Recap: Kirakishou arrives in the unwound world and reveals some shocking truths about her ultimate objective. Fortunately, Suiseiseki arrives to aid Shinku and Suigintou…or does she?

Zigg’s Thoughts: It’s typical that as soon as my patience with Rozen Maiden nears breaking point the show whips out a belter of an episode and re-ignites my interest in it. This was very strong throughout, finally answering some questions about the nature of the conflct and chucking in plenty of creepy body-horror stuff for added effect.

The weakest part of this episode is obviously the beginning, which essentially acts as a weird vestigial continuation of last week’s climax. I understand ‘wound’ Jun is important to the plot but these little bits of exposition do little to advance the story besides reminding us he’s a thing. Having said that, I do like the brief chance we get to spend time with Jun and Saitou before the play begins and her older brother’s insistent collar tug is a great piece of subtle physical drama/comedy.

Of course, it’s only once Kirakishou shows up that things really go to hell and subsequently get interesting. Let’s try and break down what works and what doesn’t here. The idea that Kirakishou leeches life force off of previous masters like some sort doll vampire is intriguing but I’m not entirely sure that it needs to be played up as much as it is here. There are already so many weird metaphysical concepts surrounding Kirakishou that another one may be overkill, and it mostly seems to be there to give her a reason to kidnap Mayu. Having said that, this is the sort of thing that does add to the sinister air surrounding the character and could pay dividends down the road, so let’s wait and see.

The other revelations about Kirakishou are absolutely killer though. The idea that she has a ‘true’ body because the parts Jun has been assembling are actually the sliced up remains of one of the deceased Rozen Maidens is both brilliantly clever and extremely creepy all at the same time. It’s the best kind of twist, one that is a) shocking b) enhances the mystique of the character involved and c) plugs an important plot hole. The creepy factor is also upped by her desire to basically possess all of the remaining Rozen Maidens. It’s a nicely sinister spin on the purpose of the Alice Game – rather than take their Rosa Mysticas, she’ll just take their bodies instead. Again, Kirskishou is made to look extraordinarily sinister and a justification is given as to why she operates outside the game’s standard rules. Good writing.

The cherry on the top of this is the reappearance of Suiseiseki, not only because she’s a great character in her own right but also because of the fresh dynamic she gives the battle. Having her turn on the other two is another genuinely unexpected twist, and what’s great is that it’s not just a swerve but for an entirely logical reason. Suiseiseki all along has been shown to be fiercely protective of her twin sister, so it’s only natural that she’d attempt to protect Souseiseki’s body, even if it’s currently inhabited by a crazy vampire nutjob. There’s bound to be some good moral gristle to chew through as this continues and it does raise the interesting question of where Hinaichigo’s body is.

If there’s a major letdown this episode, it’s the animation, which just can’t keep pace. If you’re going to include a villain who relies on tentacle spam you should probably make sure you have the budget to back it up. As it is a lot of the ‘action in this episode is painfully limited or just looks bad (check out those big white swathes of colour rather than individually drawn vines). They do turn on the tap occasionally though – the Kirakishou emergence is beautiful to look at, if still less than perfectly animated.

This was an incredibly encouraging step for Rozen Maiden, and one that gives me renewed faith that the show actually has a story to tell. Everything I wanted was here – a renewed focus on the actual dolls, some explanation of the nature of our villain and some excellent inter-character conflict. For perhaps the first time I’m actually looking forward to seeing where we’re headed yet.

Random Observations

• There’s still not enough Kanaria in this episode, though her attempt at technical support is extremely amusing.
• Kirakishou’s ‘crystal graveyard’ gave me flashbacks to Barasuishou.
• Suiseiseki making her entrance by flying around in her case is a nice continuity nod.
• The downside of an episode like this is that it’s once again very reliant on prior knowledge of the character interactions. Those who only have the terrible opening episode recap to go on probably won’t get nearly as much enjoyment out of it.