So as anyone who has been paying attention lately knows, I took a majorly huge step out of character and downloaded and watched the first season of Rozen Maiden, and . . . actually somewhat enjoyed the stint. That isn't to say that I think it's a great show; Rozen Maiden definitely has its flaws and shortcomings, but I wasn't insulted by it, and the whole excess-of-tiny-girls deal never really got on my nerves.
I think it's best if I summarise my thoughts into the pro/con categories.
Pros:
- Neat concept. To be honest, the thought of living dolls has struck me on more than one occasion, and that disregards anything to do with Pinocchio.
- The various psychological aspects that appeared in the show were well-constructed.
- Jun getting the crap beat out of him, usually by Shinku. In fact, I think my favorite scene in that regard was when Shinku literally punched him in the kidney. Come to think of it, Shinku has a pretty nasty right cross.
- Suigintou at the very end. The revelation of her incomplete state was very effective, and I think it went a long way to endearing the audience to her after the fact.
- The special power of the twins. Given the setting for most of the show I found it to be a nice bit of lore.
- The Battle of the Stairway was an absolute riot. That was seriously some of the funniest stuff I've seen. I spent about three-quarters of the episode just going "...what in the world...".
- The ending for Jun was pretty okay. Not terribly surprising, but it didn't reek of contrived sappiness, and it worked in-story.
Cons:
- Nowhere near enough character depth. For how well the series constructed their psychological backgrounds, they sure left a lot of potential character development completely untouched. Granted, if they went down a particular road they made certain to effectively back it up, but they never really traveled anywhere. I liken their approach to going to an upscale amusement park, hitting up the first good ride you see, and then spending the rest of the day on the bench outside the front gate. It was just enough to cover the necessities, and as a storyteller I'm really disappointed about that, especially with such good potential for growth or expansion.
- Additionally, the lore regarding the power of a Craftsman (which is what I shall call it since it really isn't given a clear name; although honestly I found the lack of a label refreshing in that regard) was never drawn out anywhere close to thoroughly enough.
- I wasn't totally sold on the Alice Game. I liked the concept, but it too never really went anywhere. It showed up in one episode, laid out the basic rules (which for once were blissfully simple), and then immediately made an exception to them for the sake of character placement. It returned a few times in the remaining ten episodes, but I never got a clear sense of tension out of it. I was honestly more worried about Shinku going dormant and Jun's struggle to find the information to free her than I ever was about her losing the Alice Game. And, granted, the series was more about Jun's evolution than anything else, but the Alice Game was billed as something of extreme significance to the Maidens, and since they were just as much main characters as he was, I kind of wish the series had drawn its drama strings a bit harder in that regard.
- For being the series' victor most often, I found it odd that Shinku's powers were quite literally the least effective in any regard. The only way she ever won fights was either by default or through Jun's ability to tap into her magic (drawn from his own reservoir?) and manifest more shounen-appropriate abilities. Part of me wonders if the reason she had lasted so long before the story started (since it's implied the Rozen Maidens had existed for many years prior) was due to her ability to delay combat until she was able to successfully escape.
- Jun was the only medium in the show. Since it was clearly stated on several occasions that a doll's strength is dependent upon her medium's presence, and simply having one would double their strength (or rather without one their powers were cut in half), it seemed clear to me that Jun and Shinku would never lose, despite the circumstances. After that, all the major conflicts became somewhat boring.
- The whole "am I in love with a doll" deal got old real damn fast.
- While I rather appreciated the truth about Suigintou, I was very disappointed that the series didn't take advantage of such a clever and completely justifiable opportunity to put her through Villain Rehab. I'm not usually a fan of the 'redemption of evil' motif, but I felt in this case it would have been a tasteful and satisfying conclusion to Suigintou's story. I am aware, of course, that she makes a return in Träumend, but I don't believe that it will be anywhere near as effective as what her conversion trial could have been.
I think I can summarise my complaints about the show with a simple concept: it was too short. And I don't mean that like ZOMG NEED MOAR ROZEN MAIDEN. It just doesn't seem full. What it did it executed well, but it never really took any major risks. It never allowed itself the chance to be as good as it could have been.
Part of me is okay with that. I mean, given that there were only five dolls to play the Alice Game and four of them were for all intents and purposes on the same side, there wasn't a lot of direction the series could go without either adding in doll after doll after doll and turning into a slightly more Victorian version of Zatch Bell (and I am thankful they did not do this) or dragging out the show with episode after episode of mind-numbing slice-of-life schticks designed to showcase more and more unnecessary saccharine and boy-meets-doll crap.
But at the end of the show I still feel like I only sat through the Rozen Maiden synopsis instead of the full show—sort of like going to see a Shakespeare production and instead getting the Cliff's Notes skit. I wasn't entirely surprised because it was only twelve episodes long, but I still feel sort of disappointed.
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At any rate, I did enjoy watching what little of it there was to watch. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy Träumend just for the chance to see if the series can explore anything else in depth, or if they'll just toss in another angle and do the same thing. And I certainly wouldn't mind seeing this series remade, provided they let themselves be a little bit more unrestrained with it.
In fact, I may check out the manga of it to see if there's any more depth there—although with only 43 chapters out I'm not entirely overflowing with hope....
