Rozen Maiden

Synopsis:

Jun Sakurada is self absorbed punk that relies on his sister to take care of him. He suffers from Agoraphobia or Hikikomori and spends all of his time in his room browsing the internet and because of the he tends to yell at everyone that tries to talk to him which has now been narrowed down to his sister Nori. Jun has developed a strange hobby of purchasing strange and bizarre things online only to send them back before the return policy expires. One day he gets a letter telling him that he's won a prize and if he wants it to answer "yes" or "no" and to put the letter in his desk drawer and a spirit will take his response. Well, with all the weird things he's bought lately Jun went ahead and accepted his prize and as soon as he closes the drawer and opens again the letter is gone and in the middle of the room an elaborate leather suitcase with a gold monogrammed rose appears in the middle of the room. Curious, Jun opens the case and sees an extremely detailed female aristocratic looking doll laying within and a gold key next to it. Naturally, he picks it up and admires the quality and decides to wind up the doll. After a few seconds he can hear the small mechanics within start to move as the dolls eyes open and the first thing she does... is slap Jun across the face and says she doesn't like to be man-handled. She explains that her name is Shinku that she is the fifth of seven dolls made by the legendary creator Rozen but as she is telling her story Jun is assaulted by a psychotic clown doll that seems to come from nowhere. Shinku tells him that if he wants to stay alive that he must enter a pact with her and become her servant, panicked, Jun accepts and Shinku quickly disposes of the psycho clown and a ring of servitude appears on Jun's finger. As Shinku's unwilling servant he starts learning to deal with his anti-social disorder but Shinku also in turn learns of Jun's modern world and that not everything centers around her.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 12


Review:

Rozen Maiden is a great series that has the right running time of 12 episodes and presents itself in a light-hearted manner for all types of plot aspects like, comedy, drama, even a little action. It has a very interesting story that applies to the Rozen Maidens themselves (the dolls) and each one is unique with her own attitude, look, and vocal style which really stands out and gives them their own remarkable individuality. Each of the Rozen Maidens learn about sisterhood instead of fighting and while this happens Jun is finding himself being drawn into their squabbles as he slowly realizes that he's overcoming his own psychological disorder and begins to fight his own personal demons. This series presents a great message about self discovery through tough love and that everyone has a good side to them no matter how deeply it's buried, you just have to read between the lines sometimes.

My take on this series? It's wonderful, I actually thought it was going to be this overly cutesy goofball comedy and it's not... not even close. Sure, it's funny at times but doesn't rely on stupid gimmicks to make you laugh nor does it try to smash the viewer with complicated drama either. Instead, the series mixes everything with an interesting enough story that you will be pressed to go from episode to episode to learn more of the Rozen Maidens and if Jun will overcome his personal fears while becoming more mature in his own way. Even though the show is a few years old the animation is superb and the orchestrated soundtrack fits perfectly with the look and style of the Maidens with it's semi gothic undertone. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is a season 2, Rozen Maiden Traumend, but it's no where near the accomplishment of season 1 as it had too many loose ends and incomplete story arcs where as season 1 had closure and you could just simply stop there and be satisfied. But, if you're like me and there is a next season to any anime you like you'll watch it regardless.

Rozen Maiden (opening)
Rozen Maiden (ending)

Recommendation: |High|

Media type: DVD
From: FUNimation/Geneon
Spoken languages: English;Japanese
Subtitles: English