like that before going through the Broiler, so I'm not sure.
- Jossed as of episode 21. Himari and Ringo have a heart-to-heart, an then Himari sets off... to save Kanba.
- Confirmed. Sorta.
- The logo on the cage is not the Kiga Group logo. Kiga's logo is divided into black and white halfs. It also isn't the logo of the Penguin Force that is all black with distinct eyebrows. It's the last remaining unexplained penguin logo that was also seen on the watch of the murdered journalist that may represent the enemies of the Kiga Group.
- That logo has been semi-explained as the logo for 'Pingroup'. Pingroup seem to be pretty large in the Penguindrum universe, almost every product is made by them and even the hospital has their logo everywhere. It's likely that Pingroup control the world and run the Child Broiler.
- What gets me is the fact that the three penguins were delivered in a box with a Pingroup logo on it. Just who are they loyal to?
- Double H?
- That logo has been semi-explained as the logo for 'Pingroup'. Pingroup seem to be pretty large in the Penguindrum universe, almost every product is made by them and even the hospital has their logo everywhere. It's likely that Pingroup control the world and run the Child Broiler.
- Jossed. Episode 12 has Kenzan being informed of the birth of their child.
- Jossed. And he was actually Shouma
- Jossed. They are actually from the Kiga Group and the Pengroup, the ones that orchestrated the bombings. They just changed their names to evade the persecutors, but didn't change the motif
- Shoma and Kanba rarely, if ever, save Himari together. It's either or, and the other is usually somehow not present. It's as though the scenes are designed for two people only, the savior and the saved (or three, but the third is Ringo). For instance, Kanba's character in the first part of the season is inconsistent with the rest. For the later 2/3rds of the season, he's shown to be very possessive of the idea of saving Himari, which he prioritizes over everything else. For the first third, however, he shoves the task on Shoma and randomly prioritizes finding out what's happening to his ex-girlfriends above it, giving him an odd excuse to not be present for most of the scenes. Meanwhile, for the middle third, Shoma proceeds to do very little but angst and comment and somehow be late to everything, despite having worked quite hard in the first third.
- The symbolism behind Kanba giving Shoma half of his apple seems a bit wonky. The apple largely symbolizes life, love, fate, meaning, and family. But if we take that scene literally, how could it have happened? Kanba and Shoma would both remember being treated like that by their parents, and would hate their parents primarily for that, not the killing of strangers; indeed, it was often asserted that their parents were relatively kind to them. Taking it metaphorically similarly doesn't make sense, as what, of these, could Kanba share with Shoma? Love or family? Both would have the same problem as taking it literally; Shoma showed no problem with his own family prior to the revelation of his parents' involvement with the bombing. Meaning? What meaning would that be? Shoma is not shown to live for Kanba. Furthermore, what makes Kanba like Shoma enough to give him half of his heart? He's not really shown to like Shoma beyond friendship. It leaves life, which brings us to the fact that...
- Shoma and Himari have many redundant traits. Generally non-judging, kind, innocent, and saved because Kanba gave his heart to Shoma (who then gave Kanba's heart to Himari). Kanba even tries to protect both of their innocences, in different ways. In the end, they both give Kanba the parts of his heart back, which was a redundant scene. Speaking of that scene...
- The scene in which Shoma gives Kanba his heart back seems a bit wonky. What was Himari even doing here? At this point, she's already given him back his heart (that's why she was dead, after all). Then she gives him a spiel about how she's willing to die... which she's expressed from day one - a catharsis that really wasn't, and is already dead. She makes like she's going to give him his heart back, and then cue Shoma, who appears, says a throwaway line, hands his heart to Himari, who then gives it to Kanba as though it was her own. But wait! We just saw that Kanba gave that heart to Shoma. Why should that have to go through the already dead Himari, especially since Shoma just now realized that he needs to die to do restore the proper fate and thus has the actual catharsis?
- Moving off of the brothers for a moment, why did Ringo suddenly develop a huge desire to save Himari? She's shown to be friendly to her, yes, but to the point of killing herself for Himari's sake? One could argue that Momoka would do the same thing, but Momoka declared that she loved both Tabuki and Yuri; to parallel Momoka, Ringo should have done the same for Himari - which she didn't. She only expresses love to Shoma.
To this troper, this sorta feels like Himari was split off of Shoma's character for some reason. The story would then have Kanba giving half of his heart to Shoma, and Shoma (like Himari) not returning Kanba's feelings because he falls in love with Ringo. The character progression arc would be Shoma coming to terms with having to die (instead of Himari being peaceful with death since day one and Shoma randomly being okay with it in the last three minutes of his life). Not much would be changed aside from that, other than that Shoma/Himari would be much more proactive in his/her own survival.
Specifically, Ringo's theory that Momoka was reborn at the moment of her death is correct. But the person reborn into is not Ringo but in the two brothers. This is why Kiga corp has them in cages - presumeably Kenzan figured this out. Because Sanetoshi could not directly harm Momoka's reincarnation (just as Sanetoshi cannot damage the diary), not did they particularly wish to kill their children, they left them there with the single apple to ensure the two halves of Momoka cannot be re-united. However, the two saved each other and changed their fate. They also later saved Himari, and Masako with the spell, again explaining why they also had Penguins. Additional hints throughout the series:
- Shouma rejecting Kenzan's philosophy, as Momoka did for Sanetoshi.
- Shouma saving Himari in exactly the same way Momoka saved Tabuki. Kanba doing the same when Tabuki threatened Himari.
- Shouma leading to Ringo's realisation in a reflection of the way Momoka freed Yuri from her parents.
- Shouma and Kanba knowing the spell while in the cage, whose knowledge then passed to Himari, who I supposed passed it along to Double-H, who reminded Ringo.
- Shouma and Kanba repeating and completing Momoka's sacrifice in the subway, the Penguin hats' insistence that it has to be them that saved the world.
- The show ending with the combining of the two brothers' hearts to create the 'penguindrum', despite the absence of the second hat. The penguin hat's communication to Shouma, without being worn by Himari. Shouma's ability to transfer the price of the spell away from Ringo to himself.
The penguin hats represent Momoka's last will to recreate Momoka herself by restoring the Penguindrum - the two brothers. The diary was intended to remind them of that, by containing the plan to recreate Momoka - Project M - within (which Ringo was bone-headedly following along). The brothers complete what Ringo was trying to do at the end.
Considering Tabuki's mother is a Control Freak Abusive Mom to the nth degree, she would've forced her abusive training regiment onto Tabuki's stepbrother, especially since she wouldn't relinquish someone with such natural talent. And like a certain Kousei Arima, living under such a person and being under so much pressure to succeed lest you be abused or abandoned, would eventually lead to Tabuki's stepbrother snapping.
Tabuki at least had Momoka, Yuri, and the Oginome family to pick him up after he was abandoned. Fitting with Penguindrum's themes, there's a good chance the Tabuki's stepbrother didn't and eventually only saw one way out of his horrible situation.