Zero no Tsukaima

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière is a self-absorbed mage in a world of wands, cloaks, and royalty. Although she studies at Tristain Academy, a prestigious school for magicians, she has a major problem: Louise is unable to cast magic properly, earning her the nickname of "Louise the Zero" from her classmates.

When the first year students are required to perform a summoning ritual, Louise's summoning results in a catastrophic explosion! Everyone deems this to be yet another failure, but when the smoke clears, a boy named Saito Hiraga appears. Now Louise's familiar, Saito is treated as a slave, forced to clean her clothes and eat off the ground. But when an unfamiliar brand is found etched on Saito's hand from the summoning ritual, it is believed to be the mark of a powerful familiar named Gandalfr.

Wild, adventurous, and explosive, Zero no Tsukaima follows Saito as he comes to terms with his new life and as Louise proves that there is more to her than her nickname suggests.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Le Blanc de La Vallière, Louise Françoise Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Hiraga, Saito Main

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Derflinger Main

Gotou, Tetsuo Japanese

d'Orléans, Charlotte Hélène Supporting

Inokuchi, Yuka Japanese

Siesta Supporting

Horie, Yui Japanese

de Tristain, Henrietta Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

von Anhalt-Zerbst, Kirche Augusta Frederica Supporting

Inoue, Nanako Japanese

de Gramont, Guiche Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Colbert, Jean Supporting

Suzuki, Takuma Japanese

Osmond Supporting

Aono, Takeshi Japanese

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Ichii, Miho Producer

Iwasaki, Yoshiaki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Takahashi, Tsuyoshi Sound Director

Reviews

Apr 14, 2008

Pontifus

Recommended

I decided to watch Zero no Tsukaima because I wanted a leave-your-brain-out-of-the-equation sort of show, one I could sit back and watch without worrying about a negative outcome or depressing and/or disturbing complications. (Yes, for all my talk about artistic integrity and such, I do watch things for pure and simple fun sometimes.) Zero has most of that, but only to a point, and in the end I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of depth this show manages to pull out of nowhere. I went in expecting another Nanoha, or the first season of Shakugan no Shana all over again, and what I got ... was something more akin to the comedic romance and character development of Love Hina supported and sustained by the political intrigue of Last Exile or Simoun.

Plot: An incompetent mage summons as her familiar a young man from contemporary Japan, and hilarity ensues. It isn't quite as simple as that, however. Despite an early focus on slapstick comedy, ecchi, and outright silliness, Zero quickly introduces a thin political thread, providing bits and pieces of flavor to make the world seem more alive. This thread smoothly escalates into a significant driving force of the show's events, perhaps more powerful, even, than the central romance.

And speaking of that central romance, it moves along at a nice pace -- neither too slowly nor too quickly for a 13-episode series. Exactly how it develops is for you to discover, but rest assured that it does not remain stagnant for long periods of time, at least in this season, as in Shakugan no Shana and its sequel.

Characters: The cute, borderline-sadist lead; the busty, libidinous rival; the surprisingly forthright maid; the bookish, quiet Nagato Yuki clone -- these may seem like stock characters pulled from the harem romance pool, and they certainly begin as such. As in Love Hina, however, we discover that these characters have histories and unforeseen connections, sometimes in far darker ways than I expected of this show. What's more, many of these characters actually change over time, as characters in a story should. Sure, the cast seems a bit crazy at first, but give them a chance. It's worth it.

And the male lead. Oh, the male lead. Saito's personality is what makes him simultaneously hilarious and divergent from the usual harem romance/datesim beta-male loser. We get the impression that he checks out every girl who crosses his path not because he's hopelessly desperate, but because he's a healthy teenage boy. Not that he's relegated to the role of lecher; he has his human and hero moments, too.

Setting: Our story begins in your average Harry Potter-inspired magic school, complete with magic wands and quirky professors, but soon expands outward to encompass an alternate-history, magically-endowed Europe plagued by the class politics of magocracy -- that is, magi over non-magi. Though the central country of the show is fictional (apparently located roughly in the Aquitaine region of France), several real-world European powers have fantastical equivalents, often bearing the Latin names of the modern countries they mirror: Gallia is France, for example, and Germania is Germany. This becomes clear when we see a map of the fictional land. This world maintains interesting links to our Earth, but I'll leave it at that for fear of dropping spoilers. It's ultimately a surprisingly cohesive fantasy setting, and one to which I wouldn't mind returning.

Art: Zero's art is reminiscent of Shakugan no Shana, also produced by J. C. Staff, and to a lesser extent Pani Poni Dash. It's a style that grew on me when I watched Shana. If you're a fan of more realistic art in your animation, however, be warned that you won't find it here.

Sound: Despite being largely digital, Zero's music never quite descends into full-on cheesiness, as Shana's music did at times, nor does it overwhelm you with anachronistic elements unsuited to the vaguely Renaissance-inspired fantasy setting. The opening theme is quite catchy, for a reason I can't place, and as a fan of Kugimiya Rie and Hino Satoshi, I have trouble finding serious fault in the voice-acting.

