Rozen Maiden: Träumend

kingofdemons Feb 21, 2015

8.3

Story was slow to start but when the story gets going super fun to see and the fight secnes  Animation was very pretty good some parts here and there where a little bit of frame drop's but nothing to get all sad and mad about,  Sound was very good there was no high or low spots vrey clean and crip Characters they where a pretty cool cast well even the main Character got cooler when thing got more on edge

Epimondas Apr 21, 2015

8

This series starts where the previous season/series ended.  There is an intriguing network of interconnected events woven together like a spider web that culminate in the final episode.  What you are left feeling from it maybe a bit convoluted and up for debate. ***Spoiler*** It is hard to say what the ending sequence suggests.  Could Jun be the father? Just a student/apprentice, or some heir apparent?  Either way it is at least strongly implied that Jun carries the same skills, attitudes, and personality as the father or at least something similar.  He was trained how to make dolls from scratch which is something not seen in season 3.  This makes Jun feel like an even stronger candidate to either be father's reincarnation or to be his successor.  Though it is unsaid, it could even be possible for the viewer to believe the doll shop will reopen eventually with Jun making the dolls and Laplas once again taking human form to serve as the shop keeper. Perhaps the introduction of the apprentice twists things up a bit in a direction never envisioned in the manga and the creators were hard pressed to resolve the matter.  Maybe that is why parts of this story get a bit muddled.  Also, I felt strongly the fact that #7 fell in Jun's dream might have some future connection and consequence.  Surely they could have done more with that, but sadly instead they seemed to have chosen to ignore it altogether. ***Spoiler End*** Laplase is a huge mystery in every season, and his role nor his origin or interest as it relates to what his motivation is, is ever revealed, well at least not fully.  He therefore remains a mystery.  I must confess some characters come out as stronger and in a sense improved in season 3 than in the other two such as, doll #7.  Seven seems a bit too dull, dead pan, and dispassionate at least until the very end of the series.  In season 3, however her nature is given much more screen time for the audience to peruse and understand.  In a sense, in fact, she becomes the focus albeit a bit oddly to the neglect of both versions of Jun, Seito, Tomoe, #1, and Shinku, though in fact Shinku suffers the least.  That is part of the problem in a sense though cause it feels like it focuses too much on her.  Season 2 did not have that issue and for the most part, shared time relatively equally with all major figures save the obsessed doll lover, Tomoe, and the girl on her death bed.  Though the time with #7's master was well spent good quality time, it was far short of the others and her personality and character demonstrate severe limitations because she is too focused on a narrow view of things.  Here too, Season 3 did more justice to that character.  Shingatou (#7 or whatever the spelling of her name is) is a central figure of this and the ouverture.   ***Minor spoiler***Between the two we get a much deeper understanding of what she is and who.  It is a bit puzzling however about the amnesia which is also never fully explained or how she or her rose mystica got free of Jun's dream. ***Minor spoiler end*** ( I say minor because this information is revealed within the first 4 or 5 episodes or sooner.)   We do get introduced to the last 2 dolls.  However, #2's role is a bit murky.  She is also a tad more critical to the story in season 3 but less time is spent overall on the development and complexities of her character, so she is sort of a middle ground character as to how season 2 and season 3 dealt with her.  The only other little flaw is that Jun seems to grow a bit more in season 2 but it still seems to take a long time.  Season 1 probably dragged some of these changes on a bit too long and may have given a little handicap to season 2.  They are overall good solid characters with ironically and a nod to humor, more life than the characters of a great many other anime and other media.   ***Minor spoiler*** (Though it is not revealed how they actually come to life or what magic or technology is really behind it or even why only 7 were made and yet more dolls that could come to life seemed to be implied were being made.  (See the one that the doll maker makes with Jun.))  The odd way they direct that it can save real human lives too is a bit odd, out of place, and confounding. ***Minor spoiler end***  So a few holes could certainly have been plugged and solidified the story much more.  It may have been intended to have a season 3 that picked up where season 2 ended that never came around.  It is a pretty good follow up to season 1 however, it still left a few things bouncing around in the heads of viewers.  Wether that was intended to be addressed later in another season is no matter, since whatever they may or may not have intended did not happen.  An ova or a movie or something could have put viewers to ease had they given the thought of a what if they could not make a season 3 just so viewers could get their deserved full closure.  That might be a nice unwritten rule to have, make a back up plan so that stories can have some sort of ending rather than none where applicable.  Even without full closure, most of the things were more or less resolved and at least some of those not resolved were given the impression they would be, though the viewer may or may not ever know what those were.   It is a fun show overall and oddly enough, it was better than the season 3 that supposedly followed the manga.  This one has a bit more of a tragic element than any other season.  At least that part has some ending conclusions you can rest upon after getting past the trials of emotional tragedies.  It is worth the time I think as it has its own rewards to watch the series.  It may even be worth watching season 3 for comparison if nothing else.

