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NeoGAF's "Let's Watch Anime" OT#9: Now Watching: Rozen Maiden (12/29-1/9)

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Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
The Goal of the "Let's Watch Anime" thread is to bring together the anime community (even "casuals") to watch a lesser known anime series to discuss and share our reactions towards it at the same time. Participation in each episode is appreciated, but playing “catch-up” by watching multiple episodes is normal as everyone has different responsibilities/time to watch anime. Just don’t post on future episodes unspoilered! The more posting about the series and it's events, the more beneficial it is to everyone, so please post up on the good, the bad and the awful; We are all in this together! (no hiding lurkers) We will have a new show selected to watch every two/three weeks and the genre will vary greatly. The shows that will be selected will have met the below criteria:

- Any genre
- Lesser known titles (Not SAO, One Piece, Gintama, etc)
- Not already aired on Toonami/Adult Swim
- The shows should try to avoid outrageous and/or sexually offensive themes
- Shows could be good, bad or possibly trash; let's find out together
- Recommendations are always accepted for future viewing
- Let's have FUN with this together! Please participate in the review and discussion!



Next up:

KBMkbvA.jpg



Synopsis/Plot:
Sakurada Jun spends his days online, ordering whatever he takes a liking to, only to return it before the payment is due. Due to psychological trauma from school, Jun generally keeps contact with people as little as possible. One day he finds instructions online that tell him to put his order into his desk drawer. Rubbing it off as a joke, Jun mindlessly does so only to find that his order instantly disappears from his drawer. A package suddenly appears, containing a beautiful antique doll. When wound up, this doll comes to life. Sadly for Jun, this doll Shinku views Jun as an equivalent for a servant. Despite the constant demands Jun now receives from Shinku, she slowly helps him overcome his fears of human contact as well as protect him from the deadly battles that come into his life due to her appearance.


Additional information on the anime and characters from MAL:

http://myanimelist.net/anime/64/Rozen_Maiden?q=rozen maid


Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Magic, Seinen
Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Episodes: 12

Characters:
actvDTb.jpg



Review:

Rozen Maiden is a gem lost in a world full of more known titles and will be if not yet a classic. While some of taken jabs at this series for not following the source material and being supposed lolibait, I for one must tell everyone that Rozen Maiden is NOT lolibait and sometimes separating yourself from source material can work. True, it can be extremely risky and may very well end in complete failure as multiple mediums have proved that very thing, but what if the material is both good and really entertaining? Ladies and folks, you get Rozen Maiden.




Available on Crunchyroll :

Crunchyroll!:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/rozen-maiden





Episodes are set for viewing “one a day” over the next three weeks so we can try to stay together.



Open Episodes: 10 :


Episode 11 opens:

1/8, 12 am PST


FDDtfPE.jpg

(not an actual screen text, but image from the show was too funny to not add to this OT)

Come join me Friends.



Previous “Let’s Watch Anime” sessions:

#1- Humanity Has Declined:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1090173
#2- Eccentric Family:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1097748
#3- Sunday Without God:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1104608
#4- Samurai Flemanco:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1111817
#5- Blast of Tempest:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1120956
#6- Kyousougiga:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1133594
#7- Kids on the Slope:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1141103
#8- Mirai Nikki:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1148250








*Required ToS Footnote and reminder*
Please see the warning on page 1 of the current seasonal Anime community OT, that still applies here. It's simple; Don't talk about it or promote it...

look at GAF-chan’s words of advice from the community thread:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1118026

Mod Note:
This has been happening frequently enough lately that I just wanted to throw out a friendly reminder: solicitation, discussion, and linking of pirated material is prohibited. This includes illegal streams, torrents, aggregators, fansub & sub group discussion, links to websites containing entire anime soundtrack albums magically for free, etc. Use common sense here. Discussion of legal, ethical, and economic implications of piracy is okay.
Click to expand...

Basically, the section on piracy & copyrighted material in the Terms of Service applies to anime as well.
 
