With the unfortunate and unforseen departure of the other half of the writing force here at AniAri I find it my duty to take time out of my busy schedule to tie up some loose ends. While my time management skills tell me I have no time to write individual episode reviews to the series that Soda was covering, I’ll at least do an overall impression post. Technically I’m supposed to be doing linear algebra…but eh, you readers deserve closure!

First up is Zero no Tsukaima, this anime started out really roughly. It had a really fragmented storyline, the episodes were fine individually, but nothing was tying it all together. However, the last arc brought everything together nicely, starting from about episode 9 or 10 the plot became coherent and relevant. Episodes were no longer just excuses to parade Louise around in all her tsundere glory (not that they didn’t anyways).

The ending was really well done, though very predictible, Soda saw it coming a mile away, and actually predicted it a few posts back. Ward Pedo-sama turned out to be a bad guy after all, as hinted many times before. Hoping to marry Louise only for her void-magic powers. Of course Louise won’t stand for that, as a loyal subject and best friend to the princess, she cannot betray her. Backup plan! Use uber powerful ring to hypnotize her and force her into marriage. This of course fails horribly when Saito shows up, breaks the spell and pwns Pedo-sama in melee combat.

The rest of the anime was standard fanfare for the genre. Lame plot device threatens to separate hero/heroine, plot device turns into opportunity to bring them closer, hero saves heroine or vice versa…then Shana gets her clothes torn to shreds and the two share a loving embrace then Louise saves the country and the two share a loving embrace. I thought it was hilarious when she passed off the kiss as a renewal of contract XD

Closing thoughts:
- Saito is by far the best harem lead, evar
- Siesta > Jessica > Louise > Tabitha > Kirche
- Guiche fails at life
- Second season, nao!
- And finally, @ JCStaff: where was the fanservice T_T?

Ah, Higurashi, second maybe only to Yuri Panic, had the most inconsistent quality this season. The arcs ranged from undeniably awesome (first and last) to incredibly lame and sometmes downright creepy (Shion torture arc *shudders*). Although all in all I think it succeeded in doing what it set out to do…which I personally think is confuse the crap out of the watchers. By doing so they will go buy the manga and game in a feeble attempt to understand plot and confirm outrageous storyline theories. Absolutely brilliant.

The ending arc of the series was, in many ways, a mirror of the first arc. This time, instead of k1 going apeshit berserk and killing his friends, it was Rena. As mentioned in my H&C II review, I love stories that come full circle, it’s such a nice way to show how the story has advanced yet draws parallels between beginning and end. Instead of Rena going completely berserk, as k1 did, we see some retribution on her part. After a foiled attempt to kill her friends, she realizes her mistakes and repents for them. I really liked the Rena arc because it revealed quite a few things, first off that the arcs are not completely separate. Some, if not all, the characters appear to be, on some level, conscious of the fact that they have lived the same summer multiple times. While this confused the hell out of me, those theorists out there must have lightbulbs exploding in their brains.

The ending fight was a little dragged on, and the way they turned it into a batsu game made it sort of anticlimactic. Knowing of k1’s prowess with the bat and likewise on Rena’s part with the cleaver, I thought we were watching a fight to the death, but apparently their intents were not murderous. *shrugs* I thought it would have been a more dramatic ending were their lives at stake, but maybe that’s just me.

The final scene seems to imply that this loop is eternal, the endless stories of death, betrayal and the oyashiro-sama curse seemingly have no end in sight. I don’t really like cliffhanger endings, however, after being put through the same time period about 6 times I don’t care about the specifics anymore, point taken. Not a spectacular finale, but it did the job and I think continuing any further would cause my brain to implode and eat itself, so all is well.

Closing thoughts:
- k1’s voice got increasingly annoying as the series progressed
- Rika > Rena > Mion > Shion > Satoko
- Needs more loli, lol
- Game translation, nao!
- Otakus getting mugged in Akihabara need to take a page out of k1’s playbook, buy a bat
So there you have it! My half assed attmpt to provide the readers out there with some sort of closure for the summer season. I believe that takes care of all series EXCEPT Utaware, which I’m still on the fence about. I watched most of it, so I’d like to see it through, but the quality decline in the last few eps as well as the lack of releases from yesy have hindered my progress. I may just drop it, we’ll see.

And so we charge ahead to the fall season, I’ll be covering Kanon and Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru (if it doesn’t suck) for sure. If time permits I’ll also try to blog Negima!? and Lovedol ~ Lovey Idol ~. I decided against blogging Death Note because there will most likely be many out there who will cover it already.

~ Shirukii ~

Rawr.

