AWTY 136 - Cheater Curry (Penguin Drum)

It's good. Weird, but cute.

Hello and welcome to are we there yet? In Exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, D hollander.

And I'm brenda Mckellley. Your anime wooden frog. You got the little stick on the back and goes like yeah, those things were neat.

Specialty instruments only get them at the.

Gift shop at the museum, and they're always, like, $45.

I don't know why, but my brain only can imagine that pushing, like, popper thing where you push it along and the little thing at the bottom has.

Like, the balls that pop, like a little vacuum sort of push toy.

Yeah, you said, like, frog toy. I was like, my brain only wants to think of this forgotten memory.

I've unlocked something inside.

What about one of my rooms?

Bud?

Swish things that you get at the aquarium or the zoo?

The tubes. Yeah.

Push them inside out forever.

Yeah. One kid brings them to school and pops it. It's like that's a whole day for the janitor. That's just nasty because they're always filled.

With, like, glitter and, like, shark beads and whatever.

I want one right now. Get me one of those.

Just, like, a solid tube of canola oil. It's like, this isn't coming off easily. I need flour to clean this up.

Well, we can't get you one of those dee, but we can't get you an anime show. What is going on this week?

This week we're watching Penguin Drum.

Yeah.

I know nothing about it.

I've heard the name and that's about it.

Looking it up. I have seen people cosplay that girl with the hat. I feel like when this was in its prime, that was, like, the thing.

Really? This is the first time I'm seeing it.

Do you have a year of this in front of you anywhere?

2011? It's ten years old.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, I was on tumblr at the time.

Checks out.

That'll do it.

Yeah. All I know is this by fingers crossed. Kinohico Ikahara, who is the same creator of worked on early sailor Moon revolutionary girl atunia and sarah's ame. So good track record, at least for our show.

Just hearing those titles together, I'm like one of the none of these tend to go together.

Magical girl, kind of I think so.

I could be a magical girl. Animation.

Yes. As I said it, I was like, oh, yeah, there's magical girl stuff in all three. Well, that'll do it.

One's about fighting the force of good and evil. One's about really preppy school with a weird bit of colonialism. One's about crawling into people's assholes. So I don't know. There's a theme throughout that.

There's such a wide range of what to expect in this ship.

We have no expectations. Except for there's probably a magical girl in there somewhere.

I love that. Based on the way we talk about sarah's on, my people would expect that that is the entire plot. It's not I mean, it is still.

Very central to the plot. It's just we're highlighting the interesting thing, important plot summary thing.

Listen, I've watched all of sarasota. I fucking love sarasota. Those songs are on my ipod, like, on repeat. That's a great series. There's a lot of crawling of people's ass. Anyway, penguin drum.

God, I can't even say this. Transition. Let's say it. Let's shove this anime into the assholes of our brains. We're going to watch the first three episodes. I'm so sorry, Brendan. This is your most sadistic mind game I've seen so far. You planned this, didn't you? Evil genius. No, I'm saying this because this is very secret. This is a sleeper agent of a show to make me like Sarah zan my more how dare you? Playing the longest game I have seen so far in this podcast.

I did it with digimon in Summer Wars too.

Tricks you into liking digimon by making you watch the better one.

You've spent years tricking me into thinking you're an idiot.

Yes, tricking you.

Right.

Wink.

I know there's a villainous brain in there. A mastermind.

A big evil idiot.

I took all my points out of common sense and put them into long con.

I wish that was a statin. D and D long.

The long cut. You plant the scenes early.

Okay, let's talk about it. So in episode one, we open, someone is lamenting about life and fate. And it's like, why even be born if everything is based on fate? God sucks if life is predetermined by fate. And as this is happening, we see a girl asleep in, like, a fanciful bedroom. And then we see a colorful little house, and there are three kids eating breakfast. The girl, himari, she takes a sip of miso soup, and she's like, wow, this is delicious. And they're like, oh, yeah, it was always cold at the hospital. And you're like, oh, she's sickly. And she says, this one tastes like the one that mom used to make. Show is the one who made the breakfast. And they say that he'll make a good wife one day. Good for him. And then the other I did not.

Get any of the main characters names because they're always together. It didn't really matter in my mind.

All right, fair enough. The other brother is Kanba, and he is talking about the rolled egg and how he figured out helped Show figure out the recipe. And they're just like, talking at talking at each other, whatever. And then there's a flashback in the hospital. The doctor tells the brothers that their sister only has a few months to live. Oh, no.

Ashamed if there's a magical deus ex machina that kicks in right about.

And Kanba, he's I believe he's the one that was lamenting about God and fate and whatever. He yells at the doctor. He's very upset. And he's like, I would do anything to save himari. And the doctor is like, I'm not God. I can't perform miracles. And he's like, There is no God. After breakfast, Himari lays back, and she's like, It's Himari day. I can do whatever I want. And then we get some kids walking by, and there's, like, a note on top of the screen that says that this is important plot point stuff.

