History Anime / RozenMaiden

* MundaneMadeAwesome: Episode 5 of Träumend is full of these moments. A couple examples are when Kanaria holds a gun up to Suiseiseki's face and it turns out to be a water gun, and when Hina Ichigo tries to put her letter to Jun in the mailbox complete with SlowMotionFall.

%% * Anti Villain: [[spoiler:Suigintou in Ouverture]].

%% * Big Bad: Suigintou in the first season, followed later by Barasuishou in ''Träumend''.

%%* Berserk Button: In the first season, Suigintou does NOT take the word 'Junk' lightly, especially if it's directed to her.
%% * BreakThe Cutie: Suigintou in Ouverture.

%% * Escalating War: One of the most amusing episodes in the first season.

%% * GetA HoldOfYourselfMan: Nori, to Jun, in episode 11 of the first season.
%% * HaveYou SeenMyGod

%% * Heartwarming Orphan: Megu. Suigintou in Ouverture before her StartOfDarkness.

%%* Hikikomori}}: Jun.

* [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim If You Kill Her, You Will Be Just Like Her]]: In episode 12 of the second season, [[spoiler:Jun says this to Shinku when she's about to kill Barasuishou. Unfortunately, this ends up backfiring as Barasuishou then kills Shinku when her guard is done.]]

* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Suigintou in Ouverture]].

* BigBad: Suigintou in the first season, followed later by Barasuishou in ''Träumend''.

* BerserkButton: In the first season, Suigintou does NOT take the word 'Junk' lightly, especially if it's directed to her.
* BreakTheCutie: Suigintou in Ouverture.

* EscalatingWar: One of the most amusing episodes in the first season.

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Nori, to Jun, in episode 11 of the first season.
* [[HaveYouSeenMyGod Have You Seen Father?]]
** [[spoiler: We did at the end of Traumend, notably.]]
* HeartwarmingOrphan: Megu. Suigintou in Ouverture before her StartOfDarkness.

* {{Hikikomori}}: Jun.

* [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim If You Kill Her, You Will Be Just Like Her]]: In episode 12 of the second season, [[spoiler:Jun says this to Shinku when she's about to kill Barasuishou.]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rozen_maiden.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:''"I am Shinku -- the fifth doll of the Rozen Maiden."'']]

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoilers: Shinku]] we see her [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/rozenmaiden/images/0/0b/Shinku_dead.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/960?cb=20191017195710 lifeless body with eyes open]] although they are close later even though no one close them.

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoilers: Shinku we see her [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/rozenmaiden/images/0/0b/Shinku_dead.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/960?cb=20191017195710 lifeless body with eyes open]] although they are close later even though no one close them.]]

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoilers Shinku we see her [[https://rozenmaiden.fandom.com/wiki/Shinku/Gallery?file=Shinku_dead.jpg lifeless body with eyes open]] although they are close later even though no one close them.]]

[[redirect:Manga/RozenMaiden]]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rozen-seriespage-tvtropes.jpg]]
->''"I am Shinku -- the fifth doll of the Rozen Maiden."''

->''"Desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu, desu!"''
-->--[[MemeticMutation The Internet]] on ''Rozen Maiden''

Sakurada Jun is a boy with a trauma in his past and a strange hobby: He collects supposedly cursed items in the hope that one of them will actually turn out to be cursed. One day, he receives a letter which simply says, "Will you wind? Yes / No". Responding in the affirmative, he sticks the letter in his desk drawer and thinks nothing more of it until an ornate case arrives with a beautiful clockwork doll inside. True to his word, Jun does wind, which causes the doll to become animated.

Shinku, the doll, immediately sets about correcting Jun's mannerisms, trying to convert him into her servant by default -- an attempt cut short by the appearance of a stuffed clown with a pair of menacing-looking knives. Jun, fearing for his life, agrees to become Shinku's medium (her supply of power so that she can fight), and is drawn from there into the strange world of the Rozen Maiden dolls and the Alice game.

The series continued into a second season, called ''Rozen Maiden: Träumend''. Season one's BigBad, Suigintou, is supplanted by a new doll named Barasuishou, and it seems as if the mysterious Rozen, father of the Rozen Maiden, has finally appeared. The OVA, ''Rozen Maiden Ouverture'', focuses on Suigintou's {{backstory}}, and shows that Shinku wasn't as good a sister as she'd like to think.

Sadly, it was never finished because of [[ExecutiveMeddling a dispute between the producers and publishers of the manga]]. The anime OvertookTheManga and went to its own conclusion while the manga went on hiatus for months until it was finally CutShort with a DeusExMachina (and an apology for doing so).