K

Kvik

Member
Uhh I still haven't seen Mirai Nikki OVA, spent almost all day yesterday playing Trails in the Sky FC, the game is too good!
3AQmK.gif


Probably will stop after chapter 3 to watch the OVA then to dig in on this goth loli thing.
AU7Amsc.gif
 
Y

Yomidi

Member
Here I thought that the "desu" screen was real and I was getting excited.
But yeah, this doesn't look very good.
I'll still watch it.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Kvik said:
Uhh I still haven't seen Mirai Nikki OVA, spent almost all day yesterday playing Trails in the Sky FC, the game is too good!
3AQmK.gif


Probably will stop after chapter 3 to watch the OVA then to dig in on this goth loli thing.
AU7Amsc.gif
Click to expand...

Gets decent reviews, but nothing special or else everyone would have already watched it, lol.

Also, did they add trophies into the Vita version of Trails?

I've been making star babies in Conception 2.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Barrylocke said:
For a series that focuses on less known anime, we sure have quite a lot of ones shown "By popular demand".
Click to expand...

OK, smartass, lol.

These are all recs., from the anime community out there, so and everyone was demanding the next show, so yeah, I'll call it popular demand, lol.

Only other recs to date:

- Tsuritama
- Pandora Hearts
- add your rec here.


Kvik said:
Unfortunately I'm playing the PC version, so I don't know :-\

Conception looks cool, though. Shame I don't have a Vita.
Click to expand...
Nah, it's cheezy and trashy, but suprisingly fun to play.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
KenjiGlove said:
That name doesn't really seem that subtle to me, is it what I think it is?
Click to expand...


Hey, Classmating to make starbabies is a way of life.


and yes Kenji, this was a rec... I have no idea what we are getting into and it's much better that way or else, I'll start getting biased, lol. We must learn what these are about together.
 
C

Chariot

Member
Well, if nobody expects a good serious anime it should be fine, desu. Rozen Maiden can be entertaining if you loosen yourself.
 
H

HamPster PamPster

Member
One episode in - Jun sucks and is a jerk. I assume part of the story will revolve around him becoming more social and selfless which will just feel tedious since its predictable and frankly Jun doesn't seem like the type to deserve redemption.

It will be nice to watch a less sappy Gash Bell though. Here's hoping Suiseiseki has her own Zeon.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Ok, that was am interesting intro to the characters. The doll does have a nasty streak in her. It was funny seeing the other dolls attack the stupid monkey, lol.
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
Episode 1
Time to see what the source of the desu meme is actually about. Hmm, is this really the 2004 series? The animation style seems more recent.

Jeez, Jun is a real pushover. If a doll started acting like this, I'd just put it back in the box. Oh hey, so this is basically Zatch/Gash Bell, huh?

Oh, it's the desu girl. Jeez, they sure are introducing characters quickly. I looked away for a bit and suddenly desu girl's twin is dead.

And another thing is happening now. And a lesbian (incest?) kiss that turns a girl into white vines. And another character breaks into the room.

Oh, the sister does know about the dolls. And there's another sudden development.

==

OK, looking at the other comments, it looks like everyone else is watching a different series than me. I assume the one in the OP that I watched is actually the new series, so I'll switch over to the old one.

Episode 1
For real this time. Ah, I see the problem. The Crunchyroll URL for the first series is http://www.crunchyroll.com/rozen-maiden and having "rozenmaiden" with no hyphen, like in the OP, redirects to the new series. Jeez, why can't Crunchyroll just say when the series was made?

Now this looks more like what I'd expect of a 2004 series. Although this series is starting in media res, so maybe the fast pace of character introductions wasn't actually a great indication of the other series being the new one. Anyway, the comedic scenes were fun if not particularly funny. The series seems decent enough.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Well damn, this show is actually pretty funny. This might be an excellent anime to watch under the influence, especially watching the dolls fight. Animation actually holds up pretty well for being 12 years old.


