October 21, 2005

Rozen Maiden träumend ep.1

Opening theme: 「聖少女領域」 - Seishoujo Ryouiki by Ali Project (17.4MB, for PSP/Quicktime) - MP3
Ending theme: 「光の螺旋律」 - Hikari no Rasenritsu by Kukui (17.4MB, for PSP/Quicktime)

My first impression of this episode was definitely a good one. I like the opening sequence right away but then again, I've always liked Ali Project and their strange music composition. Seishoujo Ryouiki sounds like a combination of Russian folk music and gothic bell chime. The result is one creepy opening. Especially when one gets to hear lines such as Papa yori Yasashii then seeing the dolls scattered on the stairs looking lifeless and discarded. It's unfortunate that I am not as impressed with the ending theme. Overall, however, I think this is a solid first episode which makes me want to see more of the series. As a side note, I may put this on a sub list if I keep having difficulty understanding some of the words that the rabbit says. This will also allow me to watch this in widescreen and reduce my Thursday/Friday blog quota.

Anyway, the episode begins with a flashback to the time when 'Father' created Shinku. The sequence shows how the guy carefully placed the eyes in the sockets, painted her lips, and produced multiple version of the doll's face and limbs. 'Father' was then seen out in the garden, picking up a new Rose. Once he went back into the house, 'Father' proceeded to activate Shinku. As he did this, the other dolls, which include Suigintou, Souseiseki, and Souseiseki, can be seen looking lifeless in the background. Shinku slowly began to move her legs and walked one step at a time. When she opened her eyes, 'Father' pulled out the Red rose he picked from the garden and gave the flower to Shinku. Fast forward to the present day, Jun is seen studying in the library, trying to catch up with some of the subjects that he missed while he was avoiding school.

Tomoe is then seen arriving at the library to lend Jun her note and to give the kid his summer holiday homework. Jun is eventually fed up with all of the works that he has to do and decides to go home. When Jun rests on his bed, however, he finds HinaIchigo trying to hide herself in fear underneath the bed. The reason for her fear is soon revealed when Suiseiseki comes barging into the room looking evil more than usual. Souseiseki arrives a mere seconds after the evil witch and tries to calm her down. Suiseiseki, however, would have none of it and simply wants HinaIchigo's head on a platter because the girl has drawn some graffities on Suiseiseki's watering can and Souseiseki's giant scissor. HinaIchigo claims that the reason she did it was because Suiseiseki ate her Ichigo Daifuku (mochi with strawberry and anko beans in it).

Of course, Suiseiseki refuses to admit her wrongdoing and proceeds to spray HinaIchigo with the water from her can. Jun, who's in the way ends up being the casualty of the dolls' war. Jun is obviously unhappy about this but before he can give the dolls a piece of his mind, Shinku arrives in the room and slaps him for failing to remember the tea time. Later on, Nori comes home and brings HinaIchigo another Daifuku and promises to cook everyone their favourite meal, Flower-topped Hamburger. She, however, remembers that she forgot to take the laundry out. Much to her surprise, however, Jun tells her that he's done it for her. Anyway, during dinner, Suiseiseki plans to steal HinaIchigo's Daifuku again. Unfortunately for her, this time she is foiled by a miniature version of the truth Crocodile. Apparently Jun has told Hina to put that in her bag instead.

After dinner, Jun and Nori bid goodbye to Suiseiseki and Souseiseki before they return to the old guy's house. Jun asks them to come through the door next time but of course Suiseiseki ignores his request. After the sisters left, everyone decides to go to bed except Jun who still want to study and Shinku who seems to be afraid of sleeping to the point that she keeps looking at her watch. When Jun asks her if there's anything wrong, however, Shinku decides to get some kind of a sleep. Unfortunately for her, her sleep is plagued by nightmare. In her dream, Shinku gets a visitation from a burnt down Suigintou who asks her why she fought against Suigintou back then? Hmm, I like Suigintou as much as the next person but I do remember how she tried to kill Shinku, Jun, and Shinku's friends so I don't know why Shinku feels guilty about it.

Jun makes the same point when he finds out that Shinku has had recurring nightmare involving Suigintou. He tells her that the fight back then was inevitable. Shinku tells Jun that is exactly what she's been telling herself so far, that it can't be helped. After all, they're just Rozen Maiden dolls who are supposed to fight in order to become a perfect being called Alice. This is the meaning of their existence. But after the battle with Suigintou, Shinku realises how such battle was hard and painful. Jun sympathises with her and tells her that he's going to make them some tea so the two can talk some more. But on his way to the kitchen, Jun notices that there's some kind of light emanating from the room with the big mirror. At the same time, Shinku notices that Mei Mei, Suigintou's helper has appeared in the room.

