| Rozen Maiden | |
North American cover of Rozen Maiden Vol. 1 |
|
| ローゼン・メイデン (Rōzen Meiden) |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy, Drama, Supernatural |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Peach-Pit |
| Published by | Gentosha (1st edition) Shueisha (2nd edition) |
| English publisher | Madman Entertainment Tokyopop |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Comic Birz |
| Original run | September 2002 – June 2007 |
| Volumes | 8 (Birz Comics edition) 7 (Young Jump Comics edition) |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Peach-Pit |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Weekly Young Jump |
| Original run | 17 April 2008 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 4 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Kō Matsuo |
| Studio | Nomad |
| Licensed by | Madman Entertainment Sentai Filmworks |
| Network | TBS, BS-i |
| Original run | 7 October 2004 – 23 December 2004 |
| Episodes | 12 |
| TV anime | |
| Rozen Maiden: Träumend | |
| Directed by | Kō Matsuo |
| Studio | Nomad |
| Licensed by | Sentai Filmworks |
| Network | TBS, BS-i |
| Original run | 20 October 2005 – 5 January 2006 |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Original video animation | |
| Rozen Maiden: Ouvertüre | |
| Directed by | Kō Matsuo |
| Studio | Nomad |
| Licensed by | Sentai Filmworks Kaze |
| Released | 22 December 2006 – 23 December 2006 |
| Episodes | 2 |
Rozen Maiden (ローゼンメイデン) is a manga series created by Peach-Pit. The story centers on Jun Sakurada, a young hikikomori boy that forms a bond with Shinku, a living doll of the "Rozen Maiden" series, who was created by the mysterious dollmaker Rozen hundreds of years ago. The series examines the living habits and personality of each of the Rozen Maidens whom Jun encounters, as well as their quest to become the perfect girl, named "Alice".
Rozen Maiden was originally serialized in Monthly Comic Birz from 2002 to 2007 and in English by Tokyopop from 2006 to 2008. A new manga series started in April 2008, now in Weekly Young Jump, but still published monthly. The manga was adapted as a two-season anime: Rozen Maiden, airing from October to December 2004, and Rozen Maiden: Träumend, from October 2005 to January 2006. A following two-part special, Rozen Maiden: Ouvertüre, aired on December 2006. The anime held various differences from the original plot of the manga.
Contents |
The plot revolves around Jun Sakurada, a junior high school student who refuses to go back to school after being traumatized by an embarrassing experience. Since then, he avoids leaving his house and spends the day ordering goods online and returning them before the grace period ends. When Jun receives a letter asking if he will "Wind or Not wind", he becomes skeptical, but circles "Wind". Soon after, the letter vanishes and a wood case appears in his room. Inside the box is a very realistic doll which, after being wound, starts moving on its own and introduces herself as Shinku, the fifth doll of the Rozen Maiden series.
In the following, Jun becomes Shinku's "medium", a human host that provides the doll with his own life energy, allowing her to walk and use magic. This bond is symbolized by a ring worn by both parties. Now, Jun and Shinku must participate in the "Alice Game", a competition between the Rozen Maiden dolls to capture each other's "Rosa Mystica", their primary life source. Once a doll is defeated in combat, she loses her Rosa Mystica to the opponent, and becomes an inanimate doll. The last doll who remains standing wins the Alice Game, will become a girl of utmost beauty and purity named "Alice", just as their creator Rozen wanted.
In the first season of the anime, the main antagonist was Suigintou but was destroyed by a team effort led by Shinku. In the second season of the anime Rozen Maiden: Träumend, Shinku, Jun, and the other dolls, meet two additional Rozen Maidens: Barasuishou and Kanaria. Suigintou reappears, as she is resurrected by Rozen himself, and this time she has a "medium", an ill girl named Megu. With all the seven dolls awoken, the "Alice Game" grows near to its conclusion. Adding to the mystery of Rozen, there is also Enju and Shirosaki, who operate their own doll shop, and the strange Laplace's Demon, who appears during battles talking in riddles. In the last episode, Barasuishou successfully defeats the other dolls. However, she was revealed to be Enju's creation and not a true Rozen Maiden. She was destroyed when she was unable to contain the "Rosa Mystica" of the other dolls.[1] The series ends unresolved as Rozen appears at the last minute, restoring the life of his dolls, except for Hinaichigo and Souseiseki and with Kirakishou, the real seventh Rozen Maiden, making a brief appearance.[1]
The Rozen Maiden manga, produced by Peach-Pit, has been serialized in two different magazines: Monthly Comic Birz from 2002 to 2007, and Weekly Young Jump from April 2008 onwards. It has garnered quite a few followers, including Japan's former Prime Minister, Taro Aso, who gained the nickname "Rozen Aso" after being seen reading volume one of the Birz manga in public, allegedly while waiting at Tokyo International Airport. Aso remarked about the manga, "Although it looked girlish, I was impressed that its story was so deep."[2]
After March 2007, publication of Rozen Maiden in Comic Birz stopped for three 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.[3] The finale of Rozen Maiden was serialized in the July 2007 issue, with Peach-Pit apologizing to the readers for the abrupt ending, essentially a deus ex machina.[4]
In March 2008, a one-shot manga titled Shōjo no Tsukurikata (少女のつくり方, lit. How to Make a Girl) appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine, briefly telling the story of the making of Shinku.[5] Soon afterward, Peach-Pit announced that Rozen Maiden would start a new serialization in this magazine,[6] a fact which was confirmed in the April 17, 2008 issue.
