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Studio : NOMAD
Licenced by : Geneon Entertainment (USA)
Length : 12 Episodes
Year : 2004
Genre : Magic - Action - Drama - Fantasy
Synopsis :
Jun Sakurada is a second year in middle school who stopped going to school for a time because of certain family events. At home, he usually shops online and buys cursed and spiritual items such as voodoo dolls, beads, see through glasses, etc. in order to thrill himself while his sister constantly attempts to care for him, and is at the same time always being shrugged off by him.
Alternative Synopsis :
(by leoxjm)
Jun Sakurada spends his time sitting at home tinkering with "supernatural" artifacts he orders online and returns before the deadline for reimbursement. Although his hobby and reclusiveness amuse him, they have estranged him from his worried sister and pretty much everyone else.
One day he receives a strange doll he does not recall ordering. After winding it up, the doll surprisingly comes to life. Her name is Shinku, the Fifth Doll of the Rozen Maiden, and circumstances force Jun become her medium, the one supposed to grant her power to defeat the other Rozen Maidens in the "Alice Game".
Added : 2005-10-30
Synopsis by : Chikage_Shampoo
Last update : 2008-04-22
Last update details : Song added
Score : 8.8
Number of reviews : 15
Link(s) :
Official #1 : TBS' Rozen Maiden Website (Japanese)
Song(s) :
Opening #1 : Kinjirareta Asobi
Release(s) :
2005-05-25 -- Episode(s) 12 by Conclave. BT Link
2005-03-25 -- Episode(s) 10 by Anime-Keep. BT Link
2005-02-26 -- Episode(s) 9 by Anime-Keep. BT Link
Found 20 releases. Click here to [ Find them! ]
Hits : 41508
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Posted by : kevinchaosvs 
Posted on : 2008-05-30  
I started on this anime mainly because I was drawn in by the plot consisting of living dolls. I don’t know why, but somehow, I just find the concept of living dolls (be it in horror shows or non-horror ones) intriguing. Throw in the storyline of how the dolls are fighting in order to meet their "Father", which successfully aroused my curiosity because the idea of fighting dolls sounded quite ludicrous, and yet still gets high ratings for the series: I just have to know why!
Story/Dev: 65%
Frankly speaking, the main plot is almost non-existent. Throughout the series, there was barely any progress or development on the Alice Game at all. The series consist mainly of little standalones, usually about the characters. Usually, I’m very critical (and annoyed) if a series I watch failed to really touch on the plot, or has vague plot progress; this shall be among the exceptions, as Rozen Maiden is a series that is character-driven rather than plot-driven. Indeed, this is probably the only series whereby I actually didn’t care about the main plot (about competing in the Alice Game) at all. All I cared about was the comedy as well as the drama element. And the comedy is very hilarious, especially the ones where Shinku commands the people to serve her tea (and slaps Jun), also the ones where Suiseiseki is being mean to Hina-Ichigo.
Characters/Dev: 85%
The characters are what made Rozen Maiden such a great series. Each and every doll has their unique personalities and styles. The difference in dynamics in personalities set up the vibes and humor for the entire series. The twins Suiseiseki and Souseiseki are such a lovable pair, particularly Suiseiseki whom I just can’t help but to love to hate her attitude. My favorite character has got to be the sophisticated and elegant Shinku oujo sama. Another thing I like about the series is how the dolls are named after gems and precious stones. The way the characters interact with each other (and the mayhem that follows) had me in laughter all the time.
Animation/Graphics/Design: 90%
Although I’m not a fan of dolls (and doll collecting), I can’t deny that the costumes worn by the dolls are fabulous, and I love the contrast and choice of colors for the dresses of the dolls. Also, great design for the use of the different colored eyes for the twins. In short, the Gothic Lolita graphics are just so splendid. Admittedly, the animation for the fight scenes were kind of pathetic, but that does not matter much to me as, like I said, it’s more for the character interactions rather than the main plot, that I watch this series.
