Posts in Rozen Maiden Category
December 24, 2004
Shinku's in pretty bad condition after losing an arm to Suigintou as they fought last time, but Jun stood up to Suigintou and will protect Shinku. As Hina, Suiseiseki, and Souseiseki fight Suigintou, Jun takes Shinku away from the action... Shinku's in a state of despair.. she can't become Alice now.. she's junk.. but Jun encourages her and says she's important to him no matter what.
Suigintou comes into Shinku's dream and challenges her to a fight, with their Rosa Mystica on the line. Shinku agrees to it and a time is set...
As usual, things are rather loud in Jun's room and things get worse with Suiseiseki dropping in (breaking the window again). Then Nori asks Jun to help her practice for a play.. It's Shirayuki-hime, so Hina and the rest help out. Suiseiseki plays the part of of the old woman who gives Shirayuki-hime the poisoned apple, a very fitting role for her ;) Shinku plays Shirayuki-hime. And Jun is supposed to be the prince.. and that means giving Shirayuki-hime a kiss to wake her up. He refuses of course :)
After that Nori does the laundry and Jun drops in to see Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, and Hina waiting while their clothes are washed. It's too much for him ;) Shinku asks him to fix up her dress before it's washed as well.. as he works on it Shinku looks on from the bed. She tells Jun more about the Alice game and what the goal of the Rozen Maiden dolls is... she leaves in the middle of the night, giving Jun a kiss and saying "sayonara", to go fight Suigintou...
Shinku was a bit out of her usual character at times this episode (though she did give Jun a nice kick like she would usually), thinking about the upcoming battle with Suigintou a lot of the time, it seemed. And seeing Shinku in that kakkou was a bit different as well ;) See what happens in the big fight next time with Suigintou.
And a bit off topic here.. But Suiseiseki is number 2 in this blogger's "moe character ranking" (Souju from Futakoi is number 3). Hmmm... I dunno, Suiseiseki doesn't really strike me as moe.. she wouldn't even be close to Souju (from Futakoi) or Ichika (from Uta~Kata) on my list, I know that ;)
(screencaps from episode 8)
These two episodes tell the story of Souseiseki, Suiseiseki's twin sister (more twins!?). They haven't been on good terms since Souseiseki insists on staying with her "master", an old man who calls Souseiseki Kazuki, the name of his dead son. The old man's wife has been in a deep sleep ever since her son died...
Of course Suigintou shows up to cause some trouble along the way, so Shinku and the others have to come and help out, once again in that strange dream world of that old man.. The woman is dreaming of nothing.. just a white space with nothing but Kazuki in it.. Her feeling of wanting to stay somewhere where there are no hardships, no suffering, resembles someone.. Jun does get stronger through these episodes, even standing up to Suigintou to protect Suiseiseki. Things do eventually work out, with the woman waking up, Souseiseki and Suiseiseki getting back on good terms (and out of Jun's house for a while to make things a bit more quiet).
All in all, a nice story told these two episodes. We'll see where things go from here.(and btw, does anyone know how many episodes Rozen Maiden is scheduled to run?)
Shinku still won't move and Jun, Suiseiseki, Hina, and Nori try to think of a way to help her. Suiseiseki's ("ill-natured doll" to Jun) method doesn't quite work all that well.. Jun can't think of anything either so he goes on the net to search. And there's nothing much there.. Suiseiseki explains what Shinku's going through. She's in a deep sleep and dreaming, seeing everything that's happened to her again. Jun heads to the library to search, but the books he's looking for have all been moved to the middle school he used to attend. He tries to make himself go, but he remembers all the bad things that happened to him and can't even take more than a step..
It's the usual racous day at the Sakurada house with Nori and Hina watching Detective Kunkun again. For some reason Shinku's not watching.. she's back to abusing Jun again this time ;) But her caring side really comes out when she talks to Jun. She says that he's wondering and has no idea where the place he's supposed to be is...
Hina and Suiseiseki hear a strange noise and go to investigate. It's coming from the room with that mirror in it.. Suiseiseki screams, so Jun and Shinku rush up to find Suigintou, with Hina as her prisoner. She goes through the mirror and Shinku and the rest follow.
On the other side of the mirror is Suigintou's world, a rather broken down sad place, of course. There's a broken doll there... that's the fate of those who lose the Alice Game. Shinku's determined to put an end to it. Suigintou appears, and she fights Shinku with an army of broken dolls while Shinku fights using Jun's dolls. The clown doll gets broken, however... Shinku gets captured by Suigintou's attack and can't escape as Suiseiseki draws a sword and approaches.. but Jun begins to think about everything that he's done with Shinku and his ring starts to glow. Suigintou's attack is deflected and Shiku goes on the offensive, driving Suigintou away.
Upon returning Shinku grieves and cries over the lost clown doll. Its soul has gone far, far away. It's lost... Jun tries to fix it.. and amazingly, its soul returns. But as Nori comes home and Jun starts to leave, something's wrong. Shinku isn't moving..
And we end on a cliffhanger.
I really liked this episode, especially that Shinku's more caring side was brought out. Though Shinku was more abusive to Jun this time, she really did show a different side of herself. She's genuinely concerned about Jun and wants to lead him back onto the right path, just like Jun brought that doll back from being lost.
I'm guessing that Jun will work his magic and fix her next time. And it looks like, guessing from the preview, he's going to work with Tomoe to do it, overcoming some of his fears it would seem. We'll see what happens next time ;)
Memento has some comparsion shots between the 4:3 and 16:9 versions of Rozen Maiden. The 16:9 definitely works a lot better, but since the broadcast on BS-i is a week behind what I'm watching and I can't get raws for it anyways I'm stuck with 4:3 for now :P
Nori makes strawberry cake for everyone but Suiseiseki eats the strawberry on Hina's, then tries to put the blame on Hina. Hina runs upstairs and pouts.. While that's going on Jun and Shinku are closely watching that Detective Kunkun show with the puppets in it. Shinku really likes it ;) Nori tells everyone to behave while she's out...