Yeah, it was after the kids go by, and, like, I went back and added a note, being like, I'm pretty sure they just summarized the whole series, like, these two kids.

Yeah. So, I mean, I didn't get every detail, but they're talking about the galactic highway, and they're saying if you die giving up your life for someone you love, you get an apple. And that death is only the beginning, it's not the end. And these are two, like, nine year old boys talking about this.

This would have been a great thing if they didn't need to translate it to be like, hey, just planting a seed. But now that they had to translate it, we're like, oh, fuck. We have to give away the whole plot.

Okay, here we go.

We have to acknowledge this is important.

Just so you know, these two children are very important. Not the children. What they're talking about. Himari is happy at home with her brothers, and then she's like, Are there still penguins at the aquarium? So they go they're on the train having cute sibling banter. They go to see the penguins. Yes. Okay, god. And then Kanba goes off to make a phone call, and then Himari and Show go to the gift shop, and as they're walking, we see three little heads pop out of some trash cans. What's that about? Himari is looking around the gift shop, and she picks up a penguin hat, and she puts it on. She's like, I'm the queen of today. And then Show is checking out of the gift shop, and Kanba comes back, and they hear someone say that a girl collapsed out front, and it's Himari. And then they take her to the hospital, and the doctors are all working over her saying medical things, but she dies.

Episode one.

Episode one. Early death. You think, wow, maybe these boys will learn to handle their grief. No. Show and Kanba are in a room with the body, and Kanba starts talking about fate again, saying, at least it was painless, and she was in a place that held good memories for her.

And I was like, don't know about that place. She died.

Good times. Good times.

And then Show gets angry and pushes him over, and he's like, Why did this have to happen to us? And kamba says, it's a punishment for their lives. Cool.

Thanks, fate.

Just then, Himari sits up, and she's got the penguin hat on, and she has pink eyes, and her voice is lower, and she says that she helped this girl live a little longer. And she says, if you want this girl to live and then the hat falls off, and then she's regular himari again.

She doesn't but alive.

But alive. Yes.

Not dead. Glad that hat fell off before they gave us any qualifications to this. Awesome. We got away scot free, right?

Genie loophole.

No applaud aloud.

For the show. Yeah.

She doesn't know what happened, but the boys don't really care right now. They're just happy that she's back. So they're back at home eating the same breakfast as they did the day before. They're discussing chores, and Hamari says the doctor told her to get her strength up. There's another flashback at the hospital again, and the doctor is talking about how she recovered, and it's it's it's a miracle. And I don't know if this is this time or the last time when they were talking before, but who cares?

Yeah. With this show, they make it clear when it's a flashback, they have, like, a little title card to come out. It's like, flashback. It's like, that's great, but we don't know how far back this flashback is. Like, was it yesterday, or was this a year ago?

Yeah. So they get a delivery at the house, and it's a chilled delivery, so they're thinking it must be food. They open it up, and it's three blue blobs, and they're all frozen.

Got to keep them cold.

Yeah. Wonder what that is. Show hurries off to school, and then he's on his way home after school, and a friend asks him to go to a coffee shop with him. He just wants to flirt with girls. He sees a group of girls and gets distracted. But one of the girls seems important. And then he gets to the station and realizes he left his train pass at school. Then a little penguin guy taps him on the shoulder and gives him his train pass. Thanks, little man.

Thank you, fine sir.

I love them.

I love that. It also just disappears. Like, when he's not looking, he's just like, all right. He doesn't really react to it right away.

Yeah. So he goes to the store. No cabbage. He wanted to get some cabbage. But good news, the penguin is there and snagged some for him.

Oh, hell, yeah.

Thank you, penguin. Then he leaves the store, and it's raining. But good news the penguin has an umbrella, and some people are coming out of the store, and he's like, hey, what do you guys think of this little penguin? And they're like and then they don't look at the man.

Sweetie, run.

They'll talk to the strange man.

So when she realizes that no one else can see it, he runs away, and he stops to look back, and we just see the penguin chasing the umbrella, flopping around. And he gets home, and kamba is like, oh, you're all wet. We sent him with an umbrella and shoe is like, him. And it turns out Kanba and Himari have just been chilling with the penguins, and kamba says they understand what they say, so that's why he sent that penguin out to help him get home or whatever. And then Himari has the penguin hat on again. Time for some anime bullshit.

Hell yeah.

There's a musical interlude, just like in Sarzanmai. Is this one good? No, the ones in Sarasonmi are fun.

I saw other pops.

Yeah, I skipped two of them, so I'm going to say no.

It feels like another opening. It's just an extremely extended, like, magical girl transformation, essentially.

Hey, let's kill two minutes out of each of our episodes so we can continue not doing anything.

It worked for sailor Moon. It worked for Revolutionary Girl atunia. It worked for Power Rangers. It's tried and true staple.

