literaturenerd

Overview: Do you like Moe? Do you like S&M? Do you like obnoxious female leads? Boy do I have a series for you! Plot: 3/10 Familiar of Zero is an anime about an ordinary boy named Saito that is forced to be a magical slave to an obnoxious twat that summoned him from Japan to the far away land of extremely generic fantasy Europe. Here he must learn to adapt to his odd new life and learn about the various types of magic users. I am not going to go really in depth with the plot honestly. It soon becomes a very generic harem show and theplot is NOT going to blow you away. Here is a summary of the plot: Louise the witch treats Saito like crap, the abuse is played up for cheap laughs, Saito uses his magic sword wielding ability to do something heroic, he still gets treated like crap. rinse and repeat. Characters: 3/10 The main male character Saito is exceedingly bland and Louise is the least likeable female lead I have seen in a long time! There are also plenty of supporting characters, but there really wasn't anyone I liked in this series. Usually I can find a couple characters I like in even the most mediocre anime, but here I got nothing. Art: 5/10 The art is pretty good since this anime had a decent budget. It was based on a successful light novel that I can only assume was somehow better than the anime. Enjoyment: 3/10 if you aren't a masochist, 7/10 if you are. Remember in early 2014 when Japanese men were drooling over the uniformed hottie Natalia Poklanskaya and some Japanese youtube poster stated: "I want her to yell at me and step on me"? That is this entire fucking series in a nutshell. It is a fantasy for Japanese teen masochists who want to be dominated by hot European women. I'm not a masochist, and I don't see white girls as an exotic fetish, so I really didn't find anything to like in this series besides a few decent slapstick moments. The comedy sort of works in a few places, but mostly it is just obnoxious. Overall: 4/10 I have met people (including one of my best friends) that thought this series was a comedic masterpiece. I REALLY don't agree with that assessment, but the series at least does some things right. The art is decent, the music is decent, the voice acting is fine. However, I felt that overall this was a very mediocre series that I wouldn't recommend to anyone...unless once again you are in fact a male masochist.

Pontifus

I decided to watch Zero no Tsukaima because I wanted a leave-your-brain-out-of-the-equation sort of show, one I could sit back and watch without worrying about a negative outcome or depressing and/or disturbing complications. (Yes, for all my talk about artistic integrity and such, I do watch things for pure and simple fun sometimes.) Zero has most of that, but only to a point, and in the end I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of depth this show manages to pull out of nowhere. I went in expecting another Nanoha, or the first season of Shakugan no Shana all over again, and what I gotwas something more akin to the comedic romance and character development of Love Hina supported and sustained by the political intrigue of Last Exile or Simoun. Plot: An incompetent mage summons as her familiar a young man from contemporary Japan, and hilarity ensues. It isn't quite as simple as that, however. Despite an early focus on slapstick comedy, ecchi, and outright silliness, Zero quickly introduces a thin political thread, providing bits and pieces of flavor to make the world seem more alive. This thread smoothly escalates into a significant driving force of the show's events, perhaps more powerful, even, than the central romance. And speaking of that central romance, it moves along at a nice pace -- neither too slowly nor too quickly for a 13-episode series. Exactly how it develops is for you to discover, but rest assured that it does not remain stagnant for long periods of time, at least in this season, as in Shakugan no Shana and its sequel. Characters: The cute, borderline-sadist lead; the busty, libidinous rival; the surprisingly forthright maid; the bookish, quiet Nagato Yuki clone -- these may seem like stock characters pulled from the harem romance pool, and they certainly begin as such. As in Love Hina, however, we discover that these characters have histories and unforeseen connections, sometimes in far darker ways than I expected of this show. What's more, many of these characters actually change over time, as characters in a story should. Sure, the cast seems a bit crazy at first, but give them a chance. It's worth it. And the male lead. Oh, the male lead. Saito's personality is what makes him simultaneously hilarious and divergent from the usual harem romance/datesim beta-male loser. We get the impression that he checks out every girl who crosses his path not because he's hopelessly desperate, but because he's a healthy teenage boy. Not that he's relegated to the role of lecher; he has his human and hero moments, too. Setting: Our story begins in your average Harry Potter-inspired magic school, complete with magic wands and quirky professors, but soon expands outward to encompass an alternate-history, magically-endowed Europe plagued by the class politics of magocracy -- that is, magi over non-magi. Though the central country of the show is fictional (apparently located roughly in the Aquitaine region of France), several real-world European powers have fantastical equivalents, often bearing the Latin names of the modern countries they mirror: Gallia is France, for example, and Germania is Germany. This becomes clear when we see a map of the fictional land. This world maintains interesting links to our Earth, but I'll leave it at that for fear of dropping spoilers. It's ultimately a surprisingly cohesive fantasy setting, and one to which I wouldn't mind returning. Art: Zero's art is reminiscent of Shakugan no Shana, also produced by J. C. Staff, and to a lesser extent Pani Poni Dash. It's a style that grew on me when I watched Shana. If you're a fan of more realistic art in your animation, however, be warned that you won't find it here. Sound: Despite being largely digital, Zero's music never quite descends into full-on cheesiness, as Shana's music did at times, nor does it overwhelm you with anachronistic elements unsuited to the vaguely Renaissance-inspired fantasy setting. The opening theme is quite catchy, for a reason I can't place, and as a fan of Kugimiya Rie and Hino Satoshi, I have trouble finding serious fault in the voice-acting. Verdict: I didn't think Zero no Tsukaima would end up being the kind of show I'd be quick to recommend, but, to my pleasant surprise, it did. If you're looking for a tale of politics and romantic comedy, and don't mind that the ride isn't entirely serious from beginning to end, give this one a shot.