Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen

Rozen Maiden (2013):  C+

A third season which doesn't directly continue from the second season.  Overall it's a decent story if you're familiar with Rozen Maiden as a franchise but a weird one if you're not.  I personally felt a little shortchanged because I liked the villain and she didn't get a very satisfying ending, and the finale implying additional seasons based off this series' weird timeline.  But I guess with my warning you that's goign to happen you might not have the problem I did.

This story takes place in a parallel universe, except it also doesn't, because the parallel universe is sort of distantly connected to the original universe, and that connection is very important to the plot.  I found myself relating to the Unwound Jun much more than the Wound Jun in the original series, but overall this one was less slice-of-life comedy and more weirdly-paced drama with less payoff.  I did enjoy it and I felt it came together, but it wasn't as good as the high points of the original series, though it wasn't far below it, either.

If you want more Rozen Maiden and won't mind them screwing with pre-established events fromt he anime then knock yourself out, but if you either didn't like the original Rozen Maiden or don't know it, this isn't where you want to start.

Rozen Maiden

Rozen Maiden:  B

I've been referring to this show to my friends as "Gothloli Highlander," because that is the main thrust of the plot.  There are magical, animate dolls (the eponymous Rozen Maidens) who were created to play the "Alice Game," a battle where each of the seven sister-dolls fights to take each others "Rosa Mystica," which is their animating magical soul, and after having taken all of them, the winner will become Alice, the ultimate girl, beloved by their Father and their creator.

The series actually focuses more on the relationships between the Rozen Maiden dolls, who are, despite their centuries-old existences, still children, and each has a different outlook on their creation, their sisters, and the Alice Game.  The series attempts to reasonably discuss the effects of this particular goal of existence on a group, especially a group that has become familiar with one another over an extended period of centuries.

I enjoyed the series for its emotional content and the weird childishness of the dolls, even the more mature ones have a number of childish quirks that stand out as making them interesting characters, more than just a collection of well-written traits.  If I were to criticize the series, I would say that the characters' elaborate costumes draw too much of the animation budget, the combat scenes are distinctly lacking in dynamism or animation quality.

The series is two seasons and an OVA, but the series, both in its manga and anime forms, has suffered from executive changes and sudden cancellations, the second season of the anime is a divergent plot from the manga, and the original manga cut off after a sudden deus ex machina before beginning again in an alternate universe.  Overall, the anime manages to be a coherent story that is functional, though unresolved.

If the idea of watching dolls that might as well be human bicker, laugh, love, fight and learn appeals to you, you'll probably enjoy Rozen Maiden.  If you need action or find emotional subplots tiring, you probably won't.