Rozen Maiden

Manga7.87693 votes8 volumes · 46 chaptersFinished

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About this title

Synopsis

The legendary dollmaker Rozen created several unique dolls throughout his life, but it was not the materials he used that made them special. Known as Rozen Maidens, each doll was imbued with a Rosa Mystica—a precious gem that gives them life. But these dolls have a specific purpose: they must fight each other in a contest called the Alice Game. The winner becomes Alice, the perfect girl who will have the chance to meet their father and creator. Jun Sakurada, a middle school shut-in, experiences the Alice Game up close and personal when one of these dolls arrives at his house. After winding her up with the spring provided, she comes to life and introduces herself as Shinku, the fifth Rozen Maiden. Despite Jun quickly becoming annoyed by her haughty attitude, they find themselves working together when they are attacked by another doll. At Shinku's behest, Jun becomes her medium, allowing her to use his life force as a power to defeat their enemies. In the aftermath of the fight, more Rozen Maidens appear and decide to live at Jun's house. But can there be any peace when their very existence means they must fight each other? [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Publication notes

Rozen Maiden was put hiatus after the sudden illness and hospitalization of the Peach-Pit duo and subsequently cancelled by Gentosha. It was then picked up by Shueisha as an alternative setting story. Rozen Maiden was published in English by Tokyopop from May 9, 2006 to May 1, 2008, and by Seven Seas Entertainment as omnibus volumes since March 4, 2025.