Verdict: I didn't think Zero no Tsukaima would end up being the kind of show I'd be quick to recommend, but, to my pleasant surprise, it did. If you're looking for a tale of politics and romantic comedy, and don't mind that the ride isn't entirely serious from beginning to end, give this one a shot.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 22, 2007

jet2r0cks

Mixed Feelings

I can’t say I liked Zero no Tsukaima as much as hormonal, pre-teen male otaku out there.

Plot-wise, I’d say it’s a revamped version of Maburaho. Other than being produced by JC Staff, the two series have other things in common. First off there’s the setting – both series are set in a magic school. There’s also the harem anime aspect – Louise, Siesta (my favorite!) and Kirche are all fighting over the token loser male character, Saito. Finally, there’s the ecchi. It’s a good thing that the ecchi in Zero no Tsukaima isn’t as heavy as Maburaho’s.

It was a stable ride for me during ... the whole series. There were no high points and low points. Let me reinforce my first point by saying that if I were a guy I would probably like Zero no Tsukaima more. Louise’s tsundere antics would probably captivate me, and Kirche’s presence would probably get my temperature rising, but that will probably never happen. As for Saito, he didn’t really catch my attention. I did love watching his fight scenes but when he’s not fighting, he’s quite bland. Tabitha is too reminiscent of Yuki Nagato for me, but she’s not as cool.

As expected of JC Staff, the animation was good enough to satisfy me. Everything was very cutesy though – from Louise’s pink hair (as well as the bevy of pastel color schemes throughout the series) to the Pokemon-ish familiars (except Saito, of course). The CG was lukewarm, and it’s a good thing they used CG minimally.

Apparently most of the voice actors of Zero no Tsukaima also worked in Shakugan no Shana. The most notable name would be Rie Kugimiya, Louise’s seiyuu, who is known as a tsundere seiyuu. She was Shana in Shakugan no Shana. There’s also Satoshi Hino, Saito’s seiyuu, who was Sakai Yuuji in Shakugan no Shana. Other name worthy of mentioning is the very well known Yui Horie, Siesta’s seiyuu and Takahiro Sakurai, Guiche’s seiyuu.

I like the music too. The opening and ending themes were both j-pop-ish, which can be a good thing. Both songs were very cutesy and catchy, and I liked both. As for the BGM, I’d say they were decent tracks. The BGM was fitting to the mood and feel of the series, but I don’t think it’s THAT good.

While I wasn’t that pleased with it, it wasn’t so bad after all. It started and ended on the same note and consistency is a good thing for me. I might watch the second season just to see if I’ll like it more.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 31, 2014

literaturenerd

Not Recommended

Overview:

Do you like Moe? Do you like S&M? Do you like obnoxious female leads? Boy do I have a series for you!

Plot: 3/10

Familiar of Zero is an anime about an ordinary boy named Saito that is forced to be a magical slave to an obnoxious twat that summoned him from Japan to the far away land of extremely generic fantasy Europe. Here he must learn to adapt to his odd new life and learn about the various types of magic users. I am not going to go really in depth with the plot honestly. It soon becomes a very generic harem show and the ... plot is NOT going to blow you away. Here is a summary of the plot: Louise the witch treats Saito like crap, the abuse is played up for cheap laughs, Saito uses his magic sword wielding ability to do something heroic, he still gets treated like crap. rinse and repeat.

Characters: 3/10

The main male character Saito is exceedingly bland and Louise is the least likeable female lead I have seen in a long time! There are also plenty of supporting characters, but there really wasn't anyone I liked in this series. Usually I can find a couple characters I like in even the most mediocre anime, but here I got nothing.

Art: 5/10

The art is pretty good since this anime had a decent budget. It was based on a successful light novel that I can only assume was somehow better than the anime.

Enjoyment: 3/10 if you aren't a masochist, 7/10 if you are.

Remember in early 2014 when Japanese men were drooling over the uniformed hottie Natalia Poklanskaya and some Japanese youtube poster stated: "I want her to yell at me and step on me"? That is this entire fucking series in a nutshell. It is a fantasy for Japanese teen masochists who want to be dominated by hot European women. I'm not a masochist, and I don't see white girls as an exotic fetish, so I really didn't find anything to like in this series besides a few decent slapstick moments. The comedy sort of works in a few places, but mostly it is just obnoxious.

Overall: 4/10

I have met people (including one of my best friends) that thought this series was a comedic masterpiece. I REALLY don't agree with that assessment, but the series at least does some things right. The art is decent, the music is decent, the voice acting is fine. However, I felt that overall this was a very mediocre series that I wouldn't recommend to anyone...unless once again you are in fact a male masochist.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Zero no Tsukaima Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) aero - May 24, 2008	85 replies	by Tsukasa_Rio »» Dec 21, 2:52 AM
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