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「TALE 10」
My initial impression of the first 10 minutes of this episode had to be the most bizarre mix of emotions and confusion. First of all, it didn’t even feel like I was watching an anime about dolls anymore – it felt more like this awkward harem with one guy and 4 incredibly short girls. Then there was that finger-blowjob action that made me go, “Woooo…I did not sign up for this!” I can’t even say that seriously without cringing and laughing. I’m not sure if those were the emotions that the creators were intending for the audience, but if so, you’ve got it. It’s that feeling of being uncomfortable while watching all these girls “claim” Jun and yet you still can’t peel your eyes away. Some of the dolls suddenly turned quite desperate in my eyes and it’s such a difference from the attitude I would’ve expected based on earlier episodes. Anyway, lesson of the day – this show can be quite kinky.
I thought a good portion of this episode was used well to explain the phenomena that they were all going through. Wound-Jun and Kanaria were great for explanations and helping the story appear somewhat linear even though it’s not. I really like Wound-Jun personally and even though this season isn’t focused on him anymore, I feel as though he comes across as a well developed character (especially since the original anime). With the alternative dimensions in play, I like seeing how even though he’s still a pre-teen, he attempts to help himself (in other dimensions) to grow up. Next episode should expand on Wound-Jun a little more and Laplace appears once again so maybe we’ll get to see the “real” Shinku come back. Kanaria on the other hand is much more adorable than I remembered. She’s probably the doll that I have the least exposure to because most episodes are focused on Shinku, Suiseiseki and Suigintou – but she’s quite knowledgeable in her own right (more so than her sisters it seems).
One of the things that irks me about this show has got to me the differences in personalities between the dolls in the original anime and this one. I can’t seem to shake the initial impressions of the dolls that I used to have so when I think they’re acting “out of character”, they might actually not be. I also seem to have a very different opinion of some of the dolls now that I’ve seen more of them. Kanaria is actually quite fun to watch and not just annoying… whereas Suigintou has lost a lot of flare. Souseiseki and Suiseiseki are two that I was always either loving or annoyed at. This past episode has kind of reconfirmed that because all season we haven’t seen a hint of the two and suddenly they’ve occupied Karakishou’s N-Field and Jun’s become Souseiseki’s master. Where did that all come from? I wish that part of the story had a little more build up because I felt that was very left field – the use of Hinaichigo’s body would’ve tied together better. I was never really sold on how tight Souseiseki and Suiseiseki were either so the fact that they can transplant Rosa Mysticas into one another was another shock.
Now the most annoying part of these past two episodes had to be Unwound-Jun. I’ve been pretty patient with him up until now and I can’t help but feel like he’s either developing too slowly for my taste or I simply just can’t deal with his lack of self-confidence and actions. There’s so many things he could’ve done to prevent this if he would just think! Or perhaps he can actually step out of his comfort zone to do something rather than wait around and get strangled. I might be a little harsh on him now, but it bothers me that the sense of danger hasn’t struck him until a reality check from Wound-Jun. This poor guy needs some guidance in his life – perhaps it’s for the best if he chose to “Wind”.
TL;DR – @RCCherrie: Woooo… What just happened there? O_o is that supposed to be hot? I’m disgusted? #fingerlickinggood
Full-length images: 03, 12, 16, 19, 29, 34.
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It’s intended. Unwound-Jun even realizes it in the manga’s rendition of that scene. A pity that the anime didn’t place that in as it suddenly broke the ice in that scene and showcased Unwound-Jun’s obliviousness in a humorous light.
With this being my first exposure to Rozen Maiden, I admit that I’m not as invested in the characters as everyone else, so I didn’t particularly mind it when Suiseiseki and Souseiseki came in.
Personally, it was a brilliant twist that Kirakishou, having ‘no body’ in the first place, was forced to leech off Souseiseki’s. Like most everyone, I expected that Unwound-Jun was making Kirakishou’s real body– and that was blown out of the water because of what Kirakishou is. She’s still an idea; a thought by Rozen that was never realized. She never had a real body in the first place.
In the previous episode, it was stated that Kirakishou disassembled the body of one of her sisters and sent it to Jun for assembling. Kirakishou needed a real body, and not a replica, so she could manifest without replica-Shinku’s time constraint. As for Hinaichigo, last I checked, she had everything bar her legs consumed.
I’m hoping the anime can pull off what the manga did because, after everything, I found Wound-Jun too stale and boring. But yes, the build-up was very frustrating.
