Opening Songs
OP 1 (Season 1) - First Kiss (Ichiko)
OP 2 (Season 2) - I Say Yes! (Ichiko)
OP 3 (Season 3) - You're The One (Ichiko)
OP 4 (Season 4) - I'll be There For You (Ichiko)
Ending Songs
ED 1 (Season 1) - The Real Feeling (Rie Kugimiya)
ED 2 (Season 2) - Suki!? Kirai!? Suki!!! (Rie Kugimiya)
ED 3 (Season 3) - Gomen ne (Rie Kugimiya)
ED 4 (Season 4) - Kiss Shite Agenai (Rie Kugimiya)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Fantasy
Episodes: 50 (13 episodes each in Season 1 & 3, 12 episodes each in Season 2 & 4)
I have been sitting on this for a LONG time. I knew that "Zero No Tsukaima" was aired a long long time ago, and I knew that it would be just my kind of anime....but I just didn't find the effort to go and watch it. Well, just recently I did, and I finished everything, all 50 episodes. When an anime drags for 4 seasons its gotta be pretty damn good right? It's all subjective really, like how all things get old, "Zero No Tsukaima" suffers the same fate. An anime like "Shakugan No Shana" managed to stay fresh because it took a DRASTIC change in season 3 that turned out to be for the better. "Zero No Tsukaima" never really changes its formula for all 4 seasons, which isn't exactly a very good thing. The first 2 seasons were fantastic, but then came seasons 3 and 4 which never introduced anything new and were kind of just more of the same...which god old pretty fast. Fortunately, I'll say that it all ended on a good note, at least (considering that the author the light novel series passed away, this was the best that we got).
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| Henrietta please. HENRIETTA!!! |
Every opening song in each of the seasons is sung by Ichiko, and every ending song in each of the seasons is sung by Rie Kugimiya, so you can immediately tell that you'll be expecting the same kind of songs in every season, whether or not that's a good thing, I'll leave it to you. All of the songs feel kind of same-ish, so if you like one, you'll probably like the rest. The way Ichiko sings her songs sounds a little bit like Kotoko's loud and energetic voice...so there's a similarity. I liked "First Kiss" the most, season 1's opening. All of the ending themes are VERY cutesy (as expected of Rie Kugimiya), so you know what to expect.
Rating 8.0 (for the first 2 seasons), 7.5 (for the last 2)
"Zero No Tsukaima" is a great anime, don't get me wrong. For the most part, it serves as a harem in a medieval setting, with some...fairly endearing characters (Lousie is annoying as F**K, but can be nice at times). The standard harem setting in a fantasy setting plays out great here, and there's much to be had, be it cheesy awkward interaction between characters or small fan service segments. There are even minor scenes of action that can be fairly satisfying when Saito bests his foe, or someone you'd never expect unleashes great amounts of magic to defeat a terrifying opponent. All of these are nice, but the meat of the show is the interaction between Saito and Lousie, which can be fairly wishy washy. While it all ends up nicely during the conclusion of the entire series, the "hardships" they go through are the same damn thing over and over. The constant bickering of Lousie when Saito so much as STARES at another woman gets REALLY F**KING old by season 3 and then Saito acting immaturely as self defense also comes off as a poor excuse. While these segments (there are plenty) can be a little bit stupid, the rest of the anime holds up well and the overall backstory of the world is pretty damn good.
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| No Saito, this is good! |
The story stars one of the most on and off couples in all of anime history, Saito and Louise. Louise belongs to a magical academy in a medieval fantasy world, and Saito belongs in Japan in modern time. Louise is known as zero Louise in her academy, because she can't cast spells worth a crap. Her whole class makes fun of her, and being a member of a noble family, she wants that all to change. During the day of the familiar summoning, everyone in the class is required to summon a familiar, a beast that will follow their mage master for life. While everyone summoned grand beasts and creatures, Louise summons Saito, a regular high school student from the modern world. Now Saito is forced to live in this magical world, bound to Louise as his familiar. His job as a familiar? To serve Louise for as long as he lives. Will he build a proper relationship with her? Well, other girls in the academy have a lot to say for that.
"Zero No Tsukaima" is a great anime at its early stages that degrades into a tired and old formula. Everything else is great, but the constant "hardships" that Saito and Louise go through together get tired as these situations are pretty much the same as the ones before it. As an entire package though, the entire anthology of a series ends on a rather good note, so there's that. I'm glad they they ended it the way that they did.
Peace.
