User Reviews

ROZEN MAIDEN is one of those anime series that you can expect something great and exciting to happen in the next episode. That's not really something rare you can find in most anime series. Having seen Pita Ten, Fairy TV and other doll, fairy, chibi based series, this one is the best. It has "Heartwarming" and "Action" just written everywhere in invisible text on your screen.

SAKURADA JUN doesn't go to school. He spends time surfing the web and ordering supernatural items on websites. One day, he finds a website that tells him to put a note inside his desk; Jun assumed it was a joke. Wow, was he wrong or what? He trips over a box in his room that he has never seen before. Opening it, he sees a doll and a wind-up screw. He wounds the doll up and it comes to life. Jun is then attacked by a clown doll. At first, Jun thought it was a scam and sarcastically said he wanted to die. Now he's screaming at the top of his lungs. He swore on the doll's ring and now he's her servant. What can happen next? I am looking forward to watching season two and enjoying it.

A simple anime series, yet quite satisfying all around. Rozen maiden dolls, simply put, a group of dolls that are wound by hand by use of a special key. This key activates a Rosa Mystica embedded inside of each doll which gives them the power to be almost human like. Though they are dolls, they can also drink, eat, speak, play, and have the regular arguments that we all take for granted. The main character is Sakurada Jun, a boy who thought he was a genius until he figured out he was only a mediocre student at best. Because of this Revelation, he decides to stay at home and play online. Then gets a surprise in the form of a special doll he ordered. He winds it up, and sees that his doll can think and speak. Her name is Shinku, an aristocratic doll who thinks everyone is her servant, especially Jun. In the ongoing series, other dolls arrive to make his life a living hell, but more or less always budding into his business at the most inopportune times. But the dolls are also made to be game players to a game called the Alice game, where each of the dolls fight for a prize to be Alice, a once doll made human. But Jun's dolls have doubts about the game, and they try to find out what it is about the game that is so devious. This series holds a lot of laughs and some real tear jerker's, especially one episode (10) where a young and boisterous doll named Hina Ichigo loses her power too early. Her previous owner before Jun was Tomoe, where Hina didn't like the fact that Tomoe was always out doing something instead of playing with Hina. Because of this, she broke the rules and lost her Ring which all dolls carry that keep their Rosa Mystica intact. Because of this loss, her Rosa began to lose strength, and thus her life. It was one of the most powerful episodes in the series which got some good recognition by the home audience. After Hina's and Souseki's Rosa's had left their bodies, they simply went into a deep sleep. The question is, is whether or not they will return to join Jun and the rest of the gang. It would be a good idea to have this series kept going, to see Hina and Souseki make their return and somehow overcome more obstacles which get thrown at them in every corner. Wonderful series, good music, great humour, and down right family oriented. Not very many of such series to give that quality.

Jun Sakurada is a young teenager who lives with his older sister and refuses to go to school. He frequently orders things over the internet and one day immediately after ordering something a case flies through his window; inside is an exquisite doll and when he winds her up she comes to life… literally! She is Shinku; one of seven Rozen Maiden dolls. She explains that they were made long ago by Rozen and given life with 'Rosa Mysticas'; each of them is condemned to take part in the 'Alice Game' where they must battle to take the others Rosa Mysticas then the sole survivor will become Alice; the perfect doll that Rozen, their 'father' wants. Over the course of the series we are introduced to the other dolls, not all of whom want to fight… two of them certainly do though and ultimately there will be a confrontation and one of them will win.

At first I wasn't sure what to make of this series; in the opening moments it looked distinctly shoujo, then it looked as if it might turn distinctly creepy and then there was comedy. Equally I thought Jun might prove to be an annoying protagonist as he was frequently moaning about just about everything but over the course of the series his relationship with Shinku, his sister and the other dolls that end up living with them improves. The other characters are likable; especially Hina Ichigo; the most childlike of the dolls introduced in the first season. Surprisingly even to antagonists aren't entirely unsympathetic. For much of the series there are plenty of laughs to be had but as the end of the second season approaches and the Alice Game begins the tone turns darker and the comedy gives way to sadness and possibly tears. Overall I'd certainly recommend this series to anime fans; it has some scary moments but nothing too unpleasant so all but young children can enjoy it.

These comments are based on watching the first two series, but not the two part OVA, in Japanese with English subtitles.