There are things about this show that can be legitimately criticized (that first episode setting an entirely wrong expectation being foremost of them), but on the whole, this show did far more right than it did wrong. And for simple good old-fashioned character drama, this show may have been the best show of Summer 2013. The only reason I'm slightly hesitant here is that there's a couple other highly regarded shows from that season which I haven't seen much of yet - Of the Summer 2013 shows
I've completed, Zurückspulen definitely has the best character drama. For that reason, I'm giving it
9/10.
Unwound Jun was very strong as the main character and emotional core of this show. At the same time, I think this show did an excellent job of giving each Rozen Maiden doll her own sense of agency, of making each one feel like her own distinct person. The more "supporting cast" dolls (such as Kanaria and Souseiseki) particularly benefited from this, I think. In the older Rozen Maiden anime shows, I only cared about Souseiseki because Desu did, and Kanaria was frankly a joke (a
good joke, but a joke nonetheless
). Here Kanaria is actually somewhat competent and makes a real difference, while Souseiseki manages to stand apart nicely from her more popular meme-fied twin.