Rozen Maiden (ローゼンメイデン, Rōzen Meiden^?) is a manga by the group Peach-Pit, with an anime series of the same name.^[1] The story centers around Sakurada Jun, a young hikikomori boy that finds himself indebted to a living doll by the name of Shinku. Jun's sometimes comedic, sometimes dramatic, experiences with Shinku--as well as the other six dolls of the Rozen Maiden--slowly bring him out of his depression and back into the world that he had abandoned.

In TV Asahi's "Top 100 Anime Ranking" polled in 2006, Rozen Maiden was ranked 9th on the list. ^[2]

Background information

Story

Jun Sakurada is a Junior High School student who refuses to go to school after being traumatized by an embarrassing experience there (see Hikikomori). He has taken to locking himself in his room, never leaving the house, and spends the day ordering supernatural goods online. His older sister, Nori Sakurada, does everything she can to brighten Jun's dreary existence, but is unable to change his situation.

One day, Jun receives a letter claiming he has won a prize. The letter asks whether he will "wind" (まきますか？) or "not wind" (まきませんか？). It states that after he has made his decision, he must place the letter in the drawer of his desk, and a supernatural liaison will take it to the spirit world. Despite his skepticism, he follows these instructions, and discovers soon after that the envelope has vanished. Moments later, he realizes that a richly detailed wood case has materialized within his room. The box contains a strange realistic doll dressed in French aristocratic (synonymous with Gothic Lolita) attire. Jun carefully winds up the doll. The doll creaks, stands up on its own, then proceeds to slap him for handling her as crudely as he had. She introduces herself as, "...Shinku, the fifth doll of the Rozen Maiden."

Shinku is a doll from the unique "Rozen Maiden" collection, and before Jun can fully comprehend the weight of his new situation, a stuffed clown plush doll attacks. Shinku promises that she will save Jun's life, but only if he will vow to serve her. Thus, Jun becomes entrusted with the responsibility of protecting Shinku's "Rosa Mystica" whilst she is engaged in a centuries old fight with the other Rozen Maiden dolls for the title of "Alice."

The Rozen Maidens

The "Rozen Maidens" are a collection of dolls created by a craftsman named Rozen, whom the dolls refer to as "Father". Their primary source of power is a human host (referred to as a "medium") who wears a ring to symbolize his bond with the doll, although certain dolls have been shown to act without a medium. According to Shinku, she can only be at full power when her medium is present. Each Rozen Maiden has her own distinct personality, guardian spirit, and supernatural ability.

Characters of Rozen Maiden

Further information: List of Rozen Maiden characters

The Alice Game

The Rozen Maidens' apparent purpose is to participate in the "Alice Game", a lethal competition that promises the winner the right to meet "Father" by becoming "Alice," a girl of supreme beauty and perfection whose spirit lives inside of "Father"; she is said to be "more sublime than any flower, purer than any gem, and without a touch of impurity."^[3]

The game encompasses duels in which the dolls fight each other using both their guardian spirits and respective abilities, such as the manipulation of strawberry vines, as well as the spiritual energy from their medium. The doll that loses the duel loses her "Rosa Mystica," the very essence that endows her with the ability to move. The lost Rosa Mystica, which contains the memories and emotions of the duel's loser, is then collected and absorbed by the duel's winner. The doll that acquires all seven Rosae Mysticae will become Alice. The game has gone on for years, mostly because dolls have repeatedly broken off duels rather than fight them to a conclusion. Shinku, the central doll of the series, is notable in that while she does not refuse to fight, she does think that it is possible to win the game without killing her sisters: Hina Ichigo lost the Alice game when she renounced her contract with her medium. Shinku granted Hina Ichigo a new subcontract and did not take her Rosa Mystica. A doll can also no longer become Alice if she loses her Rosa Mystica. However, when such a subcontract is given, the source of power is still the original human medium. Therefore, Hina Ichigo draws energy in duels from Shinku, but this energy is actually Jun's.

Manga

The manga currently has 8 volumes in print, and was continually serialized in Monthly Birz Comics until the March 2007 issue. At that point, publication stopped for several months. Some speculated that the editorial department lost Peach-Pit's draft, while others said there was some kind of disagreement between Peach-Pit and the editorial department.^[4] The finale of Rozen Maiden was serialized in the July issue of Monthly Birz Comics. However, the manga will restart and continue.^[5]

The storyline between the anime and the manga have significant differences, including different stories, characters and sequence of events. Each volume costs 590 yen (excluding tax).