He's got a second doll now as well, since Shinku is a master fighter, lol.
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
Episode 2
The childish pranks are amusing, but I can't say I'm too interested in the actual plot.

You know, this still doesn't appear to be matching the comments of you other guys. And there's still a lot going unexplained.

... Wait, don't tell me.

*goes to Crunchyroll episode list page*
*scrolls down*

Son of a bitch!

==

Episode 1
OK, now really for real. I was wondering why the first series would have a subtitle.

Weird that we're starting from the perspective of Jun's sister instead of Jun, when he appears to be the main character. Wow, Jun is a new level of loser from his portrayal in all the other first episodes I've seen. He hasn't even been going to school, which explains why he's taking a test to go back to school in the series I was watching earlier in this post.

Oh, so the sudden attack from the black feather girl happens in the first episode here too... except there's a clown. So I guess it isn't the same.

So the parents are "working overseas", huh? Jeez, Jun's sister is a real pushover.

This was alright. I already know things get more entertaining once more characters appear.

Episode 2
Ah, it's a girl with anime sickness (TM). Well that answers a question I've had. Even though the dolls eat, they don't use the bathroom. Oh, so that little girl (well, littler than the others) doll can be creepy if she wants.

The fighting doesn't have much weight, since we don't actually know how the battles work. Wait, if Hina-Ichigo is living with them now, then what about anime sickness (TM) girl?
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Well, we met our villain, which is that black feathere'd doll from the OP, she's powerful, and also apparently part of the Alice Game that the dolls are all fighting for. Plus, our little NEAT buddy decided to leave the house for some doll food, lol.
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
Episode 3
For someone who gives off an aura of elegance, Shinku watches a lot of children's television.

I remember that back when this series was big on anime boards, Suigintou was pretty popular, second only to desu-girl. Of course she stops her attack for no reason at all.

The scene of Jun walking around hiding his face reminds me of a scene from Hot Fuzz. Paraphrased, "Why do you think that man is wearing his hat that way?", "Cuz he's fuck ugly," "Yes, but why is he hiding his face?" "Cuz he's fuck ugly!"

Oh, that girl who used to have Hina-Ichigo still exists. You'd think she'd want to visit, or Hina-Ichigo would want to see her. I mean, I wouldn't after what happened, but that's usually how it goes in anime.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
They are trying hard to make me feel bad for Jun in this episode. He has another new doll to care for and make a pact with, so his dolly harem is growing (I kid, I kid, no harem, lol) There was a ton of symbolism build into the episode as they were in Jun's dream world, especially with the tree that is stunted growth wise do to outside "weeds" The show is certainly more interesting than I thought it would be.
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
Episode 4
OK, here's desu-girl's proper introduction. I didn't expect for her to be shy, especially given the episodes I mistakenly watched. It seems kind of rude to go into Jun's dream without asking him beforehand, especially since it apparently could have killed him. The dream part was pretty standard stuff.

Episode 5
Jun's right that the puppet show is surprisingly hardcore. Ah, here's the prankster desu-girl I knew from message board posts years ago. Though how did her personality completely change after just one episode? To the point where Jun already thinks that stealing the strawberry is within Suiseiseki's personality. In fact, there's a sudden increase in comedy and chibi-ness in general, which I don't mind at all. That was a fun episode.

Episode 6
From the preview image, I guess episode 5 was a calm before the storm episode. Are they trying to hint at romance between Jun and Shinku? That would be pretty weird. It's odd that Suiseiseki and Hina-Ichigo would just go to the mirror when they know that dolls can travel through that mirror. It actually was kind of sad that the clown toy died, but I remain uninterested in the fighting. Oh hey, the clown isn't dead, but Shinku got delayed injuries.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Well that escalated quickly. That black angel doll is a real douchebag. However, Jun has unlocked his secret powers, so he daughter back her attack and saved his precious Shinku.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
I expected much darker things than what I had seen from eps 1-5 so far, mostly thanks to the Another-esque opening that showed the MC getting freaking choked by strings and crying blood or something right at the start (even though things get a lot more inoffensive after that one part). It's really weird that it seems like the dolls have all known each other for quite some time and don't appear to care about that so-called Alice Game... but that's kind of a relief since that set-up just screamed "doll of the week fight" to me.

