Zero no Tsukaima F

Four episodes in, and things actually got to a pretty explosive and fantastic start - the first three episodes are devoted entirely to closing up what the third season left hanging, and it does so EXTREMELY well. New characters are introduced, but they don't take up too much time in favor of action and plot. Those first three episodes on their own could have made the entire season, to the point that if they had been released as an OVA on their own, I wouldn't have been surprised.

... And perhaps they should have. With the fourth episode, we're treated to the typical cliches and ... gags, with Louise wanting Saito on her own time but being her nasty, violent excuse for "tsun" the rest of the time. Admittedly, in the first episode, there was an argument that was fairly petty, but it was resolved surprisingly well for this series.

Furthermore, the fact that Siesta, who was a fairly enjoyable character in the first season, and now even Tabitha, have been reduced to, essentially, characters that just cling to Saito just to cause an issue for Louise, not to mention the fact that Louise constantly takes THEIR affections out on Saito, almost as often as he's pledged his devotion to her (he does, admittedly, ask for it sometimes) just makes things all the more ridiculous.

What's more, there's a plot device used to keep Siesta around, in that the queen asked her to be Saito's maid, but thinking about it - Wouldn't the queen know better than to do this after observing them for, oh, five minutes? Especially given that Siesta's self-proclaimed "love rival" is the queen's best friend, and as of season three, sister?

Ultimately, the flaw with what follows the great first three episodes (or perhaps just great THIRD episode - the first had its share of these problems as well) is that this series is trying to be a harem when it's got an established romance, and isn't letting its characters develop like they should in order to keep the harem aspect going when it's been clear (and even canon) from early on that there is no point to having a harem here.

Our protagonists have been saying from as early as the second season they love each other, we should not be arriving on the fourth season with the relationship still acting in a standstill, and with Louise acting in the same, petty way she has been all along, guided by shallow plot devices.

Aside from the romance/harem aspect of the series, however, the plot seems to be shaping up to be as good as always, and development outside of Louise has been decent. We've seen how Saito has grown since he's come to this world, and even how side characters like Guiche have taken to being warriors in their own way.

Overall, I'll be watching to the end, but unless things improve drastically in regards to Louise and her relationship with Saito this time around, I think I won't be too sad to see this one end here.

The final spell is...! Explosion...again?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
With 4 seasons under its belt, Zero no Tsukaima has quite the history of being a popular anime. I'm not a fan of magic/fantasy animes but the first season impressed me enough to continue watching the 2nd and 3rd season. The reason why I want to take the final season into account is to wrap Zero no Tsukaima up in a package and show you why it fell into oblivion in its final premise.

STORY (5/10):
It was expected. Before I even touched the first episode, I closed my eyes and used my clairvoyant magic to predict what this story would ... be about. Miraculously, I was able to stay ten steps ahead of the anime, as it went on. An anime with such predictable plot can't be enjoyed, as viewers like twist and surprises (unless, you don't...?). I was able to hold my patience for the 1st season, but I had already grown tired of the repetitive storyline at the middle of the 2nd season. I had hoped at the final season, the writers would come up with a well-crafted ending. No, it was not a well-crafted ending, in fact, it left me sitting there unsatisfied and possibly annoyed. For the last season, the writers somehow mustered all of their powers to create as much plot holes as possible, in order to create their own disastrous ending. Even with two worlds they could play with (the real world vs the magic world), the writers could not handle such large responsibilities and decided to keep Japan out of the loop until the very end of the anime.

There is no storyline in the final season. In 12 episodes, many of them were fillers, while the real plot felt like Groundhog Day, cases of villainy acts which are outdone by the magical words: deux ex machina. This anime should have been re-titled: "Zero, the Duex ex Machina" because that's all you are going to see in the battles in Zero no Tsukaima F.

ART (5/10):
A lot of laziness. Since the final season mostly focuses on Halkeginia, we see copy and paste backgrounds and recycled animations. What were the production team thinking? I highly doubt the art will impress viewers, especially if you have been watching the previous seasons. It's the same old, same old. Dull and inexpensive, even the Academy, which looked detailed and beautiful in the first season now looks like a Barbie playhouse.