Music: 90%
There’s no other bands more suited for this series than Ali Project, famed for their Gothic Lolita genre music; the perfect match for Rozen Maiden. (And I’m a fan of Ali Project as well. Absolutely loved the OP) The BGM is also great, whereby the instrumental pieces played throughout the series are really suited and help in creating the appropriate mood, especially the emotional and touching ones.
Summary:
Worth the watch. Nice blend of comedy,drama and fantasy. (and copious amount of Gothic Lolita)
Personal overall rating: 90%
Posted by : JaMaJuice
Posted on : 2008-01-05
Dolls with superpowers, different dimensions, junk, tea, biscuits, hamburgers with no buns, this anime has every quality of a girly phenomenon. But don't be fooled! This anime had me interested for the whole season.
[B]Animation:[/b] I love the animation, especially the backgrounds because it can affect the mood of a plot, story, or character very much. Jun's house is filled with life, hilarious chaos, cuteness, and colorful decorations while Suigintou's realm is dark and depressing. A dramatic entry and the background and music follows a slow and tearful melody.
[b]Plot:[/b] I have to say the plot was the weakest point of this anime because most of their time in Jun's house, their un-relation to their "Alice" game shows very badly like a Japanese schoolgirl who wore a skirt too low. I think the plot is more about the relationship between the Dolls and Jun and his realization of his reality.
[b]Characters:[/b] I'm very prone to cuteness and I have to say the characters in this anime are much to my liking. My favorite character has to be the troublemaker, sinister, bully, and melodramatic Suiseiseki. However, I believe many would think Hina-Ichigo to be the cutest, I think Suiseiseki's personality and eyes wins the cuteness contest. Jun is the most annoying and worthless character in my book and you will surely know why if you get to see this anime.
[b]Music:[/b] I like the music themes only during the hilarious moments of the Dolls in Jun's house. All others are OK and full of melody. I wasn't interested very much on the music part.
Overall, you should see this anime if you're looking for some cuteness, comedy, drama, and horror of having your limbs fall apart. And for a girly-looking anime it sure has all the explosions and superpowers that many action-fans are looking for.
JamaJuice recommends this anime is its not "junk".
Posted by : Kimmie-chan
Posted on : 2008-01-05
Desu, Junk, bring me my tea!
After seeing all the hype and those references I just mentioned above during the Saimoe, Rozen Maiden made me really curious to see is what it was about. I started watching it without much of an idea of what it was about, only to expect it was going to be good, and Rozen Maidedn did not disappoint.
The animation was very nice and consistent throughout the series, the doll designs were pretty and I loved the choice of the variety of colours. The one red eye and one green eye thing between the twin dolls Suiseiseki and Souseiseki were a nice touch.
The story and plot is fairly simple to understand I think. Rozen Maiden's a nice mixture of comedy (Hina ^^ and Shinku with Kun-kun ^^-b) and pretty unique fights (although I do enjoy the rare moments where Shinku does some melee moves, like when she kicks that chair outta the way). There were a couple questions which I felt were left unanswered ... but not to worry there's a second season lol
Music is really cool (sorta reminded me a bit of Marimite ~ so that's a bonus in my books) Ali Project's music I think is pretty unique and the lyrics were cool (lol I need more words than just cool).
The characters are fun and plenty of development for all. Shinku is definately my favourite, she has that no nonsense, Ojou-sama air that I love ^^ and the manner in which she she speaks in is so much fun to listen to. Seiyuu's were awesome, gave all the characters life desu :D
I definately recommend this to anyone who hasn't seen it yet ... it stirred up so much tension during the Saimoe amongst Otakus, definately worth checking out!
Posted by : Molenir
Posted on : 2007-09-20
Rozen Maiden is a story about Jun, a lonely reclusive boy, who spends all his time hiding away in his room, and Shinku, a strange living doll with whom he makes a contract to serve. Shinku is involved in the "Alice Game" Where dolls like Shinku fight each other to return to their father.
