The plot revolves around Jun Sakurada, a junior high school student who refuses to go back to school after being traumatized by an embarrassing experience. Since then, he avoids leaving his house and spends the day ordering goods online and returning them before the grace period ends. When Jun receives a letter asking "yes or no", he becomes skeptical, but circles "yes". Soon after, the letter vanishes and a wood case appears in his room. Inside the box is a very realistic doll which, after being wound, starts moving on its own and introduces herself as Shinku, the fifth doll of the Rozen Maiden series.

In the following, Jun becomes Shinku's "medium", a human host that provides the doll with his own life energy, allowing her to walk and use magic. This bond is symbolized by a ring worn by both parties. Now, Jun and Shinku must participate in the "Alice Game", a competition between the Rozen Maiden dolls to capture each other's "Rosa Mystica", their primary life source. Once a doll is defeated in combat, she loses her Rosa Mystica to the opponent, and becomes an inanimate doll. The last doll who remains standing wins the Alice Game, will become a girl of utmost beauty and purity named "Alice", just as their creator Rozen wanted.

In the first season of the anime, the main antagonist was Suigintou but was destroyed by a team effort led by Shinku. In the second season of the anime Rozen Maiden: Träumend, Shinku, Jun, and the other dolls, meet two additional Rozen Maidens: Barasuishou and Kanaria. Suigintou reappears, as she is resurrected by Rozen himself, and this time she has a "medium", an ill girl named Megu. With all the seven dolls awoken, the "Alice Game" grows near to its conclusion. Adding to the mystery of Rozen, there is also Enju and Shirosaki, who operate their own doll shop, and the strange Laplace's Demon, who appears during battles talking in riddles. In the last episode, Barasuishou successfully defeats the other dolls. However, she was revealed to be Enju's creation and not a true Rozen Maiden. She was destroyed when she was unable to contain the "Rosa Mystica" of the other dolls.[1] The series ends unresolved as Rozen appears at the last minute, restoring the life of his dolls, except for Hinaichigo and Souseiseki and with Kirakishou, the real seventh Rozen Maiden, making a brief appearance.[1]

I loved it, it was a good anime and how it ended was sad, but happy because Ju Kun and his doll got to stay together.

Rozen Maiden Lives!

Desu's making a come back, guys. New season!

Didn't like this anime... it had nothing special to it for me.

i love this anime, unfortumantly everytime i start watching it school seems to get in the way before i finish, so it's still on the long list of anime i need to finish watching.

>>3 I heard there was a new season coming out.

This sounds like Fate, where people enter this fight with each other with Servants.,.. the winner gets the Holy Grail.

Bump for 2013 season.

Is this third season supposed to conclude the story?

Nice anime, but too late for the 3rd season. I have forgotten what is happened in 1st and 2nd season.

>>10 Then rewatch them.

>>9 I believe so. It's picking up from the true start of the second manga series and closing it off. Unless they release another manga series/adaption/continuation, I don't think we're getting any more. There is a possibility of them breaking the second part of the manga up into two seasons, though. It all depends on how they pace it and how much money they end up having dedicated to the project.

I kind of want this season to have everything thusfar tied up. I don't want to wait another six years for another season to finish off a half-done story. But on the other hand... I know I'm gonna want more by the end of it D:

The biggest downfall of them waiting so long, imo, is that I don't think the same art/animation director is onboard. The trailer used a more simplified art style. I really liked the drama of the original series and hope that the trailer wasn't an example of the series to come :C

Should I watch it? ; w ;

>>12 General consensus is yes, yes you should watch it.

If you're like me, you'll hate all of the human protagonists other than Rozen, but the dolls have great personalities and really bring the story to life. There is just as much drama as there is fun. The action scenes are great. There aren't too many tear jerking moments; the ones that are there are so well placed. The art is also very dramatic and eye catching. Rozen Maiden has several of the greatest opening/ending themes of all time (with regard to its art and music equally). The story can be both slow and fast at times, but I suggest you dredge through it; it's entirely worth it.

^

So, caught up with the couple episodes of RM2013 that are out. The art ABSOLUTELY SUCKS ;O; Seriously, the art from the previous seasons was 1000000000x better and fit the tone of the story soo much better.

But, I love where the story is going, and I'm happy to hear that this is supposedly following the manga better than Traumend. I like how they recapped everything in the first episode. All in all, the only negative point I have is the art.

Here's a quick synopsis of the new season. It does spoil the second episode, but fuck, it's the second episode guys:

Student and recluse Jun Sakurada received a message during middle school which simply asked him whether he would choose: "Wind" or "Do Not Wind." This season follows an alternative universe from the others in that our protagonist chose "Do Not Wind." Flash forward several years, and Jun finds himself surrounded by bigots and gossipers at a party college, only able to pay for himself by working at his part-time job in a book store. One day, he finds a box that was supposed to be sent back and asked his boss about it, who basically said to toss it. In the box contained the first edition of How to Make a Girl Weekly.

Jun got almost all the editions regarding the fifth doll, Shinku, after taking the first home from work. He became obsessed. Every day, he just wanted to go home to make it. He even stopped going to school and spent minimal time at work. Suddenly, the kits stopped coming. He was stuck with a headless, unclothed doll, wondering what he would do with his life before he got a message from his middle school self residing in the world where he chose to Wind, asking for help because the seventh doll had become too strong.

I assume the rest of the season will follow the stories of both middle-school Jun and college Jun, probably meeting up in the N-Zone during the Alice Game. I suspect that college Jun is going to become the new Rozen of the story and recreate the dolls that were destroyed. It might also be possible that the Eighth doll (the fake Seventh made by "Rozen's apprentice") which plagued the last season will turn out to have been made by the college Jun.

As for those who think college Jun taking the text he got from middle-school Jun honestly may be unrealistic, I beg to differ. We were introduced in the first season to Jun, and he was always into the super natural, buying anything online that might turn out to have some kind of cult value. He has a very open mind about the supernatural and probably always will. Therefore, I believe that him not taking the text as a prank is actually realistic for his personality as a character.

^

Bumpity

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