The action scenes aren't very moving either. And with half of the episodes being fillers, we don't get to see much action. In fact, the only notable scene in the final season is the final battle...though it's not impressive at all.

SOUND (8/10):
Ichiko and Rie Kugimiya must be amazing artists (they are), as they were featured in the OP and the EP for all four seasons. I've enjoyed all of the OPs and EPs in the Zero no Tsukaima series and was pleasantly surprised that they were all sung by these two wonderful artists. The OP "I'll Be There For You" by Ichiko has an adventurous melody which keeps the viewers interested and pumped up while the EP "Kiss Shite Agenai" sung by Kugimiya is catchy and bouncy, which brings the anime to a nice close. However, it does get awkward when the anime begins to take its cliffhangers to a darker turn. The EP seems to disturb whatever emotions the anime tried to display.

CHARACTERS (5/10):
Saito Hiraga has been our main hero of Zero no Tsukaima for four seasons. Throughout these years, I've tried to comprehend and analyze his personality and his growth. You want to know what I found out? He's a tortured boy, leashed and whipped by a girl who has a permanent, problematic personality called here in America...well, a bitch. Now, I know that may sound misogynistic but hear me out, ladies. I don't care how much you love your man, but if you have any of the personalities of the characters here in Zero no Tsukaima -- please get out of my face. That is extremely unattractive. And having to see Saito still fall for any of these characters is utterly baffling. Despite his mysterious charm towards Louise and the other weirdos in the anime, I applaud his loyalty and patience.

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière is our main heroine. Despite her fancy, bourgeoisie, exaggerated name, her personality does not match to that caliber. If there was a game called "Tsundere", Louise would be the final boss. A complete super-ultra tsundere, she may become your favorite anime character (if you're an M) or you may want to slap her upside the head and tell her to shut up (if you're an S). However, she does a cute side to her -- just don't provoke her or speak of, think of, or touch another woman. Whether it was a misunderstanding or your true intentions, our heroine will pour down her wrath on you before listening to your reasoning, no matter how convincing they are.

The villains in Zero no Tsukaima F are not interesting at all. Actually, if you technically take out the characters that have died off extremely quickly or allied with the hero/heroine, there is only one villain in the entire season, which is complete laziness on the production team's part.

I feel like we are supposed to learn from the allies and friends more than the hero/heroine. They are willing to sacrifice limbs in order to protect the main characters and we see this in each episode consecutively. Whether they are love rivals, or ex-villains, they always give way to the main characters so they can shine.

OVERALL (5/10):
I've had my share of fun in the first and second season, but it has become too bland. It's like taking a lick of a never-ending lollipop (Tootsie-pop, anyone?). The Zero no Tsukaima series has given us the perfect picture of a well-versed anime with a lot of potential, slowly rotting around the edges. Although I've tried to recall the comedy and romantic moments, I couldn't fully enjoy the final season due to its poor execution.

*cough* Louise is overrated. *cough*

Well its been a massive roller coaster of The Magical Misadventures of Saito and friends. Still left to wonder how this managed to get a budget enough to make 4 seasons of it.

Season fours story stick to that of previous in the fact of when something happens it only stays for an episode, two if you're lucky. However the finale does hold out for almost an entire four episodes for the final climax of the season, a new record as far as this series is concerned. Doesn't stop the fact it seems like each episode could have been only 6 minutes long if you cut ... out all the pointless scenes.

Art, and the term is used loosely, has barely improved and in some areas it seemed to have gotten worse. Most notable on faces, half the time they lack any real emotion or they were so crudely done you cant see half of it. Then there's the little moments, such as hair waving when dancing, moves a hell of a lot more than it really should.

Music went back to its season 2 type. Good proper pieces that didn't end in just a minute or two, it lasted though the duration of the scene or battle. It however doesn't stop that some sounds and light pieces are reused a few times too many and still the faint lurking sound of background static during slow silent scenes, should you have ears and headphone acute enough to notice it.

Character brought in some new developments as there was one part it could have turned into a massive romantic drama scandal or taken a huge twist on the main characters love life. but it's quickly dismissed later on as if it never happened which is utterly mind boggling as to why something meant to be a serious thing is brushed off as a minor issue. And this doesn't happen just once, it happens a few times throughout this season, some worse than others but they're more or less treated the same way.