A new manga series is currently being published under the name ''Rozen Maiden Tale''. It's a ForWantOfANail story starring a much older Jun Sakurada, which follows what would have happened if Jun had responded [[RedPillBluePill "do not wind"]] to the initial letter, and crosses over with the original universe. After a few chapters, the story then shifts back to the original Jun via a bridge-arc and the plot resumes where the original Manga ended, making ''Tales'', despite what it initially looked like, an actual continuation instead of an AlternateUniverse spin-off.

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!!This show provides examples of:

* AliceAllusion: The Alice Game and the general idea of becoming Alice, the perfect girl.
* ArtificialHuman: The Rozen Maiden dolls, even when their joints are showing.
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Suigintou in Ouverture]].
* BackFromTheDead: Poor Suigintou dies the most TearJerker way possible in [[spoiler:''all three'' parts of the anime]], only to be brought back [[spoiler:every time by Rozen]] (one can only wonder whether this fact decays her self-preservation). In Träumend, [[spoiler:''all'' Rozen Maiden]] got a bit farther than NearDeathExperience. Also, the animated normal doll (clown) in one of the scenes that prompted dolls to take Jun more seriously.
* LittleMissBadass: All of the dolls.
* BattleButler: Inverted.
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind
* BigBad: Suigintou in the first season/portion of the manga, followed later by Barasuishou in the anime and Kirakishou in the manga.
* BerserkButton: In the first season, Suigintou does NOT take the word 'Junk' lightly, especially if it's directed to her.
* BetaBaddie: Suigintou.
* {{Bokukko}}: Souseiseki, who's commonly called [[FanNickname Boku]] by fans.
* BreakTheCutie: Suigintou in Ouverture.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Nori fantasizes about her brother in her sleep and wonders why he hasn't taken an interest in stealing her underwear.
** The part about the [[PantyThief stealing of her panties]] is not necessarily an expression of... unusual feelings for her brother. She apparently thinks [[AllMenArePerverts that stealing lingerie is a part of the normal sexual development of a man]]. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Maybe...]]
* AllMenArePerverts: She at first mistook Shinku for a robotic sex doll.
* ButtMonkey: The boy that keeps trying to ask Nori out. In a series all about having the courage to step forward and try he is the glaring exception that no matter how many times he gathers his courage to ask something always gets in his way; poor boy.
* CatchPhrase: Lightly used. Things repeated many times during the series: Shinku's 'Jun, make tea!' and Suigintou's 'I'm NOT junk!'.
** [[MemeticMutation DESU!]]
* CatsAreMean: Shinku ''does not'' like cats and thinks they're the enemy of all Rozen Maidens, supposedly because one nearly swallowed the key needed to wind her.
** Also subverted, at least in the manga, when Hinaichigo slips out of the house to try mailing a letter. She ''falls onto'' a very large, scary-looking cat ... who leads her to the mailbox (was he somehow able to understand what she wanted?) and actually lets her ''ride'' him at one point.
* CheerfulChild: Hina Ichigo, [[spoiler:as well as Suigintou as she appeared]] in ''Ouverture''.
* TheChewToy: Kanaria, who screws up ''every time'' without anyone noticing.
* ClockworkCreature: Granted, they're magical constructs, but it's still "Will you wind?" and they shut down when clockwork is blocked.
** Hell, [[OurSoulsAreDifferent they have clockwork souls!]].
* CostumePorn
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Jun ''was'' a sulking, thankless pile of rather childish fears and grievances, not whining only because he was too self-absorbed for it. Soon, he shocks dolls by demonstrating talents worthy of a potential apprentice to Rozen, and powers ''three'' fighting Rozen Maiden at once without looking pale and swooning, while in ''all three'' parts of the anime we see some other mediums - one of whom was obviously more healthy - drained to within a hair's breadth of death by supporting only ''one''.
* CuteShotaroBoy: Jun
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Megu]], [[IllGirl who has been sick]], almost terminally so, for her whole life.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Arguably, [[spoiler:Suigintou]] after meeting Megu.
* DifferentAsNightAndDay: The -seiseki twins; their MismatchedEyes are even on opposite sides.
* DistaffCounterpart: Take ''GashBell''. Switch demon children for cursed dolls. Switch Spellbook for Rosa Mystica. Switch 'become king' for 'become Alice'. Switch 'teen genius' for 'teen loser'. Notice a pattern yet? Be ready for serious mamodo deja vu, if you plan on watching this. It is BetterThanItSounds, though.