So the boys get transported to this place, and she explains that they have to get the penguin drum. She extended himari's life, so she expects compensation. And then Kanba oh, nothing happens here. That's it. And then it cuts back, and it's just they're in their house. It's nighttime again. Show is having a fitful sleep, tossing and turning. And then Kanba is having more inner monologue about God again.

God, stop praying so loud.

Back at it again.

And then, ho. We see Kanba in himari's room, and he bends down and it looks like he kisses her. And I was sitting in my bed watching this with Paul asleep next to me, and I started saying very quietly, no. I just went, no, no. I sure fucking hope that there's some reveal later where Kanba isn't actually their sibling or something.

Is that just more layboying?

Threw me for a loop.

Yeah, it was.

Then I was like, does he hate fate because he's in love with his sister? Because I'll end it, right? I don't know. But it's over.

Retroactively erase the series from the timeline.

Like, if that's why he hates fate so much, because he's in love with someone he's related to, I can't do it.

Oh, boy.

Hey, you're mixing up the word fate and laws again.

I hate fate. Stopping me from murdering everyone.

No, but that's episode one.

Just a quick rundown. We have a character die, and then we find out, oh, a god saved her. Find the penguin drum. That is the vital info from this 22 minutes episode.

Spark. Yes.

And also komba kissed his sister.

Yes. I wish that wasn't in the spark.

Not that it gets brought up again, but it's important to me.

Yes.

Important that it's never addressed again.

We only picked the first three episodes, but I feel like that's a big thing you should probably address pretty quickly. Anyway, episode two starts off with a random school girl leaving the bathroom talking about fate and God and life and all that. whatnot shit. Saying that even the sad and trying times happen for a reason. Because of fate. And she believes in destiny. Opening sequence. And then we get the cut to the siblings having breakfast again, they're trying to figure out how to feed the penguins, being like, well, they eat a lot of fish. Being like, oh, boy, that's going to be expensive. It's like, do they eat anything? Like they're weird ethereal penguins?

Yeah, they're made of magic, invisible to others. Can we feed them invisible food? And does that still work?

Yeah.

Oh, boy. I made you this delicious fish.

Don't worry, other people can see it. So by logic, it works.

We see the penguins can interact with stuff physically around them, but it's like, do they need to eat or do they just like to eat? You don't have to.

Who knows?

So they're figuring out what to feed them, and then suddenly Hamari is wearing the hat.

Boom.

Longevity tactics. Which I guess is the activation phrase, because she says it a lot. And that starts the transformation of sequence again. There's a minute and a half killed and she tells the brothers that they must board a train and get the penguin, but drum back from someone on the train. I'm pretty sure. Do they have it? What do you mean, pretty sure? It's like, I got a good feeling they have the penguin drums. What do you mean you have a good feeling? So they really make it clear that this extra dimensional penguin queen really isn't sure and just kind of taking blind shots of stuff.

But also I'll kill your sister if you don't do this.

Yeah, I can't really argue with her too much because she's got a knife to her sister's throat. So it's like, all right.

Guess the number between one and ten. It could be between, like one and 20, though.

But guess eight wrong is 36. What?

What?

So we cut to on the train and we see kamba is falling asleep and Show is trying to figure out what's happening, trying to make sense of all of it. And while they're there, they try to figure out what type of person this ringo is. She's the one they have to get the penguin drum from. So it's like, well, if they're on.

The drum, her name is ringo and she has the penguin drum. Didn't ringo play the drums? And the beatles?

I didn't think of that this whole time. It was right in front of us. Sorry we're all too dumb to do this podcast.

You can't trust us. I thought it was pretty obvious. In episode three, when she introduces her friend Sarah lennon and she gets shot.

She just loves octopi for some reason.

Super weird strawberry Fields just come up a lot for no reason. Yeah. So they're trying to figure out what kind of person has this penguin trim. Well, they're on the train at this point, they're either a student or an office worker. It's like, great, that's 80% of the population. So they're on the train and trying to scatter out, and we get some penguin chin antigens and then squeezing through people and get stuck on a very tight, crowded train. Oh, I also like that they do a thing that they do also in sarasota Might, where the crowd shots the people are just like crosswalk people, or the people will be on a bathroom sign. Like they're very unidentified, which is great to give a sense of a crowd, but also be like, none of these people are important. Don't get distracted by this.

Yeah, we aren't going to draw this information you don't need, so just focus on the colorful people. All right?

Okay. This is easier for us and easier for you. Agreed. Great. Moving on. So we see the penguins getting stuck between people, and one penguin gets stuck between a guy and a girl squeezing through, forces his way through. And the girl turns around and points at show and be like, you touched my ass for a long time. He's like, It was the penguin, but you can't see it, so I can't explain it and blame it on him. And then kamba comes in, and he's like, oh, hair flip. Rose petals flying around backlighting. That wasn't his hand grabbing your ass. That was my bag. He got stuck there for quite a bit. I apologize. Please let me know if I can repay you in any way. Hair flip again. sparkles. And the girl just smitten with him immediately. He's the fuck boy. He's the one all the girls love.