Volume	ISBN	Published
1	Japan: 4-344-80212-8	Japan: 24 March 2003
2	Japan: 4-344-80340-X	Japan: 24 December 2003
3	Japan: 4-344-80452-X	Japan: 24 September 2004
4	Japan: 4-344-80505-4	Japan: 24 December 2004
5	Japan: 4-344-80620-4	Japan: 24 August 2005
6	Japan: 4-344-80691-3	Japan: 24 January 2006
7	Japan: 4-344-80822-3	Japan: 24 September 2006
8	Japan: 9784344810303	Japan: 23 June 2007^[6]

Languages: Besides Japanese, the manga is also available entirely in Chinese, Bengali, English, French, German, Italian, Thai, Korean, and Spanish.

Manga Notes The final volume of the manga was noticeably thinner than the previous seven; it encompassed only 90 pages, compared to about 175 for each of the others. The story ended abruptly with a deus ex machina. The nature of the ending does, however, leave the story open to continuation.

A new, one-shot manga about the making of Shinku was serialized in Japan's "Weekly Young Jump" magazine. The manga is to be titled "Shōjo no Tsukuri-kata" (How to Make a Girl.) ^[7] At the beginning of April, Peach-pit announced that Rozen Maiden will be published in another magazine called Young Jump. The April 17, 2008 issue had in fact confirmed this, as the manga will be released in the 20th issue.

On April 2008, a new Rozen Maiden manga by Peach-Pit started serialization in issue 20 of Weekly Young Jump. The manga is again titled "Rozen Maiden" but the story stars a grown up Jun now in university. Jun finds a copy of the first issue of the magazine "Weekly How to Make a Girl" at his part-time workplace bookstore and later he starts receiving the issues by post, each issue has a Rozen Maiden part as a gift. One day he receives a notification that the publication has been cancelled and at the same time a mail from himself.^[8]

TV manga A series of manga based on the anime have also been released. It uses the anime storyline, and is in full color with screenshots fitted into manga format.

Anime

See also: List of Rozen Maiden episodes

Rozen Maiden (first season)

The first season of Rozen Maiden focuses primarily on the psychological rehabilitation of Jun Sakurada. He is a hikikomori, and spends most of his time locked in the safety of his room and ordering items from the internet. However, through a strange order form, he finds himself in possession of an enchanted doll that calls herself "Shinku, the fifth Rozen Maiden doll". Much to Jun's displeasure, Shinku calls on him to create a strange bond with her, and the socially disinclined boy winds up being her "servant". The series follows the two of them as they encounter more Rozen Maidens, dolls that for the most part seem to want nothing more than to drink tea, destroy windows, and draw on his floor with crayons. In this season, five dolls are introduced: Shinku, Hinaichigo, Suigintou, Suiseiseki, and Souseiseki. Suigintou is the primary villain.

Rozen Maiden's first season consists of twelve episodes that began airing on October 7, 2004 and ended on December 23, 2004.

Rozen Maiden ~Träumend~ (second season)

The second season of Rozen Maiden, subtitled träumend (トロイメント, toroimento^?) has a slightly darker tone. Träumend is German for "dreaming." The episodes are more plot-driven and deal with topics such as "Father" — the Rozen Maiden's creator — and the inevitable conclusion to the "Alice Game." Jun does not yet attend school (he has much work to make up before he can go back), but studies at home and at the local library. He is much more willing and eager to go outside the house, and seems to have even grown fond of the ever-present dolls. Shinku has also been changed, thanks to the events of the previous season, but she is generally as aristocratic as ever, lecturing and punishing Jun at every opportunity. Several new non-doll characters are introduced, including a riddle-spouting, tuxedo-attired anthropomorphic rabbit and two mysterious men who operate a doll shop. The final group of dolls also appear this season: Kanaria, the second doll, Barasuishou, who introduces herself as the seventh doll, and Kirakishou, the true seventh doll (though not by name).

Rozen Maiden: Träumend consists of twelve episodes that began airing on October 20, 2005 and ended on January 26, 2006. As all Geneon releases after November 6, 2007 have been cancelled, the first volume DVD is the only one available in the United States for the foreseeable future.

Detective Kunkun – Duell Walzer OVA

Duell Walzer OVA is a 7 minute Detective Kunkun episode. The show is presented as an opera performance with curtains, showtime buzzer and stage. The story is about how Detective Kunkun foils the evil cat's plans to steal a beautiful gem from another character. This episode portrays watching Detective Kunkun's show from a Rozen Maiden doll's perspective.

