Hmm... Penguindrum...
I always feel like when I don't like an artsy anime or movie it's because I'm just too stupid and uncultured to 'get it' but honestly I just think Penguindrum went way too far out of its way to make the plot obscure and hard to follow. By the end I still didn't know what the heck I had just watched or why anything any of the characters did mattered. I went to talk to the guy who 'recommended' it to me about his take on it and he replied: 'I never recommended that show to you. I just said it had good theme and ending songs'. I had one or two of my other anime buddies check it out and it left all of us scratching our heads.
I mean, I'm no neanderthal... I love stuff like 5cm/s or my abovementioned Wolf Children movie, and even super-artsy stuff like Revolutionary Girl Utena is fine as long as I know what the stakes are and why people are doing stuff but...
I guess what I'm saying is Penguindrum might not be a great recommendation for people unless you like the concept of not being able to understand what you are watching in the least. If you do, it is for you.
Edit: I feel bad about raining on someone else's recommendation without putting one of my own up for scrutiny so in the same vein of really insane anime that will make you mouth the word 'what?' silently to yourself over and over I submit to you Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Humanity has Declined). A story about a world where humanity has... well... declined. They're almost gone. In their place is the new ruler of the world: little fairy folks! The fairies are apparently all-powerful, with the ability to bend reality to their choosing... too bad they're too lazy and airheaded to do anything but make life crazy for everyone. Our main character is a mediator between the remaining humans and the fairies, though she seems just as confused by their actions as everyone else.
Here's the opening and a few scenes that sets the tone for the series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqDdy-Lxiek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42u4ytkzAWw (note: contains a loaf of bread committing graphic suicide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaDy0KBCauU
I always feel like when I don't like an artsy anime or movie it's because I'm just too stupid and uncultured to 'get it' but honestly I just think Penguindrum went way too far out of its way to make the plot obscure and hard to follow. By the end I still didn't know what the heck I had just watched or why anything any of the characters did mattered. I went to talk to the guy who 'recommended' it to me about his take on it and he replied: 'I never recommended that show to you. I just said it had good theme and ending songs'. I had one or two of my other anime buddies check it out and it left all of us scratching our heads.
I mean, I'm no neanderthal... I love stuff like 5cm/s or my abovementioned Wolf Children movie, and even super-artsy stuff like Revolutionary Girl Utena is fine as long as I know what the stakes are and why people are doing stuff but...
I guess what I'm saying is Penguindrum might not be a great recommendation for people unless you like the concept of not being able to understand what you are watching in the least. If you do, it is for you.
Edit: I feel bad about raining on someone else's recommendation without putting one of my own up for scrutiny so in the same vein of really insane anime that will make you mouth the word 'what?' silently to yourself over and over I submit to you Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (Humanity has Declined). A story about a world where humanity has... well... declined. They're almost gone. In their place is the new ruler of the world: little fairy folks! The fairies are apparently all-powerful, with the ability to bend reality to their choosing... too bad they're too lazy and airheaded to do anything but make life crazy for everyone. Our main character is a mediator between the remaining humans and the fairies, though she seems just as confused by their actions as everyone else.
Here's the opening and a few scenes that sets the tone for the series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqDdy-Lxiek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42u4ytkzAWw (note: contains a loaf of bread committing graphic suicide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaDy0KBCauU
The grave is no bar to my call.
