Rozen Maiden Ouvertüre 1

December 23, 2006 | 34 Comments

Opening Theme:「薔薇獄乙女」- Baragoku Otome by ALI PROJECT
Download: AVI format (30.2MB) | PSP format (16.5MB)

I think Sunrise has a lot to learn from Peach Pit when it comes to producing an OVA. This is how an OVA should have been made: to fill in the gaps that could not have been filled during the original TV series. I thought this OVA would focus exclusively on Suigintou but as it turns out, it actually also shows events that happened within Traumend but could not be shown during the original TV series because it would be spoil Traumend's revelation. Animation-wise, this is a solid work which looks a bit better than Traumend. At times like this I wish TBS cease their 4:3 screening format. This episode would have look better in Widescreen format. Unfortunately the widescreen won't be available until the 11th of January next year on BS-i and I don't think I have the patience to wait that long.

The episode begins with a flashback showing a seemingly lifeless Suigintou laying on a bench. As the camera zooms in on Suigintou, it becomes obvious that she was incomplete. Even though she had her head and upper body, she didn't have any lower body. Cut to a shot of 'Father' carefully taking Kanaria with him, styling Suiseiseki's hair, and placing Souseiseki's hat. Suigintou's eyes became focused when 'Father' carried a doll with a long, flowing golden hair: Shinku. As Suigintou's joints started to move on its own, 'Father' carefully placed Shinku's hat and adorned her clothes with a brooch. Suigintou became more restless when she saw 'Father' embraced Shinku as if she's his own daughter. Suigintou tried to move her rustic joints and mouthed off "Father" but her plea went unnoticed. As a result, she could only watch in desperation and sadness as 'Father' disappeared from the room along with Shinku and the other dolls.

After father left the room, Suigintou used every ounce of power that she had in her to move her body but ended up falling hard onto the floor. Despite this, she managed to crawl across the floor and made her way towards a chair where an unused dress and the other half of her body was located. Fast forward to the future, Hinaichigo is seen cleaning up Jun's room. While moving some books to a different area, Jun notices that there is a book wrapped in plastic hidden underneath the book case. As it turns out the book is Detective Kun-Kun Super Guide Vol.1 and of course it belongs to Shinku, Kun-Kun's no.1 fangirl. Shinku promptly slaps Jun's hand with her walking stick and orders the boy not to touch goods inside her room. Jun is pissed off to hear this and even more so when he learns that Shinku bought the book on-line. He then lost his temper when Shinku tells him that he needs to pay for the book at a nearby post office/bank.

Downstairs, Souseiseki and Suiseiseki hear Jun screaming in frustration so Souseiseki wonders if Suiseiseki is not going to check up on the two. Suiseiseki pretends that this is a normal thing between those two. It's obvious, however, that she's jealous that Jun is always with Shinku even though he's also her medium. Nori tries to humour her by saying that Jun hasn't exactly ignore her and points out that he once said that Suiseiseki's eyes are pretty....if only her personality could be that way as well. XD Needless to say, Suiseiseki goes from being embarrassed to being pissed off at Jun. When the guy in question shows up in the kitchen, Suiseiseki immediately stomps on his foot and buttheads his chin. Later on that day, Jun is ordered by Shinku to buy a red thread because the pink rose in Shinku's bow fell off. Outside, Kanaria is trying to enter the house again. As it turns out this is her 190th attempt. She fails as usual when a cat suddenly appears in front of her.

Inside the doll shop, Enju tells Barasuishou that she's beautiful. When Barasuishou asks Enju if she's more beautiful than Shinku, Enju confirms this, telling the doll that she's his supreme masterpiece and won't lose out to Rozen's maiden. Their self-indulgent moments, however, got interrupted when Jun and Tomoe enter the shop. Not surprisingly, Enju can easily guess as to which kind of red thread Jun needs. However, he pretends to be interested to know what Jun is going to do with it. Before Jun can answer the question, Tomoe already tells the dollmaker that it's to fix a button that fell off. When Enju goes back to wrap the the purchase, Tomoe asks Jun to take a look at a Victorian Brooch displayed inside the store. When the two gush out about how beautiful the brooch is, Enju comes out of the backroom and tells the two that he made it. Meanwhile, Shinku is busy watching an episode of Kun-Kun while checking her guidebook like a good fangirl.