angelsreviews May 14, 2015

6

This takes place a bit after the first one and I have to say the character development is actually rather surprising. We have Jun not afraid to go outside anymore, and is actually trying to get into school again. There isn’t much development in the dolls but I guess that’s to be expected slightly. I have a small feeling that their artificial spirits are made to have a certain personality. I’m going to talk more about my theory later on in this review about that. We don’t really see much of the other human characters and so their personalities seem slightly the same. Jun’s sister is still a caring clumsy girl, Jun’s classmate is a very quiet girl who wants to help sometimes, and there are a few new humans too.During this show, we are introduced two two new dolls, Kanaria and Bara-Suishou. I have different feelings on both these new characters. Where as the fact I love Bara-Suishou as sort of a new antagonist for the dolls in light of what happen to Suigintou (Spoilers for the first series, sorry), I do not really like the addition of Kanaria. Kanaria felt like she was only there for comic relief. Her personality seemed to be similar to Suiseiseki in that she would get into trouble a lot and trying to sneak into the house. She also seemed slightly like Hinaichigo in how childish she is sometimes. With how deep the story gets, that doesn’t stop them from still doing the slice of life type of story arcs. They do end up making me annoyed slightly because there is so much story that can be given to the main idea of the Alice Game, the story behind the dolls and so on but what do we actually do get? Suiseiseki stealing Hinaichigo’s snack again, Shinku sitting reading or watching Detective Kun Kun, and Kanaria’s comedic attempts at going after the other girls. I can understand they are trying to give the characters more personality and show the personal growth of each of them but sometimes there is no growth at all. Then we are left with a kind of pointless run around with the story.Besides the slice of life stuff, the story does get a bit deep and sad. If I told you any more about that, then it would just be spoilers but there were times that tears did fall from my eyes.I said I was going to talk about my theory about the spirits. If you keep watching each of the dolls, it seems they have a bit of a collective soul. What I mean when I say this is that the personalities of each girl don’t always feel whole. Shinku is very proper; almost princess like where as Hinaichigo is very childish. Suiseiseki is a very mischievous girl who likes to tease others while her ‘twin’ sister Souseiseki is a bit more tomboyish. Suigintou is jealousy, and Kanaria is… I’m not fully sure but I think her personality is a bit of the sneaky planner. Sort of the personality of a girl who will sneak around someone to get what she wants or two get back at someone. If you look at all these dolls as personalities, it would seem that if all of them were put together, they would be the perfect being, the perfect ‘Alice.’ My theory of them and of the game they play is the idea that Rozen, their father, wanted to make the perfect daughter he named Alice and that the dolls must collect each part of Alice’s soul in order to become her. I do have another theory though, a back up theory if you want to take it as such… one that might be a very surprising turn of advents if this actually were to be true. My theory is that there is actually no real Alice Game. That the Alice Game was made up by someone to explain why they were ‘abandoned’ by their father. Their spirits though are pieces of their father’s daughter Alice who died at some point in time. In order to save her spirit, he placed parts of it into the dolls. It’s a large grasp at straws here but it’s another idea that I have from watching this series.The artwork is very beautiful when it wants to be and then it can also feel like they didn’t try. It’s much the same as the first series in both aspects. I still get the feeling that there are two different art styles from slice of life to occult in one show. The dolls are still rather detailed when not making funny faces or in a really comedic scene while the human characters feel a little lack luster. I am not sold on the face of Shirosaki, the salesperson at the doll shop in the show. I understand who he is from the moment I saw him (Not spoiling it though) but his face does not look like a humans. In fact, I really thought he might have been a doll himself with the way his eyes were and how his face was. It just looked way to flat and white to be real. The music is something I forgot to talk about in my review before that I will touch here. Both the first and this one have amazing music, most of it orchestra related. My favorite pieces are when the dolls are in some serious mode. That’s when the beautiful and yet haunting melody seems to come out that sounds slightly like a music box. I can’t help but get chills up my spine hearing that beautiful haunting melody. The English dub is basically the same so what I said before goes for this. I’m still not to keen on Hinaichigo’s or Suiseiseki’s voices much. Again, Hinaichigo’s high pitched childish whine is annoying and I really don’t understand why Suiseiseki’s voice has to be that high as well. They did grow on me more though since the first series which I guess works out. As for the newcomer, Kanaria is about as annoying as Hinaichigo’s voice. It’s high pitched and the way she talks reminds me of Naga the Serpent from Slayers. It’s that snarky little announcing voice that will say everything she is thinking no matter what. She hasn’t really had a chance to grow on me as much as the other characters though and maybe that’s why I can’t stand her right now.The story was actually really done and I liked how they dove more into the Alice Game and the story behind it but again they left more questions then answers. They had a very open ended ending that makes me wonder exactly what they mean by it. I still love the story and can’t wait to watch the rest of the seasons.