Mawaru Penguindrum Episode 1: At First Glance

I want a room like this.

Mawaru Penguindrum stars two brothers who live alone with their ill little sister. Where their parents are or whatever happened to them, we have yet to know. First off, the animation in this episode is just amazing. And the colors...just, the colors...The story itself is kind of like a roller coaster ride. One second, the characters are all happy, then they're angsting, then they're happy, then they're angsting, then they're happy again, with penguins. And then, they're just afsdgfhrekgwgtkw.

Their house is so fudging colorful.

This scene was pretty random.

Kanba and Shoma decide to take Himari to one of her favorite places: the aquarium. Everything is fine throughout the trip...at least until Himari actually dies. Kanba and Shoma are given a moment to grief over her, until she comes back to life yelling "Survival Strategy!" whilst wearing the penguin hat Shoma bought for her in the aquarium gift shop. The siblings' lives are turned upside down by penguins after this. But not just ordinary penguins. Special penguins that only they can see. And they're all fudging adorable.

Cutest stalkers ever.

This happens right after their angsting.

Random sexual harassment time!

A penguin.

This being a series directed by Kuniho Ikuhara (Revolutinary Girl Utena) there's all kinds of crazy going on in this show. But so far, this is the most original series I've encountered this season. The penguins end up living with the three siblings, aiding them with things like household chores. It would seem that Ikuhara wanted to play with the magical girl trope/parody again, this time using a loli in a long, loud, and flashy transformation sequence. Whoever is controlling Himari asks for a penguin drum from the brothers as compensation for lengthening their sister's life. Then the audience gets hit with an unsuspecting ending. I seriously did not see that coming.

I love how everyone but Shoma act like it's natural for penguins to be doing chores.

Cutest roach killer ever.

I didn't think it was possible, but her costumer looks even flashier than Takuto's from Star Driver. Though Takuto still has her beat on levels of FABUUUULOUUUSSS.

Unlike Sacred Seven, the character designs here all look completely original. Kanba and (especially) Shoma are most likely parodies of old-school bishounen, and Himari is most likely a parody of both a magical girl and an ill girl (since we don't even know what her illness is), but this is Ikuhara we're talking about. No one knows what the heck goes through that man's head. I have no idea where the penguins came from either, but I love the it (Who doesn't like penguins? Heck, even Evangelion had one). I can see why many people have been comparing this to Star Driver as well. Heck, even Takuto and Sugata's dynamic (and hair colors) are similar to the two brothers'. But, craziness aside, it's pretty obvious that "Fate" is a huge theme in this show, which I look forward to being played out as the story progresses. So far, this show has the most interesting concept, character designs, and art of this season. The opening is nice, cute and clean, though I'm not to fond of the ending theme. I'm definitely going to blog this series (unless this episode's ending takes a different course).
This episode gets:

I'm not even sure what this image is supposed to depict.