Overall enjoyment when going into this season was low. Personal note, i just wanted it over and done with and ended up taking a two week hiatus from it. But upon returning to finish the final few episodes, it was pleasing to see that it actually picked up on its action, story and drama to the point where it actually got rather interesting. Apart form the fact of the realism when obtaining such high grade weapons, goes completely out the window and more dead things return from the grave than a zombie movie, it was a much improved ending other previous seasons as greatly acceptable considering the disappointment of its predecessors.

This anime series would have been a 10/10 for me if not for one person bringing the entire show down.

That person is Louise. let me explain. (spoilers obviously)


This anime was a lot of fun to watch as far as the plot goes. good believable characters staying true to their character when events unfolded. You have saito, a badass mc with a dynamic harem who is actually decisive for once and can see why ladies fall for him...is what I would have said if he was actually the mc. No the mc is louise because she summons saito as her familiar and has the same ... problems like your typical harem protagonist. She is weak, indecisive, undeserving, and most of all stupid. Sure saito gets the spotlight but the bottom line is he exists for louise. The fact he can and did die while louise has that mc plot armor to save her ass after making stupid decisions time and time again kind of seals the mc deal to me.

Now before I get into why I just hate louise and how she ruins the entire series for me, I need to explain why I don't blame saito for some of the stupid things he does nor any of the other girls in his fake but rather dynamic harem. Let's start with Saito.

Here is a guy who has been summoned into a completely different world to serve as some girl's slave. He took it pretty well and even lives up to the title as familiar. He even dies for this girl and her world while at the same time, even washes the girl's dirty pantsus. Don't get me wrong, dude has flaws and does things he shouldn't that hurts louise but at the same time, I understand why he does such things. Louise is no doubt, abusive towards him and constantly rewards his attempts to please her by overreacting explosions. By the 3rd season, she starts kicking the balls which is never ok towards the guy you love and plain to have children with. The girls who were throwing themselves at saito were serious threats to their relationship by rewarding him when Louise should have been the one to do so.

Now to discuss why I don't hate any of the women throwing themselves at saito. The nature of saito's harem is very dynamic and just doesn't happen for no reason. It happens over time with each female having believable reasons why they want to pursue him when they know he is serious about louise. Hell two of the ladies fell off the harem wagon due to other interests/wanting to support another member of saito's harem. I have read many reviews/opinions/polls angry at these ladies for trying to get with saito
but if one saw from the ladies point of view, it makes perfect sense for why they would go after saito which is they all, at some level, think saito can do better.

Queen Henrietta goes for him because louise doesn't treasure saito who could die at any moment like her childhood love did. Saito literally dies fighting against 70,000 dudes just to make sure they all escape and next week louise is casting explosion on saito as soon as he comes back alive to go home to her.

Then there is Siesta the maid(best girl seriously) who knows she has to be aggressive if she wants to win saito. In a world where nobles treat her like shit, Saito is a shinning star in her world. He is a man that did not care what nobles thought of him and treated commoners kindly. Just about every commoner treat him like he is their champion for his actions and it doesn't help he has earned himself a title that puts him in the same, if not, higher standing to nobles. To her, she constantly sees a good man being treated horribly by a noble and wants to free him like he saved her from a bad noble as well.

Tiffa is a shy sheltered elf girl that happens to cast phoenix down on saito. She didn't go for saito at first and the relationship between them was purely an innocent one. well more on her side than his but still. It wasn't till saito kept making an impression on her and helping her meet new people that feelings started to develop. For a girl who didn't have her own familiar yet, she was envious that louise got such a great familiar only for her to treat him badly in her eyes. All she ever saw was louise casting explosion/kicking saito in the nuts. It's no wonder she wanted to go for saito too.

Finally there is Tabathia/Charlotte who joined the harem wagon during the events in season 3 because of saito not only forgiving her, but also going to personally save her from her uncle. It may seem to make no sense for her to fall for saito but for me, it's all too clear and it leads to the final problem I have with louise. Tabathia knows she can be a far more capable partner for saito than louise ever was. Throughout the entire series, Saito pretty much did all of the work while louise constantly kept getting them into danger, Like running off into deep dark woods by herself, going to places where she is clearly the target, trying to beat people with her shit skills only for her to get captured making saito's job as a familiar way harder. During the time saito was training his knights, know what louise was doing? being pissed she doesn't get to spend time with saito instead of, you know, train to develop her new void mage powers. like 90% of plot could have been solved if she would have just trained. Know why when Tabathia saves them, she actually does it? it's because she read some books and practicing her magic like lousie should have been doing. So in Tabathia's mind, louise doesn't deserve a familiar like saito and because she works hard, believes she can protect saito better because she has been doing it since season 1.


