Rozen Maiden

Alternate Titles: Meitantei Kun-Kun

Original Japanese Release Date: 2004

Episode Length/Run-time: 12 Episodes

Summary:

Jun Sakurada is a middle-school aged boy who refuses to go to school due to some past trauma which occured there.  To pass the time he orders products on-line which he returns before their trial period is up.  One day, he recieves a box prompted by a strange letter possessing a beautiful doll.  When the doll springs to life she introduces herself as Shinku and forces Jun to enter into a contract with her to save his life from a sudden attack.  Jun is pulled into what is known as the Alice Game.

Review:

I didn’t expect to like this anime, in fact, I walked into it expecting to flat-out hate it.  But this anime really ended up taking me by surprise by the end when I actually ended up both feeling for the characters and feeling sad that it had ended.

At first it seems cliche, Jun is an unhappy teen, his sister is ditzy and well meaning to the point of frustration since she seems to not care when Jun walks all over her, and every episode appears to be introducing a new doll with a little battle of the “Alice Game.”  But the story seems to run much deeper than that.  As the story progresses there are heavy under and over-tones of self-worth and psychological battles that people face.  A person’s true meaning is called into question and how people handle mental battles is emphasized as just as important as how they handle the physical ones.

The “Alice Game” is something all the “Rozen Maiden” dolls engage in. Each given a power the one to collect them all will become Alice, a girl so pure and innocent that she is the most beautiful creature in the world.  Suiseki is the main villan of the story, a Rozen Maiden bent on becoming Alice to gain the love of “father” their creator.

Shinku is also an enjoyable character.  Rather than being soft spoken and demure she doesn’t put up with anything and is willing to tell it like it is.  A nice change in the anime world.  It’s also great that they keep the doll theme, they are the size of dolls and never become human sized or any cliches like that.

Even though it’s full of cliche, and some filler that’s unnecessary, it’s still a good watch.  Definately above-average compared to most.

[starrater]