Published

Aug 12, 2002 to May 30, 2007

Authors

PEACH‐PIT

External links

MyAnimeList page Wikipedia

MAL rank: #1454
Members (MAL): 20,447
Favorites (MAL): 619

Related titles

Adaptation

Side Story

Rozen Maiden

Spin-Off

Alternative Version

Die Romane der Rozen Maiden

Alternative Setting

Other

Shoujo no Tsukurikata

Main characters

Suigintou2084 fan favorites
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Suigintou is the first doll of the Rozen Maiden collection. Her desire to win the Alice Game is the strongest of all the dolls, and is primarily driven by her wish to gain the attention of "Father" (Rozen). Sadistic, spiteful, and arrogant (all due to her spectacular Superiority complex), Suigintou has no inhibitions when it comes to the Alice Game. She will use any method available to her, regardless of how brutal they may be, to grasp victory. Although she generally avoids associating with the other dolls on a social level, she has a particularly strong hate for Shinku. This hate borders on obsession, as she can approximate how many hours and minutes since they have last met. However, upon meeting Megu, her medium, Suigintou's attitude and motivations begin to shift; she begins to feel a strong affection for someone other than "Father". Suigintou's desire to protect Megu begins to even overpower her wish to meet him: she hopes to use the collected Rosa Mystica to heal Megu of her heart ailment, rather than become Alice. Suigintou has a number of unique traits and flaws amongst the seven Rozen Maiden. In the anime, she is missing her torso; Shinku explains at one point that before Suigintou was completed, her design was erased, but gives no further explanation as to why or how. Curiously, after Suigintou is destroyed in battle by Shinku partly she is restored mid-way through Rozen Maiden Träumend. The identity of the person responsible for her restoration is never revealed. In the Rozen Maiden Träumend finale, she tells Shinku that "Father" had told her that even with her flawed body, she was also entitled to a part in the Alice Game. Later, Rozen is seen lovingly fixing her neck ribbon as she is unconscious. He even grips gently around the waist afterwards, implying that he has mended her incomplete body. Along with her artificial spirit, Meimei, Suigintou's weapons are her ragged black wings. With their arrow-like feathers, she can conjure up a shield, a large sword, or even twin black dragons. Suigintou can also create destructive blue flames as a last resort in battle. The variety in Suigintou's abilities, particularly when combined with her savagely cunning nature, makes her a strong player in the Alice Game. Medium: None (First Season)/Megu (Second Season) Suigintou's name in English means, "Mercury Lamp".
Suiseiseki1131 fan favorites
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The third Rozen Maiden doll, and Souseiseki's older twin, they are both referred to as "gardeners" for their ability to communicate and tend not only to regular plants, but also to the "soul trees" of humans. Their artificial spirits also allow them to access the dream worlds where such trees are located. Suiseiseki must call upon her artificial spirit to summon her watering can which she uses to nourish the "soul trees" and to launch her plant attacks. She makes an impression with her high-pitched voice, heterochromatic eyes (her left eye is green and her right eye is red), and frequent use of the sentence-ending copula "desu". She is described by Shinku as "the most timid and shy of the sisters" in the first season and even as a crybaby in Ouvertüre. She is quite easily scared of strange noises, and prefers to hide behind her sisters in the presence of strangers. With those she is acquainted however, she shows a very devious personality. Suiseiseki adores the spotlight, and her favorite activities include smashing the window of Jun's room (hitting Jun in the process frequently), picking mercilessly on Hinaichigo, and cackling maniacally. She has a wild imagination, a short temper and a fondness for telling wild lies to terrify Hinaichigo, whom she calls either "chibi-chibi" (tiny tiny) or "chibi-ichigo" (tiny strawberry). For the most part, Suiseiseki and Jun seem incapable of being civil with each other; she refuses to call Jun by name, opting for "runt" ("chibi-ningen," which translates to "little human") instead. Despite her attitude towards Jun, she does care a great deal for him, and her attempts to cover that up usually manifest in the form of more insults. In Rozen Maiden träumend, Suiseiseki stands out among the dolls in that she values her sisters' love more than the goal of becoming Alice. She is one of the few dolls who opposes the Alice Game, and has no intentions of becoming Alice if it means taking her fellow sisters' Rosa Mystica. Suiseiseki and Jun attempt, without much success, to convince the other Rozen Maidens that the Alice Game is a meaningless endeavor. In her brief appearance in the OVA, she makes the same appeal to her twin several times. Suiseiseki tries to avoid participating in the Alice Game as much as possible, but she can use her watering can to make plants emerge from the ground and manipulate them. Her artificial spirit is named after the popular Anna Sui perfume. Suiseiseki was also the winner for Saimoe 2006. Medium: None (First Season)/Jun (Second Season) Artificial Spirit: Sui Dream ("Sui" can mean Amethyst or Jade; called "Sweet Dream" in Tokyopop translation.) Suiseiseki's name in English means, "Jade Stone."
Shinku892 fan favorites
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Shinku is the fifth Rozen Maiden doll and the first to appear in the series. She embodies the traditional Victorian aristocrat. Her favorite words are "tea", "servant" and "What?" She regularly and nonchalantly delivers physical punishment to Jun, her medium, and in her own eyes, her servant. She sees it as her duty not only to discipline Jun as her servant, but also to guide him as a guardian. Shinku may seem cold and unappreciative, but she is highly protective of and cares deeply for her sisters and for Jun. She can be relied on for the occasional bit of parent-like wisdom. Despite her aristocratic quirks, Shinku is the most level-headed doll living in Jun's house. However, her one weakness is her fear of imperfection; a fear that is powerful enough to shatter her normally cool demeanor. Father put so much effort into her that she feels an obsessive need to become Alice. In her eyes, the Alice Game is cruel, and she is reluctant to take the souls of her sisters, leaving them as the lifeless "junk" they fear more than anything else. Shinku does not use honorific suffixes such as "-chan," "-san," or "-kun," except when she refers to "Father." Despite her relative youth amongst the Rozen Maidens, the other dolls look up to her as an older sister, and a worthy challenger in the Alice Game. Shinku does have a cute side, which is evident in her intense, almost obsessive, admiration for the puppet detective Kun Kun. Jun was once able to win her over during an argument by using a Kun Kun doll. Shinku hates cats because one almost ate her wind-up key in the past. Along with being the central doll in the series, Shinku seems to hold a special place in "Father"'s heart; he had given her a special brooch with his image when she was created, which Suigintou destroyed out of jealousy. Shinku desires to become "Alice," but she refuses to use deadly force against her sisters and believes that there must be a way to become Alice without taking part in the Alice Game as told to her by "Father". In combat, Shinku fights with rose petal-based attacks, making her one of the strongest dolls in battle. The rose petals are extremely versatile; Shinku can direct them to spread out for wide-ranging attacks, or group them together to use as a shield. Her other weapon is a cane, which she skillfully wields like a sword. Shinku has other special powers, such as restoring broken objects, typically Jun's bedroom windows after Suiseiseki and Souseiseki show up, with a form of time-reversing magic. Shinku was the second runner-up for both Saimoe 2005 and 2007. Medium: Jun (All Seasons)/Sara (In 19th Century) Artificial Spirit: Hollie (Called Hollier in Tokyopop translation.) Shinku's name in English means "True Crimson".
