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ローゼンメイデン 
November 25, 2005 | 
28 Comments
This is probably the best 2nd season episode thus far. This episode shows that this show actually has a lot of talented people working for it. Everything from animation, acting, storyline, and down to music is perfect here. Anyone who's afraid that Suigintou's revival is going to be handled poorly can relax a bit now. Her revival was so much better than I thought possible. I will talk about this a bit later though since it's a bit spoilery to discuss in this area. I can, however, talk about the music, which sounds awesome, especially Kamp, the song that plays during Suigintou and Barasuishou confrontation. The style sounds a bit like Kajiura Yuki's music but I don't think it's actually her who composed the song. If you're interested in the song, Flareon mentioned in the comment area that the song is actually included in the ED Single.
The episode begins with a girl called Megu singing a song inside a hospital room. She is quickly scolded by a nurse because she hasn't eaten anything. Megu argues that no matter what she eats, she's not going to get any better anyway so she thinks IV injection is enough for her. When the nurse wonders why Megu always says that kind of thing, Megu asks her if that is not the truth. Besides, she thinks it's also depend on a person's point of view. Megu accepts the situation that she is in. The nurse doesn't feel like arguing further so she decides to close the windows instead. Megu, however, asks her not to close the window because then Angels can't get in and she wants one to pick up her body and mind one day. A few hours later, the nurse complains to another nurse that Megu didn't eat again. All she did was looking outside. The other nurse thinks that it's the Church that Megu was looking at and that she will go there soon.
Cut to a shot of the Church where something seems to be shining on the top floor. Upon close up, it's obvious that the light comes from Barasuishou, who is now seen intently watching over Megu as the girl walks towards the Church. Inside the Church, Megu prays to the God of Death to take her away as soon as possible since there is nothing for her here. As Megu closes her eyes and prays some more, Barasuishou's silhouette can be seen behind the Church's patterned glass. All of a sudden Megu hears a noise and notices a suitcase with a Rose logo nearby. Megu curiously opens the suitcase and upon doing so, black feathers begin to fly towards her. Out of the suitcase, the body of Suigintou then starts to form. Because Suigintou has wings on her back, Megu immediately thinks that the doll is an Angel who's there to take her life away. As Megu gets closer to Suigintou and begs the doll to take her life, Suigintou's finger forms a Rosa Mystica.
Due to her fervent wish, Megu decides to kiss Suigintou's Rosa Mystica and is promptly given a similar ring on her finger. Soon, Suigintou begins to open her eyes and....Shinku wakes up from her nightmare looking clearly disturbed. The next morning, Megu is back at her hospital bed and seems to be more co-operative with the nurse. Once the nurse leaves, however, Megu invites 'Angel' to come in. Suigintou then comes in and tells Megu immediately that she is not an Angel. Megu understands this but in her mind, Suigintou is like an Angel to her. Megu then asks Suigintou if she wants to use her life to fight Shinku once Alice Game starts. Suigintou tells Megu that she can defeat Shinku without having to use Megu's power. But Megu begs Suigintou to really use her, prompting Suigintou to wonder if Megu really wants to die that badly. Suigintou can't help but looking perplexed when Megu answered 'yes' without hesitation.
Suigintou tells Megu that unfortunately she doesn't know when she can grant her wish since the last time she met Shinku was 580,000 hours ago. Cut to a flashback where Shinku and Suigintou fights in the midst of what looks like WW2 setting. Suigintou believes that unless they all wake up at the same time, Alice Game can't start. Suigintou then leaves before Megu can say another word. As Suigintou flies around the city, however, she notices an electricity pole. The object seems to remind her of the time when she attacked Suiseiseki and Jun. The imagery that floods her mind clearly disturbs her this time around. Suigintou then visits her N-Field, which is now enveloped by snow. Once again she begins to get flashback of her fights with Shinku and how she once tortured Shinku at a nearby tree. As she passes the fields of ice crystals, however, the crystals begin to attack her.
