Rozen Maiden träumend ep.7

December 2, 2005 | 21 Comments

It's hard to believe that there are only 5 more episodes before this series reach its end. I wonder if it's enough to resolve everything? In fact, I was a bit afraid when I first saw the preview for this episode. I thought the series was going to waste another episode on a filler. Much to my relief, however, this turns out to be more than just a comedic filler. There is actually a heavy plot thread running throughout this episode. This episode is also interesting because we finally get to see what other dolls such as Souseiseki and Canaria think about the Alice Game itself. All in all, I think this is another solid episode for the series even if it is slightly outclassed by the previous episode. But then again, it's probably quite difficult to come up with an episode that is better than last week's.

The episode begins with Canaria showing her master, Micchan, the pictures of other Rozen Maiden dolls, causing Micchan to become overly excited. Meanwhile at the Sakurada household, everyone is surprised when Shinku agrees to participate in a cookie-making activity. Unfortunately for everyone, Shinku's first cookie-making attempt ends up in a mess. Meanwhile outside the house, Canaria is seen starting her 456th attempt to claim the other dolls' Rosa Mystica. This time, however, she means serious business and wants to show the others her true strength. Before she can break the glass window, however, the door opens revealing Shinku and the others. Suiseiseki and Souseiseki looks at Canaria with a slight suspicion. Since she's already caught red-handed, Canaria decides to reveal her intention to the rest of the dolls.

Much to her disappointment, however, Suiseiseki and HinaIchigo are more interested in their fully-baked cookies while Shinku actually invites her to come in to have some cookies. As everyone sits around the table, Suiseiseki points out that she made the most delicious cookies of them all. Shinku's cookie, however, looks like a pig...according to Jun. Jun immediately receives a hair slap from Shinku for being rude while she tells her slave that it's the shape of Kun Kun. LOL. Canaria feels uneasy to see the closeness of everyone in the house and thinks that the dolls are out to get her. She begins to think that Nori and Hina actually want to eat her and later on believes that her tea has been spiked so the other dolls can take her Rosa Mystica. Before she can say that she knows what they're up to, however, Suiseiseki stuffs her mouth with cookies.

Canaria immediately exclaims that the cookies taste horrible. Suiseiseki points out that it's expected that the cookies taste horrible because Shinku was the one who made them. Strangely Shinku is not offended about this and instead decides to make some new cookies. Unfortunately, Canaria thinks that Shinku and the others are making fun of her so she decides to leave the place after claiming that the next time they meet, she's going to defeat everyone. Shinku doesn't seem to take the threat seriously and instead says that next time she's going to make scones. Souseiseki, however, considers Canaria's threat as something serious so she decides to talk to Canaria privately on the rooftop. Upon seeing Souseiseki, Canaria can't help but being sarcastic and asks Souseiseki if this time she's going to invite her for a picnic.

Souseiseki tells Canaria that she can't help it if Canaria is serious about Alice Game. Having said that, she warns Canaria that after Alice Game is over, the loser won't be able to return to the way they are now. Upon hearing this, Canaria becomes angry and tells Souseiseki that she's already aware of this fact without Souseiseki having to spell it out for her. Canaria then leaves Souseiseki by flying on the sky using her umbrella. That night, Canaria asks Micchan what will Micchan think if Canaria stops moving. Micchan thinks that she'll be sad so Canaria promises herself that she will not lose to the other dolls. Meanwhile inside Sakurada household, Souseiseki notices that something strange about the room with the mirror but doesn't get the chance to investigate it because Suiseiseki calls her.

The next day, Megu is seen singing the same song she sang to Suigintou, ignoring the nurse's request to eat her meal. After the nurse left, Suigintou comes to her window. Suigintou thinks that Megu is silly to think that Suigintou will come by to visit because Megu is singing. Megu, however, smiles and points out that Suigintou did come because she was singing. Meanwhile, Jun and Tomoe are seen walking side by side when Shirosaki asks them that he has something good to show the two. Because of this, he takes the two to see Enju, who according to Shirosaki, is in the middle of 'breathing a life' to a doll. Enju is then seen inserting the winding key into the doll, causing it to move and tries to reach Enju's face, which now looks very satisfied. At the same time inside Sakurada household, Souseiseki and Shinku are having small talk while Suiseiseki and HinaIchigo are having afternoon nap.