Souseiseki356 fan favorites
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The fourth Rozen Maiden doll, and Suiseiseki's tomboyish twin sister. As with Suiseiseki, she is a gardener that has the power to enter human dreams, and carries a set of pruning shears that she uses to tend humans' soul trees. She wields these in battle combined with acrobatic flight, her spirit Lempika and her hat which can be thrown and returns like a boomerang, a tactic she used to temporarily disarm Shinku in their second fight. She also has heterochromatic eyes like Suiseiseki, but the colors are the mirror image of her sister's. Her personality is also the polar opposite of Suiseiseki; she is rational, calm, quiet and deeply devoted to her master and to her duties, including the Alice Game. She possesses a sharpness in her speech that is similar to Shinku's, attacks ruthlessly in combat, and does not tolerate sub-par actions. Her appearance is not only the most masculine of the dolls, but her speech is also noted to be of the masculine form, using the first person pronoun "boku" instead of gender neutral pronouns like "jibun" or "watashi." Souseiseki's presence is much more significant in the anime than in the manga. In the manga, her master wanted to use Souseiseki's power to enter other people's dreams and exact revenge on his brother's lover, who he felt had stolen his brother from him. Since Souseiseki alone could not achieve this goal, she fights Suiseiseki to gather the two gardeners' tools, the shears of the Gardener and the watering can of the Gardener, which together can affect an individual's soul tree. She eventually realizes that it is her master's heart that needs to be freed and sacrifices herself to do. In the anime, Souseiseki is devoted to a lonesome old man, who uses her as a substitute for his deceased son, Kazuki. She is shown to be slightly more eager, probably from a sense of duty, to participate in the Alice Game than her sisters. In the OVA, she is introduced in the flashback in mid-fight with Shinku and later does not hold back in attacking a then-harmless Suigintou. Throughout Rozen Maiden träumend, she questions her idyllic lifestyle, and much to Suiseiseki's disappointment, takes part in the Alice Game out of devotion to Rozen, to fulfill his wish of finding Alice and relieve his perceived grief. Her artificial spirit is named for a fragrance by Lolita Lempicka. Souseiseki was also the first runner-up for Saimoe 2005. Medium: Shibasaki Motoharu (Anime) / Yuibishi Kazuha (Manga)/Jun Sakurada (alternate dimension, manga)/ Jun Sakurada (real one. This is because the alternate Jun transfered the ring to the younger Jun because Souseiseki can't stay in the not wound world. Manga.) Artificial Spirit: Lempicka
Hinaichigo283 fan favorites
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Medium: Tomoe (First Season), Jun (Indirectly) Artificial spirit: Berrybell The sixth doll, and the very embodiment of childishness. Although she can be ridiculously naïve and selfish, she has nothing but the best intentions for those that she cares about. Her disposition is also a mismatch for her power, which is a series of attacks based on strawberry vines, which she mostly uses to restrain opponents. She is beaten by Shinku in the Alice Game, becoming the first doll to lose the ability to become Alice. Shinku does not beat Hinaichigo outright; the younger doll simply exhausted the energy of her medium, Tomoe. Shinku then warned Hinaichigo that continuing the fight would kill Tomoe, whereupon Hinaichigo renounced the tie that made Tomoe her medium. Despite being the victor, Shinku does not take Hinaichigo's Rosa Mystica. Instead, Shinku lets herself be an inter-medium so that Hinaichigo can tap into Jun's energy. Hinaichigo's favorite foods are strawberry daifuku, which she calls "unyuu," and Nori's "Hanamaru Hamburger," which is a hamburger patty topped with a fried egg in the shape of a flower. She adores the puppet detective Kun Kun, though her fandom is not as avid as Shinku's. She also loves to draw, as shown often in both seasons of the anime and the OVA. She usually ends her sentences in "na no" (meaning "that's why" or "because" in Japanese), complimentary to Kanaria's "kashira" (meaning "I wonder" or "maybe?"). In the anime, Hinaichigo's singing and her arguments with Suiseiseki are actually ad-libbed by her seiyuus.
Kanaria74 fan favorites
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The second Rozen Maiden doll, who is as adorable as she is eccentric. Not only does she constantly refer to herself in third person, but she also talks about taking her sisters' Rosa Mysticae, though she repeatedly fails in her attempts to do so. She fancies herself as quite the stealthy prowler, and makes a hobby of watching the exploits of her sisters, usually through binoculars. Kanaria's bright, somewhat arrogant disposition makes her the ideal subject for many of the comedic episodes. Despite this, she is a competent opponent and attacks with a deceptively adorable violin that destroys through its sound. Her personality mostly complements that of Hinaichigo, who eventually becomes her good friend and rival. Kanaria has the unusual habit of ending her sentences with "kashira" ("I wonder?" or "maybe?"), which is likened to Hinaichigo's penchant for ending sentences with "na no" (meaning "Because"). Kanaria's favorite food is tamagoyaki, or Japanese thick omelet, which, more often than not, is snatched away from her by hungry birds before she can enjoy it. She is introduced in the second season and makes a brief appearance in Rozen Maiden: Ouverture, making yet another humorously over-the-top attempt to infiltrate Jun's home to steal her sisters' Rosa Mysticae. Her artificial spirit is named after the technique of playing orchestral instruments by plucking the strings, which she uses as a counterattack. Medium: Mitsu Artificial Spirit: Pizzicato Kanaria's name in English means "canary".
Jun Sakurada35 fan favorites
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A traumatized boy who lives a hermit's existence in his room and does not go to school after cracking under the pressure of entrance exams. He spends a lot of time in front of his computer, and has a hobby of ordering things from the Internet—mostly fake magical or occultic implements—and then returning them before he has to pay, for the thrill of receiving something ridiculously stupid. He is also interested in cars and collects miniature versions of them. When he comes into possession of Shinku and winds her up, he is unwillingly caught in the crossfire of the Alice Game—Shinku declares him to be her "servant" and demands that he obey her at all times. Jun is extremely skilled at crafts and at sewing. Although he is arrogant, and occasionally cold and rude, he cares for others but typically refuses to let his feelings show. He is especially friendly with Hina Ichigo, and at times, blushes around Shinku, which portrays that he cares deeply for her. (Source: Wikipedia)