That is why I give this anime a 6 because if louise would have just tried to be a better mage, tried to be less abusive, tried to realize that even though some fault lies with saito for not resisting these women harder, that he shouldn't be treated like that due to the women in question making moves on him, I would have enjoyed the series more. At least their relationship does mature a little in the 4th season but honestly, the story felt like, in the end, saito was going to get stolen and with very good reason.

anyway I do say it's not a bad anime at the end of it all and one should give it a chance.

I am going to make this a review about all four seasons of Zero no Tsukaima (while mainly focusing on this one) and I am going to try doing this without giving away any spoilers if possible.
Zero no Tsukaima is an anime with incredible potential. What I mean by that is, if it dropped all the nonsense (fan service and repetition for instance) and focused on the story and such, it could have been amazing. It has some moments of clarity where it focuses on the story and the characters and when it does that, it is brilliant. (But it usually lasts just for ... a few minutes and that's a shame.)

Story:

Long story short, the story is basically about a boy who finds himself in another world, in this place no one speaks his language and he has no idea what's going on or how the got there. An accident gives him the ability to understand this strange language and he learns he has been summoned as a familiar to a mage and since most familiars are animals of some kind and a human familiar is (almost) unheard of, he is being threaded like an animal. By another accident he finds out being a familiar gives him special abilities. Basically an ability to use all weapons. So far so good right? Wrong, creators of the anime doesn't know a thing about storytelling. So usually the show is riddled by moments what a 10 year old would consider kinky and funny. This usually happens on every episode, several times. On top of that, this usually ruins whats supposed to be emotional moments. An act of heroism, an act of sacrifice, and boom, same nonsense about being funny and kinky. This is one of the rare shows that would benefit from a fan recut. Take out all the nonsense, rearrange some scenes and focus on the story a bit more. But I digress. As far as I understand, if the anime fallowed the original material properly, most of these issues would be resolved, but alas it didn't go that way.

Art:

Art is usually good overall. Colors can get a bit too bright or too dull at times, but thats to be expected. Not much bad, nothing groundbreaking, just fine.

Sound:

I wasn't able to find anything wrong with the sound other than some characters sounding annoying, so moving on.

Character:

How do I put this... Characters are fine but incredibly inconsistent. They seem to forget all about their past, their motivation and their abilities all the time. Also, there are many moments where character development gets abandoned simply to put forward the harem side of the anime. Which is especially stupid since the protagonist has already picked the main girl. Also, there is an issue with characters appearing once and being forgotten by the next episode. From what I gather, this is mostly do to anime not truly fallowing the original material where most of these issues not present.

Enjoyment:

You can actually enjoy this anime if you skip some of the terrible and annoying repetitive stuff. I tried watching it that way for the second time around and it really improved my enjoyment of it.

Overall:

This anime has great potential but fails to deliver because after a while it becomes incredibly repetitive. But if you have time to waste, it is a good enough anime to watch.

Meh, so if you're reading this you've probably watched the other 3 seasons of Louise and chums, and if you haven't, watch those first. Firstly as you'll understand what's going on and second, as this show gets progressively worse with every season.

I can only rate it as mediocre at best and somewhat dissapointing. It may have been a while since I watched the previous seasons but I'm sure this season relied more heavily on fan-service. Which isn't always a bad thing, especially if you enjoy boob comedy (or lack of) and tsunderes, but if it's in lieu of a decent story ... then it can get a bit weak over 12 episodes. They probably shouldn't have bothered.

So yeah, watch it if you like Louise, Tifa or Siesta, or their seiyuus but other than that, it's a bit poor and really, as a swan-song, it could/should have been better.

I've given it 6/10; was probably being kind.

