Rozen Maiden 1

Opening: 「禁じられた遊び」 "kinjirareta asobi" by Ali Project: This song certainly fits the gothic mood of the series. Not too bad.
Ending: 「透明シェルター」 "toumei sherutaa" by refio: Didn't like this one quite as much as the opening. It ends with a shot of Jun and Shinku having tea. How sweet :)

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Once again, for BluWacky ;)

I'm going to need some help from my German-speaking friends again for Rozen Maiden since episode titles are given in Japanese and German (as in Elfen Lied). This first episode is appropriately titled 「薔薇乙女」 "bara otome" ("Rose Maiden") in Japanese and Fräulein Rose ("Miss Rose", I believe it is) in German.

Long ago it seems, a girl received a strange doll as a present. The doll can talk like a human! But she was put away...

Jun's a kid of the internet era.. he spends all his time on the internet looking for junk and buying it, basically, just for the thrill. But he keeps to himself and doesn't even want to have anything to do with his older sister, Nori (meganekko!). One day, a case arrives.. with that doll we saw earlier in it. The doll comes to life and moves after Jun winds it up. Her name is Shinku, and she's says she's a "Rozen Maiden". And besides that, Jun's room is messy and totally unfit for her to live in. She sees the dolls Jun has and asks to see one. He has some rather good ones for a human ;)

Suddenly, black feathers come down and a clown doll breaks throught he window. And he's got a really, really sharp deck of cards that he throws at Jun. It's come there to kill him, of course. Shinku tells Jun to make an oath, but he doesn't.. until after being narrowly missed by those cards. He kisses Shinku's rose ring and it starts glowing, and a ring just like it appears on Jun's finger. Now Jun is Shinku's "medium", providing power for her to use.. to control Jun's dolls? Shinku and the dolls manage to get rid of the evil clown doll.

Jun's tired after that little battle since it used up the power he had. Rather pathetic for her servant, Shinku comments. She's rather direct with her criticism, isn't she ;) But servant? Jun became her servant after kissing her ring and making the oath, and the ring Jun has is proof of that. Then Shinku orders Jun to make some tea. What a bossy gal :P

Nori tries to talk with Jun when she comes home, but Jun doesn't want anything to do with her. Shinku also came down, so Jun takes her back up to his room and tells Nori to make the tea. Nori brings the tea up and Jun and Shinku have a little tea party :) But Nori's tea is bad.. And yeah, Shinku says that it is, but that it also has a very gentle flavor. Shinku knows what Jun's been thinking about.. So Shinku can be nice.. when she's not ordering Jun around. After talking a bit to Shinku, Jun even compliments Nori.. Who then comes in and sees Jun and Shinku having their tea. How sweet :)

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BluWacky called Rozen Maiden "Gothic Lolita no Gash Bell", I believe it was.. and actually, you know, it does have some stuff in common with Gash Bell. Both protagonists start off as loners.. there's the fighting by giving others your power... It does seem like the focus will be on Jun's opening up to others... Along with a dose of fighting. As for technical stuff.. I had no big issues with anything.

Looks like another of these "Rozen Maiden" dolls will be joining next time. I'll keep on watching :)