The previous episode being essentially useless in the development of the story, ZnT picks up with an episode devoted to the relationships between the characters…

Zero no Tsukaima 08
Tabitha’s Secret

Summary
         Louise and Saito are riding back to school from town on horseback, having completed Henrietta’s request. Saito’s hands are a little… adventurous on Louise, to say the least. After being kicked off the horse, Saito learns that it’s summer vacation right now, and most students have already left the school. They meet Tabitha and Kirche at the front of the school, who are leaving to go to Tabitha’s place. After a quick farewell, the two are on their way. While waiting to arrive, Kirche tries to converse with Tabitha, but as to be expected, Tabitha simply continues reading her book, without any sign of emotion. Kirche starts talking of her history and why she came to Tristein. Apparently she seemed like too much trouble for her previous school and her parents back at home. As soon as she said this, Tabitha dropped her book and showed a small expression of sympathy. The conversation is interrupted when they learn they must take a detour because of a flooded village.
         Back at the school, Saito is out doing Louise’s laundry, when he sees Guiche and Montmorency fighting. Seems like Guiche’s not the player everybody thinks he is, since Montmorency’s only with him because he begged her, not because she has any feelings towards him. After that bit of distraction, Saito lays eyes on a giant cooking pot laying outside, in which he gets permission from the chef to keep it. What idea could Saito possibly be cooking up? [Somebody PLEASE kill me for that previous pun. I beg of you.]
         Kirche and Tabitha finally arrive at their destination, and that’s when a flurry of secrets come flying out. Tabitha is actually a relative of the Gallia royal family, and Tabitha is actually… NOT Tabitha. That is, her real name is Charlotte. Her father was murdered when a dispute about who should be the successor to the king arose. Her father and uncle were the prime candidates for the position, and the Imperial Court was split 50/50 on the issue. With Tabitha’s father murdered, the decision went to her uncle, but that wasn’t the end of it. To ensure the new king’s position, Tabitha was targeted with a spell that induced insanity. Tabitha’s mother, however, saw through the plan and bit the bullet herself. This made the whole thing public, scaring off those targeting Tabitha. After losing her mother to insanity, Tabitha transformed herself into the quiet and emotionless Yuki-esque person we know and love today. Because the Royal Family couldn’t get rid of Tabitha directly anymore, they sent her on impossible life-threatening missions to deal with her, only for her to defy all odds and succeed. As a way to put her out of their sights, Tabitha was ordered to attend a foreign school, bringing her to Tristein.
         Night falls at Tristein, and Saito finally readied his pot. His cooking pot, that is. With a fire underneath it, he converted it to a giant bathtub, and is washing under the stars. He has confidence, I’ll give him that much. Siesta appears [after ceasing to exist in the past few episodes] and conveniently spills some tea on her uniform. So that her uniform can dry, Siesta decides to shed it and jump into the tub as well o.o THAT’S confidence. Once inside, they talk of where Saito came from, and how his world is. Siesta notices that Saito’s stories of his world are very similar to her great-grandfather’s, one from another world that fell from the sky. With that, Siesta puts on her clothes and goes back to work, but not before thanking Saito for the wonderful time.
         During this whole Siesta/Saito moment, Louise happened to venture out to look for Saito. She spots the two lovebirds together in the bath and decides to just turn around without being found out. Pissed off that her Saito is off seeing other women, Louise storms to where Guiche and Montmorency are and downs Guiche’s drink. Little did she know that Montmorency drugged spelled it just seconds ago.
         Saito returns to his room only to find Louise who’s pissed off at him. The spell starts to kick in, and Louise breaks out into a full blown love confession. Montmorency appears at the door, knowing full well what’s happening.
         Over at Gallia, Tabitha accepts another impossible mission from the royal family, and Kirche decides to help out. Being the dependable friend she is, Kirche finishes the night by giving comfort to Tabitha, suffering a nightmare of her past.
 