This review assumes you have seen seasons 1-3 and may reference some or all of my past reviews for the entirety of this series. This review WILL contain spoilers for Season 4.

Let me start off by saying I love/really like The Familiar of Zero series, if i didn't i wouldn't have watched the entire 48 episodes worth of it + the OVA and the other stuff in this series such as the 7 short episodes of the Tristain Love Theater. Side note, that's prolly canon, when and where and why it takes place no one can say, my review on it wasn't sure if it's ... canon and pointed out something but given what S4 did, i feel its prolly canon. Anyway, with that outta the way let's start the review...

The Familiar of Zero F (F for final because it's the final entry in the series) for me was a let down, and its ending was incredibly rushed. I've heard the manga for the series is much better and the anime changed up a lot, especially with people's character growth/personality, namely Saito, I'm unsure how true that is as I only saw it in a review and i ahve no intention of reading the manga (I'm not into reading books so its rare when i do) The The Familiar of Zero series itself has some contradictions and plot holes in its story and also after S1 changes how characters' personalities are. Whats more it pretends certain events never happen just to keep the characters mostly the same so yes, sadly there is little character growth for everyone which is a HUGH disappointment. For example, at the end of S2 Saito saves everyone by sacrificing himself. When he's brought back to life (Which the anime doesn't give much of an explanation involving how that ring did that and plot hole Giche cus he was revived too by that same person but that was never mentioned again), he returns to Louise, whom at the end of that anime has more or less admitted she loves him and can say such. In comes S3 and we're back to Louise: SAITO! YOU PERVERTED HORNY DOG! *EXPLOSION* Saito: AHHHHH! And this continues even through season 4... LOOK! I don't care WHO made this, or was responsible for crap like this. He gave his freakin LIFE for them, Louise KNEW this, was told HARD it was HER FAULT and SHE got him killed and NO ONE who actually LOVES SOMEONE that much would sit there and revert back to as if he didn't give his life and yes S3 confirms he did.

At that point character growth SHOULD have happened but NOPE! In comes plot points that are mostly or entirely just there to add to Saito's growing harem. In S3 Saito legit cheats on louise and i called him cheating scum. S4? He redeems himself somewhat, I won't call him scum but i will call him a cheater and an idiot. (It happens twice) Further more if that wasn't bad enough, the villains behind everything are just, treated as if they are a side plot. That was SERIOUSLY disappointing and they went out with such a whimper it was sad and yes they did die, I kept expecting em 9and another character that died this season) to return but nope, they're dead... not to mention the motive and reason behind why the king did all these terrible things was so bad and sad and just, cheap. He has no reason besides he wants to feel sadness and emotion. His title clearly proceeds him, what an idiot king.

As if THAT shit wasn't bad enough, let's tack on a world ending event plot that's shoe horned in in S4 and make it very cheap, pathetic and sad. Not to mention the final showdown was just, rushed. (I mean last we saw the elves' race was trying to KILL Saito and co, why are they now helping them? This is never sad and i DOUBT that world ending event would actually end the world once it gets what it wants...) This was just poorly done, as was the explanation for WHY Elves hate humans and why humans are scared of elves. Its never really explained properly and when it is somewhat explained, its only for the elves' side, not the human side (Theres a conspiracy/contradiction here)

Let's also not forget the promise Saito made tot he water spirit to return her ring is never kept. Yeah, I seriously was on the look out for that as I had a feeling it wouldn't happen when it got stolen. In S4 its never shown that i noticed, certainly not used or mentioned. So maybe he returned it to her off screen but nothing shows this or confirms this. Maybe it was done in the manga? Either way, it didn't happen in the anime. Further more, last we saw of Louise' parents her father was trying to kill Saito, why is he now ok with them marrying each other? This and the wedding/honeymoon was SO RUSHED it hurt that it wasn't done properly, we need 2-3 more eps, maybe 4-5 for getting the ring back to the spirit... Side note really quick, I guess the wedding Saito & Louise has in S2 wasn't legit, since they mention getting married here in S4. Gotta love dem plot holes and retcons even though it was never actually retcon'd :P

The characters that DO GROW significantly are done mostly off screen. E.g. Why was Zerbert no longer attracted to Saito and why is she now all over and only about Colbert Sensei? How and why did whats his name (The familiar to his holiness) have interest in others and became friends with Saito (To him, to Saito to an extent he still didn't like the guy early on here) and ofc his holiness himself, WHY the frick did he sit there and not help Saito and Tiffa when they were abducted? That's never explained. So many plot holes and shit not explained or properly shown.

