Zero no Tsukaima

Zero no Tsukaima or The Familiar of Zero in English title, a light novel series written by the late Noboru Yamaguchi and artworks by Eiji Usatsuka. Anime adaptation is from J.C.Staff also produce a lot of great anime series like Shakugan no Shana, Hayate no Gotoku, Toradora! and Shokugeki no Souma. Zero no Tsukaima consists of 13 episodes, runs for 23 minutes per episode and aired from July 2006 till September 2006. Opening song “First Kiss” performed by ICHIKO. Ending song “Honto no Kimochi” performed by Rie Kugimiya. Zero no Tsukaima is directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki.

Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere is a mage student at Tristain Academy, a prestigious school for magicians. The only major problem Louise had was being unable to cast magic properly and that’s one reason why she was called “Louise the Zero” by her classmates. When a student at the academy is required to perform a summoning ritual, Louise's summoning results in an explosion around the academy grounds. Everyone in her class seems to know the result of another failure from Louise, but when the smokes clear a boy appears.

Saito Hiragi the name of the boy who Louise summoned, Saito an ordinary boy from Japan and saw a new environment he never seen in his life. Saito became a familiar or pet of Louise and was treated as a slave, forced to clean her clothes and eat some food on the ground. When the unfamiliar band is found on his hand from the summoning ritual, its beliefs to be the mark of the strongest familiar named Gandalfr. A new adventure starts for Louise to prove that her magic is not a failure and for Saito to find his way to return home.

Zero no Tsukaima story mostly not just focus on Louise and Saito daily adventure or fight of master and servant but talks more the mage world and society Saito currently living, where everything is much more different to his own place where he came from is like a peaceful life is far from the current world his been summoned by Louise as a familiar. Saito tries to adjust not just to interact with others but to be treated fair and square not because of his pride but because that’s the right way for everyone to be human.

Zero no Tsukaima animation is good for the whole story itself and a bit of action and some magic is the world of magic is delivered for the whole series. For J.C.Staff anime adaptation is the strong point not just to deliver the whole story but a bit of alteration to be suited in anime series and which is correct is like bringing the conclusion at the right time and it’s acceptable for the viewers who only seen the story first hand on anime not on the light novel series. The music choice of Zero no Tsukaima is good and suits well for the anime series. The opening song is the introduction of the story and a good choice where everything started. The ending song Honto no Kimochi and performed by the seiyuu Rie Kugimiya is so great and suits her character Louise.

Zero no Tsukaima deserves a good anime recommendation, the story is simple to start but it becomes more deep when the story goes on after the introduction, knowing the secret one at a time is good and well explained for the whole series which is also a good thing to understand every part of it. Anime or light novel? I just learned the title because of the anime and one big reason is that the pair of Rie Kugimiya and Satoshi Hino have different levels of character they voice act. I watched everything first and decided to read after watching the whole series which is fair trade not just to know what happened next but also to learn more the other characters around is much more balanced in terms of reading the light novel series and easily understand that the anime series focus is the main story. Is the series underrated? Nope not at all it’s a good rate because of the seiyuu pair up and story balance, for some it’s low because of the lack of effect on magic or battle scenes one of the reasons that I can see and mostly correct on that part. Zero no Tsukaima anime is a good story which is good for people who want some magic adventure with some comedy and romance at the same time which is good to relax and enjoy the whole series.

Information:

Title:

• Zero no Tsukaima
• The Familiar of Zero
• ゼロの使い魔

Type: Series (13 episode)

Aired: July 3, 2006 to September 25, 2006

Studio: J.C.Staff

Source Story: Light Novel

Genre: Action, Adventure, Harem, Comedy, Magic, Romance, Ecchi, Fantasy, School

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Song:

Opening:

• "First kiss" by ICHIKO

Ending:

• "Honto no Kimochi (ホントノキモチ)" by Kugimiya, Rie

Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki

Character and Voice Actor:

• Le Blanc de La Valliere, Louise Francoise (Kugimiya, Rie)

• Hiraga, Saito (Hino, Satoshi)

• Derflinger (Gotou, Tetsuo)

• d’Orleans, Charlotte Helene (Inokuchi, Yuka)

• Siesta (Horie, Yui)