Let us stop for a while in the N-Field. It’s such a lovely place to visit, what with all the floating doors, junk and giant talking rabbits.
What They Say:
Episode 7: “Tale 7”
Hoping to effect real change in his world, Jun is hard at work on the “new doll” every night after Shinku retires to her case. He feels as though he is slipping back into his deep hole again, despite having made the effort to get where he currently is; which is living on his own, and attending university. He receives a chance phone call from his fussy big sister when he most needs it, and Shinku also gives him some attention.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Instead of serious plot progression, we get more exposition this episode, but some of it is very necessary. We learn that Kirakisho, while she has no body, does still require a source of nourishment, and that nourishment is a human heart. We learn this from our “friend” the Laplace Demon, the strange impeccably-dressed white rabbit who serves as something of a guide to the N-Field and the Rozen Maidens. During this brief tour of the N-Field, we come across the younger Jun, trapped with nothing but a computer. This was how he communicated with his younger self and remains his only line to the outside world, where he is in contact with Michi, the owner of Kanaria, the second Rozen Maiden. We know learn how he came to be trapped here: he came into the N-Field in search of Shinku and the others, but was attacked by Kirakisho. Kanaria saved him. Now the two of them are safe, but trapped, in a region of the N-Field.
In the Unwound World, the older Jun is feeling very depressed. The biting words of the ass of a store manager have wormed their way into his head and made him begin to revive his old distrust and doubt in the world and everyone around him. He even relives his middle school trauma yet again. At his lowest point, he receives a call from his sister Nori, which helps to break him out of his funk. All of this, however, is just going over things we already know, to a certain extent. The story is stuck, so it seems. Jun is psychologically incapable of making progress with Saitou, and so he begins to despair of the world again.
The only path forward is to make this new doll. We see Jun at work, thinking that Shinku is unaware, though she does seem to know what older Jun is doing, and even tries to comfort him a little, thinking it might be separation anxiety troubling him to a degree (not a bad supposition, though not the entire story). Suigintou is also not inactive, making a play for Jun’s help, asking him to become her medium. He is not unwilling, but only on conditions, one of which disgusts Suigintou: as she had become ill earlier, she had to sleep inside of Shinku’s case (Rozen Maidens must sleep within their cases, or else they become ill). One of his conditions is that she do this regularly.
So, is that where things stand? Not at all. As Shinku rightly suspected, and the younger Jun has now confirmed for us, the “New How to Make Girls” and the messages that older Jun thinks are coming from his younger self lately have all been fake. It is a trap, a plot by someone else. The younger Jun is unsure of who it is. Could it be the Laplace Demon? What is his game? All of that will have to wait, however, until younger Jun can escape from the N-Field. He has Kanaria with him, but it’s questionable what she will be able to do.
At this point, we really needed to take a big step forward, but what we got was a small step ahead. Unwound Jun is slowly heading into a trap, though we do not know what that trap will entail. Who is this new doll that he is being manipulated into making? What will be the effect of making this new doll? Younger Jun is trapped and would like to help, but if he’s been trapped this long, it’s questionable whether he will be able to do much himself. His only hope might be if Michi, Kanaria’s owner, can manage something. Older Jun must be warned of the danger he is heading into. On that note of suspense, we are left.
In Summary:
The story is not exactly remaining static, but we are only slowly moving ahead. Instead, much of this episode was spent giving us further backstory, filling in the gaps of our knowledge from earlier events, such as how younger Jun became trapped in the N-Field, and some further knowledge about the nature of Kanaria. These are interesting things to learn, but the story really does need to start moving forward in a deliberate way soon, or else it risks losing focus. The wallowing over Jun’s middle school trauma again in particular was a bit tiresome.
Episode Grade: B+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