In the kitchen, Hinaichigo can't wait until they devour their flower-topped Hamburger but unfortunately she and Suiseiseki have to wait until everyone present at the table. Thankfully for them, Jun comes back in time. He tells Shinku that he's bought the red thread but he suggest putting something else on the bow: the brooch he just bought from Enju's shop. Shinku is clearly disturbed upon seeing the brooch but it seems only Souseiseki notices this. Despite Jun's attempt to pimp the brooch, Shinku flat-out refuses the present. Later on, Jun decides to sew the brooch into the bow without consulting Shinku first. Needless to say, Shinku is unhappy to see this and orders Jun to take it off. When Jun refuses to do so, Shinku rips the brooch off the bow using her own hands. Jun becomes angry and tells Shinku that he bought it because he felt sorry Shinku always wear the same clothes. Despite his reasoning, Shinku tells him that she doesn't need it.

To cool down his anger, Jun decides to go out of the room and is immediately confronted by Souseiseki. Meanwhile inside the hospital, Megu is visited by Suigintou as usual when the later notices that Megu has received a bouquet of roses. Megu thinks Roses are beautiful and wonderful flowers but Suigintou shows her disagreement by destroying said flowers before telling Megu that she hates Roses. Back inside the house, Souseiseki takes Jun to the mirror room so they can talk privately without interruptions from other dolls. Souseiseki thena sks Jun to show her the brooch he wanted to give to Shinku. Upon seeing the brooch, Souseiseki understands the root of Shinku's anger and asks Jun if he's never heard from Shinku about this. Souseiki tells Jun that since he's Shinku, Hinaichigo, and Suiseiseki's medium, she needs to tell him about the dolls. About their Alice Game. While this happens, Suigintou can be seen crushing a Rose in her hand.

Souseiseki begins to tell her story by telling Jun that it started a long time ago. Back then she and Shinku were busy fighting each other in London. Precisely in between the Big Ben and Thames river. Shinku clearly overwhelmed Souseiseki with her petal attacks but there were occassions where Souseiseki stepped up to the challange. As it turns out, this was the first time the two met so Shinku asks Souseiseki if she can just call her "Souseiseki" instead of "The 4th one". Souseiseki, on the other hand, has heard about Shinku from Suiseiseki. Back then Shinku boasted to Souseiseki that she's really strong so Souseiseki tells her that might be the case but the one who would become Alice will be her. Upon hearing Souseiseki using "Boku", Shinku couldn't help but making fun of Souseiseki by saying that a lady should not use "Boku" to refer to herself. Souseiseki wasn't happy to hear this catty remark and swear to defeat Shinku.

Souseiseki proceeded to summon Lempicka and used the artificial spirit to distract Shinku so she could attack the other doll using her scissors. Not wanting to be outdone, Shinku summoned Holi but before they can power-up their artificial spirit, Suiseiseki arrived and interrupted their fight. She thinks it's wrong for sisters who've just met to fight each other. Souseiseki wondered why this is the case while Shinku reminded Suiseiseki that this is their 'fate'. Despite this Suiseseki refused to listen to either of them and told the two that she won't forgive either of them if they continue their fight now. Upon hearing this, Souseiseki asked Suiseiseki if she doesn't want to meet 'Father'. Suiseiseki responded to the question by asking Souseiseki if she'd defeat Suiseiseki as well in order to meet 'Father'. Souseiseki refused to answer the question while Shinku realised that they can't continue the fight that night.

Souseiseki gave Shinku a brief apology before running away looking upset. Suiseiseki who wasn't satisfied with this result, decided to follow her twin as usual. Unfortunately Suiseiseki couldn't find her twin in the N-field and ended up sitting on top of a flying rock, telling herself that the truth is she wants to meet 'Father' again. As soon as she said the words, a female voice can be heard saying "Father". All of a sudden, Suigintou's angelic form materialises on top of Suiseiseki. Suiseiseki became afraid and decided to run away from the area. The next day, the citizens of London are puzzled to see the streets looking like one giant mess. Inside a carriage, a little girl called Sarah was amused to see this see. When her parents asked her what amused her, she claimed that she just remembered something. A few minutes later, the carriage arrived in front of the house and Sarah immediately ran into her room and whispers to the closet that she's back at home.

When Sarah didn't get any response, she decided to open the door and was surprised to see Shinku looking terrified. As it turns out, there was a cat sitting across her inside the closet. Sarah tried to tell Shinku that "Jonathan" is an obedient cat but Shinku couldn't care less and asked Sarah to remove the animal as soon as possible. Shinku then complained about how she told Sarah many times not to put her together with Jonathan. Sarah explained that she has no choice because she has to ensure that her parents don't know about Jonathan and Shinku. When Shinku mentioned that the cat misbehaved during the night, Sarah realised that Shinku was the one who caused the mess around the city. Sarah told Shinku that she must have fought last night and that's why the ring in her finger became hot last night. In response, Shinku coldly told Sarah that this is none of her business. Despite the rebuttal, Sarah believed that Shinku is a strong fighter.