"Duell Walzer OVA" consists of only one episode, and is found on the Rozen Maiden-Duellwalzer PlayStation 2 game disc.

Rozen Maiden Ouvertüre

This two-episode Rozen Maiden special was aired on the December 22, 2006 and December 23, 2006 on TBS in Japan. It is a brief prequel to the events of the TV series. Ouvertüre (オーベルテューレ, ōberutyūre^?), German for "opening", is set at some point during Träumend (most likely between episodes six and seven) and answers critical questions about Suigintou's past, particularly those pertaining to the rivalry she holds with Shinku. The majority of the two-episode special is told by Souseiseki and takes place as a flashback to the nineteenth century in London. Ali Project once again lends its talents for the opening song. As with the series, Kukui sings the ending theme.

Theme songs

Opening: Forbidden Game (also called Forbidden Play) (禁じられた遊び, Kinjirareta Asobi^?) by Ali Project (Season 1); The Domain of Holy Girl (聖少女領域, Seishōjo Ryōiki^?) by Ali Project (Season 2); Rose Jail Maiden (薔薇獄乙女, Baragoku Otome^?) by Ali Project (Ouvertüre OVA)
Ending: Transparent Shelter (透明シェルター, Tōmei Sherutā^?) by refio + Haruka Shimotsuki (Season 1); Spiraling Melody of Light (光の螺旋律, Hikari no Rasenritsu^?) by Kukui (Season 2); The Empty Cicada's* Shadow (空蝉ノ影, Utsusemi no Kage^?) by Kukui (Ouvertüre OVA)

the empty cicada in Japanese literally means “transient life" or "ephemeral world”

Unresolved issues (in the anime)

Kirakishou: Barasuishou is actually not the seventh Rozen Maiden, but rather a copy of one. The true seventh Rozen Maiden, Kirakishou, is shown very briefly towards the end of the final episode of Rozen Maiden Träumend, watching Laplace no Ma dance with two Rosae Mysticae in his hands. Nothing more about Kirakishou has been revealed in the anime.
Laplace: At first, he seems to support Enju and Barasuishou in the battle against the Rozen Maidens, but in the final episode of Rozen Maiden träumend, he slips away after Barasuishou's destruction, declaring that his amusement has come to an end for the time being. Later on in the episode, he is shown dancing with Kirakishou, holding two Rosae Mysticae, most likely those of Souseiseki and Hinaichigo. When appearing in the Ouvertüre OVA, it seems that he controls the duration of the Alice Game, since he can force the dolls to return to their suit cases when the current Alice Game participants terminate their contracts with their mediums.
Father: At the end of Rozen Maiden Träumend, Enju turns out not to be the man known as Rozen, or "Father", but rather a jealous apprentice of his, who seeks to eclipse Rozen's art. To accomplish his goal, Enju created Barasuishou to destroy the Rozen Maidens and thus become Alice. Barasuishou succeeds in defeating most of the Rozen Maidens and acquires all six of their Rosae Mysticae, but because she is not a true Rozen Maiden, she is unable to contain the Rosae Mysticae and crumbles away in Enju's arms. The true "Father" appears afterwards, and resurrects all of the Rozen Maidens except Souseiseki and Hinaichigo, since they were defeated by genuine Rozen Maidens. He then tells Shinku that there is another way to become Alice, without playing the lethal game, and that it is up to her to figure out how. He also entrusts her with "finding a solution" regarding Souseiseki and Hinaichigo. The series ends shortly after, with no solution to either puzzle.
The Magical Power: It is known that Enju and Rozen have the ability to bring dolls to life, and Shirosaki, or more precisely, Laplace, can change his appearance and move to and from the N-field at will. At the end of Rozen Maiden, Jun was able to magically reattach Shinku's arm. Suigintou notes that apparently only a Maestro (referencing to Rozen) possesses this sort of power, though Shinku notes that in Jun's world, he can do whatever he wishes he can do. Clearly, Jun is not Rozen, but his sewing expertise was able to restore a doll to life earlier in the series, which would suggest that Jun may have latent magical power with the potential to equal Rozen's.

