Rozen Maiden: There is no Perfection
What is more perfect than a doll right? Well not so much, and after watching Rozen Maiden we learned that even dolls are imperfect. During this article I will be talking about many spoilers from the Anime that are necessary to make my points. If you have not watched it, go ahead and watch it first then return after you watched both seasons.
You finished watching both seasons right? If not, what you waiting for? Alright here is my short and dirty review before I get into the main part of the article; this part does not contain major spoilers. Rozen Maiden is a “Gothic Lolita” Anime and if you are into that you are sure to enjoy this Anime, and if you are not you can still enjoy it since it is not heavy with “lolicon” stuff.
Extended Review:
Rozen Maiden is basically about dolls made by a guy named “Rozen” and they come to “life” thanks to a “Rosa Mystica” that all of them haven when they are made. These dolls need to find human “mediums” to draw energy from so they can “live” and power their “Rosa Mystica” and also those “mediums” provide them with energy to fight during the “Alice game.”
The “Alice game” plays a major part of both seasons, but it gets more interesting during the second season. Without giving too much spoilers the game is about them defeating each other, the dolls, in order to become “Alice.” This makes for an exciting plot and tense moments.
Of course, the Anime is not just about fighting it is also full of comedy stuff as the dolls try to make hell the life of the main character and they all get into interesting situations. Jun, the main character and one of the “mediums” has issues of his own and it plays a major part during the first season. During the second season he also plays more or so important parts but it is mostly all about the dolls.
The Rozen Maiden dolls will make you laugh and cry at times with their so unique characters that will make you forget at times that they are dolls at times. There is Shinku voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, that always wants to do the right thing and she always tries to be perfect from the moment she wakes up and even in her dreams. On the other hand we have Suiseiseki voiced by Natsuko Kuwatani that is a devilish and playful doll that likes to play pranks on Hinaichigo that is voiced by Sakura Nogawa, and is the twin sister of Souseiseki voiced by Rika Morinaga. Hinaichigo is a clingy doll that acts most of the time like a four year old girl but she has a lot to learn and you experience how this change takes place one of my favorite moments during the Anime. Souseiseki is the twin sister that contrary to her twin sister Suiseiseki, always wants to do the right thing and follow the rules and this gets her into many interesting situations.
We cannot forget about the villains of the story. During the first season we meet Suigintou, voiced by Rie Tanaka, a doll that has a dark heart and wants to become “Alice” more so than the other dolls. During the second season we watch in awe her transformation. Also during the second season we are introduced to Barasuishou, voiced by Saori Goto, a doll that is a little different from the rest and that also has a dark heart. Then we are introduced to another few characters but that will spoil the Anime, watch out for them and enjoy as they integrate themselves into the stories of the Rozen Maiden dolls.
The Plot:
The Good: Coherent plot that followed a single story, but with different interesting back stories for all the Rozen Maiden dolls and the main character Jun. I enjoyed how it all played all the way to the end with a closure in both seasons.
The Bad: The plot at times lacked of substance to explain how some stuff happened or why they were happening. Also at times the plot got weak when they were playing their childish games during a long time in the episodes and I found it a little unnecessary, instead that time could have been used to explain a few of the holes on the story.
Acting (Voice and Characters Development)
The Character Development: For the most part I enjoyed how the characters developed and as I stated previously all of them go through major changes that are important for the story. I found them for the most part fully developed with the exception of a few that did not get enough screen time to know what other stuff was going on. But overall there was an amazing character development.
Voice Acting: The voice actresses and the actors were amazing during the Anime, with the exception of some that were annoying but they were mostly because that’s how their character was to be played. If you get pass that you will enjoy a good Anime with amazing voice actors.
Verdict
I give Rozen Maiden 4.5/5 and I recommend for anyone that is looking for a good Anime to give Rozen Maiden a chance to go into the world of dolls that have much to learn and the many things that they can teach us. Even dolls are not perfect as I discovered during my journey watching this Anime, and also humans are imperfect no matter how perfect we try to design something with our own hands it will never come out the way we wanted to. It is overshadowing for when robots become more sophisticated and machines become more human that we will learn how they even them can have their own free will, along with their imperfection and faults.
Note: I had to break this article into two parts was getting too long. Will write the second part with more details and spoilers about Rozen Maiden and the many interesting parts I found were worth looking at.