Whatever.

It works.

His only character trait of popular with girls.

Yeah, but loves his sister.

But also loves his sister. I was like, yeah, he loves his sister. He's a good big brother. Oh, no, that's not what you meant.

Already.

I already trained it. They settled that dispute. And the girl gets off the train, but she loses her shoe. I guess that's common.

The penguin took it.

Yeah, the penguin has the shoe on his head, and it's like, oh, we got to give the shoe back to her. So when they chase off after her to give her the shoe, they see she's meeting it with some friends. She meets up with ringo and George and Paul, and they're like, oh, you got to go give her the shoe. And here's a great chance to spy on this ringo girl. So they send the penguins in after them, or they go after the girls to fight out there at an all girl school. And they're hiding behind a light post that has a sign on it that says, beware of perverts. I'm both delighted that that sign exists and deeply saddened that there has to be a sign for that.

Glad someone's taking a stand. But oh, no. It got so bad that someone needed.

To take a stand.

Much like the Cosplay is not consent signs at conventions.

Shouldn't need those signs.

Yeah, thanks for putting them up. But also, yay.

And so they're like, all right. We got to figure out how to get more information. Well, no one can see these penguins. That's awfully convenient for us. So they tape, like, a camera to it and, like, walkie talkies and send the penguins into the school after the girls to get some info. Meanwhile, they're just hanging out on a rooftop in downtown. Somehow it's very easy to get on Japanese rooftops in anime. And Kanba also pulls out, like, a USB, and he's like, I got this from a girl I used to date. She was a hacker. And it's just all of the students at that old girl school and Show at least, has enough respect for human decency and be like, hey, that's fucked up. He's like, yeah, whatever. It happens. No, that's fucked up.

Very convenient for the plot. Doesn't make a lot of sense. But also, stop.

These are children kava getting real bad in these first two episodes. So, yeah, they send the penguins in, the scout out, and the penguins are just walking around, and they find ringo in her class, and they basically just follow her the whole time. Meanwhile, Humori is at home with her penguin. Anyway.

Actually, remember that vital character that this whole plot revolves around? Yeah. We'll see her about three minutes out of the next two episodes.

Yeah. No one homer is at home. She gets a phone call, and it's shows Home Row teacher saying he skipped class, basically. And then cut to them scouting out the school with the penguins still and spouting on. The girls are eating lunch. And then after school, the two penguins stick with ringo because she goes running off. She doesn't go home right away. She goes running off somewhere else. So I got tailor penguins get on her ass. And so they're on the train speculating what the penguin drum really is. If it is just, like, a literal drum, they feel like they would have noticed her carrying it around, and they're spying on her at a bookstore while she's just scouting out different books and stuff. And that's when Hamari calls Show to yell at him for skipping class. And of course, his phone's not on vibrate, so it draws attention, and they lose ringo for a bit, but the penguins are still on her trail, so they keep following her, and she goes into a lodgeration. We can't go in there. We're boys. They go in there anyway, and then just sexy shenanigans and sue with the penguins rolling around in underwear for a hot minute. Great.

Necessary for the plot.

Absolutely had to address it. We see ringo sneak out through the back door in the shop, and they follow her and just goes on to, like, a walkway, and they're like, oh, we lost her. Where did she go? And they just turn slightly and see that she's scaling the front of the building on the ledge outside the windows like a goddamn lunatic. And I was like, well, that's suicide. We're not that dumb. Send the magical penguins after, which is the right idea.

Send to the penguin slave.

And they're like, oh, no. The penguins are having trouble walking across this tiny ledge because they're just big, round boys. But they see ringo gets the edge. She pulls on her camera, takes a picture, and she goes, Good. And that's it. That's all she does. So it's like, all right, risk your.

Life for the Instagram post.

Do it for the line. And then we see. Yeah, then we just see. She's out in, like, a courtyard somewhere in, like, a shopping district, waiting for someone, and they're still spying on her, trying to figure out what the penguin drum is. We see. She ends up meeting up with the homeroom teacher of show, who called on earlier saying he was late or he skipped class. So she's like, oh, Mr. Teacher, you got to check this out. I got a picture. Did I write down the bird name? It doesn't matter. I got a picture of a bird's nest that was out on the ledge of a building. He's like, wow, that's really impressive. bye. Okay.

Get home safe.

Yeah. And so he starts leaving. He goes home. And she also goes home to his home because she's a stalker.

Wow.

Love it. You love to see it. You don't, though. So she's stalking the teacher, and the brothers are stalking her. And once they get to the teacher's house, they lose track for a bit. As her walk around, they see an air vent was pulled off the hinges of the house. uhoh, so they send penguin she did the floorboards.

Imposter. imposter.

And so they send the penguins in after her. And sure enough, they find ringo underneath the floorboards of the house. And she just pulls out a radio, I guess. Oh, the radio was tuned to the bugs that she has in the teacher's house as well. All right. That's how she was listening.