But that doesn't happen, of course. Jun goes to retrieve Hina and she tells him what really happened. So he and Hina team up and build a fort upstairs and fight against Suiseiseki. They throw crayons at Suiseiseki, Suiseiseki tempts Hina with sweets and such.. Shinku doesn't take a side. But Jun tries to lure her up using a Kunkun puppet and she totally takes the bait. Very kawaii~, and totally not the normal Shinku that smacks everybody around like we're used to ;) Nori comes back to find a war zone, but everybody has dinner together and things look back to normal.
Yeah, nothing really happened this time to move anything forward. There were a lot of SD (super-deformed) scenes this time with all that crazy stuff going on. Was kinda funny, I suppose. Next time looks to be back to the more serious stuff (the title's "Tears") with Suigintou showing back up. Perhaps Shinku will be back to her usual self and smack Jun around ;)
Hina and Shinku are making a ruckus as usual and Jun's getting mighty pissed as usual.. until a doll case like Shinku's comes crashing through the window (How many times has that window been broken?). And inside... is a pretty shy doll who doesn't like humans, Suiseiseki (翠星石). She especially seems to dislike Jun, and he doesn't like her either. She even goes so far as to put a line down in Jun's room that he can't cross... And calling him "chibi" (who's the chibi here?)
But she does have a special power; she can see into people's hearts and dreams. So she, Shinku, and Hina take a trip into Jun's dream. And it's a pretty darn weird one.. broken computers all over the place, flying model cars with wings, a paper monster.. but there is something there, a plant that's not in too good shape, which is Jun. Suiseiseki gives it some water and it grows a bit, but not too much...
That night, Suiseiseki removes the line she put down in Jun's room. So maybe she's warmed up to him a bit.
No big smackdowns by Shinku (using her small hands that a certain blogger thinks are very cute) this time. Yes, I know that will disappoint a few of y'all ;) But anyways.. Suiseiseki's pronounciation of desu as desu instead of the usual dess (dropping the "su") kinda got on me a bit.. but that would fit her character, I suppose :) Shinku asked Suiseiseki earlier how "that child" was doing... who could that be? But that's for later. Next time looks to be as rowdy as usual, maybe even moreso. Wonder if Suigintou will make an appearance again soon..
With Hina moving in things get even more rowdy at the Sakurada house, and Jun's had enough of Shinku ordering him around and Hina, too. At breakfast, Nori made things for Hina and Shinku, but Hina doesn't want to eat. She wants something else.. it's white, and sweet, and red, and unyuu... "unyuu"? Nori can't quite figure out what she's talking about...
Jun decides to go out for a bit to escape the commotion at the house. But while he's gone those black feathers show up again.. and someone comes. She's called Suigintou, and it's been 586,920 minutes and 37 minutes since she last saw Shinku. Those dolls have a good sense of time, don't they ;) She's the one who sent that killer clown doll earlier, and she's got a problem with Shinku, of course. And she wants to know why someone who lost the "Alice Game" is here with her. "Father will be mad", she says... and leaves.
Meanwhile, Jun's been stopping by bakeries looking for something... he runs into Tomoe and they talk about the dolls a bit. She says that they're at Jun's for a reason and that she's relieved to know that Hina's there with him.
Jun comes home with just what Hina wanted. Some strawberry pastries (fitting for someone named Hinaichigo to like). And Hina loves him now ;)
I still don't know what "unyuu" is supposed to mean... but anyways, another good episode. I'm enjoying it so far. I love Shinku's attitude and Hina's kawaii as well :) Looks like another doll will be introduced next time.
There's another doll like Shinku out there.. she's called Hinaichigo (Hina for short) and she lives with Tomoe. Hina wants to play with Tomoe, but Tomoe's busy... Back at Jun's, things are as usual with Shinku ordering him and Nori around. Shinku still can't reach the door handle by herself and she has no idea what a toilet is.. she thinks it's some kinda table to have tea on ;) Tomoe stops by to give some papers to Nori and just about collapses from exhaustion... Nori takes her in for some tea and there's a moment then that the nekomimi haters out there will just love :P
Jun sees Tomoe as she's about to leave.. and he seems to get really depressed and goes back to his room. Poor thing.. Back at Tomoe's, Hina isn't too happy with her for breaking her promise to come back and play with her, so she takes Tomoe with her though a mirror to some strange world filled with toys.. Shinku had something spying on her so she goes through a mirror at Jun's to follow. She finds and tells Hinaichigo to settle things by the "Alice Game".. whoever loses gets their Rosa Mystica taken away and turns into an ordinary doll that can't move or talk... so they fight it out and Hina seems to have won, but she drew too much power from Tomoe and Shinku wins. But Shinku decides to just take Hinaichigo with her and make her a servant like Jun. Ain't she nice? ;) Nori immediately takes a liking to Hina and Jun gets smacked by Shinku once again.
I've really gotten to like Shinku. Her attitude is even more of an ojou-sama's than Marika-chan from Aibaby ;) But she does have a softer side that gives good advice to Nori and Jun. Speaking of Jun, poor thing.. I wonder what caused him to totally withdraw from everyone.. suppose we'll find that out later, won't we?
Next time it seems that evil-looking doll from the op will make an appearance. Anyways, I'm liking things so far. Hopefully there'll be a sub out soon so y'all can watch, too ;)
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 :)
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 :)
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 :)
