Fanservice in Rozen Maiden?
~Topics~
" What is Ecchi? Ero? "
" Is there fanservice in Rozen Maiden? "
" Sadomasochism in Rozen Maiden? "
" Are there Ero-Doujins of Rozen Maiden? "
" Where can I get Ero-Doujins of Rozen Maiden? "
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" What is Ecchi? Ero? "
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It'll be useful to get right the definitions of some of the terms used here; tho most of you may not need much introduction. (
)
Ecchi, (from the Japanese
エッチ etchi), is applied to anime or manga that has vague sexual content (such as skimpy clothing, partial or full nudity), but does not show the act of sexual intercourse. This is not to be confused with
Ero, which is used to refer to anime and manga that includes explicit sexual content.
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" Is there fanservice in Rozen Maiden? "
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The following contain minor spoilers to Rozen Maiden Season 1. It's okay to proceed as these events are not plot-centric.
On Nori's dream.
The dream being referred to here was shown in episode 10 of
Season 1, and we can make a good guess of what she was dreaming about from her talking aloud in her sleep. In it; she specifically calls out to Jun and from her tone it appeared that she dreamt herself being in a compromising situation with her younger brother. Here is what she says:
"I can't Jun-kun! We siblings!"
It is exactly disturbing because those words taken in context implies incest; more so because it possibly is reflective of Nori's desire. Most disturbing would be its randomness. Rozen Maiden did not start out to be one of
those series, and it definitely was not a harem-type.
As one poster rightly observed, it was so random it appeared to have come from nowhere.
To this day it is not known why that scene was included, nor was it developed further in Season 1 or ~Traumend~; unless this incident causes you read too much into Nori's later (apparently normal) dealings with Jun and the way she speaks of him. Come to think of it, Nori was much more caring with Jun than a normal sister should be ~ but more likely this is attributed to her sister complex and Jun's hikkikomori state.
More on Suggestive References by Nori before and after episode 10
[Ziv]
In the very first episode, after Jun recieves Shinku in her case, Nori asks Jun if Shinku is a "
foreign Dutch Wife". For those not sure what Dutch Wives are; read what Nori had to say in the Manga: "Jun-kun, is this that...one of those things with certain...
correct parts?" (Italics ours) Later in Rozen Maiden Traumend, Jun returns with a book on the dolls (which he attempts to hide) and Nori tells him that it's perfectly normal for boys his age to be interested in "those sorts of things."
On Jun kissing a doll.
Another occurrence was the Snow White scene, which very interestingly also occurred in episode 10. As the "prince on a white horse" in Nori's play-practice only he could wake Snow White by kissing her. Its obvious the light shed on what he thinks of his relationship with Shinku by the way he reacted to that, developing an obvious blush and going loco: screaming that he couldn't kiss a doll - and really, embarrassment speaks the loudest (
). In the end, he doesn’t, and Shinku walks away sounding offended.
On Jun seeing the dolls in underwear.
This also occurred in episode 10. While stumbling into the dolls in the midst of
undressing, Jun stared for awhile, and as Hina aptly put it:
"Jun was very red all the way to his ears." Later alone in his room, Jun cannot get the image of them out of his head. His heart pounds, even tho they are dolls; and he says:
"I can't allow myself to get so excited!"
While seemingly suggestive of sexual innuendoes, especially in the light of the rest of the events in episode 10 which one poster noticed had to be more than coincidence, it must be pointed out that (1) nothing really indicates for sure that he would be turned on by them due to the fact that he doesn't seem to be the average perverted male lead in a anime, instead seeming to have all the interests of a "normal" boy and (2) RM does not contain the attributes of an ecchi fanservice anime, and in context with the rest of the episode Jun would more likely be embarrassed then turned-on.
Perhaps explanation for this is given later. As Jun sews Shinku's dress, he constantly peeks at her, especially at her joints. When Shinku questions, it would seem then that Jun's initial reaction stems from him forgetting that they were "all magically enchanted dolls for a while." Perhaps he was so intend on them being real that when he stumbled in on them he immediately thought he would see something he wasn’t supposed to see.
However, we will never likely know if he initial reaction to the dolls undressed was out of embarrassment or whether he was simply turned on; maybe it was even a mixture of both, seeing something forbidden, yet realising that it wasn’t really that way, being as they were dolls
(man one needed to reach deep into his psyche for that).
In fact episode 10 was as far as the series got to developing Jun's overall *physical-like* relationship with the dolls, most especially Shinku; a bit of 'testing the boundaries' as it were, perhaps establishing what he thought of them. (At the end of episode 10 Shinku kisses a sleeping Jun
)
[
kj]//Another reference occurs in
~Traumend~, Jun in the toilet for a looong time with a magazine; really, it is up to the viewer to surmise what Jun was doing, whether ecchi or not.
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" Sadomasochism in Rozen Maiden? "
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It was pointed out by one forumer that the Lyrics of
Kinjirareta Asobi hints at the practice of sadomasochism, the practice of obtaining sexual pleasure or gratification by having pain or suffering inflicted upon one's self or inflicting such-like. Lines that seem to suggest this include
However; masochistic choice of words aside, the lyrics seem rightly to represent the realities of love: bitterness, pain, freedom from bondage, sex, and so on. In anycase, however the reader may choose to interprete this, it is noted that there are no such dark references existing in the series itself; and thus the lyrics should be rightly kept to the OP.
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" Are there Ero-Doujins of Rozen Maiden? "
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Yes, to this writer's dismay, there appears to be. Many.
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" Where can I get Ero-Doujins of Rozen Maiden? "
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Crawl back to the den you came from you Ero Perv Freak! No one
(save KunKun) can have smex with a doll!!
cough*http://www.rozen-unyu.net/*cough for good translations of Rozen Maiden Doujins. None are explicitly
ero, just
ecchi.
Last Updated 25/02/2007