Wait, she has bugs in the teacher's house?

Conva says that, like, I think the third episode yeah. She pulls out a little radio, tunes it in, and she just is eavesdropping on the teacher, who is two inches above her because she's literally laying underneath the floorboards. And the teacher's just living his life, minding his own fucking business. So far, he's the only decent person in the show. And she pulls out a little diary saying, like, you don't have to worry, Mr. Teacher. I'll be cooking for you soon, and you'll never be alone again. And it's like, oh. uhoh whoa, whoa. And she says she believes in the power of faith. And since everything is written in this diary, she believes it will all come true. And she opens up to a certain page where it talks about her and the teacher being together on this specific date. And she pulls out a little stamp with, like, a peach on it, and it says destiny. And she stamps the page, like pretty much checking it off. Like, yes, I did today's assignment. And that's episode two.

Stellar. So we've got a boy who kissed his sister and a girl obsessed with a teacher who doesn't even work at her school.

Yeah. And we got Penny once.

Once again summing up the plot of this episode is a god lady says, hey, follow that girl. And then they do for 20 minutes. And here we are at the end of the episode. Very riveting, very intriguing stuff.

That's some penguin shining.

And though yeah, let's do the same thing again, but with less penguin shenanigans.

Dang it, if we have to.

So we start episode three with a flashback. ringo is a little girl. We only hear the audio. And ringo is like, oh, yeah, eaten curry. Good family, happy memory, and just good times being had. So we then see ringo having breakfast. She's making it herself. And her mom comes in already, like on the phone, work. I'm a business mom. No time for moming. I'm business time. So ringo is like, hey, mom, it's the 20th. You know what that means? And mom's like, oh, okay, cool. No.

And just says, no, I'll eat curry by myself. Just like, you should too, teenage daughter.

I get bond with myself.

So we show that, oh, the family dynamic son aren't as happy as they.

Once were, catching on together by the stalker daughter.

Yeah. So ringo says that every month the 20th is curry day for her family, where they all have curry together. And it's just like it it's a special little meal. It's not anything major to, like, make, but it's just good family time to have a tradition that her parents shit on. So we see. It's time for hat ladies entrance. So two minutes passes. The same song plays again.

Dance.

Yeah. So she walks in and is like, hello, boys. You're fucking stupid and I hate you. And they're like, I'm going to kill your sister. And they're like, well, you're in hamari's body. We think it's just you hamari playing a joke, so can you stop? And she's like, oh, you don't believe it's me because I took the exact form of your sister. Well, she can't drink milk, so let me dress up in a cow costume real quick and chug like a gallon of milk. Let me do the gallon challenge for you real quick. Your latest intolerant sister can't do this, right?

Was this relevant in 2011? I think so, yeah.

And they're like, okay, we still think it's you. And she's like, oh, well, how about this? relive the nightmare and plays dead.

It fucking dies.

She dies to be like, if you want, I can just put the curse back or you can take me fucking seriously. Like, all right, all right. Okay, whatever. And then they leave. She doesn't give them anything new to do.

She just likes to. Say hi.

Yeah.

Be like, reminder, I'm going to kill your sister. bye.

I've been pumped up in this penguin hat for eons. Like, I got to talk to somebody. Every now and then.

We see the boys. They go to ringo's house because time to everyone move the stalker notch up one, they're going to do a B.

And E. Time to stalk the stalker.

So they're like, okay, we just got to find the penguin drum. We're breaking into her house. If she has it, if it's an actual physical thing we're looking for, again, not clear if it is or not.

We don't know.

We got to find it. So while ringo is out, they break in. So we see at the girls school, ringo and her friends are talking, her friends talking about like that boy I met on the train goes like and ringo is just like, carrie, no fault same. Yeah. And she goes to the store after school and she starts heading home. Oh, no. But the boys, they're in the apartment and they're like, oh, this place is nice. Time to tear it apart. Looking for something we don't know. And penguins are there. They do some antics. They eat food. One gets stuck in a glue trap. That's to the extent of penguin antics for this episode.

Oh, man.

One is just choking on like pickled plums and the other is stuck in like a rat glue trap. So that's what they're going to be doing for the next 20 minutes, so don't worry about them. So yeah, they're looking through stuff. They look in a room and they can't find anything. They just see like the calendar circled with curry day. And they're like, oh, what's that? But then, oh no, the door knob jingles. ringo comes home. They have to hide behind the couch. That's about it from here.

Does she almost find them? Not really, no.

Yeah, she starts making curry and we get a flashback to eleven year old ringo having a curry day. But the teacher is there. He was maybe her teacher when she was younger. Not clear. Not going to talk about it, not going to explain it. Just an eleven year old in love with this strange man eating curry with her mom.

I think he was still in high school because he's wearing like a school uniform. So I think he's like a family friend or something.