CD Media

Main article: Rozen Maiden Albums

A variety of CDs have been released for Rozen Maiden, largely involving Drama CDs, or original soundtracks. Rozen Maiden OST and Rozen Maiden Drama CDs

Anime and manga differences

Story and characters

While the anime's first season portrays Shinku as extremely serious and composed, in the manga she is often shown in compromising and amusing situations using a simplified version of her face.
In the anime, Souseiseki's master is an old man who uses her as a surrogate for his long-dead son. In the manga, Souseiseki's master is a wealthy and bitter old man who wants to exact revenge on the woman who eloped with his twin brother many years ago; on the day they eloped, they were unfortunately caught in a disaster at sea that the twin brother did not survive. Souseiskei's master thus blamed his brother's fiancée for his twin's death.
In the first episode of the anime, and the first chapter of the manga, Suigintou sends a doll to kill Jun when Shinku first arrives. In the anime, the doll is a clown doll, but in the manga the doll is a teddy bear named "Bu Bear" (クマのブさん Kuma no Bu-san) or "Booh Bear" in the English translation (most likely a reference to Winnie-the-Pooh).
In the manga, Suigintou tears Bu Bear apart after it has failed its mission, but leaves the remains in Jun's room. In the anime, the clown doll is torn apart when it protects Shinku from an attack by Suigintou. In both cases, Jun is able to restore the dolls.
Barasuishou, Enju, the Shibasakis, Shirosaki, Sarah and Yamamoto-kun do not exist in the manga.
In the manga, Jun withdraws from school in humiliation after he is revealed as the designer of a special occasion dress for the class beauty; he had previously denied adamantly that he liked designing girls' fashions. In the anime, Jun withdraws from school after everyone in his class started whispering behind his back about how he did poorly on a test — most likely, an entrance exam for a competitive junior high school. This was traumatic for Jun because he had been previously regarded as an academic genius.
In the anime, Hinaichigo loses for good in the Alice Game when "Father" terminates the link between Shinku and her; Shinku had established the link after she defeated Hinaichigo previously so that Hinaichigo could use Jun as her medium. In the manga, Hinaichigo's body is forcefully taken and consumed by Kirakishou in the N-Field. In both versions, Shinku receives Hinaichigo's Rosa Mystica.
In the manga, Suigintou steals Souseiseki's Rosa Mystica after she sacrifices herself for the good of her master. In the anime, Suigintou defeats Souseiseki in battle and wins Souseiseki's Rosa Mystica outright.
In the fifth volume of the manga, "Father" is revealed to be the Count of St Germain. The anime, to date, makes no revelation as to "Father"'s true identity.

Video games

Rozen Maiden: Battle Royale is a doujin fighting game featuring the cast from Rozen Maiden made with the enterbrain fighting game engine. Hence the name, the characters are pitted against one another one by one along with a simple storyline surrounding the whereabouts the detective dog Kun-kun. Although a sequel was in development featuring the mediums, the creator has since scrapped the project for other pursuits.

Rozen MUGEN is an unofficial mugen fighting game featuring the cast from Rozen Maiden made with the M.U.G.E.N. engine. The stages and characters are developed entirely by an individual known only by the alias drowin.

Rozen Maiden: Duellwalzer is a visual novel game developed by Taito. It was released in Japan for Sony's PlayStation 2 console on 27 April 2006. Two versions were marketed for release: a "normal" one, which only included the game, and a special edition which also included a Rozen Maiden handwatch, similar to the one Shinku is seen using. There are currently no plans to release this game outside of Japan.

CERO Rating: A

Normal version: 7,140 yen (excluding tax)
Special version: 9,240 yen (excluding tax)

Rozen Maiden: Gebetgarten is the second official Rozen Maiden game which was released in March, 2007. Like Alibat, it is a 3-D fighter, but made by Taito with cel-shaded graphics. It will also be for the PlayStation 2 console.

CERO Rating: A

Normal version: 7,140 yen (excluding tax)
Special version: 9,240 yen (excluding tax)

Rozen Maiden AliBat (Record of Rozen War) is a 3-D fighting doujinshi game. Alibat, short for "Alice Battle", was originally released at Comiket 69 (and also through the internet) as a basic demo, where only Shinku, Suigintou, and Suiseiseki were playable characters. The latest version included Hinaichigo, Kanaria, Souseiseki, Barasuishou and even Kirakishou as further playable characters. There is also one secret unlockable character, Detective Kun-Kun. As it is a fan-made game, the available abilities and graphic design are basic.

