Rozen Maiden träumend ep.11

February 2, 2006 | 13 Comments

As far as penultimade episode goes, I feel that this is a rather muted experience. Maybe I'm just a bit angry that my favourite dolls are all losing to the main enemy but I feel that the whole fight was so uneven. It's strange to see Canaria being so powerless here while she seems to posses such a strong power back in episode 7. I also wonder if this episode would have been better had this series was scheduled either as 24 episode series or at least 13 episode series. As it is now, the series feels a bit rushed although it still manages to maintain its usual high standard of drama. Animation-wise, the battles in this episode look quite good although character design is rather inconsistent. There are times when some of the characters look like they were drawn while the animators were half-asleep.

Continuing from the previous episode, this one begins with Enju greeting Shinku, Suiseiseki, and Canaria. The dolls immediately recognises him as 'Father' but Jun suspects this and tells the other that he thought 'Father' only wants to see Alice. Shinku, however, asks him to not say any word and tells Enju that she will indeed participate in Alice Game. Enju, Barasuishou, and Laplace then leave through the N-Field after telling the dolls to gather at the N-Field tomorrow. Jun makes a plea to the doll not to participate but it seems only Canaria agrees with this idea. Shinku and Suiseiseki then tell Canaria to stay behind so that she won't get in their way. Canaria is offended to hear this and proceeds to return to Micchan's house. Later on Jun becomes depressed because he can't seem to do anything for the dolls but Shinku tells him that she wants him to come with her to the battle tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Suiseiseki is seen visiting Souseiseki in her casket whilst telling her twin that HinaIchigo has entrusted her Rosa Mystica to Shinku. Because of this Souseiseki will stay with Shinku from now on and she thinks Souseiseki should always stay with Suiseiseki. The next morning, Jun, Shinku, and Suiseiseki are surprised to see Nori preparing flower-topped hamburger for breakfast. Nori then sadly tells them that she promises to cook better dinner for them so she asks them to come back quickly. It seems even Nori is feeling sad for them. Not long after this Canaria arrives at the house, angering Suiseiseki. Canaria argues that Alice Game can't start without her. Hey, what a good idea! That's even more reason why she should stay behind. Anyway, Suiseiseki tells Canaria that she should run away if things get too dangerous. The three dolls plus Jun then go through the N-Field and is promptly transported to a Rose Garden.

Jun arrives in time just as the dolls begin their fight. Shinku is in the middle of fielding attacks from both Barasuishou and Suigintou while telling 'Father' that she has no intention to fight. Jun seems to have the same idea so he goes to approach Rozen, leaving Shinku free to focus on her fight with Bara. Shinku, however, is also attacked by Suigintou but before Suigintou can do anything else, she's halted by the presence of Suiseiseki, who wants Suigintou to return Souseiseki's Rosa Mystica. So two new battles begin: Shinku vs. Barasuishou and Suiseiseki vs. Suigintou. Canaria, who's feeling left out, tries to help Suiseiseki with her violin but she ends up getting attacked by an annoyed Suigintou. Suigintou taunts Suiseiseki that it seems Suiseiseki is not useless after all. She then rubs salt on the wound by producing Souseiseki's scissor and tells Suiseiseki that it'll be ironic if she defeats Suiseiseki with it.

Meanwhile, Jun manages to approach Enju and tells the guy that Shinku only came with the intention of stopping Alice Game. At the same time, Shinku somehow manages to get away from Bara to help Suiseiki battling Suigintou. Unfortunately, Bara has now detected the presence of Canaria and makes an attack on the doll. Suiseiseki has no choice but to help Canaria and manages to capture Barasuishou with her vines. Her one mistake: she didn't rip Bara to pieces while doing this. Suiseiseki then uses her watering can to create a big tree so Canaria can run away from the place. She tells Canaria that she can no longer watch as other doll's Rosa Mystica are taken so she urges Canaria to run away. Unfortunately Barasuishou manages to escape from the vines that captured her and proceeds to attack Canaria again. Suiseiseki, who's trying to cover for Cana, ends up being attacked and falls to the ground. Canaria decides to return and help Suiseiseki.

Unfortunately, this only serves to anger Barasuishou further. She finally unleashes a major attack on Canaria, forcing Suiseiseki to cover for her. As a result, Suiseiseki is now frozen in ice and her Roza Mystica is floating into the air. Before Bara can take it, however, Canaria makes a grab for it, promising to protect it from Bara's grubby hands. Meanwhile Jun is trying to knock some sense into Enju but is stopped by Laplace. Outside, Canaria makes her last stance against Bara. She uses her strongest violin attack and manages to rip Bara's right arm but unfortunately, the attack also costs her her violin. Bara's left arm then re-materialises her sword and proceeds to run it through Canaria's body. She then takes Canaria and Suiseiseki's Roza Mystica. Shinku, who sees everything becomes angry and finally unleashes her strongest petal attacks on both Suigintou and Barasuishou.

Impression:

I can't believe that they are trying to give Canaria some character development in the middle of a big fight like this one. I'd like to symphatise with her needs to protect the others but I can't help but thinking that she mostly just got in the way of others and only serves to make Bara stronger. I also wonder if Shinku's decision to be non-confrontational was a good one. There have been times when I agree with the decision but right now I'm inclined to say that it is a bad decision. While there are enemies who respond well to kind gestures, there are also those who won't hesitate to take advantage of one's kindness. I think that sometimes, in order to protect those that are important to you, you have no choice but to fight those who try to harm them. Anyway, as a side note, I'd like to mention that Enju seems to be heavily obsessed with Shinku in this episode, which makes the revelation of the next episode to be rather puzzling.

Moving on to another topic, I really like how the writers keep building Suiseiseki's selfless persona until her tragic death. I do, however, feel that her sacrifice was in vain and it kind of pissed me off a little bit. I was hoping that Canaria would have been able to finish off Barasuishou. But on a hindsight, I realised that this is a ridiculous idea. Besides, the writers seem intent on emphasising the helplessness of the situation and Canaria's failure to protect Suiseiseki and her own's Roza Mystica exactly emphasise this very element. Villain-wise, I went from liking Barasuishou to wanting to rip her head myself. Personally, there's nothing that I'd like to see but Shinku decapitating Bara's head off but I'm afraid that maybe too graphic and the message is probably not what Peach-Pit has in mind. But I think some disasters could have been averted if, for example, Suiseiseki had ripped Bara's body to pieces while holding her using the branches.

© memento 2003