Suigintou immediately orders her attacker to come out. After repeating the same sentences that Suigintou said, Barasuishou comes out of her hiding and introduces herself as the 7th Rozen Maiden doll. As soon as she said this, Barasuishou attacks Suigintou with her ice crystals but Suigintou manages to block the attack with her wings. Suigintou then begins to counter-attack Barasuishou with her feathers and at one point her attack becomes stronger because she starts using Megu's power. When she realises this, Suigintou quickly stops but Barasuishou seems to be quite delighted to see Suigintou's strength. Barasuishou then begins to do her usual illusion trick and shows Suigintou the incident where she got burnt down by her own magic. Suigintou now realises that at one point she got turned into junk and defeated by Shinku. When Barasuishou confirms both facts, Suigintou wonders why she's alive now.
Barasuishou tells her that it was Rozen himself, 'Father' who fixed Suigintou for the sake of 'Alice Game'. As soon as Barasuishou said this, however, she disappears. Suigintou is now alone realising what 'Father' has given to her. She then returns to Megu, who thanks her for using her life. Megu tells Suigintou how the ring felt hot back then, reminding Suigintou when she felt a surge of power through her. Suigintou wonders if Megu really is going to die. Megu seems to believe this and tell Suigintou that doctor at first told her that she's going to die at the age of five. But then she didn't die. Next, they think she's going to die when she's 7 and then 10 years old but she didn't die either. After a while, everyone is tired with her condition. But even if her life is extended, she will soon die anyway. That's why Megu thinks that the sooner she dies, the better it will be for everyone since she's a worn-out thing.
Megu thinks that she's an incomplete and broken being. A junk. She wishes she can be perfect like Suigintou. Suigintou agrees with the statement but when Megu doesn't look, Suigintou is clearly in doubt with the statement. Suigintou eventually decides to visit Shinku's dream world to confront the doll. Suigintou, however, is surprised when Shinku begins to cry and says that she's glad Suigintou is okay. Suigintou tells Shinku that today she's just visiting her but next time she'll turn Shinku into junk. Before Suigintou leaves, however, Shinku admits that calling Suigintou 'Junk' was cruel. After her right arm was broken, Shinku realises that no one wants to be a 'junk'. Suigintou doesn't say anything but choses to return to Megu, who's in the middle of singing a song. Megu is reluctant to sing in front of Suigintou, because she feels that she's a 'junk'. But Suigintou tells Megu not to call herself that way. The episode then ends with Barasuishou making an appearance at Enju doll and is greeted by Shirosaki who wants to know about Suigintou. Barasuishou smirks and tells him that everything is going as planned.
Impression:
Wow, where do I start? I have to say that I'm very impressed with the episode. Megu's story is a really painful one. I can't help but became really sad at some points in this episode. Having a debilitating disease is not an easy thing. To see Megu wanting to die so eagerly was quite disturbing but it's understandable at the same time. I can't really judge her desire to die because I know that I probably won't react any differently from her if I were in her position. This brings me to Suigintou, whose revival was handled superbly by Peach Pit and the anime writers. Suigintou started out by not remembering what happened to her. Nevertheless, it was quite obvious that she was reluctant to use Megu despite the girl's wish. As Suigintou regains her memory, however, it is easy to see her guilt washing over her. It seems watching herself committing evil acts is not as pleasant as doing those acts themselves.
When Suigintou sees herself committing the act, she can see how her action hurts other. Through her own flashback, Suigintou sees how ugly her action was back then. Her remorse then increases when she realises despite being defeated by Shinku, 'Father' still revives her. The final clincher was probably hearing Shinku telling her that it was cruel to call Suigintou 'junk' back then. By the time she returns to Megu's side, it is obvious that Suigintou's attitude starts to change a little bit. She clearly cares enough about Megu to ask Megu not to call herself as a 'junk'. This indicates that Shinku's words actually reach her. It remains to be seen how Suigintou is going to evolve after this but this looks like a step towards her redemption. The ending was also a killer with Shirosaki revealed to be working together with Barasuishou. The two clearly had something to do with Suigintou's resurrection and know what they want to achieve out of it.
Just reading your entry make me so thrilled to watch the actual episode.
Now all the 7 dolls are back the real game begins from now on.
Does anyone ever take a look at Shirosaki's hand? I just wonder if he has the rose ring on his hand as well?