I could prolly go on and on about this series many faults, but I won't. I won't explain what i did like about S4 either, but I did still enjoy it, however its faults seriously weigh it down and made it less enjoyable as a result. I rate, The Familiar of Zero F, a 6.0 and give it a Love score of 6.5, both out of a 10.0. I'm glad Saito and Louise finally got some actual character development in S4, even if it should've happened long ago. Ultimately I enjoy the characters and to an extent the world itself, but aside from that i can't tell you why i like this series, it certainly isn't for everyone and is certainly frustrating at times, but for some reason still enjoyable.

Bonus: My most fav moment in this series was seeing Louise in a catgirl outfit and saying she'd be Saito's familiar for the night while saying meow at the end. That pose, reaction and words were just so CUUUUTE!

Honestly, this anime is one of the better ones I have watched. I mean, there are quite a lot of animes of this genre out there and this is one of the better ones but this season wasn't really satisfying it is like they are still trying to put up the fact that Saito is Saito who loves being Saito and this basically means Louise is still blessed with the Blessing of First Girl from the story. Now let me explain my ratings

Story(3/10)
Just like all other Harem Animes the plot barely moves every season let alone watching how it slugs through its plot ... every episode. Even though rushing through the episodes is just a sad thing to do towards all animes. But honestly, I will suggest this anime only to people who like to see a lot of the girls chest.

Art(7/10)
Now, this animes art style is still pretty nice compared to some other animes as it still gives the viewers a sense of happiness with some cute moments animated well. But I still wouldn't give this anime a 10 because I didn't particularly enjoy this anime as a whole and even though this doesn't have anything to do with the review *whispers Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Bladeworks is still the best art wise.

Sound(5/10)
The sound in this anime is still the same quality as with most others I have watched. So I have no comment. But just to tell you,the voice actress/actor are not so good as to allow to just listen to the voices and know the story.

Character(4/10)
This is a Harem... Need I say more?

Enjoyment(8/10)
I enjoyed this anime because I get to see Tabhita oh and Tabhita and Tabhita... Oh wait I can assure you this is a diferent reason Saito. Just Joking, Tabhita :D

So I came back to this anime after years, and I do mean years, of not paying it any attention. Truthfully, I should have probably avoided it. This anime isn't bad, it's just average to a boring degree. Top that with it clearly being a product of its time, and you get an average anime with fanservice that no one should go back to. That being said, I enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane myself and there is some value in this title. Just not enough for me to recommend it. That sums it up if you want to stop reading, more details are ... below otherwise.

Story: 4/10
The story, if you can call it that, is built on a very interesting premise. A Japanese boy is pulled into a medieval world of mages by a failed mage student. He becomes her familiar and chaos ensues. Unfortunately, that is just about it for the intrigue. The characters their selves have weird motivations and don't feel real. The world is bland and largely unexplored or fleshed out. There is kind of a main plot, but it doesn't really come into play until later on. Without blood, death, or even injury it has no real grit. Nothing is really gripping for me and falls short.

Art: 5/10
Like the story, pretty bland. Noticed that the character's eyebrows can be seen through their hair, which seems kind of lazy to me. Animation is subpar too, with it being limited by time period and budget. Nothing bad though and, at times, it can be pretty interesting.

My entertainment: 6/10
While it was a bit painful to sit through again, it was just good enough to keep me entertained. This was one of the anime I watched when I was much younger, so there was a good amount of nostalgia for me. Plus fanservice. Always good to see.

Fanservice: 6/10
Shouldn't give this a high score here. All the fanservice is from one character. Just really liked it.

Overall: 5/10
Besides a trip down memory lane, I hate to inform you that this anime just isn't worth resurrecting. It was alright, for it's time. There is a reason why this anime did get sequels, but I can't imagine it gaining enough traction to become relevant again. No one is going to be looking back at this anime like Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, or any other anime of noteworthy. Goodbye Familiar of Zero, I will be one of the few to remember you fondly.
LIke I sai