It may be slightly surprising, given that it was one of my favourite anime, but all I wrote after the first season of Rozen Maiden was, ‘I tell you this: it may only have been 12 episodes, but Rozen Maiden really was an excellent anime. I’ll have to read the manga. What seemed a childish premise bloomed (forgive the pun!) into a moving, sophisticated coming-of-age story, full of symbols of puberty and based on some great humour.’ But back then I wasn’t writing out full impressions.
Rozen Maiden was the first of Peach-Pit’s series I encountered, and I think it is by far their best – although Shugo Chara is an extremely good complement to this darker and more striking work, showing the duo’s versatility and great skill in balancing humour and drama. Rozen Maiden is iconic and instantly recognisable, and if it’s part of a fad that included the likes of Saint October, it managed to be sincere and affectionate in portraying the idealised tropes of the Lolita fashion subculture and contain some of the most striking characters, designs and magical abilities in all anime. Oh, and great music.
Jun is a ‘hikkikomori’, a shut-in who has become acutely socially withdrawn after problems at school. He amuses himself by ordering things with a trial period and then returning them before having to pay. At one point he finds a mysterious message asking him if he wishes to ‘wind’, and flippantly answers yes. He then receives a beautiful doll in Victorian-style clothing – who soon awakens and treats Jun as a servant. She is one of seven dolls striving to defeat one another to become the perfect daughter, but as apart from one they are all on one level or another very human and sympathetic – for dolls – it is not a simple case of undertaking a series of battles.
The seven sisters’ different personalities and appearances are perhaps the central draw of Rozen Maiden, and it deeply impresses me that the series could have so much character-based humour, and yet each and every one of those characters when serious can be formidable and impressive. Rozen Maiden has beautiful art, amazing performances, hilarious humour, moving drama, a gripping concept, some superb visuals – all it needs is a strong conclusion. Alas, Peach-Pit have yet to provide us with one of those, and their track record for providing one is…not spectacular.
The anime ended up taking its own direction anyway – but there is still the Rozen Maiden II manga to adapt…
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