I started out really enjoying this series. Initially, I was favorably impressed, however starting with episode 5, and then episode 6 my impression of the show went from positive, to negative, and went downhill from there. The storyline itself was interesting. Dolls fighting to win the "Alice Game" However their actual confrontations were just too silly and altogether too typical. Almost losing, and then suddenly turning it around at the last second. Suddenly being able to draw on Jun's power. And she couldn't for some reason before this because...? Oh yeah, because then the confrontation couldn't proceed in a typical manner, instead she would win too easily. I know its silly to expect too much of a story like this, but I found myself more and more disappointed the more episodes I watched.
In terms of creativity, I'd rank the plot perfectly, however successive episodes became more and more stupid, with greater and greater predictability. If the stupidity level didn't become so extreme, I would have given this a perfect score. It starts with a great idea, makes excellent use of music. Has a fun OP, excellent animation, and the Seiyuu's all did a terrific job. However the excessive stupidity of the story eventually overwhelmed my interest. I started thinking, wouldn't it be great if the bad doll won. Then at least there would be an end to the moronic idiocy. It was actually a relief to reach the end of this series.
This is one series I can't recommend. While its extremely unique, and worth watching the first few episodes because of this, its really not worth proceeding past episode 3 or 4. If you want to see how it turns out, you can just go ahead and skip to the final confrontation in episode 12, and you won't have missed anything but silly pointless buildup. For myself, this is one anime I won't be watching again. I'll withhold judgment on the succeeding shows as I haven't seen them. At this point, after watching this one, I'm not sure I'll bother.
Posted by : crazy3jackal08
Posted on : 2007-09-18 
I would have never thought I would ever watch this series Ever! There was a time where I had to decide to delete the series from my collection because I was "Out of Room". I said to myself as I Skimmed bits and pieces of the first episode, "There is no way I'm going to watch a doll anime". But you know what I decided to jump into it a year later because of the high recommendations I'd been seeing.
Don't do what I did and judge a book by its cover. Truly give it a try because you will actually end up enjoying the series as much as I did. I took the time to actually watch the first episode and instantly got hooked.
Story: Its actually very straight forward, but yet makes you want to continue forward even though there isn't much mystery. Very enjoyable and entertaining for some odd mysterious reason.
Music: The OP and ED songs were nice and decent to the ear. What really caught my ears were the melodies in the series which made me want to listen to it over and over. Great Music = Great series in my eyes.
Graphics: Hey there isn't much to say but its purely clean and amazing. Its better than some of the 2007 series for a 2004 series.
Characters: Whats not to love about life-like dolls with the personality like real childish humorous traits. Its something different compare to other series due to the fact they are Dolls. hard to explain, only way to understand is to watch and see.
Overall: I say its one of those series people should definitely check out, especially if your looking for something different and want a change in genre. This series has a good mix of genres, some action, humor, drama, the works. Give it a shot, you might end up finishing the first 12 episodes in one sitting. I just couldn't stop for some odd reason.
Posted by : Himitsu
Posted on : 2007-07-24
If you're looking for faults in Rozen Maiden, you won't find them, for there are very little. The plot of battling dolls may seem put off-ish, but don't ridicule it until you've seen at least a couple of episodes. The fan-base for this anime is huge, and for the right reasons. Rozen Maiden was simply a very good anime.
I had listened to the OP and ED song long before I watched this series, and I forgot my initial impression of it; I'm guessing it wasn't a good one; but when I watched the OP, I was quite moved~ the lyrics were quite unique, almost "goth"-like. The line "I despise you" came out quite powerfully. Ali Project's songs have tough first impressions, but you'll eventually get to like them.
The background music was excellent. The use of violin really spiced up the battle scenes, and definitely created more drama. Love the soundtrack~
Lovely voicework! They input a variety of emotions of each character, but there were some annoyances. I think everyone will agree that Suiseiseki's desu~ is extremely annoying; I also didn't like Suigintou's laugh, maybe a short chuckle would be nice, but she has to laugh and continue to do so, it was quite awkward; but the laugh was good nontheless.
Lovely art, character design, and costumes as well. No mess ups in the animation. Rozen Maiden has plenty of value.
