While the first season of Zero no Tsukaima was hardly a masterpiece, I expected there to at least be a simple and well-executed plot. Unfortunately, what we got was some kind of horribly directed mess of a story that was so bad that it actually interfered with my enjoyment of this series. I came in with low expectations, but I still left disappointed.
Somehow, ZnT2 managed to carry over just about every bad part of ZnT. I love Louise’s character design, but I hated her even more after a second season of unreasonable and painful tsuntsun. It’s like her relationship with Saito is constantly getting a reset ending, as every time they make out or get married, Louise goes back to being a bratty annoyance. I think they made Saito somewhat more of a horndog than before, but at least he is blunt with Louise. Also, Saito got one episode to look really freaking cool, so in my book he came out of the sequel with no losses or gains in likability.
And then there were the side characters. Pretty much every side character from ZnT was reduced to cameo appearances, aside from Siesta and Henrietta. Julio got proper rookie side character screen time, although TJ Han mentions that Julio was “little more than a glorified taxi driver.” Agnes, however, ended up consuming way too much screen time with her boring story of vengeance. It should have either been left unresolved, or it should have been relocated to a future season. Who really wants to watch some boring new character angst about how her town was burned down years ago? The only two good things that came out of Agnes in the second season were the multiple wanton stabbings, and the vicious yuri rumors.
The music in the series was OK, I liked the OP, and the ED was excellent. Production values were good, but there wasn’t really that much action this time. While the beginning episodes were mediocre, the series was really hobbling along until the amusing penultimate episode and the very cool and emotional final episode. As good as those two episodes were, however, the season overall was still below-average.
Kabitzin’s Rating: 2.5/5
This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1970 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.
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I don’t even like her chara-design so the ‘forgive the beautiful’ rule couldn’t even apply. Ended up not watching ZnT2 and only reading the summaries at Sea Slugs and RandomC.
Not quite Makoto Itou level yet though.
Mmmmm…. yuri
~~~ And the part where Louise and Siesta ended up in bed with each other was utterly hilarous!
Or at least in Siesta’s case, it was udderly hilarious
Boooo!!
Now I know I have bad taste in anime…I *gasp* really enjoyed this season. Maybe its because I didn’t take it too seriously. The debate about dying for honor and whatnot actually entertained me..it gave the characters a little believability which they seem to have lacked in first season. (It seemed like they were some crazy teens out to stop a war) So ya I loved it, and the last two episodes were great I’ll have to agree. Louise bawling over for Saito was really unexpected. It made her much more likable.
Agreed! The second season fails! Where the heck did the magic from the first season go? Where’s my Tabitha and Kirche? I thought this show was about Louise and Saito! Ah~ they better make the third season better….you know….like a year from now? ;P
I was watching the final episode wondering why everyone was bashing it so bad, but then that deux elf machina came along and ruined it. The ending was really the only episode I liked up until that point, while I hope they make another season to redeem the fail, I’m scared that they might screw it up even more.
Haha, deux elf machina. That was silly, but I felt it fit in with the general mood of Zero no Tsukaima, so I didn’t mind it too much. Only unimportant side characters ever die in ZnT.
boat scene with siato and louise was soooooooooooo f***ing hilarious =0
oh yah and Toyali in class thx 4 last night it was fun
=0
Ah~ they better make the third season…i think…
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