I found Penguin & House volume 1 rather enjoyable, but quite frankly, volume 2 blows it out of the water in quality. And the reason is simple: Hayakawa is much less punchable here.
True, Hayakawa can still be annoying, but he’s much less obnoxious. He seems more attentive to Pen here, and the emotional blows Pen takes due to Hayakawa’s randomness feel more like the results of misunderstandings rather than selfishness.
Another reason why Hayakawa doesn’t drag the series down as much is because the manga features more group adventures. College students Seto and Ota hung out with Hayakawa (and Pen) separately and as a group, but now, the four of them are regularly together. Hayakawa continues to be the unmotivated one with hidden skills, Seto is the most pragmatic but loves Pen, Ota is the high energy rich boy, and Pen is very talented…but he’s also a penguin. The bowling chapter is my favorite story of the book, as it encapsulates their roles so perfectly.
In addition, we see some other characters return. I suspected that we wouldn’t have seen the only appearance of the 70’s shoujo dressed cooking lady or the sickly girl who’s crushing on Hayakawa and her penguin, but volume 2 seems to establish tiers for them. Cooking lady is only seen once briefly, Yumeko appears a couple of times, but it’s Madeleine the penguin who takes on a recurring role.
With Hayakawa less grating, Madeleine seems to have taken some of the “annoying neighbor” role to balance him out. She’s very much Pen’s opposite. The female versus male comparison is obvious, but Madeleine talks in the story. Or should I say, “talk”. Like a JRPG silent protagonist, Pen is obviously capable of communicating with people, but he has no text dialogue. Madeleine is much chattier by comparison, but Hayakawa and others rely on her body language to guess what she’s saying. It’s probably better they don’t know, as she’s rather bossy. Madeleine is also observing (more like judging) Hayakawa, as she wants to make sure he’s worthy of her mistress, Yumeko, and that their relationship will meet with her approval.
But that seems unlikely right now, as their (mostly Madeleine’s) ideas to win Hayakawa’s heart just don’t pan out for various reasons. I mean, you’d think adding a second penguin would double the fun, but I like Madeleine best when she’s trying to be a wingwoman (wingpenguin?).
Stories continue to be random, with everything from sporting activities to Pen gaining weight to Seto and Ota arguing over what constitutes a good date outfit for a girl…with Pen as their model. The visuals sell the jokes, and of course, there’s plenty of adorableness to admire.
I could keep gushing, but you get the idea. It’s not like the plot is hard to understand, so even if you skipped the series’ debut, you can jump right into Penguin & House with this second volume. And if you did read volume 1, I’m sure you’ll be even more delighted with this entry.