Souseiseki thinks that Shinku has changed lately so she wants to know what is Shinku trying to do. Shinku simply answers that she has not changed but rather simply becomes aware of the world a bit more, questioning what she should do and what she wishes to achieve. Before they can talk more, however, they hear a very debilitating noise coming out from outside the house. The sound eventually destroys the window glass and reveals Canaria as its creator. When Suiseiseki wonders what is Canaria doing attacking them, the doll simply answers that Alice Game has started before attacking the other dolls again with the sound produced by her violin. Canaria turns out to be a rather strong opponent and manages to beat a combination of Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, and HinaIchigo's attacks. Souseiseki is eventually fed up with Canaria and tries to attack her.

However, before she manages to do this, Shinku calmly walks toward Canaria then easily overpowers Canaria using her rose petal attacks. Canaria immediately recoils in fear, thinking Shinku is going to harm her. But much to her surprise, Shinku only slaps her before orders her to clean up the mess she has created. After Canaria completed the job, Shinku asks Canaria why she wanted to defeat the others. As it turns out it was for Micchan's sake because she wants to play with the other dolls. So Shinku decides to visit Micchan and pose for her camera. Once the doll returns home, however, Souseiseki wonders why Shinku didn't fight Canaria properly. So Shinku explains that she won't fight because she doesn't want to lose anything anymore. Souseiseki seems to be upset to hear this and wonders if Shinku has abandoned Alice Game. When she returns to the old man's house, however, she notices 'Father' inside the N-Field mirror.

Impression:

I think that in general this episode is a bit misleading. As I said before, on a glance, this seems to be a comedic episode. However, while there are some comedic situations scattered around the episode, the story itself actually contains a rather dark theme. For example, the scene that involves Canaria imagining the worst about the other dolls may appears funny on the surface. However, when one thinks about it, the scene actually suggests that she really doesn't trust Shinku and the others. The scene reminds me of a scene from Battle Royale where a bunch of girls create an alliance together inside a lighthouse. It doesn't take long, however, for these so-called friends to immediately suspect and distrust each other when something happened to one of them. This makes me wonder about the dolls and their trust in each other.

When push comes to shove, will these dolls trust each other or will they start to turn their back on one another? In this episode, for example, I notice that Suiseiseki shows her competitiveness towards Shinku again while Souseiseki clearly still have vested interest in Alice Game. Canaria, as I mentioned before, seems to be suspicious of the other dolls' intention and after what she did in this episode, will the other dolls trust her not to pull the same trick again? Suigintou may have changed her attitude a bit but that doesn't mean that she has abandoned her plan to become Alice. Barasuishou is insane and dangerous so I won't even try to analyse her motivation. This leaves Shinku and HinaIchigo. HinaIchigo's power is so weak that sometimes I wonder if she'll be the first casualty should a full-on fight emerge between the dolls.

Shinku is actually a very strong doll once she gets to unleash her full power as evidenced in this episode. However, this episode also demonstrates that she has no intention to fight her sisters in the game. Having said that, I think Suigintou or Barasuishou won't have any of this. They will probably try to force her to be in the game because after all, she is probably their strongest opponent. To complicate matters, Shirosaki and Enju seem to have a plan of their own . It's not difficult to see that Shirosaki hasn't been inviting Jun and Tomoe to come inside the shop because he thinks they are interested in dolls. I hate to speculate more than I already have but I can't help it when I heard the probably misleading preview for next episode. Jun looks kind of afraid there as Shirosaki ushers him in to meet Enju. Is it because he sees Barasuishou in there or is it because of something more sinister? Either way, I can't wait till next week.

© memento 2003