Summary of Summary
- Tabitha and Kirche leave for Tabitha’s place, which is the Gallia Royal Castle
- Tabitha’s past is revealed to Kirche, a sad story indeed.
- Onsen episode without the onsen, Siesta joins Saito in a pot. Yes, a pot.
- Louise falls under a spell, and ends up confessing to Saito.
 
Screencaps

Copping a feel? A little TOO happy there, Saito-san

Friagne and Marianne in Shana 2.0?

“Whoa” huge indeed.

I think you mean “sitting in a pot”

Louise confesses… much to Saito’s horror.

 
Thoughts
         I liked this episode more than the last, definitely. Although not much happened eventwise, there was a lot of development between characters and development of characters.
         Saito and Louise are finally starting to come together, with or without magic spells. The episode starts off with the pair riding a horse, and with Saito’s hands grabbing a little too high. Previously, this amounted to only complaints, but this time it caused blushing and embarrassment from Louise. She’s starting to view Saito more and more as a human rather than simply a familiar. Her jealousy is starting to come out more often, with Siesta and Kirche coming into the fray. As for the whole confession to Saito… Louise was probably fairly serious with it, and the potion only helped her loosen up. I wouldn’t expect it to be a love potion, since I see absolutely no reason why Montmorency would want Guiche drinking that, meaning what Louise said was the truth. Unfortunately, the confession’ll probably be played off as only something said when under a spell, keeping the relationship static. Or maybe it’ll be revealed to be a truth potion, which would make much more sense taking into account it was meant for Guiche.
         Saito and Siesta had quite a bit of time together as well. Jumping into a pot together must mean SOMETHING, and Siesta obviously trusts Saito a great deal. Kirche’s forwardness comes off as just her affection being just a crush, while Siesta’s forwardness makes it feel like there’s genuine attraction going on. I’m coming to like Siesta more, and I’d say she’s best for Saito. With her little comment on how Saito was the best thing that night, it shows she can be honest about her feelings, unlike some other people.
         On the note of Siesta, her family history is rather interesting. Her great grandfather most likely came from Saito’s world, and hopefully it can help provide clues as to how Saito can go back, hopefully with Siesta. For a while now, I was wondering what the significance was of the airplane that flies across the screen in the OP, and it seems to have come to light now. It seems to be a Japanese military plane, and coupled with the soldier that brought over the “staff of destruction”, it makes me wonder how Saito is connected to this military theme. Who knows, maybe there’s a reason why he knew instantly how to use a rocket launcher.
         Tabitha’s past was quite the story. (As a side note, I’m going to continue referring to Tabitha as such instead of Charlotte, except in a few situations) I’m sure her mother could’ve handed the enchanted drink in other ways, but for the purposes of drama, it turned out this way. Both mother and daughter deeply care for each other, and it’s a sad thing to see them torn apart. Tabitha’s mother rejecting Tabitha, thinking the doll is truly Charlotte, and Tabitha’s haunting nightmare of that night her mother sacrificed herself for her. The complete change in Tabitha’s personality to the current one is probably due to the fact that Tabitha wants to switch places with her doll, so that she could once again be with her mother, and her mother with Tabitha. Tabitha adopted the doll’s name, as well as the doll-like characteristics of silence and emotionlessness. That last scene with the nightmare had more dialog from Tabitha than any other time, and given the content of her dream, I’d say that’s pretty significant.
         And from all this, Tabitha gained a true friend. Kirche shows understanding and compassion, even if she’s being completely overwhelmed by all this new information. She even wants to participate in the dangerous mission handed to Tabitha, one that is quite dangerous, no doubt. They learned more about each other, and now will grow together as better friends.
         Now although this episode didn’t make me laugh much and wasn’t filled with Saito’s awesomeness, it still was a rather good episode. A lot of history was uncovered, and a lot of forward movement with relationships. And a confession by Louise never hurt anyone.
         …Except of course, Saito.

//Soda