Search - Rozen Maiden, Vol. 1: Doll House on DVD

BATTLING DOLLS

Sesho | Pasadena, TX USA | 06/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jun, a middle school student that refuses to go to school, spends most of this time ordering weird occult items over the internet and ordering his loving but ditzy sister Nori to attend to his every need. He's used to getting strange stuff in the mail but when he receives a questionaire asking if he can "wind" he responds with a yes. Soon after a odd-looking suitcase arrives and inside is a beautiful gothic doll in the form of a young girl. When he winds it, the "doll" comes to life. Her name is Shinku, the rose maiden, and she acts for all the world like she's a living breathing girl, and an aristocratic one at that! While Jun is trying to figure things out, a malevolent clown doll bursts through the window and begins making threatening moves with butcher knives right out of Psycho. He also wields razor sharp playing cards! Shinku tells Jun that the only way he can save his life is if he "swears". What "swearing" means is that he enters into a symbiotic relationship with Shinku in which she uses his life energy to battle against other dolls, all fighting in the tournament-like Alice Games. If a doll loses a fight, all their energy is drained and absorbed by the winner and the loser turns into just an ordinary lifeless doll. Whoever is the last doll standing becomes "Alice", which I suspect means to become fully human. As is typical with shows like this, some of the dolls that Jun and Shinku encounter will become their friends and others will become their enemies.

Just looking at the cover of this dvd and reading the synopsis on the back didn't really get me too excited. I mean fighting Gothic Lolita dolls going Dragonball Z on each other? I mean, it just seemed completely goofy or meant to appeal to some very maladjusted otaku males. But I was in for a big surprise. The coolest twist of the show is the reversal of the master/servant concept. Usually, in this setup, the male would be the master, albeit a complete loser, and the female would be the catering slave to his every wish, trying to make his life better merely by saying "yes" to everything. In this show, Shinku is the master, ordering Jun about! And for some strange reason, Jun pretty much complies, even though he doesn't want to. Another thing that makes this show unique is that Shinku does try to make Jun's life better, but not through babying him. She's pretty tough, so she throws all his shortcomings in his face, not to make fun of him or hurt him, but to make him aware of just how much he's wasting his potential. I have to admit that the dolls were very cute, but what made them more charming was the fact that they have these mischievous streaks that they try to hide under their innocent looks and voices. Even though the plot of the show is based on a battle tournament a la Fate/Stay Night, very little fighting takes place on this first volume, which was very welcome and which I think will change in future volumes. Don't let the cute cover scare you away. Rozen Maiden is a show worth watching also has some very funny moments."