Also, I had watched the second season's first episode on CR by mistake, so I know something that's bound to happen later on in this season (but without context, so I guess it's still okay).
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Well, at least then woke Shinku up after than evil doll planted that feather in her hole. Also, Jun faced his fears to break into the school and use the library with the help of Hina's ex-owner.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Nestled_Grizzly said:
I was curious about how this Let's Watch is doing this time and wow. I kinda feel bad for this thread. I might join in late and catch up. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, the audience is a little light for Rozen Maiden, lol. We have to come up with a good one for next week. We'll chalk this one up to holiday interference, lol.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Cornbread78 said:
Yeah, the audience is a little light for Rozen Maiden, lol. We have to come up with a good one for next week. We'll chalk this one up to holiday interference, lol.
Click to expand...

Having reached episode 7, I still can't make heads or tails of what the show wants to be about besides how the MC stops being an antisocial jerk and slowly opens up to others (and it only took supernatural dolls that forcibly moved into his house, yay!). None of the dolls besides Suigintou (and maaaaybe Shinku) appear to give a damn about their beloved father's game, and the pacing appears to be quite slow. The MC being tsundere for Shinku's also weird (she's a freaking doll!), and Hana-Ichigo appears to just be there to be annoying; at least Suiseiseki interacts better with the MC です, despite the weird disconnect that was the difference between how she behaved on her introductory episode and her later appearance as a childish trickster です.

I kept waiting for Suiseiseki to use her dream invasion ability to help the MC wake Shinku up in episode 7 due to all that talk they had about dreams (and that being her specialty) but no, the answer had to be way more mundane and boring.

Also, why the heck did Shinku say Suiseiseki would be a boon for the MC and his sister? I was at least expecting her to help grow the flower garden or something, which would've been the perfect opportunity for casually speaking with the rest of the cast in a relaxing environment, but now she appears to be yet another freeloader with a sweet tooth (and a particularily selfish/nasty one at that).
 
S

SigmasonicX

Member
Episode 7
What, there's just a book about Rozen Maidens in a public library?

OK, how did we get from Jun reading the book to suddenly being able to use magic like that?

Episode 8
Jun, why the hell are you looking up methods to increase your bust size? And why the hell are you guys going into the mirror room again?

If the dolls have control over who their master is, then why choose a crazy guy in the first place? You'd think they'd pick someone who can actually follow the dolls into the battle areas. And why doesn't Suigintou just kill everyone, given how easily she can move around?

Jeez, the creepy guy has gotten even creepier. I'm not sure what they're going for with this story and making the "bad master" a confused old man.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
I'm a day behind, but I'll catch up. They are certainly trying to me you feel bad for these dolls & their plights. Those poor gardening sister dolls being torn apart by the crazy old guy.. Also, I really hate that dark angel doll and her stupid evil laugh. Can't they just kick her ass for good already?
 
C

Chariot

Member
A bit late to the party, hopefully I can catch up before the time ends. It’s been awhile since I have seen the original series. I hope it’s a sign of my bad memory that I can’t remember most of it and not about how bad the plot was.

Rozen Maiden - ep 01

Oh yeah. I remember this dick insufferably poking his poor submissive sister in really terrible ways. I already want to give up. At least I got some Shinku slaps. Show need more Jun slapping. In fact, make a game where I do nothing else.

