So before you read what I have to say, let me remind everyone that this is an anime with three series that come before it. I can't emphasize how lost you'll be (and there are people that are) if you don't watch the first three series. Don't watch this one and backtrack! Watch from the beginning to end!
With that said, I will be reviewing this anime as a whole, because if you're ...
So before you read what I have to say, let me remind everyone that this is an anime with three series that come before it. I can't emphasize how lost you'll be (and there are people that are) if you don't watch the first three series. Don't watch this one and backtrack! Watch from the beginning to end!
With that said, I will be reviewing this anime as a whole, because if you're here reading this review, it obviously means you want someone's opinion about everything this anime delivers.
Plot: If you've seen Shakugan no Shana, and I'm assuming that's most of you, then there's something that should be apparent as the story progresses; the plot follows a series of events that shares much in common with Shakugan no Shana. Let me try to explain it better:
Boy is exposed to a completely different world after an experience that changes his life completely. While there, he meets a girl that becomes his main tie to this world and all of the citizens/creatures that inhabit this world. While there he fights alongside the girl in numerous adventures. It should sound similar, right?
It doesn't come at a surprise, since Shakugan no Shana, originally a popular light novel series, was first released in 2002, while Zero no Tsukaima was released in 2004, two years after the release of Shakugan no Shana (in two years, you could read, refine, and create an entirely new idea drawing inspiration from the first design). Well, that's just what I think. The plot isn't the most original out there, but I'm just glad the idea was executed well, especially with the way Saito's world is linked to Louise's world. It definitely didn't take directly from its influences, that's for sure, since Saito's world has very much to do with the turn of events in this series than a small mention of the bridge between worlds that can potentially- you get the idea.
The progression between episodes, I feel, is done really well. While it recognizes the difference between an episode without a major plot line (and there are plenty, especially in Season 3) and episodes with a major plot line, it's still reassuring to know that the show sidetracks itself from events happening amongst the main characters to focus on other affairs that may be rising, so when the next episodes hit, you won't be caught off-guard and question the writers about why they decided to skip an entire vital section. Don't get me wrong, progression is almost always done wrong, and that did happen for Season 4, or Familiar of Zero F, especially at the end when they felt the need to tie up loose ends but ended up speeding things up too quickly; it wasn't a mess, but I'd rather have more detail on the situation at hand.
Characters: Hiraga Saito is the male protagonist who becomes the familiar spirit of Louise, the female protagonist. Saito may not be a perfect protagonist, but in terms of other characters faced within the same fighting position as him, Saito is one of the better protagonists in a series. As for Louise, I thought I knew what an excellent tsundere is, until I watched this series through and got a much better definition (If I ever made a list of tsunderes, Louise would definitely be somewhere in the Top 5).
While there are other prominent roles in this series, I'd also like to point out that the important roles are mainly filled in by female characters, giving this anime the appearance and feel of a harem, which it most likely is. It was a bit unfortunate that the characters themselves seemed to be reproductions of very popular-and-easy-to-use character types, though the same can't be said about the way the characters were presented since I was glad that they had a sense of depth that writers seem to have difficulty in creating. While generic character-types were present, the fact that they had their own distinctiveness about them convinced me to care less about their weaknesses. I did enjoy the fact that each important character did have a background to them, instead of throwing them into a blender and hoping they'd mix well together. It's great that they did have depth and background, since integrating such a large cast makes it easy on us as viewers to forget about characters that aren't seen as often or aren't as memorable.
Animation, Music, and Voices: The animation is high-quality, especially for this last season (and as I understand it was created last year which probably prompted the animators to improve the quality of the videos produced). The music is also unnoticeable, but in a good way. I feel that good background music during an anime will play to set emotion, but not to the point where it simply intrudes on the scene at-hand, which in some cases the music does tend to do. As for the voices, I can't think of anybody better to fill in a tsundere role than Rie Kugimiya. In fact, that's really all I have to say about voices.
Content: It's a mix of fan service, slapstick humor, and memorable moments that are sure to make you laugh, cry, or tear with joy. Admittedly, there are times when it could do without the fan service, especially with Saito constantly cheating on Louise which I think is too much at times, but I've seen only one other anime that's had me crying tears of laughter within the first two minutes of viewing an episode. Unlike other animes that will only try their luck at striking your funny bone within one episode, Familiar of Zero does this often, and never fails to hit.
If you're like me and are along those lines of having sufficient knowledge with weapons, whenever those times come around and some kind of military equipment from our world shows up in the series, you won't be disappointed. I feel like they were given an accurate depiction, unlike live-action movies that I've seen where the filmmakers obviously have zero clue how to operate those weapons.
Overall: In a favorite animes list, I can easily put Familiar of Zero in front of Shakugan no Shana, which undoubtedly is another great anime series. It's not far from being a perfect series in my book, but there are certain times when it could do without some of its own perverted content. It's a great show worthy of a five-star rating, and while others still have a profound dislike for Season 4, I urge you to watch from beginning to end anyways. Minus the plot rushing at the end, it's not as bad as they say, the reviews are just written by a critic who thinks they'd look cooler if they didn't admit to enjoying a good series.
Read more
Was this review helpful: Yes / No Report as spam
