Rozen Maiden – Zurückspulen

Title:Rozen Maiden – Zurückspulen
Rozen Maiden - Rewind
ローゼンメイデン
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: OHSAKA Ryota
SAWASHIRO Miyuki
Sakurada Jun, a middle school shut-in receives a single letter. Yes or No. When Jun chose yes he met Shinku, but if Jun chose no, he would've gone on to college without ever meeting Shinku. Those two worlds were never meant to cross, but now they have connected!! Although the Jun who chose no has ventured out to overcome his shut-in nature, he can’t find a place where he belongs. Shinku comes to this world where Rozen Maidens aren't supposed to exist. What will their new encounter bring?!
(courtesy anidb)

Zurückspulen means to 'rewind'

[edit]
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 7 7 6 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:2757#1552]
Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen appears to function as a sort of reboot on the Rozen Maiden franchise as we are reintroduced to Jun and the Rozen Maidens as they deal with an enemy threat in the form of new Maiden Kirakisho and crossing into a parallel timeline where an adult Jun never gave life to Shinku. Before I address the new content of this addition to Rozen Maiden, I do want to address the major issue of this series coming with familiarity of viewers to the franchise. The show's creators make it under the assumption that you are already familiar with elements and characters to the series, thus quickly pacing through events in the first episode of the series in introducing Jun and the six Rozen Maidens from the 2000s adaptations of the series to get to the main plot of the series involving Kirakisho. This already alienates new viewers of the series since the last animated adaptation of Rozen Maiden came seven years prior with the release of Overture. Other than providing background on Jun's issues due to focus on adult Jun, other characters who existed from earlier adaptations of Rozen Maiden don't get their backgrounds as fleshed out, limiting any connection new viewers would have to care for them since the show assumes you already know about their issues.

In terms of the new storyline, it is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, seeing a scenario with Jun never bringing life to Shinku creates some unique development with his character as we see he never got over his issues of self-doubt and lack of confidence into adulthood, even after finally getting over being a shut-in. This leads him to not consider the other possibilities in front of him that he could take advantage of due to moping in his insecurities. This aspect of his character is exploited by Kirakisho for her personal gain in a rather sinister scheme for later episodes that lead the Maidens to take a more direct role in events for the second half of the series. If you cared about Jun's developments from the earlier adaptations of the series, you are likely to get enjoyment out of this aspect to the series.

On the other hand, Kirakisho's character is a bit underwhelming for a villain despite her rather unique origins as she doesn't have much dimension or depth to her character beyond being crazed for human hosts she can drain energy from. If you cared more for developments with the Maiden dolls, you aren't gonna like this series as much since they don't have any major influence on Zuruckspulen's plot until the show's second half and are not properly fleshed out due to the show's greater focus on Jun and its rushed pacing in introducing them. Plus the series ends inconclusively as Kirakisho is still causing trouble for Jun and the other Rozen Maidens and we are still left wondering what the true nature of the Alice Game is supposed to be since this was also not properly addressed in earlier anime adaptations of the series.

Overall, I'm mostly indifferent on this chapter of the Rozen Maiden franchise. While it does have some interesting ideas to explore with the alternate timeline story with Jun, the show's reboot makes itself only accessible to seasoned Rozen Maiden fans as it immediately tosses you into Zuruckspulen's events without allowing any accessibility for new fans to get attached to the series. Also, the greater focus on Jun could alienate said seasoned fans if they cared more for the focus on the dolls. Would only recommend watching this if you're a diehard Rozen Maiden fan.