Sugoi Sugoi! Gin-sama rocks! I can't wait to watch the show *sigh* I alwayz have problems getting series from k66zm. But nonetheless, thank u so much for the episode summary ^_^ How did Shinku react when she wake up from her dream the next morning? A sense of relief that Gin-sama is alive or she can't contain her excitement, as a result she abuse Jun again? XD
How did Shinku react when she wake up from her dream the next morning?
We don't get to see her reaction the next morning. In fact, Shinku is not around much here. This episode focuses mostly on Suigintou and Megu. Barasuishou, Shinku, and Shirosaki only appear briefly in this episode. The others don't appear at all until the preview for episode 7. My guess is that Shinku's reaction is going to be dealt with in episode 7.
I have to say this episode touched me an lot. Reminded me of Air.
All I have to say is this - Awesome. My love for Suigintou increases, and Shinku now has a new fan. XD
I got a feeling that Suigintou is gonna coorperate with shinku and the others to fight barashuishou, maybe she will be a good girl after this episode...by the way, is her torso still there? or she's like before without a torso?
This episode was incredible, seeing Sugintou gradually change her attitude was wonderful, she's actually a character I can like now. :) Megu's a very sad character but I can't help but feel that her illness may not be as bad as she thinks, that a lot of the reason she's not getting better may simply be her state of mind.
It does look like the most likely candidate for Barasuishou's medium is the doll shop guy, if not father himself. She seems to have been made to force the Alice Game to occur the way she acts. I wonder what their plans were for Suigintou's revival really were, was it to saddle her with a weak medium in the hopes she'd lose her power quickly, was it to give her a medium that would make her question fighting and leave all the dolls fairly easy prey for barasuishou? I also wonder if perhaps there's not a different way to win the Alice Game than the dolls have been told. Things seem to be leading more to them refusing to destroy each other than them all fighting. Right now Barasuishou appears to be the only one that _really_ wants to fight and destroy the other dolls.
I think the show implies that she has either AIDS or HIV
I think Megu really softened Suigintou's heart. I am really interested in the development of Megu and Suigintou both. Now, Suigintou is becoming better to let me love her^^
Well, I have just found that the insert songs in the episodes are included in the ED Single.
suigin_rocks, I can't say for sure whether or not Suigintou gains a new torso. It's hard to tell just from her expression here.
T_I, which part of the episode gave you that impression?
I don't remember the episode explicitly saying anything about the disease itself. But I thought it's some kind of cancer/heart disease/respiratory problem. After all, she was kind of clutching her chest in pain when Suigintou used her power. She was also pointing at her heart when she said it's worn-out.
Flareon, thank you for that info about the insert song. It's really appreciated.
*Overjoyed*
WAAAAAAIIII!!!! Gin-chan is BACK!!!! ~^^~
So glad to see her again. Hopefully, she'll team up with Shinku and gang (Albeit reluctantly) to take on Barasuishou. And the way she cares for Megu in an ambiguous manner is so cute.
Excellent coverage on this episode, Garten-san. ^-^
AIDS? HIV? Don't be too hard on the girl, man. ^_^;
T_I , Megu has heart problems. Not sure what exactly it is, but in the manga, it said she'd need a heart transplant to live on. The anime may not exactly follow this, but... well, I don't think they'll change Megu-chan's sickness to HIV.
YAY!!! Gin-sama~~~!!!
If "father" is really behind her revival, then his objective is probably to finish the Alice game. It shouldn't matter WHO actually wins the game. Almost everything make sense this way.
Barasuishou would probably have trouble taking out the Shinku alliance by herself, and if more than one of the alliance is left, then the Alice game would never get finished. They probably figured that Gin-sama would help finish the game (I mean, Barasuishou even said that Gin-sama was fixed for the Alice game). This explains why Barasuishou seems happy to see Gin-sama's strength. I'm not sure why they found her such a weak medium though.