Shinku follows the helper which leads her to Jun and the mirror. Mei Mei then enters the mirror, causing the N field to be opened once more. Shinku decides to go through with it despite Jun's objection. So in the end, Jun has no choice but to follow Shinku into the alternate world. Upon arriving inside the world, the two are surprised to see the town covered in snow. When Jun notices it, Shinku tells him that she believes that this is the handywork of one mischievous rabbit. Sure enough, a rabbit in a tuxedo suddenly appear from behind a wall. Shinku tells the rabbit that she's busy so he better tell her what this is all about. So he tells her that if a light seeks another light, that light will lose. I don't get it and neither does Jun.

Nevertheless, the rabbit man releases Mei Mei. Then, after muttering some more intangible words about deep woods and being lost in it, he rips open the space and jumps into it. After he disappears, Shinku and Jun decide to follow Mei Mei's lead and eventually reaches a place full of large crystal. Jun wonders if this is the work of Suigintou but Shinku is sure that this is not Suigintou's handywork. Just as she finished her sentence, the two are attacked by the crystal. Shinku orders her attacker to show herself so the a creepy doll suddenly comes out from behind a large crystal and asks Shinku's identity. Shinku tells her that she's the 5th Rozen Maiden doll, Shinku. In exchange, the doll tells her that she's the 7th Rozen Maiden doll called Barasuishou. Shinku is surprised to hear this suggesting that this is the first time she knows about the 7th doll.

Impression:

This is a solid all around episode. The episode basically repeats some of the familiar themes from the first season and add several subtle yet noticeable changes within the story. The first one that I immediately noticed was Jun's behaviour. It looks like not only he's over his Hikkikomori syndrome, he's also changed into a better person. He no longer bossing his sister around or acting rude towards her. He even says proper greetings to her and help her with some chores. He's also provide some emotional support for the now distraught Shinku. I have to admit that I never imagined the time when Jun will be the one who provide emotional support for Shinku. And yet, the proof is now here in this episode. Of course, he still occasionally loses his temper but I think I would be too if I have to deal with the dolls. But in general, he seems to have more patience with them now.

The episode also expand upon the mysteries that were laid out during the first season, especially the ones about 'Father'. In fact, I get the feeling that the majority of this episode, including the opening title, was created specifically to focus on this particular issue. The grainy camera sequence of the first 5 to 10 minutes depicting 'Father' during his doll-creation process was quite revealing. I am probably wrong about this but from what I've seen, 'Father' did put a lot of effort and love into his creations. In fact, the quality of each dolls themselves (Suigintou nothwitstanding) show the amount of thoughts and efforts that he put into creating every single one of them. This, however, makes me wonder why he created them to begin with and why he never completed his first creation, which was Suigintou.

This brings me to another point about the series and that is the number of dolls created by 'Father'. I get the impression that the original number of dolls created by him before he disappered was actually six: Suigintou, Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, HinaIchigo, Shinku, and Canaria. Thus, the arrival of Barasuishou, who's supposed to be the 7th Rozen Maiden doll is quite interesting because she seems to be the odd one that was created after 'Father' left behind his creations. I also noticed how each doll usually has its 'pair', so to speak. What I meant by this is that antique dolls like Rozen Maidens are usually created and sold as pairs. Suiseiseki and Souseiseki, seemed to be created as a 'pair' of dolls. The same thing can be said about HinaIchigo/Canaria and Shinku/Suigintou. Note how each doll shares at least one or two similar traits with its pair.

For example, HinaIchigo and Canaria both share the cute factor that some people may look in dolls while Shinku and Suigintou share an elegant factor that others may prefer. The only exception to this seems to be Barasuishou, who in my opinion, looks like an amalgalm of both Shinku and Suigintou right from the start. Anyway, I realise that I'm way off course here and besides we're only in the first episode. There are also many things that I don't understand such as the intention of the mischievious rabbit. But I guess the show will explain the character in due time. For now, I'm just happy that the animation, character design, and storyline seem to be on the right track. I do have a bit concern for the background music though, which seems to recycle a lot of previous season's scores. But then again, they're really good to begin with so maybe the producers want to save some money by re-using some old scores.