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PR: Crunchyroll to Simulcast Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen Anime for Summer 2013




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Talon87



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 9:46 pm Reply with quote
Just throwing it out there so we get this clarified for the newcomers and the old fans alike once and for all:

1) Zurückspulen is not a reboot. (Soft spoilers for Episodes 01 and 02.) spoiler[The first episode does recap the events from the prologue chapters plus Phases 01 thru 43 (i.e. the forty-five manga chapters published with Peach Pit's first publisher), but starting with next week's episode we will be at the very beginning of Tale 01 of the manga, i.e. the start of Part II which was published via Peach Pit's second publisher.]

2) Part II of the manga is not a reboot either. Back when Peach Pit changed publishers, there was a lot of misinformation going around about how the new manga would be a reboot of the series. It turns out that the manga under the new publisher was a direct continuation of the original manga. Furthermore ... (spoilers that will probably stretch 10 or so episodes into this series, if I had to guess) spoiler[the original Jun is still very much the star of the franchise. The Jun of the other world is just the main character in Part II. The original Jun is the star once again in Part III, and both Parts I and III are far, far longer than Part II was.] Long story short, the so-called "new manga" is only new in that it has a new publisher behind it and chapters are now called Tales instead of Phases. That's ... pretty much it. You wouldn't call Tolkien's The Two Towers a reboot of Fellowship of the Ring. It's very much the same situation here.

3) Zurückspulen is a recalibration of the anime. What I mean by that is, Zurückspulen does seek to address several of the major differences between the TV adaptations of the mid-2000s and the source material. It is aiming to tell a story which is more manga-faithful than past adaptations have been. Or at least, that's this viewer's impression after having watched the first episode. I am a little concerned by one or two liberties Deen did take though ... spoiler[for one thing, why did we go from Winnie-the-Pooh (manga) to a clown (2004 anime) to Suigin Tou herself (2013 anime) being Shinku's assailant in Jun's bedroom? For another thing, why did they act as though Hina Ichigo never became Shinku's servant?] ... but I suspect that Studio Deen took the first of those artistic licenses just to try and squeeze that character in as early as possible so that they could acquaint first-time viewers with her ... even though first-timer viewers really shouldn't be watching. ^^; More on that below. And as for the second license they took? I guess just general lack of time. I dunno, it's a little worrisome, but I'm not too worried just yet. I loved the original TV series plenty and lord knows it made huge changes to the manga. These new liberties are pretty minor in comparison and I don't think we're too likely to see much more like them as we press on.

4) Who is Zurückspulen for then?
  • People who have never read or seen Rozen Maiden before? No. You're going to be very, very lost with the first episode and miss out on so much of the emotional impact in the episodes that follow. Do yourself a favor and sit this one out until you either read the manga (you only need to read the manga published with the first publisher; I'm not asking you to read ahead to the manga chapters which most of Zurückspulen is going to be covering) or else watch the 2004 TV series, the 2005 sequel, and optionally the 2006 OAV (fun if you're a fan but not strictly necessary where we're headed).
  • People who watched the old TV series (both seasons + OAV)? Yes, but you're going to be in for a bit of a ride with Episode 01. Deen's trying to catch TV viewers up with how the manga really went down, which is pretty clear from their focus in Episode 01. (A lot of time allocated to Sousei Seki, for example, since her story in the manga was quite different from that in the TV series.) But you should be able to grasp what they're trying to tell you and then transition into the new stuff. I can offer you a few tidbits from the end of the Publisher #1 manga if it'll help you out and you're the type to not want to be fussed reading manga. This won't be comprehensive. If you hate being left in the dark, go and read the manga. Razz In Tale 34, spoiler[Jun happens upon Suigin Tou's nightmare/dream/whatever you want to call it, and she famously confuses him for Father. Only at first though; she figures out he's not Rozen soon enough. Probably the greatest hint in the long list of manga-only hints that Jun may in fact actually be Rozen when he was young and that weird temporal shenanigans are afoot here ... though it's also long been speculated that these are all just red herrings.] Towards the end of the manga, Kirakishou is introduced, and you also meet spoiler[her master, Odile Fosset, the granddaughter of Hina Ichigo's original master, Corinne Fosset. But unlike the other doll-human relationships, it later is shown that Kirakishou has strong powers of hypnosis over humans and is more or less using Odile to gain access to the other Rozen Maidens. It's through Odile that Kirakishou manages to trick Hina Ichigo into going to her side and ultimately being consumed by her.] Finally, in the final chapter (Phase 43) ... spoiler[Shinku and Suisei Seki go to confront Kirakishou but both end up ensnared in her web, Shinku quite literally trapped in a spider's web, Suisei Seki halted by who appears to her to be her beloved twin sister Sousei Seki. In order to thwart Kirakishou, Shinku ends up severing her ties with Jun, dissolving their contract, the ring on his finger vanishing. Suisei Seki likewise dissolves her contract. As for Suigin Tou and Megu, well ... Kirakishou abducts Megu. Suigin Tou of course is all "OH HELL NO! Evil or Very Mad" and gives chase.] This sets the stage for what you'll see in the next one to two episodes of the new anime. Does more happen in the manga? Absolutely! But I'm just saying that, imo, you don't have to go back and read it all if you're dying to watch the new series. You already have a good appreciation of the characters and I'm sure Deen will keep providing recalibration breadcrumbs to try and help TV-only fans out.
  • People who read the original manga (all eight volumes)? Absolutely. This series is for you. If you were turned off by the original TV series because of how much it diverged from the manga, don't be: if Episode 01's anything to go by, Deen seems to care about producing a manga-faithful season, even if they're not going to give us the manga-faithful reboot a lot of us had been expecting. (And even if they did take one or two artistic licenses of their own from time to time in this episode.)
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