Yeah, something like that. They don't explain it, so whatever. But yeah, we got that flashback. And then she sits on the couch that the boys are hiding behind. It's tense. And then we cut away because then it resolves itself. Yeah. So we're on the train again. She's taking the curry she made. She's going to bring it to the teacher. She's like, it's my destiny to make this boy eat my curry.

There's a guy on the train and he's just like, yo, what? fucking stace. It seems like curry up in this train. Why is he here? Why is this a line in the show?

Yeah, just firmly establishing, hey, the main character has curry on the go.

This does nothing.

It would be weird if she just says to no one on this train, hey, this bundle was filled with curry. So I'm here now. I disappear into the eaver.

Come on.

So curry announced her man is dead and we see the boys on the other train car watching her and yeah, she is transporting curry riveting television. So she is fantasizing, oh, she's going to get to the house, she's going to feed him the curry, and he's going to be like, oh my, this is the best curry I've ever had. Let's get married now. But that's not what happens. Oh, no. What happens is she gets to teach her boy's door and his girlfriend.

Is there no an age appropriate girlfriend for this adult man, this horn?

No. He has other people in his life, not just children.

This homemaker ruining me. The home wrecker chance of my man.

How dare she spoiled again. But of course, she perfectly lovely person is like, oh, a friend of my boyfriend's. Come in. Are you a student? Oh, let me be so welcoming. He will be home soon. He is not here now. By the way, I'm making curry for dinner and Ring goes like, oh, fuck no. This horse is giving him curry behind my back. So she just gets sat down in the living room and girlfriend goes, teacher boy comes home and needs help with some groceries. So she goes to the door, they're they're just having a full on conversation at the door, being like, oh, hey, yeah, students here. Let's crouch in this doorway for a minute while you like unpack groceries in the doorway. I don't know exactly what was happening here, but while they were distracted, Ring goes like, you can't just have curry today. It's my curry day. It's my curry or nothing. So she goes into the kitchen with her bindle and she swaps the curry pots and then leaves, stealing the curry the girlfriend made, leaving behind her own.

Conveniently the same pot.

Yeah, very convenient. But yeah. So she leaves and she's like, major roadblock in my plan to marry this fool, but he's eating my curry. So my goal was complete. Okay, victory was achieved today.

He's really unhinged.

Yeah, just take the wins where you can get him. Jesus. But she walking home, runs into a cat with a fish and in her jealous mind, she's like, oh, that cat is the girlfriend and that fish is the man. She's stealing from me. curse this damn cat. But we also see himari walking home with her penguin and then her penguin runs into the cat and tries to steal its fish and oh, sorry, I forgot there was a little bit more penguin antics. I'm so sorry to mislead you like this. We have an extra scene of penguins. But yeah, they scuffle with the fish or scuffle with cat fighting over the fish. Cool.

For some reason, she wants to be pretty. She already is.

But the boys come home. They're like, oh, that was tense. And we came home empty handed. Still don't have a penguin drum. But hamari is there and he's like, you skip school again? Jesus Christ. I'm so mad at you. But I can't actually be mad at you because we have a guest. Meet my new best friend, ringo. So ringo is there and is going to stay for dinner. So just casually, fate acts in funny ways. That's a series. But yeah, they eat the curry that she stole and they're like, oh, this is delicious. And she's like, my curry is better. And they're like, what curry? This is cheater curry.

This is horror curry.

So they're bonding. They're like, oh, if you don't have anyone to eat curry with, you're welcome here anytime. We're fast friends. And kanaba is like, hey, did you have, just for the sake of argument, hyper specific task that you needed to complete today? And if you failed, it potentially life shattering things would happen. And she's like, yeah, cool.

What a coincidence.

And she's like, yeah, it will make my destiny come true. And that's where we end the episode. So in summary, some boys break into an apartment, a girl cooks curry, steals some curry, and then eats curry.

Yeah, it's curry day.

Curry.

Curry day. Why is curry the go to for anime? It feels like every anime has like a curry episode or someone talking about curry.

Significant enough, like Japanese dish to warrant enough cultural osmosis. And two more shows.

Pretty tasty. Yeah, love a good.

Why is there so much rice in these Japanese shows?

See, that I get because it's like the ingredient, but it's curry specifically. Anyway, there's also a little otter and cap, a plush in ringo's room, and then the gift shop in the aquarium.

Wow.

I like it because it's Arizona.

No foreshadowing, please. Yeah, real quick. It happened real fast, so it wasn't really touched on in episode one. But the first time they meet Hat Lady in that song sequence, at the very end of it, her clothes run away. They just jump off of her. She reaches into a boy and pulls an orb out of his chest. And I was like, oh, no. It begins, yeah, I forgot about that.

She never did it again.

Yeah, it never happened again. So I was like, oh, it's a recurring thing. This creator just loves ripping orbs out of boys. But nope, happens once. And then it just sat in the back of his head and he was like, one day, one day.

This is going to be a big deal.

She's like, on the storyboard and just like circled and highlighted that scene. I'm like, we got to do more of this. Why?

I don't know why. But fate keeps calling me back to the scene.