Unfortunately, this probably means that Gin-sama was not given a torso. Part of the motivation for Gin-sama to fight the other dolls and become Alice was to become complete, and "father" probably wouldn't want to take that motivation away. Gin-sama's incompleteness would also explain why Shinku's words affected her so much.
aww, after all, tanaka rie can't always acted a bad guy after all, since she's the voice actor of Lacus Clyne in gundam seed destiny, so sweet...^^, seen her acting as bad guy really suprise me...back to topic, i just think that suigin will help Megu to overcome her sickness, just like shinku helping Jun to overcome his phobia...
i don't think the doll shop assistant and barashuishou care about suigin, they only care about alice game, by the way, their "father" should be very old now, i suppose? suigin and shinku fight each other long time ago (suigin recall her memory fighting her at the WW2 settings), the at this time should be 40++ years old? hmm, maybe it's just his son in the doll shop while "father" was somewhere else...
Isn't father that stud-ly dude with the blond hair working in the back of the shop of that doll-store owner? The one with Cloud's voice from Advent Children? This show just keeps getting better and better.
Lad, you're right, this show is just getting greater and better, cheer for it...^^, many famous and good voice actor started working with this show, oh yeah...
Just watched this episode, I thought this was the best episode yet for Traumend. Great story development.
I think the blonde guy is not Father but a maestro as mentioned in Rosen Maiden. All signs point to father being rather old by now and the guy in the shop(Enju?) seems like he's in his 20's. Though there was definitely some resemblance to the actual father(though shorter hair, Father had long hair), with the WWII images in Suigintou's memory, perhaps this guy is a descendent of Father, grandson maybe?
i also think like that, right now father will be very old...
The song that Megu was singing throughout episode 6 was awesome. Think anyone know would know the name of the song and singer?
I don't think the doll maker in Enju is Father but who knows :P As for the shop keeper working with Barasuishou, I think a lot of fans were suspicous of him from the begining (the whole speech about dolls just made him sound suspicious).
Megu-chan is a sad character but understandable at the sametime. I have a friend who has a heart condition, had two heart surgerys before he was even 12 years old, and has to undergo surgery again sometime in the future but he's still a very energetic person. Hopefully Megu-chan, with some nudging from Suigintou, will see that there is still something worth holding onto in this world and start think of living instead of dying.
This episode was really good. I really like Megu and I think that Suigintou will really get close to her. They are really similar. But unlike Suigintou, Megu just can't be repaired and I think that it will really affect her in the battle.
This anime realy lacks more detailed explanation about rosen maiden tecnnology. Why the "father" is so special afterall. I suppose anyone could do same, for example Jun already fixed 2 dolls clown and Shinku.
I think that the blonde guy who actually makes the dolls in the back of the shop is the father and that Enju is a medium of some sort. Who knows.... I just want to know why they brought back Sugintou. I don't think she'd be completely bad this time only because the series is already dealing with evil dolly Barasuishou, but it's like- Shinku already defeated Sugintou... why bother doing it again if this is all for Alice Game? I would be dissapointed if Sugintou and Shinku were on opposite sides again. Hopefully things will be explained in the next ep.
I think Enju [shop guy?] and BG [blonde guy] are central to this plot. They're too much 'in the know' not to be. Plus, the guy was talking to Barasuishou, so he definitely knows what's up. I wonder if the BG really is Otosama... I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility. After all, clock work dolls like that and artificial souls, portals through reflective surfaces... If one guy managed to suspend his aging process ala Utena, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what 'side' a Rozen Maiden is on. Eventually, even the twins would have to pit against each other unless they're de-Rosa'd first. Which is exactly what Shinku is so sad about. Even if they all see eye-to-eye on the subject, they'll never be able to fufill their purpose in life without resorting to destroying each other. Would she be able to convince the others that it's okay not to be Alice, that it doesn't matter what their Otosama wants, that they can disobey and live in harmony with one another as dolls? I doubt she'd truly believe it herself, never mind about trying to convice others of it.
On a separate note, their Otosama was cute... 0_0
the song megu sings is called madoka and its by shiho kawaragi
I think they should've included the other tracks used in the show by Kukui (Arukana, Shiro to Aka and Kamp) in the Rozen Maiden Traumend OST as bonus tracks.
i'm worried for my beloved Megu :'(
The soundtrack for Traumend sounds so much like the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters soundtrack. I like both soundtracks, but feels like the composer, Mitsumune Shinkichi, should've come up with something a little more original.
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