Zero no Tsukaima is a rather cliche harem-action series, but I think the strong execution helped lift it just above mediocrity. The start of the 13-episode series was especially good, but later episodes couldn’t quite keep up the pace or the humor.
Now when I say that ZnT is cliche, I’m not exaggerating. The similarities to Shakugan no Shana are somewhat disturbing, and the character descriptions are groan-worthy. Lets see, loli-flat tsundere who bumbles about but is actually a super powerful Void sorceress, the typical shounen swordsman who thankfully is not completely spineless, the playboy blonde who starts as a cocky rival, the pretty good girl who can’t quite muster the mojo to get the guy, the busty over-sexual pseudo-rival, the knowledgeable sidekick object, the quiet girl with glasses and crazy skills, the evil society… yup, they’re all there. Fortunately, with the exception of Louise (who started to grate on me after a while), most of the characters are loveable or at least amusing.
I don’t want to be too hard on the plot, as this is just a 13-episode series, but it is sooooo predictable. The foreshadowing was very heavy, and the conclusion could be seen a mile away. To the credit of ZnT, at least the vast majority of the loose ends were tied up in the last episode, even though the series was left open enough for future continuations.
Without a doubt, the series hinged on Saito’s performance. He was at his best when he was cutting down golems, stealing a kiss from the princess, skinny-dipping with the hired help, and generally causing the ladies to swoon. I especially liked his strange love-hate relationship with Louise set against the backdrop of the familiarity and friendship with Siesta. It’s too bad Siesta never quite gets the sparks flying, but alas such is the life of a side character. At the end, however, Saito gets a great deal less nuanced and just becomes uber-shounen-swordsman-guy and makes speeches and pwns bad guys. That’s nice and all, but I’ve seen it all before. Except for the part where he shoots down all the dragons, that was hilarious.
As for the other stuff, the art and music were solid throughout, and I liked the art style and character designs. Basically I’d categorize Zero no Tsukaima as a cliche action-harem series that had good execution. While certainly better than average, it’s probably not the kind of series you’d regret missing.
Kabitzin’s Rating: 3.5/5
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Kabitzin – who has written 1937 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
My impression was exactly the same. However, this is rather a half-full/half-empty sort of thing. I prefer to think about all the cliches as creators of the anime thinking about the project before it started. They studied all other harems and collated their files, then took what actually worked. Thus they created the ultimate harem show.
I also sympathize with Siesta and she certainly deserved better. But oh well. Laws fo the game.
Oh yes, and they should’ve summoned a Ka-50 with rockets. Or a B-2 with nukes. That’d p4wn whole flying continent!
I thought it a bit harsh to judge ZnT on its cliche-ness. Some anime I watch for a great story , some just for entertainment. ZnT I found greatly entertaining and will probably watch the whole thing again some day.
Just because you know the good guys are going to win shouldn’t make it any the less enjoyable.
Lively charecters , good art and music with a dolop of humor and plenty of action is enough to make a good series sometimes.
HAving watched pretty much everything Slayers I think its pretty fair to judge a story on its cliche’s, if for no other reason than that I can point to several much better shows with similar setups that actually manage to do more with the cliche’s than simply going through the motions. Slayers, Louie the Rune Soldier, ect
The last three episodes were just meh. I watched because I hoped it would get better. Heck, all they had to do was go over the top with it and I think it would have been better. All in all, the ending was pretty bad, making the whole show feel like a place holder between Shana and Kanon.
I had more fun than Kabitzin, it seems, but I think 3.5 out of 5 is a fair verdict. Kudos for getting some kind of decent closure out of a still-running original. Personally, I really enjoyed Louise’s antics and her chemistry with Saito – and mega-props for the seiyuu work. Whenever Louise began to choke and stutter, I had to struggle hard to suppress an outburst of laughter.
Overall, a fun show, and a worthy result
Maybe I’m the only one who noticed it, or cared but…
It seems as if Saito completely disregarded the fact that his parents are probably going to be heart broken that their son went missing (and as we all now know, will most likely never be able to return home and consolate his parents).
Dave510, I think you’ve missed one of the fundamental rules of anime: if parent(s) don’t make an appearance in the show, it can be safely assumed that they either died tragically or played such a minor role in the child’s life that they might as well be dead.
Spanky, I think you’ve missed the fact that his was comedy. So logic reasoning is completely misplaced.
I liked the last sentence of the conclusion because I’m relieved that I only watched the first episode. Look like I didn’t really miss anything.
personally i loved this series.
i just love this series
the series was funny and all but i have to say that they tried to cram a lot in to the last few episodes making them have to cut out a lot, and what they did show the did agonizingly slow. True there is room for the series to expanded upon tho and it was hilarious especially parts like the old plane taking down dragons but honestly i don’t see too much more being done with this series, else will end up with a comedic version of twelve kingdoms
The series is quite good but I was confused at the second season when Louise’s sisters were asking whether she had a lover. I thought that she and that griffon captain guy were fiancees, but oh well, as Chris stated, logical reasoning is not required…
Very few animes I can say have a perfect ending…. the end of the 2nd season is superb. You will walk away begging for more yet satisfied enough to wait for the 3rd season.
It seems to me this anime is full of satire even if not intended too, just think if all of the genders were reversed. Overall I disliked this anime and the ending was horrible. I recommend Berserk, way better plot.