Rozen Maiden - ep 02

I can’t really remember Tomoe, but I like her. But of course there is Hina to to balance a decent character with her awful personality, mhmhmh. Jun is less dickish and annoying than I remember though. Praise the Shinku hair slap.
Cornbread78 said:
Yeah, the audience is a little light for Rozen Maiden, lol. We have to come up with a good one for next week. We'll chalk this one up to holiday interference, lol.
Click to expand...
How about Un-Go? I expect that's something that not many people have seen yet and that can be interesting enough to draw people in. Detective/Mystery in a post-war future.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Chariot said:
How about Un-Go? I expect that's something that not many people have seen yet and that can be interesting enough to draw people in. Detective/Mystery in a post-war future.
Click to expand...

I tried watching that, but the whole "special power that forces people to say the truth" thing felt like such a cop-out that I ended up dropping it halfway through the third case. Of course the main duo still has to know which question they've got to ask and to who, but rather than looking for proof or ways to break down the perp's alibi all they have to do is ask the right thing to force them to confess in front of everybody else, which is a really boring way to of solving a mystery.
 
C

Chariot

Member
JulianImp said:
I tried watching that, but the whole "special power that forces people to say the truth" thing felt like such a cop-out that I ended up dropping it halfway through the third case. Of course the main duo still has to know which question they've got to ask and to who, but rather than looking for proof or ways to break down the perp's alibi all they have to do is ask the right thing to force them to confess in front of everybody else, which is a really boring way to of solving a mystery.
Click to expand...
There is certainly truth in that, but the supernatural part of getting people spit out their motive weights not too much in my opinion, since the political level gets more important. I really liked the uncomfortable situation of not giving people justice, because the truth would do more damage than good in a way.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Chariot said:
There is certainly truth in that, but the supernatural part of getting people spit out their motive weights not too much in my opinion, since the political level gets more important. I really liked the uncomfortable situation of not giving people justice, because the truth would do more damage than good in a way.
Click to expand...

My issue with that was that every single case ended that way, which made it overly boring. They'd always find the truth through that boring magic trick, but then would be forced to drop the case For The Good Of The People™. While truth not being the most important thing out there is a theme I absolutely adored from another mystery series (Umineko), Un-Go was so ham-fisted about it that I couldn't care at all about most moral issues presented by its plot.
 
C

Chariot

Member
JulianImp said:
My issue with that was that every single case ended that way, which made it overly boring. They'd always find the truth through that boring magic trick, but then would be forced to drop the case For The Good Of The People. While truth not being the most important thing out there is a theme I absolutely adore from another mystery series (Umineko), Un-Go was so ham-fisted about it that I couldn't care at all about most moral issues presented by its plot.
Click to expand...
I can understand that. While it gets better regarding variation, you only have seen the conclusion of two cases after all, it absolutely drops the ball by not really doing much with the whole society. In the end a real confrontation with the system was missing.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Cornbread78 said:
So far we have:

Kamichu
Un-Go
Tsuritama

As recs. Need more for a good one Mon.
Click to expand...

I think I'd rather not do yet another supernatural-ish anime with a cast of high schoolers right after this one, and would much rather prefer a slightly more serious show to change the mood a little bit. While Un-Go isn't my cup of tea because of reasons I have already explained, I'd be all for a politics-centered show or some space opera.

While I can't vouch for any of the shows I'll be mentioning, maybe somebody else has heard of them and believes them interesting enough as a viable recommendation rather than a joke watch:
OZMA (6 episodes) - http://www.crunchyroll.com/leiji-matsumotos-ozma
Time of Eve (6 episodes) - http://www.crunchyroll.com/time-of-eve - Has over 3,000 5-star ratings at CR
Demonbane (12 episodes) - http://www.crunchyroll.com/demonbane - Watched ep1 randomly and I'd say it's more like a trashy over-the-top mecha show, though
BLASSREITER (24 episodes) - http://www.crunchyroll.com/blassreiter - Has almost 1,500 5-star reviews
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Well, lots of dream world craziness and it looks like crazy dark angel keeps getting stronger now that she took both twins dream power for herself. It's safe to say I hate that stupid doll.
 
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