Posted by : eckopirate
Posted on : 2007-02-23
Wow I couldn't believe I was actually watching this kind of anime. C'mon now, dolls fighting each other just so they can see 'father' and become a perfect "alice" It's just nonsense but it has this charm that makes you wanna finish watching.
Plot 7/10
At first it was really confusing. Dolls made by rozen to fight each other. Jun finds one and becomes Shinku's (a rozen doll) servant. Then they go through adventures and fight in n-fields and such.
Animation 9/10
It was aight. I enjoyed most of the fighting scenes though, it had that feel of Yugioh, Pokemon, and Zatch Bell into it.
Music 10/10
Great opening, great ending and best of all it had all those catchy beats played. It gave that sense of mysterous atmosphere which was really cool.
Overall 8/10
Great anime if you're bored. I think it's targeting among female kids only but for a guy I seemed to enjoyed it myself. I mean c'mon, cute dolls fighting each other... The endings of both seasons also made me teary and brought many surprises. Once again, greaat anime.
Posted by : du5k
Posted on : 2007-02-08
The sequel seemed to have dropped a little, but nonetheless Rozen Maiden is addicting. It can get really stupid at times, but it does get serious when it needs to. And both sides of the story is interesting to watch.
Plot
The plot is light with plenty of comedy from hinaichigo and suiseiseki. Though the starting was a little irritating because of Jun’s attitude, the series had plenty of character development throughout the story, and later got pretty exciting for the last part. The best thing is the series never lost it’s comedy factor though.
Story
Like I said, Rozen Maiden was really funny. There are several episodes that kept me laughing till the end. It’s wasn’t really a harem, but it’s funny to see how these unusual living dolls live with each other; one tsundere type, one moe type, one chibi type… A perfect blend.
Animation
The animation was brilliant, the colors are strong unlike those I’ve been seeing, and although there wasn’t a lot of detail on the non-doll characters, the style is still really good. The animation during the opening theme and ending theme is a little dull though, but I suppose they wanted it that way.
Music and Sounds
Rozen Maiden got a really catchy opening, and a really pleasant (and beautiful) ending theme. Of course, both fit the theme of the anime really damn well.
Shinku can’t really scream properly. But it was still nice, as well as for the rest. Suiseiseki’s evil laugh has already infected some people.
Overall
This seemed just the perfect kind of series to me. A series like that who had plenty of humor and development, gets a perfect score from me.
Posted by : djmaca
Posted on : 2006-10-17
Exclusive!
Magical Dolls wage war with roses....
Rock hard as you drink tea folks! This is like Mai hime plus any doll anime you can think of. Like all anime with heroes-put-in-the-crossfire-instantly, this anime rocks!
Sounds and songs:10
I seriously doubted first but when I heard Ali Project sings the intro... Damn! It blew my mind away!
Plot and Style:10
The Gothic Lolita style was so impressive I think I became a GothLolicon overnight!
StoryFlow:10
Funny as girls kicking ass while drinking tea. These women go for puppet detectives and gardening.
Conclusion: 10
This anime is a must see for anyone who likes dolls or whatever that's connected with it.
Posted by : LeeChamFun
Posted on : 2006-01-20
Rozen Maiden. It's also another adaptation from the manga. However, this is the first anime that I found better than the manga. Maybe because the manga was really badly drawn.
The story is about a guy who never goes to school after some kind of incident and became very anti-social. His only hobby is to order mystical items from internet and return them before the trial periods are over. One day, he found a weird note that requires his agreement to send a doll to him. He agrees without thinking much and a box suddenly appears in front of him. Inside, was a beautifully made doll. He opens the box and wind the doll. As he finishes winding, the doll moves and starts to give him orders and so, his new page of life begins right here.
The OP and ED are definitely great. Especially the OP it's so great. However, the OP didn't suit the mood of the anime. The OP makes the anime like a horror one, but in fact, maybe just me, but it's really a comedy to me.
To sum it up, this is a very good anime. If you haven't watched this yet, you should quickly get a hold of it. You definitely wont regret it.
