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Introduction
I need an anime with a happy ending. I really need something to perk me up, especially having just seen the conclusion to Mahoromatic, which if it's happy, is the sort of happy that begins with 'it could have been worse'. I need something to make me feel good, optimistic, and better about the world in general. Rozen Maiden is about a bunch of cute dolls that have to compete in battle, taking each other's Rosa Mystica (sort of a 12-inch high porcelain Highlander), until only one is left to claim the prize and be reunited with her 'father'. If Rozen Maiden - Traumend will give me the happy ending I crave, I get the feeling that it will put me through torment first.

Jun Sakurada is a wimpy teen, who after being bullied at middle school simply came home, pulled the covers over his head, and refused to leave the house again. That's despite the best efforts of his sister Nori, who kept trying to coax him back to school. He became a shut-in, a recluse, whose only joy was Internet shopping, and only thrill was keeping the stuff for the trial period, and then sending it back before he became liable for payment. Then one day he answered an ad that was unconventional to say the least. As if by magic, a trunk appeared in the middle of the room, and within the trunk was a clockwork doll, and a key. After checking for underwear (well he is a boy), he wound up the doll, only for it to come to life and slap him. Shinku is awake now, and insolent though he may be, Jun is now her servant.

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As this second series begins, things have settled down since Shinku's defeat of Suigintou. Shinku and Hina-Ichigo continue to live with Jun and Nori, while Suiseiseki has returned to live with twin sister Souseiseki and their elderly owners, but are often around to annoy Jun and toy with Hina-Ichigo. But when a new doll shop opens in town, trouble looms.

The second half of Rozen Maiden - Traumend is presented on this disc from MVM.

7. Teegesellschaft
Kanaria is upping her game against the other Rozen Maidens. She's infiltrating and spying, plotting and scheming, and being invited to tea parties to make cookies. All this niceness is too much, and she brings out her ultimate weapon, determined to subdue the other dolls. But even Kanaria is beginning to have doubts about the Alice Game, while the reason why she wants to defeat the other dolls has little to do with becoming Alice. But as one doll wavers, another becomes more resolute, as Souseiseki realises that their idyll at Jun's house is false when she catches a glimpse of Father in a mirror. Meanwhile, Jun sees something astounding at Enju's.

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8. Puppenmacher
It seems like everything is back to normal at the Sakurada household, as the dolls have fun watching their favourite television programme, and enjoying watermelons, but Souseiseki is out of sorts, and Jun is distracted. Enju allows Jun to observe him at work creating dolls, and now Jun is interested in finding out how Shinku and the others were created, and more about Father. Elsewhere, Meg confronts Suigintou, insisting that the doll use up her life as quickly as possible, as she's becoming a burden to her family. Suigintou wants the opposite though, and when Bara-Suishou tells her that with all the Rosa Mystica, she will be able to save Meg, her path is clear. At the same time, Souseiseki has a message for the other dolls and her sister.

9. Der Tadel
Shinku wakes from one nightmare into another. The Alice Game is in effect, and the battle between the dolls has commenced. Except that Shinku has no desire to fight anymore. For Suiseiseki, the only thought on her mind is to save her sister, but Souseiseki is determined to take all the Rosa Mystica, to become the true Alice, and to fulfil her father's dream. In the end, will she turn on her own sister?

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10. Tomoe
The Alice Game means that there is no room left for sentimentality, no more dead weight. From the first, when Shinku destroyed Hina-Ichigo's ring, Hina-Ichigo has been living on borrowed time, subsisting on the energy that Jun and Shinku provided. But the rules of the game means that link no longer works, and Hina-Ichigo is starting to run down. Jun tries asking Enju for help, but it may be too late. Time has run out, and the dolls arrive at the shop where they are met by the owner, Laplace, and the doll Bara-Suishou. But no one is expecting the stunned recognition when the dolls finally lay eyes on Enju.

11. Rosengarten
When Father insists on the Alice Game, Shinku apparently has no choice but to acquiesce. All the dolls will meet on the n-Field where they will battle until only one remains standing, the one true Alice. But while the dolls confront each other, Jun has a mind to confront the architect of all this, with a mind to ending the Alice Game once and for all.

12. Alice
The conclusion.


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