Jun Sakurada is not an average boy of his age. Due to some event of the past, Jun has spent most of his recent life in his room, unable to properly socialise. One day, he comes across a doll. This doll, however, is no ordinary doll. It's the 5th Rozen Maiden Doll Shinku, and it comes into life when Jun gives it a couple of winds.
Shinku 'enslaves' Jun into becoming her "medium". Jun and Shinku soon come across Suigintou, another Rozen Maiden Doll who is determined to defeat Shinku in the "Alice Game" to become the ultimate "Alice". Shinku must fight through the obstacles coming against her and help Jun break out of his unstable life.
Description: euna
Story & Characters
The story of a boy becoming a man through interaction with his dolls... wait, what? For those of you who didn't
know, Rozen Maiden is all about dolls; dolls any fanboy would trade their left (oh like you don't know what) for.
In a nutshell, a social shut-in named Jun Sakuranda comes across a mysterious website that tells him to place an order
form into his second desk drawer. When he does this a doll named Shinku appears and tells him that he is now her
servant. While that might sound weird enough on it's own, it only gets weirder. More dolls slowly appear in
Jun's domicile from what appears to be word of mouth (that's the only reasonable explaination I can come to).
All these dolls sole purpose is to defeat each other and retrieve the others Rosa Mystica and become Alice, the doll
creator's ideal girl. An odd story if I've ever heard one, but it's also one that works. For the most
part this is a character interaction show that results in a lot of comedy and a few serious moments in there to boot.
All of the dolls hold their own distinct personality which makes for interesting moments when they all are in the scene
together. There isn't any one character that stands out above the rest which is what makes this fun to watch,
there isn't that one character you wish just didn't exist. I can say this, although the plot was by no means
amazing, it was an entertaining albeit odd journey.
(With Traumend) The Alice Game finally comes to fruition and the plot thickens. The plot that was lacking from the
original 12 episodes shows up all of the sudden in this new season and pulls it off without a hitch. A short plot
add-on for you. The final two Rozen Maiden's finally show up which signals that the Alice Game is truly about to
begin and our good (evil) friend Suigintou shows back up through what was pretty much an Alice Game technicality (which
you'll understand when the time comes). Through the first half of the season it is pretty much the same as was the
first season, interaction between Jun and his dolls. Towards the latter half of the season thats when everything starts
to come to a head. There were a few plot twists I won't get into as that ruins the fun of viewing it, but I will
say it is a large story improvement over season 1. 1 point added to plot overall.
Rating: 8
Art
Getting right to the point, the art in Rozen Maiden is perfect. It's bread and butter is by far the character
designs. While the human characters are average on the whole, the dolls are crafted beautifully. I believe it was done
this way to actually showcase the stars of the show, the Rozen Maidens. Every doll is extremely well animated, delicate
and beautiful in their own way. Shinku the dainty tea drinking doll; Hinaichigo the overly cute one; and Suigintou the
dark, brooding one. If this show had absolutely nothing else to offer, the georgous art would be enough to keep me
watching.
(With Traumend) The art was identical to season 1. The only add-ons were the two new Rozen Maidens, which of course
were very well done. I give Peach Pit credit on some excellent character designs. Something so very haunting and
beautiful about the character design to Barasuishou, similar to Suigintou, that just brought out her evil nature. I
will say this though, after being exposed now to 24 episodes I am going to have to comment on the background animations.
I guess due to my infatuation with the character designs I feigned interest in what is going on the background. I do
still believe minor characters were intentionally drawn to bring out the Rozen Maidens, but the backgrounds were quite
lackluster and at times horrid. Minor details cost this show an overall minor 1 point in the art deparment.
Rating: 9
Sound
The sound and music department was working overtime on this show. The vocal opening and closing songs were excellent.
Being a fan of Ali Project I found the opening to be a great mood setter for the show and just an overall great song.
As for the BGM of the show, it was fantastic. It had a beautiful, melodic and sometimes haunting tracks that carried
the show above many out there. About episode 8 or so I realized that this was an OST to own and as soon as I finish
this review, that's what I'll be hunting for.
Voice acting can make or break a show at times. Rozen Maiden had some of the best voice acting ever. Every
character's personality was well matched by their respective seiyuu. Shinku sounded refined and snobby at times.
Suiseiseki's seiyuu brought out her abrasive and insulting personality. But the best performance had to go to Rie
Tanaka as Suigintou. After hearing Rie play the sweet and dignified Lacus Clyne in Gundam SeeD, it was a great surprise
to hear her go to the pure evil Suigintou. Her voice brought out the evil nature of Suigintou and actually creeped me
the hell out a few times with how well she pulled it off. She is truly a versatile actress and will be as iconic as
Kikuko Inoue one day.
(With Traumend) Musically the same, save a few songs. Of course we are treated once more to an Ali Project opening
which is always a good thing. The ending was a different song but had the same tone and feel to it as season 1. Also
an image song by kukui was inserted into the show, which although it was a good song, I felt it's placement was a
bit off. As for the remainder of the BGM, exact same as season 1. No change in overall score.
Rating: 10
Presentation
Rozen Maiden is a hard show to put my finger on. The plot was fairly easy to follow, not too horribly deep and at
times, fairly cliche. But the show was very enjoyable and quite engaging. I laughed, felt sad, was empathetic and
weirded out all over the course of the twelve episodes. While the show was fun to watch, critically speaking, it missed
a few marks on making it great. The weak plot, the lack of character development and the few cliche moments in the show
held it back from attaining that top 10 quality. For those with an open anime state of mind, this show should provide
some fun and excitement. For those with pickier tastes, this may end up being a waste of your time. My hope is that
once I watch Rozen Maiden Traumend, I will find myself liking this more if the plot is deeper and the loose ends are
tied up.
(With Traumend) Season 2 was an absolute necessity in making this a succesful anime. I worried after season 1 that
season 2 would provide similar fare and would do nothing in terms of plot development. Thankfully I was wrong as it
finally gave me that plot kick I wanted so badly. Not only did it forward the plot, but it took on more of an emotional
element which made the show all the more engrossing. In season 1 there was a clear line in the sand between good and
evil, in Traumend that line was blurred quite a bit. Details would detract from the experience upon being viewed so I
will not delve too deeply into what I mean by that. This truly completed the Rozen Maiden experience although the
ending did leave opening for even more, which may prove a good thing if it happens. 1 point added to presentation
overall.
Rating: 8
Final Verdict
8.5000 (very good)
Reviewed by shoujoboy, Jan 17, 2006