This is my penguin drum. I need this.

I wish this show was just about the little penguins having fun with some siblings and that was it. But unfortunately, they try to be serious.

Yeah, see, that's my problem with this show. Are we there yet? No, because this is boring. We have three episodes where they are given clear goals to accomplish, and they don't really do that and don't get things, like, resolved in a satisfying way. It's okay, follow this girl and we'll do it for two episodes. We'll get there eventually, but there's no short term payoff to keep you interested. The only payoff we get is stalker girl stealing and swapping curry. And that's supposed to be, like, a victory we have to hang our hat on.

Yeah, we did it.

Yeah. So they set up big lofty goals with very vague terms about them and then don't give us any satisfaction or resolution with anything about it. And sort of like a minion style thing. Like, the only satisfying thing is just like, the cute little characters that run around and it's like, okay, if we want to just do that, we can just do that.

But they were like, if we're vague enough, maybe the audience won't need any kind of satisfying pay off because we didn't give them a satisfying mission.

Yeah, there was a satisfying beginning.

Like, in that last episode, I was getting the vibes of like, yeah, it's going to turn into fate isn't, like, the thing you want the most coming true. It's just how life happens around the plans you make. And it's like, okay, that's a fun little message. Can we go back to the stalkers and the sister kissing and all the shit that we need to address?

Yeah. Even watching this, I'm like, I'll probably keep watching this, but I got a lot of free time on my hands. It's not like I'm super invested because I thought, like, I'll probably keep watching the dub. That way I can do other things while it's also playing. I guess that's a clear indicator my interest.

After I watched the first episode, dubbed, I did everything I could to try and watch it subbed because I could not stand Kanba's, voice actor.

Not to be mean, but didn't really mention it. But yeah, the dub in general was just not very good.

And I saw with this, this is 24 episodes, I'm pretty sure Sarasoma is like, ten, if not twelve episodes. And I think that plays into a part of, like, the pacing we've talked about before this series where it's like it's like, wow, twelve episodes. That's really short for just a show, like, just to be a one season. Yes, but it can be a very tight, well paced story. You know exactly what you're doing, and you got to hit all those points with 24. This kind of feels like we're talking about it's dragging out these first, like, three episodes. But then if it's these first three episodes condensed into one episode, and it was half as long as the series, it probably be better pace and feel more important.

Yeah, because it could have been done pretty easily of, like, taking their sick sister to the aquarium where she passes out, and they are immediately given the goal of, hey, I saved your sister. Find this girl. That could have been in, like, the first act of the first episode, but they just made that the whole first episode. So it just took way too long to develop and then didn't really pay off at all. So this is a no for me.

Yeah. I feel like this is a lot like was it 20, your name?

Yeah.

Where we're seeing, like I was going.

To say that too.

Yeah. Where we see, like, ah, here's the early one, here's the building blocks. And then we see ten years later when the creator is kind of more perfect at the craft. And it's like, here is it more condensed and streamlined and just better overall.

Yeah. And it just really puts me in that awkward position to be like, maya is a better show than this. And I hate saying that it's objectively true, but I hate having to admit it.

Oh, Duke can just hate the whole anime. There's not much. Great.

Well, since we didn't have a lot to talk about, I have a game to fill some time. Would you like to play a game with me?

Yeah.

All right.

At first glance, part two stop it. No.

This is an equally labored, pun game. We're going to play a game called Penguin Slowly.

I love it.

Penguin Drum. thematically. We're going to play a game. I'm going to give you a list of names. You have to tell me if this is a fictional penguin or a fictional drummer.

Okay.

So we'll see. Probably not the most difficult name, because as you can probably imagine, the comparison of those two categories is a little bit easy to figure out as some people have real human names and some are cartoon penguins. So we'll see. Okay, first up we have pickles. Is this a fictional penguin or a fictional drummer?

Drummer.

Shit. I'm going to go penguin.

D gets it. This is the fictional drummer from Death Lock.

Yep. I hardly know anything about it, but I thought that would be something you knew. Brent.

I do know I should have gotten that one.

See, I thought that too. I was like, this is the only good one that could go either way.

It's made by Brendan Small. We have the same name.

All right, next up we have cody maverick.

I wish that was a penguin. Is that a penguin? I'm going to say that's a penguin.

I really wanted to be a penguin, so I'm going to say it's a trauma.

Do you guess it again? This is a penguin from surfs up.

I was like, Wait a minute. Hold on.

I know this sounds familiar. shyla buff? The titular surfed up.

All right, next up, we have melody valentine.

I'll say penguin.

Again, I'm also saying penguin because I'm not doing great in diaz, so I'm just going to ride those coattails.

I'm sorry. Neither of you get this. This is a fictional drummer from josie and the pussycats.

I thought maybe she was from The Penguin and the pebble.

No, that sounds like a name that.

Would be from that movie.