Looking forward, I’m both excited and apprehensive for the finale.
My poor Kirakishou… =(
I’m also pretty apprehensive about the finale. I really hope that they don’t build it all up to leave as a cliffhanger (or worse, an anime original ending). There’s a lot of manga material for them build off from but because of that, it might be sort of open-ended for a second season.
As someone who hasn’t watched the original anime, I feel as though the lost of investment in some of the characters (especially the main ones) makes for a different experience. I can’t speak for those people, but I don’t think a lot of them even bothered to watch past the first episode unfortunately =( Grateful that you have – but it would be nice if to see other people feel the same way about the dolls’ change in personalities.
I actually did drop the series after the first episode, then picked it up on the fourth. After watching that episode, I became intrigued and gave this series another chance.
Suffice to say, it’s been an interesting run– not quite to the level that I’d whoop out loud and profess undying fanaticism, but enough that I want to see how this develops. Then, last week’s cliffhanger came and I decided enough was enough and proceeded to read the manga XD
Suffice to say, after this arc, Unwound-Jun>>>Wound-Jun in my opinion. Unwound-Jun, when he’s (finally!) stopped displacing his inferiority complex, is actually a funny character to read.
Haha! Well I’m glad that you got back into it… I’ve always been a fan of Rozen Maiden since it’s original anime. For some reason, I can’t say that I’ve been loving this “re-make” as much as the original but that might be because I haven’t read the manga. I don’t think this season’s going to show Unwound-Jun’s aftermath past this climax in the story (any personality changes might have to wait -__-‘). Perhaps all that material is going to be saved for the next season (if there ever is one =P).
It really depends on whether you watched the original anime or read the manga first. They have slightly different takes on the characters, even some of their backstories. So if you are used to one, than the other may seem out of character.
In this version and the manga, the sisters are all a lot closer than the original. Suigintou is more bossy than purely antagonistic, and Souseiseki and Suiseiseki are absolutely inseparable.
You sort of use the word “original” in a confusing way here. You make it sound like the anime came first, but the manga actually precedes the first anime by 2 years.
Otherwise I agree with your points. The first anime added quite a lot of things to the personality of the dolls but ignored some of their characteristics in turn. Especially Kanaria was pretty much a joke character for most of Träumend.
Yes, the first manga series technically preceeds the anime but are the dolls the same in the first and second manga series? I haven’t read either (not thoroughly anyway) so I can’t comment =X
Kanaria is a good example of a character that I was used to as being goofy and silly in the second season of the original anime. I was really annoyed of her (as I said in the post) but SO GLAD to see her behaving differently this time around. She’s really quite smart and captivating to watch, too bad they just dumbed her down so much in the original anime T_T
Yes, the dolls are the same in both manga versions.
The second manga is a direct sequel to the open ending of the first manga.
The reason why they were seperated into two manga was Peach-Pit having a fight with their former publisher, which caused the manga to end prematurely. A few years later, under a new publisher, they simply started from where they left off before.
Well as you said this episode didn’t quite cut it, my personal problem with it was the fact that after all this careful planning and deceiving adult Jun into creating her body Kirakishou didn’t really put that much of an effort into stopping others from messing up her plans, for an insane schemer going slow and steady in front of three other dolls didn’t pay off.
What I expected was a rather sad end for Kirakishou that would make even Suigintou pity her though I guess that will come next episode or perhaps in the finale.
I don’t think we’ve seen the end of Kirakishou yet… but a sad/pitiful ending for her would probably be interesting to see as you stated. So far though, it doesn’t seem like any of the dolls are gone gone except Hinaichigo. Maybe Kirakishou will still be around by the end of the season.
quite kinky! wtf! you’re mad? of what?
“One of the things that irks me about this show has got to me the differences in personalities between the dolls in the original anime and this one. I can’t seem to shake the initial impressions of the dolls that I used to have so when I think they’re acting “out of character”
WTF! original anime but the manga(manga came before) is the original history, is like you said that fma (2004) is the original and not the manga/brotherhood. And they have differents personalities (more sugintou and souseiseki)
Honestly when I saw Karakishou like Jun hand I was “ahh thats a bit creepy” the way she black mail her sister & doing the lick…
Though I like the two Jun meet & because of that the unwind Jun finally understand what he needs to do! I still wonder about Rozen I wish we get know more about there father…