Review for Rozen Maiden: Traumend - Volume 2

Introduction

I need an anime with a happy ending. I really need something to perk me up, especially having just seen the conclusion to Mahoromatic, which if it's happy, is the sort of happy that begins with 'it could have been worse'. I need something to make me feel good, optimistic, and better about the world in general. Rozen Maiden is about a bunch of cute dolls that have to compete in battle, taking each other's Rosa Mystica (sort of a 12-inch high porcelain Highlander), until only one is left to claim the prize and be reunited with her 'father'. If Rozen Maiden - Traumend will give me the happy ending I crave, I get the feeling that it will put me through torment first.

Jun Sakurada is a wimpy teen, who after being bullied at middle school simply came home, pulled the covers over his head, and refused to leave the house again. That's despite the best efforts of his sister Nori, who kept trying to coax him back to school. He became a shut-in, a recluse, whose only joy was Internet shopping, and only thrill was keeping the stuff for the trial period, and then sending it back before he became liable for payment. Then one day he answered an ad that was unconventional to say the least. As if by magic, a trunk appeared in the middle of the room, and within the trunk was a clockwork doll, and a key. After checking for underwear (well he is a boy), he wound up the doll, only for it to come to life and slap him. Shinku is awake now, and insolent though he may be, Jun is now her servant.


As this second series begins, things have settled down since Shinku's defeat of Suigintou. Shinku and Hina-Ichigo continue to live with Jun and Nori, while Suiseiseki has returned to live with twin sister Souseiseki and their elderly owners, but are often around to annoy Jun and toy with Hina-Ichigo. But when a new doll shop opens in town, trouble looms.

The second half of Rozen Maiden - Traumend is presented on this disc from MVM.

7. Teegesellschaft
Kanaria is upping her game against the other Rozen Maidens. She's infiltrating and spying, plotting and scheming, and being invited to tea parties to make cookies. All this niceness is too much, and she brings out her ultimate weapon, determined to subdue the other dolls. But even Kanaria is beginning to have doubts about the Alice Game, while the reason why she wants to defeat the other dolls has little to do with becoming Alice. But as one doll wavers, another becomes more resolute, as Souseiseki realises that their idyll at Jun's house is false when she catches a glimpse of Father in a mirror. Meanwhile, Jun sees something astounding at Enju's.


8. Puppenmacher
It seems like everything is back to normal at the Sakurada household, as the dolls have fun watching their favourite television programme, and enjoying watermelons, but Souseiseki is out of sorts, and Jun is distracted. Enju allows Jun to observe him at work creating dolls, and now Jun is interested in finding out how Shinku and the others were created, and more about Father. Elsewhere, Meg confronts Suigintou, insisting that the doll use up her life as quickly as possible, as she's becoming a burden to her family. Suigintou wants the opposite though, and when Bara-Suishou tells her that with all the Rosa Mystica, she will be able to save Meg, her path is clear. At the same time, Souseiseki has a message for the other dolls and her sister.

9. Der Tadel
Shinku wakes from one nightmare into another. The Alice Game is in effect, and the battle between the dolls has commenced. Except that Shinku has no desire to fight anymore. For Suiseiseki, the only thought on her mind is to save her sister, but Souseiseki is determined to take all the Rosa Mystica, to become the true Alice, and to fulfil her father's dream. In the end, will she turn on her own sister?


10. Tomoe
The Alice Game means that there is no room left for sentimentality, no more dead weight. From the first, when Shinku destroyed Hina-Ichigo's ring, Hina-Ichigo has been living on borrowed time, subsisting on the energy that Jun and Shinku provided. But the rules of the game means that link no longer works, and Hina-Ichigo is starting to run down. Jun tries asking Enju for help, but it may be too late. Time has run out, and the dolls arrive at the shop where they are met by the owner, Laplace, and the doll Bara-Suishou. But no one is expecting the stunned recognition when the dolls finally lay eyes on Enju.

11. Rosengarten
When Father insists on the Alice Game, Shinku apparently has no choice but to acquiesce. All the dolls will meet on the n-Field where they will battle until only one remains standing, the one true Alice. But while the dolls confront each other, Jun has a mind to confront the architect of all this, with a mind to ending the Alice Game once and for all.

12. Alice
The conclusion.

Picture

Rozen Maiden - Traumend just like the first season gets the, by now familiar treatment for anime. It's a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, with the usual NTSC-PAL standard conversion applied. For Traumend that means a pretty clear and colourful transition to the DVD format, with little of the ghosting or judder associated with such conversions. That said, the bright and shiny animation isn't one to invite such issues, and the more important observation is that despite this disc having a decent six episodes to it, none of them are particularly marred by compression artefacts or the like. Traumend is an expressive enough animation, although not that full of energy and is occasionally quite static. There is an odd dichotomy with the way that the dolls are depicted in exquisite detail, while the human characters are a lot more rough and ready, simplistically designed, and with bold outlines. It all works well enough for the show however.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with optional translated subtitles or signs. The dialogue is clear, and the new opening theme from Ali Project is once again by equal parts catchy and annoying, but perfectly suits the show. I found the Japanese track to be acceptable but uninspiring, although compared to the English track it's a godsend. Yes, this is one of those English dubs that are best avoided, even by dub fans.

Extras

There are extras on this second disc of Rozen Maiden - Traumend, but nothing to write home about. You get Textless Credits, 90 seconds worth of Japanese TV Commercials for the show, and trailers for Romeo X Juliet, and Mahoromatic - Something More Beautiful.

Conclusion

What is it with anime and its bittersweet ambiguous endings? I must have been in the wrong frame of mind when I started this disc, looking for a happy, rosy, sunny conclusion that reflected Rozen Maiden at its most frivolous, rather than when it was deep in the character conflict of the Alice Game. Rozen Maiden - Traumend does in the end offer something of a happy ending though, and as I guessed, it does put the viewer through torment to get to that point, trying its best to elicit a tear or two as it ventures into full on emotional melodrama. There's a twist at the end that almost makes everything better, but it's also a twist that negates everything that we have learned thus far about the dolls and the Alice Game, revealing the major arc of Rozen Maiden - Traumend to be one big bait and switch. In another series it could be annoying, it could even feel like it's cheating the audience, but in the context of this show, it's a radical diversion that actually works. The only real gripe is that the ending is also something of a non-ending, hinting at more anime to come, but as so often happens, no more Rozen Maiden has been made to this point, aside from a prequel OVA and a Detective Kun-Kun spin-off.


And that's all I'm going to say about the conclusion. The show ends with four episodes that fans will no doubt curse my name if I spoil. The first two episodes on this disc offer more domestic doll comedy hijinks, with Kanaria's crusade against the other dolls being explained by a tea party and a cookie bake-off, but even with these two episodes, there are dark overtones of the finale being sown, and the tone of the story shifts from light to ominous pretty swiftly. The comedy isn't leeched completely away, but it does go on the back burner somewhat as the serious meaning of the Alice Game takes centre stage.


I wasn't expecting much when the first volume of Rozen Maiden arrived a few months ago. In fact, the idea of an anime centred on dolls brought magically to life, and the reclusive teenaged boy whose life they overwhelm, really didn't appeal to me in the slightest. But over the past four volumes and twenty-four episodes, these quirky little characters and the fantastic world of the Alice Game have worked their charms on me, and now that I come to the final volume, I'll be sad to see them go. It could easily have been a dull and dry tournament structured anime, like so many others, but Rozen Maiden's focus on characters and situations, with varied episodes and engaging storytelling elevated it beyond the usual tropes. Yes, a boy can play with dolls. Recommended to all anime fans.