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Rozen Maiden: Traumend 2

Review Date: 2010 August 11 14:48

Reviewed by: Molly Drury

Released by: MVM Films

Age Rating: 12

Region: 2 - UK

Volume 2 of 2

Length: 100 minutes

Subtitles: English

Audio: English 2.0 Stereo
Japanese 2.0 Stereo

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Summary

Rozen Maiden is about a group of living dolls, each created with a fragment of a single Roza Mystica inside her. These dolls lives revolve around playing the Alice Game, which means defeating each other so they can absorb the others' Roza Mystica and become whole. Once a doll has all the pieces of the Roza Mystica she becomes Alice, the perfect girl and will be reunited with her 'father', the man who created the Rozen Maiden.

Review

Jun Sakurada is your usual anime boy wimp. He's being bullied at middle school, has failing grades and when he comes home he wants to simply crawl into bed and never leave the house again. His sister Nori tries to coax him into going back to school, but fails. Leaving Jun at home to develop a slight addiction to internet shopping, he orders things and sends them back before the end of their trial period so he doesn't have to pay. However one day he answers an unconventional ad, and as if by magic a trunk appears in his room. Inside is Shinku, a Rozen Maiden doll. Jun winds her up and once she is awake she promptly informs Jun that he is now her servant.

The second series begins with things having settled down a little since Shinku defeated Suigintou. Shinku and Hina-Ichigo are still living with Jun and Nori, while Suiseiseki has returned to live with her twin sister Souseiseki and their elderly 'parents', but they often visit the others. Mostly because Suiseiseki likes to annoy Jun and tease Hina-Ichigo. However when a new doll shop opens in town, it can only mean that trouble will soon follow.

Rozen Maiden is slow at first, making you really wish it would hurry up and get to the fighting, but it certainly isn't boring to watch. The characters are charming and you can't help but get attached and feeling quite heart-wrenched when things go wrong. Even when they aren't following the main storyline of the Alice Game, the series still keeps you intrigued and there are plenty of amusing and heart-warming moments. So once the Alice Game starts to kick into gear properly you find yourself watching avidly to find out what is going to happen next to the Rozen Maiden.

The animation is crisp and colourful, and the opening is outstanding and sets a more serious tone for the series. For first time viewers this can seem strange when you first meet these cheerful, bright dolls but as the episodes progress the darker undertones become clearer. There are moments when the animation leaves a little to be desired. The animation isn't particularly energetic, although the fight scenes are still pretty exciting, there are moments where the characters are static. The dolls are also far more detailed than the humans who are much simpler with bold outlines. Most of the time, the charm of the characters and the interesting storyline make up for these issues.

Overall Rozen Maiden Traumend 2 was a series I have been looking forward to watching for a while, and it certainly didn't disappoint. With its cute and sassy characters, dark plot and exciting fight scenes the series could appeal to a wide variety of fans. There are a few flaws, as with anything, but overall Rozen Maiden Traumend 2 is a solid and enjoyable anime.

Rating: 8/10

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Rozen Maiden: Traumend 2

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