But oddly, that was not a movie that came up in my search of fictional penguin names, and I totally forgot that was a thing until you said it. So, yeah, that was the thing. I probably could have pulled some good names from shit.

I guess I just have knowledge of fictional penguin.

I'm realizing the only one I know.

Is chilly willy, and that's why it didn't go on the list.

Damn it.

All right, next up, kowalski.

That's a penguin.

Yeah, that was an easy one. I was like, Will you get it without the context? If I just throw out kowalski, will you get it? No. Yeah, that was too easy.

Okay, that's the only penguin out of that group I know. Any of the other ones I wouldn't have gotten.

Another very challenging name. Peaboo Pudgemeyer.

Wow.

That's got to be a drummer.

Yeah, I'll say drummer. Why not?

My God, this is a penguin. What? TV pudge meyer. How can you imagine that? It's not a penguin name. This is from catstone Dance.

I got to see how you spell that.

Yeah, the nickname was Pudge, which I was like, I can't give you that because they mostly say Pudge in the movie. So I was like, I can't just say pudge. That's clearly a penguin.

Pudge punch, meyer. What a guy. What a name.

All right, next up, we have Stumpy Joe.

A drummer with a wild backstory. Or just a very irritable penguin.

I'm saying drummer.

We got that penguin last one. The one before that was oh, I mixed them up.

Don't worry.

Yeah, I'm trying to met a game. Would you say d drummer? Yeah, I'll say penguin. I think it's like an angry penguin with, like, a stumpy flipper.

Sorry. This is one of the drummers from spinal Tap.

I'm not keeping track of the points anymore. I can't win. Yeah.

Dee currently has four. Brendan has one. It's gone.

I've gotten all of them wrong.

But for your pride, we will keep going.

Yay.

So, next up, Russell hobbes.

Oh, do I know this one? This is familiar. Russell hobbes. I guess I'll say drummer.

I'll also say drummer, and you both.

Get it because this is the drummer for gorillas.

Okay.

All right. I think that's not a fictional.

Once I say it, you'll probably get it, but I don't know if you just hear the same and be like, oh, yes. I'm very familiar with the fixture lineup of the band gorillas.

If you said murdoch. noodle. Or 2d, sure, but Russell name in there.

All right. How about Captain Cook?

Penguin.

That's a penguin?

Yeah.

Not the hardest one. This is from Mr. Proper penguins.

Book.

Got two more duke.

Yeah. The one names are Tricky.

Penguin drummer.

Do you get it? You are destroying this game. I mostly had to pick this one from the list of fictional penguins because it's from an old comic strip strip called boners arc.

That's what an arc it is.

Great. Fictional penguin intuition.

All right, last one. Don wada.

Drummer penguin.

A little bit of a trick one. This one is a drum. This is the mascot of the rhythm game Tychono tatsuji.

Well, then, did I say drummer? Yeah, I'm technically right.

Yeah, you got it. You destroyed this game with eight points.

Wow.

You really know your penguins and or drummers.

Wow.

I can't believe it.

And I once again proved dugan wrong when he said I wasn't an idiot earlier in this podcast and proved I very much am an idiot.

What are the chances, though? What are the chances either of us would have known any of these? I'm on because we're guesses.

I know this is part of your long game. I know you threw it.

I'm going to come back with a horse anime that will make you love Pretty Derby.

Oh, God.

Yeah. It's about to say you lover of old references didn't get a spinal Tap reference. How dare you.

Surprisingly haven't seen a lot of Christopher Guest movies. I should have.

Yeah, they feel like your speed.

Yeah. I don't know why I haven't. I definitely should have gotten pickles out. That one is fully on me.

I think that threw you off from the beginning.

That's what I think it did. Yeah. I think that shook me to my core.

Yeah.

Well, dee, as the winner of the game and wasn't determined before, but that means you get to pick the anime for next week. That's how that works. So, dee, what do we have going on next week?

Next week we're watching a show that I've seen various clips from called gaku and babysitters. It seems very much the vibe of sweetness and lightning. So that's what I'm hoping.

Prepare to be emotional.

I cannot get my hopes up. I can't do that to myself.

Less emotional and more super cute.

Not Baby.

Stay out.

Oh, wait. Oh, wait, the plot. Oh, no, wait. It might be emotional anyway.

Oh, no.

We're watching the first three episodes.

Yeah.

Away distracting from the next week's pick. If you, the listener, would like us to watch a show, you can send your recommendations to us. Our email is arweevariat@gmail.com. Or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram at arwibariat. On both. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan.

You can find me on instagram at honey. Period. D on Twitter at honey d eight and Honey dart, or on twitch at honey d and Honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E.

You can find me on Twitter at aBTS brendan. It stands for Almost Better Than Silence, which is a video game podcast, which I'm using as my personal binding of Isaac track record. I have 800 hours in that game. I have a problem.

Oh, man. Thank you to camille ruley for her artwork. Thank you to Louisong for our theme song stories. You can find all of Louis music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

Remember, happy feet.

Don't be a stalker.