Because I was unable to start the show from the beginning, I’m not completely sure what has been happening. There is a young boy named Jun, and his sister Nori, and they own a small collection of decent-sized dolls. But these are no ordinary dolls, they have something called a Rosa Mystica inside of them, allowing them to come to life and interact with humans just like ordinary people. Throughout the episodes, the dolls, all female, are on a mission to become Alice, by participating in the Alice Game. I’m not exactly sure why they want to become Alice, I believe it is to please their creator, but some are more for this than the others. Suisouseki and Souseiseki are sisters, both dolls have differing views on the game. Once the game is played, it is possible for the dolls to lose their Rosa Mystica, which essentially means losing their life. Souseiseki is very adamant about playing the game, she wishes to please “father” by becoming Alice. She plays the game, much to Suiseiseki’s disapproval, and ends up losing her Rosa Mystica to Suiginto, another doll participating in the game. After seeing her sister’s downfall, Suiseiseki changes her mind about the game and enters with Shinku and Kana. Kana is a younger doll so she is very inexperienced with her power. A doll’s power is located in their Rosa Mystica, so if another doll obtains one, they gain the power that it holds in addition to their own power.
Shinku, Kana, and Suiseiseki enter into this game to become Alice, yet Kana is not as powerful as the others so she proves to be a hindrance to Suiseiseki, who is watching over her. Shinku’s main fight is with Suiginto, while Suiseiseki, and inadvertently, Kana, are fighting with Bara-Suishou. Because of Kana’s lack of skill, she causes Suiseiseki to be defeated, which ultimately leads to her defeat as well. This allows Bara-Suishou to take both of their Rosa Mysticas, greatly increasing her power. Now the fight is two against one, Suiginto and Bara-Suishou against Shinku, who will prevail and obtain all of the Rosa Mysticas?
Presentation
The little dolls are dressed adorably, just like a normal porcelain doll, and the colors for outfits are nice, with very dramatic highlights and shadows. The show in general is very bright and cheery, a little contradictory to the subject of dolls killing each other. The DVD comes with English and Japanese audio and English subtitles. The music is pretty well-fit for this anime.
Extras
The extras were pretty lacking, not really having anything to do with the anime itself. Extras included trailers for other unknown animes, which were really just screen shots with songs accompanying them. There were no subtitles so I don’t know which animes they were for. Otherwise not a very good job with extras.
Overall
I don’t know if I liked this show because I thought the subject of porcelain dolls engaged in battle with one another was funny or if it was a genuine interest in the events but I found it to be an entertaining show, even without having seen the previous two volumes.