Last updated Monday, November 03 2014. Created Monday, November 03 2014.
Watch Stretch [series:2757#628]
(All episodes watched):

A poor man's Rozen Maiden? That's what Zuruckspulen initially struck me as. The story seems to have reset back to where season one began; and in the space of half an episode it quickly recovers at least half the ground which season one did. But that means that the characters are given virtually no introduction or personality at all, and my memory needed some refreshing on that matter. Perhaps the assumption was that anyone watching this would have already seen the first series and already knew the characters, so it was OK to get this business out of the way in a hurry. But the animation is definitely inferior (nowhere near as good as the artwork above), and this rushed reintroduction of the premise was just plain boring. Supposedly Zuruckspulen will bounce back and forth between two alternate realities, namely what would have happened if Jun had agreed to wind Shinku up and if he hadn't. But this episode did such an abysmal job of piquing my interest that I quit the show after 15 minutes or so. This seemed so simplistic, perhaps because it feels as if nothing whatsoever is being kept secret to intrigue us. There is no hint of any mystery, so I couldn't help feeling bored.

The handicap of Rozen Maiden is that the basic premise—a mystical battle between dolls—makes no sense whatsoever. Why and how it was gotten started has never been explained to us, probably because there are no plausible explanations. If the rules of the game were ever made clear to us, I forgot them long ago. Something about don't lose your Rosa Mystica, or something like that. I recall that even the 'good' seasons of RM were somewhat confusing (why the hell does there need to be an 'Alice Game' to begin with?), so even if this is an alternate take I was reluctant to watch what's looking like such a mediocre telling of it.

I skipped the remainder of episode one but watched episode two, in hopes that a new story would take off. The new premise--that in some alternate reality an alternate Jun is living a different life because he didn't choose to become Shinko's master--was kind of intriguing. One strong point of the show is that I could identify with 'unwound' Jun, a nice but lonely and friendless guy. Once this Jun finally gets his own version of Shinku (don't ask me to explain how this happened), wound up and running, we get a sort of replay of episode one of the original series, as the haughty Shinku expects him to act as her servant. The fact that Jun must juggle this bizarre paranormal business with the possibility of him getting a real live girlfriend is sort of fun. Indeed, Jun's potential romance is more fun than the Maidens, because after five episodes little has happened. We meet Suiguintou's (sp) winder, a bedridden chronically ill girl, and it's interesting that they seems to care about each other. Otherwise, the Alice Game seems to be in a truce at the moment, either that or it isn't going on in this alternate dimension. The story has enough to it to keep me watching, but just barely.

I thought episode six restored a certain amount of understanding regarding what was going on, at least on a tactical level, with the arguing between Shinku and Suguintou which summarizes things for us. I don't understand exactly why, but I do understand that something very bad will happen to Shinku soon unless she finds a way out of this alternate timeline in which she is trapped. I got a minor thrill out of the scene in episode seven where Jun stands up to the sassy Suguintou and makes it clear that he knows much more than she thought he did, for instance that she too is on the ropes for various reasons. On the other hand, I was confused by 'wound' Jun's explanation of what messages between him and 'unwound' Jun were getting through and where other ones might be coming from. What I was interested in is the day-to-day story of Unwound Jun's life with Shinku--such as her acting as a prop in a play where he has been helping as a stagehand. Whatever the hell is going on, I don't want her to die, or just vanish. When time seems to come to a halt in episode nine and fighting between the sisters begins again, my response was 'dammit, I wanted to see how the play would work out, not this nonsense'.

Whatever the hell it was that happened--something about trading 'Mysticas'--made little or no sense but fortunately didn't take up the entire remainder of the series. In episode twelve Suiguintou spends some more time with her winder, which didn't result in any brilliant realizations but was better than more Alice Game nonsense. The first half of the final episode offered some enjoyable post climax revelations about how Jun's life has changed as a result of his involvement with Shinku and the other sisters. But just when things ought to be wrapping up, yet another crisis suddenly looms—without any time to resolve it. What kind of an ending is this?Is there yet another season on the way? With Zuruck having been as unexceptional as it was, that notion wasn't unqualified good news. But there was one encouraging note: Shinku vows to end the Alice Game once and for all!

Last updated Saturday, October 26 2013. Created Sunday, July 07 2013.

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