AKA: ローゼンメイデン・オーベルテューレ (Japanese)

Genre: Fantasy Drama

Length: OAV, 2 episodes, 25 minutes each

Distributor: Licensed by Sentai Filmworks

Content Rating: 13+ (violence, realistic portrayal of psychological trauma)

Related Series: Rozen Maiden (Sequel), Rozen Maiden: Traumend (Sequel)

Also Recommended: Rozen Maiden, Rozen Maiden: Traumend

Notes: The third series in the Rozen Maiden franchise, though it is more accurately described as a spinoff (a prequel, to be exact), than a sequel (Notes by Nicoletta Christina).

Rating:

Rozen Maiden: Ouverture

Synopsis

Everyone knows about Suigintou's passionate hatred of the other Rozen Maidens, and of Shinku in particular. The roots of that rage are explored in this set of two OVAs.

Review

First of all, the thing that Rozen Maiden is obviously crying out for is the conclusion, not a prequel. Folks who really wanted to see the Alice Game hopefully got their fill in the latter part of Traumend, but I was with Jun on this- I could have lived without it. And the ending was just a mess that didn't really resolve anything.

Is there any value in a prequel such as this, then? I might say yes, if some interesting background information was revealed. But alas, this miserably fails at even that. There is almost NOTHING in this that isn't either shown in, or could be inferred from, the two regular seasons of the show. (OK, one of Shinku's earlier owners was more bloodthirsty- or maybe a lot less mature- than Jun; and Enju and that rabbit (the "Demon Laplace") have been trying to stir things up for a long time. There. Now you have just about every new piece of information that's conveyed.)

The "outer story" of this is actually set in the Traumend season, and can be placed rather exactly in that time frame- it's at the point when Kanaria was first trying to get into the house. Shinku rejects a present from Jun, and Souseiseki explains why to Jun, which involves telling the story of Suigintou and the origin of her quarrel with Shinku. It's way-over-the-top melodrama, and there were a couple of obvious problems, to wit: the usual one of someone narrating a story who was not personally there for most of the events described; and an occasional violation of the show's own premises- Suigintou may be able to exist without a center section, but I really do NOT think she could exist without a Rosa Mystica, yet we're told she originally didn't have one. (Talk about a self-made woman...OK, doll...)

This show really looks like outtakes from the series-you know, the stuff they stick on the video version of a movie that was deemed too inconsequential to remain in the final cut. The two OVAs are each episode-length, which increases one's suspicion. Even the music is inferior to the regular series themes.

Take my advice. Skip it. It's technically competent (the quality of the animation is the same), but it's still a lazy attempt to exploit interest in the series. — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Same as the audience for the other two seasons. You know who you are.