* DontSaySuchStupidThings
* TheDoorSlamsYou: Let's just say it was [[TheChewToy very in character]] for Kanaria, ''desu.''
* ElegantGothicLolita: Character designs; Suigintou is the only one who qualifies as both lolita and fitting the gothic subtype's palette, however. Souseiseki has the colors, but her clothing is more in keeping with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_fashion#.C5.8Cuji.2Fkodona.2Fdandy_.28male_Lolita_fashions.29 ouji/kodona style]] .
* EnigmaticMinion: Laplace's demon.
* EroticDream
--->''Nori is in bed talking in her sleep.''
--->'''Nori:''' Jun I can't, we're siblings!
* EscalatingWar: One of the most amusing episodes in the first season.
* EvilAlbino: Suigintou, she has all the conditions necessary (white hair, pink eyes, rarely if ever seen during the day, and is the BigBad in the first season.
* GeckoEnding: Thanks to some ExecutiveMeddling The last volume of the manga was CutShort.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Nori, to Jun, in episode 11 of the first season.
* HeartwarmingOrphan: Megu always, Suigintou in Ouverture before her StartOfDarkness.
** Actually averted for Megu. Although her personality is still as heartwarming as you'd expect it to, she's not an orphan, and her father actually shows up once in the manga to talk with her.
* HeyItsThatVoice: Dub!Suiseiseki (minus the DESU~!) is played by [[TenchiMuyo Mihoshi]] and [[{{Robotech}} Lynn Minmei]].
** [[RieTanaka Also there is a reason why you'll find lots of fanarts of]] [[GundamSEED Lacus Clyne]] [[GundamSEEDDestiny (or Meer Campbell)]] [[RieTanaka dressing up as Suigintou, or vice versa]].
** In the dub also, Jun is [[{{Digimon}} Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi]], Hinaichigo is [[TenchiMuyo Sasami]], and Kanaria is [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Nanoha]].
* HiddenEyes: Jun's glasses occasionally fog up to create this effect.
* {{Hikikomori}}: Jun
* IdiotCrows: In episode 5, a thieving crow invokes this.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: In episode 12 of the second season, [[spoiler:Jun says this to Shinku when she's about to kill Barasuishou.]]
* IKissYourHand
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Suiseiseki does this to Souseiseki.
* InvisibleToNormals
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Jun.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: N-Fields
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Almost all the lady dolls do this.
* LivingToys: Starting from the Rozen Maiden themselves, but not limited to them.
* LoonyFriendsImproveYourPersonality
* LoveMakesYouCrazy / LoveMakesYouEvil: All crazy and evil characters are motivated by love!
** Averted with Suiseiseki, who loves her sisters too much to be motivated by her father's love alone. Played straight with Suigintou and Kirakishou however.
* {{Magitech}}
* MegaManning: Taking another Rosa Mystica grants the owner's power.
* MismatchedEyes: Suiseiseki and Souseiseki.
* MoralityPet: Megu for Suigintou. First, her medium's problem is obviously similar to her own, second, it's someone she can love without any conflict with "Father"s requests - which, in light of Ouverture, may be a part of the trouble.
* MusicalAssassin: Kanaria.
* MusicalisInterruptus: Happens in episode 11 of the first season, during the fight between Shinku and Suigintou.
* NamesToKnowInAnime: Suigintou has two famous voice actresses - [[MamikoNoto one]] in the audio dramas and [[RieTanaka one]] in the anime.
* NobodyPoops: The girls are shown eating and drinking copiously, but none of them ever use the bathroom. In fact Shinku at the beginning doesn't even know what a water closet is!
* NobleDemon: Suigintou.
* OddCouple: Jun and Shinku. The nature of their relationship is rather ambiguous.
* OddlyNamedSequel: ''Rozen Maiden: Träumend'' and ''Rozen Maiden: Ouvertüre''.
** The Subtitle is GratuitousGerman and means "Dreaming".
* TheOjou: Even though she has no real family, Shinku is every inch an ojou.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Suigintou seems to believe she has sole rights to defeat anyone and everyone, particularly Shinku. [[spoiler:She actually dies because of it in Träumend]].
* OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchPhrase: "Swear to me on this rose ring."
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Sakurada Nori (and Jun), who actually are reasonably normal. More so with the reboot manga, where Jun is a much more ordinary ''university'' student, while he'd been quite academically gifted in high school.
* ParentalAbandonment - Jun's parents throughout the show were always away.
** Rozen.
* PerpetualMolt: Suigintou.
* PhantomZone: N-Space.
* PhotographicMemory: The dolls recall exactly how long it's been since they last met down to the second.
* PimpedOutDress
