I hate the word fate. Birth, encounters, partings, success and failure, fortune and misfortune in life. If our lives are already set in stone by fate, then why are we even born? There are those born to wealthy families, those born of beautiful mothers, and those born into the middle of war and poverty. If that’s all caused by fate, then God is incredibly unfair and cruel. Because, ever since that day, none of us had a future and that the only certain thing was that we wouldn’t amount to anything. ~ Takakura Shouma (ep.1) (gloomy take on fate)
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I love the word fate. You know how they talk about fated encounters? Just one single encounter can completely change your life. Such special encounters are not coincidences. They are definitely fate. Of course, life is not all happy encounters. There are many painful, sad predicaments. It’s hard to accept that misfortunes beyond your control are fate. But I think sad and painful things happen for a reason. Nothing in this world is pointless. Because…. I believe in fate. ~ Oginome Ringo (ep.2) (optimistic take on fate)
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This is a personal wall (finished around 3 months ago or so). I did this because I really like the series. I’m posting it just now simply because I felt like sharing something.
Anyhow, I found the overall plot-line of the story, as well all the characters in it, to be really interesting and fun to watch, not to mention bittersweet too.
I can’t believe this series doesn’t have that many wallpapers (not enough hype I guess). Personally, I hate when series such as this one are overlooked, but whatever (to each their own). Still, not very fabulous-max (as Yuri would say).
Only 16:9 available, but I might (just might) add 16:10 later on.
Wall, stuff, etc
The characters illustrations (before they were released as scans) were vectored from different screenshots I took from the ending (you can found them after the song and preview). Background idea was made from scratch.
I’m not going to explain (in-detail) my overall concept. If you want to get a better idea of the meaning-connection of some of the symbols-objects and other stuff going on here, watch the show.
Stuff
- Ringo & Shouma (characters). Sho is taller than Ringo (fact), but for this wall I made both of them look the same height. Otherwise the whole thing would have looked weird
- Red string of fate (that invisible string that unknowably binds us together)
- 95 (Fate’s destination)
- Kiga Apple (apple of destiny)
- Momoka’s fate diary (do you want to transfer your current fate into another one? Nothing is free in this world. For each transfer, you must endure and/or give something in return)
- Symbols (metro-subway, apple, and temple). Initially vectored as flat 2D shapes, but later changed into vectored 3D shapes
- Debris
- Slightly visible textures and color changes-adjustments
- Screenshots + a tiny bit more
More stuff
Could you change the overall colors of the characters to something less reddish/pinkish/purplish? Why not make the whole thing a tad more colorful? Nope. I love using colors, but I’m quite fond of the way this turned out and since this is a personal wall (as anything else) to begin with, well, you get the idea
Could you add those arms-hands touching-grabbing Ringo’s chin from the screenshot? I could, but I won’t. They do not fit my concept, thus I don’t really need them
Why is there an apple in there? Why is there a notebook in there? Why is there debris in there? Why those symbols? Why Ringo and Shouma? Why a red string? Why? Why? Because destiny said so
Could you add flames to Ringo? Y’know, kinda like she is getting ready to combust (burst into flames)? I was thinking about doing a version like that, but ended up not. I know they are meaningful, but I just couldn’t find a neat way to incorporate them within the scene and mostly her (Ringo). After all, time is really limited to work on these stuff
Could you try to make a more elaborated background? Nope. This is as elaborated as it’ll get. Plus, I quite like the way it is right now. Personally, I think it kinda fits the series (one way or another)
End Notes
This is not for everyone (no cute-sexy-popular characters, no over the top shadings and effects, no extremely burst of colors, etc etc). Things might feel out of place and/or make no sense whatsoever, especially if you haven’t watched the series. But as I said before, this is a 3-4 months old personal wall that I did because I like the series. Again, the idea of sharing was just an afterthought.
AP image’s thumbnail = usually looks low quality. Any loses in quality (.jpg version) = AP compression after submission. The .png version should be fine though (maybe?). There are up to 2 slightly different versions available.
- Version 2: symbols: temple (found on the diary’s cover), apple (some of you have it, some of you don’t; the chosen and unchosen), metro-subway (from that day 16 years ago - final destination – fate!)
- Version 1: Momoka’s diary, Kiga Apple
I should really try to make these descriptions shorter (really, who reads all this stuff anyways). Comments are welcome (if any). If none, enjoy nonetheless.
HimariHikariHibari = upbeat love = ROCK OVER JAPAN
KakashiM
Saving…
1 year, 3 months ago
There's actually a lot I want to comment on this wallpaper. To start, well, I just finished watching Mawaru Penguindrum less than a week ago. It was...quite an emotional roller coaster, and it affected me deeply. To me, it quite depressing, maybe even the most depressing show I've seen. The characters' pasts are quite tragic, and the execution of the story really worked for me. That isn't to say that it's a bad thing. A show that can get that much of a reaction out of me, well, there has gotta be something special about it. I can tell you that it joined the very small list of anime I would rate as 10/10.