The second manga series began in Weekly Young Jump, though continues to release monthly. Individual chapters are referred to as "Tales" instead of "Phases". In this manga, Jun Sakurada is a university student who finds himself in possession of a magazine titled "How to Make a Girl", which comes with a box containing doll parts. He decides to put together the doll from the parts and after receiving mysterious communications from someone claiming to be a past version of him, is soon able to awaken Shinku. The series follows Jun's struggles to deal with his new life with Shinku, and elucidates many of the mysteries brought about by the sudden ending of the previous manga series. This series is an alternate reality where the middle-school Jun initially received the letter telling him he had won a prize, but did not follow the instructions to reclaim it.
In accordance with starting the serialization of the second series, Young Jump announced the production of a remodeled edition (新装版) of the original manga series. Young Jump promised to publish the remodelled edition on a monthly basis, with a total of 7 books. The new books are adorned with golden covers and new cover art, featuring each of the Rozen Maiden dolls in order of their creation. Each book contains a promotional colored post-card, and new color pages were said to be added.[7]
The first manga was adapted into a two-season anime. The first season ran from 7 October 2004 to 23 December 2004. The second season appeared a year later, it was subtitled Träumend (トロイメント toroimento, German for "dreaming"), and ran from 20 October 2005 to 5 January 2006. In 2006, a two-episode special titled Ouvertüre (オーベルテューレ ōberutyūre, German for "overture") was aired on December 22 and 23, further expanding on the background of the characters.
The anime adaptation, although using the same premise as the manga, develops a different story, and introduces original characters that have not made an appearance in the manga. Both TV series and the special were directed by Kō Matsuo and aired in Japan in TBS and BS-i (now BS-TBS). The Japanese bands Ali Project and Kukui provided the opening themes and closing themes, respectively, of each production. In TV Asahi's "Top 100 Anime Ranking" polled in 2006, Rozen Maiden was ranked 9th on the list.[8]
The second season, Rozen Maiden: Träumend, was an original arc that diverges from the manga. Continuing from the first season, Jun has not yet returned to middle school, but studies at home to compensate for the lost time. He is also more willing to socialize, especially with his classmate Tomoe, and he has grown fond of living with the ever-present Rozen Maiden dolls.
A two-episode special called Rozen Maiden: Ouvertüre gives insight on Suigintou's creation, and the start of her rivalry with Shinku. Ouvertüre is set at some point during Träumend, around episodes six and seven; the story is mostly told by Souseiseki, and takes place as a flashback to the 19th century in London. The story reveals Suigintou was the first Rozen Maiden created, but she was left unfinished without an abdomen nor Rosa Mystica. It was Shinku who helped her walk on her. Suigintou suspects Shinku helped her out of pity. Eventually, Suigintou was given her own Rosa Mystica and her characteristic black wings by Rozen himself. Since then she vowed to defeat Shinku and win the Alice Game.
A 7 minute episode called Duell Walzer OVA tells the story of the fictional puppet show Detective Kunkun, the TV show that the Rozen Maidens enjoy watching while living with Jun. The story is about how Detective Kunkun foils the evil cat's plans to steal a gem from another character. The single episode was released on the Rozen Maiden: Duellwalzer video game.
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. In addition the Rozen Maiden Soundtracks were composed by Shinkichi Mitsumune.
Rozen Maiden – ローゼンメイデン ドラマＣＤ
| Character | Voiced by |
|---|---|
| Shinku (真紅) | Miyuki Sawashiro「沢城 みゆき」 |
| Sakurada Jun (桜田 ジュン) | Kobayashi Sanae「小林沙苗」 |
| Sakurada Nori (桜田 のり) | Hisakawa Aya 「久川綾」 |
| Suigintou (水銀燈) | Noto Mamiko 「能登麻美子」 |
| Hinaichigo (雛苺) | Kaneda Tomoko 「金田朋子」 |
| Suiseiseki (翠星石) | Mizuki Nana 「水樹 奈々」 |
| Tomoe Kashiwaba (柏葉 巴) | Kawasumi Ayako「川澄綾子」 |
| Laplace no Ma (ラプラスの魔) | Nakata Jouji 「中田 譲治」 |
This drama CD was released prior to the anime and used a different set of voice actresses than the anime.
A PlayStation 2 visual novel, Rozen Maiden: Duellwalzer, was released on April 27, 2006. The game was developed by Taito. 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. Another PlayStation 2 game called Rozen Maiden: Gebetgarten was released on March, 2007. It is a 3D fighter developed by Taito with cell-shaded graphics.
Several Rozen Maiden artbooks have been published. Two artbooks called Rozen Maiden Entr'acte and Rozen Maiden ERINNERUNG have been released as well as two novels called Die Romane der Rozen Maiden - Schwarzer Wind and Die Romane der Rozen Maiden - Kalkgrun Augen.[9][10] 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.[11] Volks' Rozen Maiden-inspired designs are released as Super Dollfies.[12]
THEM Anime Reviews gave the anime 4 starts out of 5.[13]
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