* PinocchioSyndrome: The dolls want to become "Alice", the perfect girl, however, they seem to want to do it more to [[WellDoneSonGuy please Rozen]] than for the sake of being human.
* Really700YearsOld: All the Rozen Maiden dolls. Of course, it helps that they're, well, ''[[CaptainObvious dolls]]''.
* RecurringExtra: [[ButtMonkey Kanaria]].
* RedPillBluePill: The plot kicks off by asking Jun whether or not he wants to wind Shinku up. In the ContinuityReboot manga above, he took the Blue Pill [[spoiler: It is revealed to be and AlternateUniverse. The main universe characters try to get support from the Jun that did not wound and thus drag the war in his reality]].
* ReplacementGoldfish
* [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Ridiculously Human Dolls]]: Justified due to their {{magitech}} nature.
* SchoolPlay: Episode 10, "Snow White".
* ScrewySquirrel: Suiseiseki.
* ShowWithinAShow: "[[DetectiveConan Detective Kun-kun]]".
* SiblingYinYang: Souseiseki is calm, collected, thoughtful and doesn't overuse her VerbalTic; Suiseiseki is loud, naughty, haughty and overuse her VerbalTic.
** In the manga and Ouverture it's rather obvious that Souseiseki is violent and aggressive and Suiseiseki is timid and avoidant.
*** Träumend too, where Souseiseki goes so far as to threaten to cut down Suiseiseki if she got in the way of the game when Suiseiseki is trying to convince her not to participate.
* SlapSlapKiss: Mix of abuse and affection in relationships between some dolls and their mediums. Also, see the first OP translation [[http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/kinjirareta_asobi.html here]] .
* SpotOfTea: Shinku wants her tea, servant.
* StartOfDarkness: ''Rozen Maiden: Ouverture'', which details Suigintou's past.
* SuckMyRose: Kirakishou has one growing out of one of her eye sockets; Barasuishou has a rose eyepatch much like it.
* TallDarkAndBishoujo: For the standard of ''Rozen Maiden'' character height, Suigintou kinda counts, except she's [[WhiteHairedPrettyGirl white-haired]]. But the rest of her outfit is DARK.
* TedBaxter: Kanaria constantly refers to herself as the smartest of all the Rozen Maidens...a shame none of her plans ever actually '''work'''. Perhaps because she's only slightly more mature than Hinaichigo.
* ThankTheMaker: All the dolls, more or less.
* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: The goal of the Alice Game.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Shinku has tea, while Hinaichigo adores strawberries or anything with strawberry filling (her "unyuu").
* TrappedInAnotherWorld
* TricksterArchetype: Suiseiseki.
** For a more sinister example, Laplace's Demon.
* {{Tsundere}}: Suiseiseki, Shinku, possibly Suigintou.
* VerbalTic: Every last one of the Maidens, though it's more prevelant in the original Japanese then the dubbed version. The [[MemeticMutation "desu!"]] tic of Suiseiseki is totally nonpresent in the dubbed anime, for example, while the characters trying to figure out what Hinaichigo's "unyuu" actually is forms the plot point of an early episode.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Basically the motivation for every doll except Suiseiseki, who loves her sisters more than her father.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: Episode 5 of Träumend is full of these moments. A couple examples are when Kanaria holds a gun up to Suiseiseki's face and it turns out to be a water gun, and when Hina Ichigo tries to put her letter to Jun in the mailbox complete with SlowMotionFall.
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: Suigintou & Kirakishou (though the latter has occasionally been depicted with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair light pink hair]].
* XMeetsY: {{Pinocchio}} + {{Highlander}}, ''[[MemeticMutation desu]]'' (like [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/highlander_chibi2_1700.jpg this]]).
* {{Yandere}}: Kirakishou.
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... ''[[TheStinger desu]]''

** Hell, [[OurSoulsAreDifferent they have clockwork souls!]] .

** The part about the [[PantyThief stealing of her panties]] is not necessarily an expression of ... [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean unusual feelings for her brother]]. She apparently thinks [[AllMenArePerverts that stealing lingerie is a part of the normal sexual development of a man]]. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Maybe...]]

* ShowWithinAShow: "Detective Kun-kun".

* FetishFuel: After the episode where all their clothes are in the wash, people began to crop up praising the balljointed dolls...

* MoeMoe: {{Elegant Gothic Lolita}}s with {{Verbal Tic}}s and various anime cliche personalities? So very moe!

* ToyShip: Jun and Tomoe might have something going. There's also some ShipTease for the ''literal'' [[ToyShip toy ships]] between him and pretty much any of the Rozen Maidens except Suigintou and Kanaria.