International distribution

Geneon has licensed Rozen Maiden,^[9] and completely released the first season on DVD (first DVD containing 4 episodes was released on May 29, 2007 with officially dubbed English. The other 8 episodes were released on two other DVDs ('Maiden War' and 'War of the Rose'). The special edition DVD comes with a velveteen artbox. The first DVD of the second season, 'Puppet Show', was released on October 23, 2007. The other two DVDs, 'Revival' and 'The Alice game' were supposed to come out in December but now have been delayed indefinitely due to Geneon cancelling DVD sales ^[10].

Tokyopop Germany has completely released the first season on DVD, and the first Träumend DVD has originally been announced for March 2008, but due to increasing illegal downloads and DVD anime sales decreasing, it will not be released^[11].

Kaze, an anime publisher in France, has licensed the anime and has completely released the first season.

Trivia

The popular internet "desu" meme originates from Suiseiseki's habit of appending the word — which is rarely grammatically correct, and is nothing more than a copula — to the end of every sentence. Kanaria and Hinaichigo share a similar speech habit, using "kashira" and "nano" as a sentence suffix respectively, but this has not seen a fraction of "desu"'s success.^{[citation needed]}
The Rozen Maiden license was announced through a unique "Guess The Geneon License" contest through Anime News Network. This contest was conducted through a scavenger hunt held in the form of a podcast. Listeners had to discover various clues that were littered throughout the podcast English logo for Little airplane .^{[citation needed]}
Both Fashion doll companies Jun Planning and Volks have released a series of Rozen Maiden dolls. The Planning dolls are based on their Pullip and Dal Doll models.^[12] Volks' Rozen Maiden-inspired designs are released as Super Dollfies. ^[13]
There have been several Rozen Maiden artbooks published. The most notable are called Rozen Maiden Entr'facte, Rozen Maiden ERINNERUNG and well as two novels called Die Romane der Rozen Maiden - Schwarzer Wind and Die Romane der Rozen Maiden - Kalkgrun Augen.^[14] ^[15]
In episode 11 of the first season, between 12 and 13 minutes, Suigintou has 6 fingers when she holds up her hand as she is taunting Shinku. This mistake has been corrected for the DVD version.
As the dolls in the story are told to be made by a German dollmaker named "Rozen", there are some German words in the Manga and Anime, not necessarily correctly translated. As an example, "Rozen Maiden" is told to be the German words for "Maid of Roses" but the correct words for that would be "Rosane Maid". In addition, every episodes title is also shown in German, often with the wrong grammatical gender, as an example: the 9th episode of the fourth season (called "the cage" in English) is associated with the German "Die Gefängnis" which is an example for the common false gender-translation, that makes the German language so difficult (right would be "Das Gefängnis").

References

^ Rozen Maiden (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
^ tv asahi's top 100 anime ranking for 2006
^ "Parting (別離 Abschied)". Writ. Tsuyoshi Tamai. Rozen Maiden. 2004-12-10. No. 10, season 1.
^ Rozen Maiden Serialization Suspended
^ Rozen Maiden Confirmed to Restart in Young Jump Mag - Anime News Network
^ まんがの森
^ Anime News Network: Peach-Pit Draws One-Shot Manga in Young Jump Mag
^ Weekly Young Jump Manga Information
^ Geneon Licenses Rozen Maiden (2007-01-12). Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
^ Geneon USA to Cancel DVD Sales, Distribution by Friday - Anime News Network
^ TOKYOPOP - NEWS: Aktuelle Meldungen
^ Rozen Maiden, Pullip, and Dal Doll Collaboration
^ TBS shop
^ Die Romane der Rozen Maiden Books (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
^ Rozen Maiden Books (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-09-23.

External links

Official sites

(Japanese) Peach-Pit The creators of Rozen Maiden
(Japanese) Rozen Maiden Official anime website of the first season
(Japanese) Rozen Maiden träumend Official anime website of the second season
(Japanese) Rozen Maiden ouvertüre Official anime website of the ouvertüre OVA
(Japanese) Rozen Maiden Duellwalzer Official website of Duellwalzer (PlayStation 2 game)
(Japanese) Gentosha Comics Publisher of Birz Comics
(English) Tokyopop English language manga publisher
(English) Geneon Official Rozen Maiden Anime WebsiteFrom Little Airplane Productions
(German) Tokyopop German language anime and manga publisher

Databases

(English) Rozen Maiden (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
(English) Rozen Maiden ~Träumend~ (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
(English) Rozen Maiden (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
(English) Rozen Maiden at the Internet Movie Database

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