Rozen Maiden was originally an anime I very hesitant to pick up due to the genre of the anime and the premise of the show being talking dolls, but I am glad I gave it a shot despite it's evident flaws.
Rozen Maiden was produced and released in late 2004 by Studio Nomad, which isn't a renowned company but has had successful shows such as OKHC (Ouran Kokou Host Club) and Kampfer. Not soon after it's release, the infamous "Desu" meme with Suiseiseki (It took me about 5 episodes to pronounce her name correctly) was created on 4Chan and the show became relatively popular ever since.
...
All of that aside, let's move on to story.
Story:
The main plot of the story was hard to recognize at first, and not even present in episode 1, despite this the originality of the story was definitely refreshing. As the series progressed I came to realize what a simple story the anime had to begin with, and it seemed as if they were only using it as an excuse to initiate battle sequences or to progress character development (in which there was very little of) The mid part of the series felt like warm hearted comedy fillers, and had little or no relevance back to the real plot. The few battle scenes that were in the story weren't very suspenseful, and usually always between Shinku and Suigintou, with occasional assistance from the other dolls, making the whole "action" part of the series seem a bit monotonous, and out of place. One of the few things about the story that did have some merit was the concept of the "Alice Game" where the dolls have to fight each other and only the winner gets to meet the dolls father or "Rozen." Even though on paper, that concept seems like a winner, the dolls involvement in the game was vaguely explained, and ironically the real story felt rushed being pushed out by the "filler" episodes for comedy. The anime attempted to be emotionally pulling on key points of the series, but I felt it wasn't very well executed or effective at all.
Characters:7
For the most part, the characters of the series were quite enjoyable to watch with the exception of the main protagonist:Jun.
Shinku: The fifth doll of the collection owned by Jun, who is also the main female protagonist of the series. Shinku is a lady like doll, who most reminds me of some sort of british nobility, and usually shows no emotion as to what she is doing making her a bit of a Tsundere.
Jun: Typical hikikomori, nothing special here.
Hina Ichigo: The sixth doll of the collection who is the embodiment of childishness, she frequently annoys all the dolls, and she is often perceived as the least favorite of the dolls in the series.
Suiseiseki: "Desu" pretty much sums up this doll, her hatred for humans and her annoying nature to even the other dolls makes her more of the comedic element to the series along with Hina Ichigo.
Souseiski: Suiseiseki's younger sister, who is a lot more likeable and mature than her sister.
Suigintou: The sadistic, arrogant, and rather clever main antagonist of the series that is constantly terrorizing Shinku's group of maidens and Jun, in order to weaken her to steal her Rozen Mystica, her desperateness to win the Alice Game and evil nature makes her one of those likeable antagonists, despite what she is doing to the other dolls.
Nori and Tomoe: Generic, happy go lucky girls, Nori takes care of Jun and the dolls and prepares all of the meals and tea.
Character development was definitely not a strong point of the show, though it was present, but unfortunately not very effectively, as the only major character development in the series was in the final episode.
Animation:
Despite being an older anime, the animation wasn't half bad, but is no where on par with today's standards. The small details that were included in the animation give it a boost. Though there were times where the animation was good and bad, so it was kind of a mixed feeling (That also describes the anime as a whole)!
Sound:
I was actually quite fond of the opening song for the series, proper music was played during proper scenes, such as moments of battle, and sadness. Everything was appropriately placed sound-wise, though there were no songs that really stood out from the soundtrack.
Closing thoughts:
In conclusion, RM is definitely an enjoyable anime, despite it's flaws. Unfortunately, the anime only truly shines in the first few and last episodes of the series. This anime gave me mixed feelings throughout the entirety of the show, but the loveable characters and decent plot made up for it.
Score Breakdown:
Story: 6/10
Characters: 7/10
Animation: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
My enjoyment: 7/10
Final Score: 7/10
I do take requests for reviews, so just comment on my profile if you would like to submit one in. Thanks for reading!
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Jun 21, 2013
Rozen Maiden
(Anime)
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Rozen Maiden was originally an anime I very hesitant to pick up due to the genre of the anime and the premise of the show being talking dolls, but I am glad I gave it a shot despite it's evident flaws.
Rozen Maiden was produced and released in late 2004 by Studio Nomad, which isn't a renowned company but has had successful shows such as OKHC (Ouran Kokou Host Club) and Kampfer. Not soon after it's release, the infamous "Desu" meme with Suiseiseki (It took me about 5 episodes to pronounce her name correctly) was created on 4Chan and the show became relatively popular ever since. ... 
Aug 27, 2012
Opening Thoughts: Kampfer are girls with big breasts that fight against each other for no reason whatsoever, except that someone called "The Moderators" have chosen them to particpate in the fight between each which are relayed in messages by stuffed animals. A rather ridiculous concept isn't it? If you couldn't tell already, this is a ecchi/harem anime, that pretty much takes everything from the harem manual, with sterotypes of pretty much every kind of character you can think of.
Plot: The plot isn't the strong side of the show, considering that the plot was pretty much nonexsistent until episode 9, and by then, everyone was just ... |