Enough about the show, and on to the wallpaper. I have been lamenting the lack of Penguindrum wallpapers ever since I become attached to the show, so of course it's great to see another. My absolute favorite thing about this wall, is the reason you created it. I can tell that you feel very strongly about Penguindrum, probably as much or more than I do. Reading your comments and seeing how much thought you put into this wall really really enjoyable for me. On the surface, it looks like a pretty simple wallpaper. But reading your comments made it 10x better(as well as knowing the significance of the stuff in wall.) The execution is really good, and I can see the work that went into it. The vectors are clean and nice. The colors mesh well together. The objects in the wall have significance. I agree with you that the background kinda fits the series.
I think...it was your destiny to create this wall! And my destiny to see it! I love it! This is one of my top favorite walls, so thank you for creating it!
PS: I like rev. 1 better personally. I just like the objects better, they feel more important to the show.
1 year, 3 months ago
Wow love all the information! I love the thick outline/shadow around the characters! Your vector is really clean! The symbols and grid just the way it is arranged is really good! I like the overall feeling of the wall but I can't describe what it feels like, clean? Clean doesn't feel the right word. Anyway great work!
1 year, 3 months ago
Love it! It’s really nice to finally see a wallpaper for this series, especially one featuring some of the main characters.
Great job using some of the most iconic elements/symbols found on the series (apple, future diary, subway, etc) and putting them together into a single and well compelling scene. The overall idea behind it and composition it is just terrific. There is really a lot meaning behind this (the way they are facing back each other, the broken pieces, the string that tied them together, a painful past, a painful first love, etc). I also love the mere fact you decided to use the illustrations they put at the end of each episode instead of images from the actual episodes or scans (even though that would have been nice too). I always thought those images the put at the end were pretty neat.
It has been a while since I’ve changed by desktop wallpaper for something refreshing and with a lot of meaning behind it, not just pretty colors, characters and backgrounds...
1 year, 3 months ago
The composition here tells a lot from the series and characters and I like that about it. Which, by the way, gotta be one of the best series of 2011.
It’s a shame that not many will see your overall concept (the one you’re trying to portray) as clearly as those that have watched the series (which aren’t many), leading only to a few comments. You can’t help it though, usually people like pretty pictures with pretty characters in it. All in all, I think the overall outcome of this turned out great.
1 year, 3 months ago
Heh… I love Ringo and Shouma, so this wallpaper is up my alley. It’s such a great idea having them not face each other because of their take on destiny, even though they already bound by it. And we can see that because of the red string (anyone who has watched enough anime should know what the red string represents. It will be sad if you didn’t)
I really like the way you played with some of symbols in the series in here. Having the subway and 95 (destination of fate) in the middle work really well (it represents the event that ties them together). Both versions look great. I like how detailed the objects (especially the diary) are in version 1.
Awesome job! And thanks for be one of the few in this site to wall this fun and tearjerker series.
1 year, 3 months ago
Having watched Mawaru Penguindrum I really like all the symbolism you managed to incorporate with such simplicity.
The fact that they are facing different directions, the red string, the 95 etc. I actually am glad that you chose a simple color pallet because that way it conveys a message without being too crowded
And this is how I found my new wallpaper :3
1 year, 3 months ago
grid style's background with the simple character .likes a wonderful music.i must is good
1 year, 3 months ago
If anyone thinks this is just random stuff thrown together, then they haven’t watched the series. The fact is that you did a great job putting this together. It is a unique idea that breaks away from the same old stuff I see here every day. Thumbs up for that!
Also, this is going to sound weird, but your description gotta be one of the best descriptions I’ve read since I joined this site, lol. If only others would take notice of that and do the same for their own works, then maybe I would feel like commenting more, but I doubt that’ll happen.
1 year, 3 months ago
Yay you posted the wall here! And you got wonderfully thoughtful comments too! I don't have much to add, but revision 1 pwns revision 2 imo. Thumbs up for spreading Mawaru Penguindrum love... I'll post mine shortly as well :D
1 year, 2 months ago
Amazing work, i think the second version or Revision simple look better :D I like the colours and whole composition, everything fit so good.
1 year, 2 months ago
I like how balanced the composition of this wallpaper is, and prefer Version 2 since it incorporates symbols like the apple and diary which are so significant in the plot. The metro-sign is also clearer in the second version. Great job! :)
1 year, 2 months ago
Yes, there is a serious lack of Penguindrum wallpapers. On the other hand, it's nice knowing that even though we ain't got a lot to choose from, most of them are actually pretty good. Yours included. The background, color palette and simplicity really capture the mood and nature of the series. All the care you put in it also really shows how you like the sereis, and the symbolism connected to it is the best part of the wall. Not to mention that your wall of comments actually makes the whole even better xD The only thing I'd like to point out is Ringo and Shouma's difference in heights. You say it'd look weird if you showed that in the wallpaper, but I think it looks weirder this way. Well, that's not a big deal though. Congrats on the really nice wallpaper^^
1 year, 1 month ago
Total love :D ♥♥♥♥ +
10 months, 2 weeks ago
It's Beautiful, eache detail it's worked with love and have colors very weird! i love it!!
6 months, 3 weeks ago
This an awesome wall and one of the best Mawaru walls in this site. The fact is that the overall idea fits the series like no other wallpaper, making it one of the best Mawaru wallpapers in here, period. Again, awesome work. I was losing hope I will ever find a Mawaru wall I truly like (100%).