Posted by : xenocrisis0153
Posted on : 2005-12-23
ANIMATION: The art style is pretty decent for this series. It's not extravagantly decadent, but never adversely displeasing. Most of the scenery is within the same house, save for some dream-world-esque environments. (8/10)
MUSIC: Honestly, I hated the opening and ending themes the first time I heard each, but now I can't get enough of them. The in-episode music is excellent, too. Emotion is conveyed nicely through the instrumental pieces orchestrated throughout. (10/10)
CHARACTERS: This is the strongest aspect of Rozen Maiden. The cast is very smalll, but it's everything it needs to be. They are solid, likeable, and easily understood, plus they have multiple dimensions to their personalities. Another nice thing: they're not the traditional cookie-cutter personality types we see in other animes. Each character contributes exactly what they should without controlling the story or stealing the limelight from anyone else. Other anime series could learn from this. (10/10)
STORY: Another strong aspect is the flow that the story has taken. Althought there is the main plotline, many of the episodes are standalone incidents that actually flesh out the characters and the situation they are in. Never does the series get boring and the end comes quicker than you realize. (9/10)
OVERALL: The strong aspects of this series are very solid and even the weaker aspects still carry their part. All in all, this series is very enjoyable and interesting. The girls are all absolutely adorable and the mix of comedy and seriousness further excels its overall quality. (9 out of 10... 4 and a half stars.)
Posted by : justin_wye
Posted on : 2005-06-19
Foreword:
I the begining it may seem like a horror movie but don't let that trick you. Its actually a funny movie with an interesting plot.
Story:
Jun Sakurada and Shinku are the main characters and also a few more dolls. Basically its about being alive, as the dolls encounter problems caused by another doll called Suigin. A struggle to be the perfect one by a game called The Alice Game where the losers die and their mystica rose (something like a soul) gets eaten by the winner. Somewhat comical, yet meaningful.
Characters:
Human - Jun Sakurada, a boy with certain issues and a gift of sewing things. Nori Sakurada, Jun's bigger sister caring, clumsy and kinda cute in a way. Kishiwaba, the leader of the class, yet she plays a minor role in this story.
Dolls - Shinku, arrogant but good natured personality. Hina, playful like a young kid, funny too. Suisei and Sosei, twins, a girl and a boy, the girl is a bit naughty but overall a good doll, the boy is more well behaved but sometimes too serious.
Conclusion:
An anime worth watching with good music and many more good points. Recommendable to any anime lovers. The story may seem short but what lacks in quantity is made up in quality. Although there are some minor flaws but they go unnoticed (unless you watched it over and over again like I did) .Overall a good anime but a bit too short.
Posted by : kaiser
Posted on : 2005-04-16
I had no idea what to expect the the music, especially the OP song and animated sequence hooked me into watching more of this series with a moving and talking doll as one of the main characters.
The story is a somewhat simple one about a boy trying to confront his fears and shame at school while he finds a strange doll that has a life of its own and is dragged into their 'Alice Game'.
What we get is a entwined story with the two themes that gets somewhat emotional and dramatic as the story progresses. Mixed in is a lot of humour to keep things somewhat light hearted. Animation and music are both top notch and impressive through out the whole series. Some characters are quite annoying but most are on the dynamic side.
Quite an interesting series that has been underrated in my opinion. Worth a watch if you're looking for something different for a change. 7/10.
Posted by : yamayu
Posted on : 2005-04-14
I enjoyed most of this series. The art was good, the character development was nice, the music rocked, and the living dolls idea was cool. However, the plot, which focuses around Shinku becoming Alice, was poorly developed. The anime should have either had more episodes or less fillers. 12 episodes is not enough to have 4 or 5 fillers.
I enjoyed the ending, which some people dislike because of all the loose ends it left. It's not that much of a happily-ever-after end, unless Jun enjoys being knocked out by flying cases and having his window broken repeatedly, but it does have a contented atmosphere. The loose ends could hopefully be tied up in the sequel. Also, the lack of finality provides fanfic authors room to work around.
Posted by : Soichiro-kunn
Posted on : 2005-01-19
Foreword:
I did not put much hope on Rozen Maiden when I started watching it. After all, talking, walking, fighting dolls aren
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