Zero No Tsukaima

Information of Anime

Louise Francoise le Bran de la Valiel is a noble at birth.  Nobles has the ability to perform magic.  However, she doesn't use that ability well.  As a student of Tristein Academy, she's nicknamed "Zero Louise" due to her zero success track record of performing magic.  During a test where students are to call a familiar, Louise uses all her powers to summon a familiar that's "devoted, beautiful, & powerful".  As a result, she summons an ordinary Japanese boy named Saito Hiraga who's from another world.  Because the test can't be performed more than once, Louise is stuck with Saita as her familiar who is labelled as a commoner.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

Most of the time, it's Saito trying to find ways to return to his own world as he stumbles upon items from his world that somehow appeared in the current world.  Also, he seems to be some sort of special person in this world that could cause a disaster as he not only draws attention from the people in the academy due to his unique character, skills, & his attitude about nobles & commoners, especially the girls, but the school staff as well.  He learns that he's a Gundalfr, a person with the ability to free use weapons at will.  Along the way, Saito gets pushed around by Louise as he gets whipped like a horse for doing some perverted actions.  Because of the attention he's getting, Louise seems to get jealous about it & she doesn't know.  As the show progress, the relationship between Louise & Saito gets closer & closer with Louise becoming more attached to him.  Saito, on the other hand, seems to protect her to look cool as he couldn't understand himself.

Things pick up a bit with a plot when there was trouble in Albion where an underground rebel group takes over the country & tries to dominate the world on the day of the solar eclipse.  In the meantime, Saito discovers a way to get back to his world by finding a "dragon", which is actually an old Japanese fighter plane.  Using the plane & flying towards the solar eclipse, he would be able to go back home.  However, hearing about Albion attacking & Louise joining the army to defend against them, Saito decides to help her & ends up missing his chance to go home as the plane is destroyed after the war.

The show ends with everyone going about their daily routines at the academy & Saito becoming Louise's familiar again after re-establishing their contract.

My Personal Review

Zero No Tsukaima is quite a funny show.  Saito's stupidity & Louise's cuteness is a great combination that will spark a lot of people's attention.  Most of the humour is from Saito getting punished for his perverted behaviour.  Personally, I would recommend watching this show even though it has a small harem in it.

Animation

The character designs are done by Masahiro Fujii, the same person that did Shakugan no Shana's anime designs.  Looking at it, you can see the similarities right away.  The sharp chins on triangular-like faces & the large eyes.  I'm not too fond on that design, but I'm getting use to it.  It's looks more cute now & I'm seeing how most of the characters look different from one another, not a copy of some character.  Also, Saito is quite manly than feminine looking.  There are times where the faces changes in some situations.  Most of the times it's from Saito getting punished.  The bruises & cuts he gets really makes him look funny.  Louise's angry face looks pretty cute as well.

The backgrounds are on the dull side as well.  They are quite blurry probably to show some aging on the buildings.  They are quite detail really, but not to the point where it looks good.

For the colours, it's bright with a shade of dullness in them.  They seem a little grainy, but it's probably become I'm watching a medium quality source.  It's not flat, but they seem to have one solid tone.  Not much shading, especially on the characters.

In terms of the animation movement, it's quite choppy.  The quick dashes & charges that Saito does in battle looks like it's missing some frames at times.  It doesn't look natural.  Also, the attacks that Saito receives from Louise that makes him fly into the air & bounce around isn't too smooth as well.  The strange thing about it is that it only seems to occur with Saito.  The other characters don't seem to have this problem.  I'm not sure if the animators were cutting corners about this or trying to make Saito a comical character.

Sound       

There is a mixture of realistic & silly sound effects in this anime.  They set the mood well in terms of the comedy aspect.  However, the cues for the sounds seem to be off.  You tend to notice this when the show uses that magical wipe effect to switch scenes.  It's like a second to half a second late.  At times, they tend to be fuzz when set at a loud volume.  It's mainly the loud booming sounds.

The seiyuus here are pretty good.  But it's just above average as some of the seiyuus here are pretty new.  I like Saito's voice as it fits his character.  Louise's seiyuu is one that I've started to get use to now.  It annoyed me a bit in Shakugan no Shana, but I've come to like it as it fits Louise's character.  The other character voices seem to lack some impact or overdone in the emotions department.

The music is ok as it creates that comedic mood for the show.  They are mainly pop style with a touch of old English sounds.  They aren't memorable though as I tend to forget what the music sounds like.

Story

All I saw was how Louise is falling for Saito & sees him less as a commoner & her familiar.  However, she still acts like her master to him due to her noble pride.  Another thing is how Saito feels sorry for her being called Zero Louise even though he does it himself.  Understanding her pain, he feels for her.  However, it seems he does it as a familiar.  It's pretty funny how low he sinks as he feels he's good at washing Louise's panties.  He thinks of it as a skill.  Also, the mark that Saito has may play an important role in the show as it is a mark from a Void element magic user that don't seem to exist.  However, the show fails to go into a lot of depth about it even when it passed the halfway point.  With the last two episodes, the show tries to make a plot but fails with the lack of character development & its quick story.

The ending of the show doesn't tie up a lot of things.  It was wrapped up nicely, but has lots of room for the show to continue on.  It's unknown what Saito wants to do really even though he tells Louise a lot that he's her familiar.  The whole ordeal really leaves you wanting more from the show.

Overall Conclusion

Zero No Tsukaima is funny show that I enjoy watch.  Although it's short, I pretty much wait like a hungry dog waiting for the next episode to be release & watch it ASAP.  Although there has been a lot of wizard & magic anime series out there now due to the popularity of Harry Potter, Zero No Tsukaima is still enjoyable even though the magic stuff isn't too exciting.  However, it leaves a huge impression that you want more from the show.

Zero No Tsukaima receives a seven out of ten on its report card.  The show is pretty funny as we see Saito adapt to his new role & the people in the world watching him use things that came from his.  However, the show lacks a storyline & I was not sure what it's trying to achieve with the audience.  It was an anime show with an average or less gripping storyline & needs a lot of improvements.  The way it ended may not satisfy a lot of viewers.

Last updated on January 22, 2008