Rozen Maiden Traumend

Its been a while since I've wrote anything anime related (and I'm suppose to be the anime guy). So I figured its about time I get back into the world of animated goodness. What we got here is a sequel/second season of Rozen Maiden. For those who've seen the first season, you probably won't find any surprises in this sequel. That means if you enjoyed what it had to offer in the first season, you should definitely check this out as well. If you've never seen this show, its basically about the life of a teenager and a bunch of dolls that and walk and talk.

Just like the first season, you have your main male lead as in Sakuraba Jun. There seems to be less focus on him this time around since he has already over come his demons in the first season. From what I've seen so far his main role seems to be to explore the history behind the dolls and their creator. The dolls on the other hand gets more airtime. They brought back/introduce all the other dolls and is finally going to deal with the whole Alice Game thing. For those unfamiliar with this anime, Alice Game is basically a battle royale for the dolls to decide who will become Alice, the ideal and most beautiful doll, which their creator desires.

A good portion of the series is actually comedy based rather than being action/drama. We are often treated to events where the dolls watches a kids detective show and scream when the detective (which is a dog) is in a pinch or one particular doll pulls a prank on others. Interestingly enough this comedy element is actually the main selling point of this show rather than the story. Of course, the cute looking dolls and their unique personality are part of the selling point as well.

If you are looking for a all in one show as in having comedy, action, and drama, this is not a bad choice. Personally I was never a big fan of such shows where they try to have everything. A lot of the times these elements (comedy, action, and drama) just don't mix and ends up giving a sense that the story is forced together. But Rozen Maiden manages to avoid some of those problems. Its not perfect but the change in mood between eps is acceptable. One more thing I really like about this show is that it dives into the whole concept of what true beauty is.

Out of all the anime released this season, I believe Rozen Maiden has the best opening video. Its got a very fantasy/fairy tale feel to it which really suits the theme of the series.