Shinku claimed that she can't help it because the purpose is to become Alice. Upon hearing this, Sarah wondered what would happen after Shinku becomes Alice. In response, Shinku traced the brooch that Rozen gave her and told Sarah that she would be able to meet 'Father' and that's why she must become Alice. Sarah then changed the conversation to the number of Rozen Maiden. She knew that there are 7 dolls in total. Shinku confirmed this but the ones that she has only met the 3rd (Suiseiseki), 4th (Souseiseki, and 6th (Hinaichigo) dolls. Sarah pointed out since Shinku is doll number 5, that means she has yet to meet doll number 1, 2, and 7. Shinku agreed and mentioned how Hinaichigo actually has met the 2nd doll. She believed that the 2nd doll's name is Kana....something. Sarah became excited to hear this and wanted to see the other dolls. Shinku echoed the sentiment and said that she would like to meet the first doll that 'Father' created.

Unknown to Sarah, Jonathan the cat noticed that a mirror in one of the room suddenly became active. Inside the N-Field, Souseiseki told Suiseiseki that the dolls' awakening within the same period suggests that they must fight each other. Suiseiseki tried to tell her twin that she's met Shinku before and even though she could be catty, she's quite reasonable once you talk to her. Souseiseki wasn't sure about this and wondered what they'd do if they became good friends with each other. She also reminded Suiseiseki that 'Father' is waiting and she doesn't want to make 'Father' sad. Meanwhile, Sarah told Shinku that she thinks it's weird that sisters have to fight each other. She couldn't help but looking shocked when Shinku asked her what's wrong about it since they can meet 'Father' if they win Alice Game. When Sarah was asleep that night, Shinku went out of her box and observed the mirror that became active earlier in the day.

All of a sudden, the mirror started to react and a hand could be seen emerging out of it. Eventually Suigintou herself came out of the mirror. Shinku was surprised to see the doll and asked Suigintou to identify herself. Instead of answering, a clearly tired and weather-beaten Suigintou cried and asked Shinku "Where is 'Father'?". Needless to say, Shinku became shocked and even more so when Suigintou grabbed her shoulder and repeated her question once again. Shinku became annoyed with the doll's persistence and slammed Suigintou against a wall. As Suigintou slumped onto the floor, she cried again, wondering where 'Father' could have gone. She explained that 'Father' had left her behind. Upon hearing this, Shinku asked the doll about her name and found out that she is none other than "Suigintou", the first Rozen Maiden doll. The episode ends with Shinku looking at Suigintou in disbelief as the other doll sobbed against the floor once again.

Impression:

I really don't understand what is so bad about Suigintou that made Rozen abandoned her like that. Obviously he spent a lot of time making her clothes but for some reason he couldn't be bothered to finish his first creation before moving on to the rest. The only thing I can think of is that Rozen changed his mind halfway of making Suigintou and decided to not waste more time on the doll. He, however, wasn't aware that Suigintou had developed a life on her own. That is probably why he didn't notice Suigintou as the doll tried to reach out to him. One way or the other, it was painful to see Suigintou in that condition right from her birth. This OVA certainly showed why she's been behaving the way she did in the first and second season. Having said that, there are several questions that still need to be answered. In my case, I want to know why Rozen abandoned her and how she gain her power. I hope both of these questions will be addressed in the second OVA.

I also want to know the purpose of Alice Game. A game which clearly has been deemed silly by more than one people. First it was Jun, and now even the seemingly spoilt Sarah voiced the same concern about the idea. It's interesting to see Shinku looking unconcerned about the other dolls in the early part of this story. She clearly was at the stage where she didn't know the other dolls better and was only thinking of herself. Her catty remark to Souseiseki and her callous treatment of Suigintou suggest that she hasn't always been the tough but kind protagonist that was seen in the 1st and 2nd season. The same thing can be said about Souseiseki, who was as focused in becoming Alice here as she will be in the future. The only doll who's been consistently uninterested in fighting her sisters is Suiseiseki. Overall, this is a nice OVA which shows that a story/history can look different when it is seen from another character's POV.

Ending Theme:「空蝉ﾉ影」- Utsusemi no Kage by Kukui
Download: AVI format (30.2MB) | PSP format (15.6MB)

I really like the gothic-styled song but I'm not really keen on the illustration that comes with it. I appreaciate the attempt to be original but the dolls look strange in the illustration.

Preview

Next time: I'll bet it's the rabbit who caused everything to fall apart.

© memento 2003