         In an interesting twist, the harem situation has switched, and it is Louise’s turn to be chased after. ‘Cept… well, Saito’s competition is a PEDO. Needless to say, I’m disturbed. However, it was still a rather good episode, with a little love competition between Saito and the pedo.

Zero no Tsukaima 10
The Princess’ Request

Summary
         After flying through the window and appearing in Louise’s room, Henrietta moves on to reveal the true intentions of her visit. For political reasons, she is to marry Germania Royalty, and she wants Louise to run on a little errand. Henrietta recently wrote a letter to the Prince of Wales (her cousin and childhood friend), and should this letter be revealed to the public, the Germania marriage would be cancelled. Sounds pretty much like a love letter to me, really (despite the incestuous implications of that assumption). As to why that letter wasn’t addressed to Saito is completely beyond me. Silly Henrietta, you mixed up the addresses of the Prince and Saito! Is THAT your true reason for wanting the letter back so badly? ‘kay, back to reality (and by “reality”, I mean the ACTUAL anime storyline). Guiche pops out from behind the door and admits to listening to the entire thing. He pledges his support, and with that, becomes part of the recovery team.
         Later in the night, Saito’s doing his nightly panty washing, when he accidentally breaks the panty waistband. Something tells me he’s going to receive a lot of crap from Louise for that move. Siesta appears, apologizing for not believing his love potion story earlier. Sorry hon, but it’s already too late for you. Actually, it was too late for Siesta the second Saito was summoned by Louise. And even then, I should go further and say it was too late as soon as the name “Zero no Tsukaima” was conceived. Which is really unfortunate, but alas.
         The next day, Saito pays a visit to a school professor, whose name completely escapes me at this moment. Obviously, he is not important enough to warrant remembering his name. That, or my memory sucks, which is completely and utterly true. In any case, Saito inquires about Gundalfs and the history of magic. The professor tells us of how there originally were five magic elements: fire, water, wind, earth, and void. However, the void element was never confirmed and thus, the known elements were reduced to only four. And if void mages were to exist, they would have Gundalfs as familiars. It is essentially circular logic, the way the prof is thinking. Void mages do not exist because there are no Gundalfs, and Gundalfs do not exist because there are no void mages. It just makes me wonder how the hell they came up with the idea of void mages and Gundalfs in the first place, if there’s nothing to suggest the existence of them. In any case, Saito gets distracted by the pretty colours of a potion bottle, which apparently is “dragon’s blood”, according to the prof. He reveals his proud story of obtaining the blood when two dragons never before seen appeared in the skies, one of which disappeared, and the other falling to the ground. He collected the blood of the fallen dragon, and is currently trying to replicate it.
         The night before setting off on the mission, Louise feels a little down and is worried about her abilities as a mage. She feels inadequate for the job, and questions her usefulness. Cue Saito, trying to act all cool and taking advantage of the situation. He assures Louise that she’s not useless and promises that if anything should happen, he’ll protect her.
         It’s the morning of the mission, and the three students are waiting for their escort sent by Henrietta. In this timeframe, Louise essentially gets brutally violated by Belldandy, much to the amusement of the guys. The escort finally arrives, and it’s a… really old man. It’s Ward, the captain of the Griffin squadron. From here on, he shall be referred to as Pedo-sama, for [soon to be] obvious reasons. Apparently Pedo-sama is engaged to Louise, and has been for many years now. Pedo-sama picks up Louise in his arms, and the group sets off on their mission. Over the course of the entire ride there, Pedo-sama essentially professes his undying love for Louise, slightly disturbing me. Saito shares my dislike, but for slightly different reasons. A little competition only brings about jealousy, and jealousy we did see. Upon arrival at La Rochelle, Louise feels the need to explain to Saito why Pedo-sama’s all over her. Doesn’t do her any good, only leaves both parties feeling a little bitter.
         After an awkward dinner with Pedo-sama, Saito gets the full story from Delflinger, all about Gundalfs. They are familiars that are able to wield any weapon with proficiency, even without previous experience. The only catch is that whatever you’re trying to use must be designed to be a weapon, and not simply something you intend to use as a weapon. Meanwhile, in Pedo-sama and Louise’s shared room, they’re reminiscing on the past, and how even back then, Pedo-sama was still Pedo-sama. Back to the present, Pedo-sama leans in for a kiss, all the while promising Louise that he’ll protect her. This triggers Louise’s memory of when Saito said the same thing the previous night, effectively making Louise feel guilty. Pedo-sama, realizing he lost this round, rents another room to stay the night. Phew, close call there.
         And finally, here comes the part we’re all waiting for. It’s the next day, and Saito and Pedo-sama are to duel according to the agreement they made the previous night at the dinner. Saito starts off with an impressive offence, even doing some fancy wallrunning while swinging his sword. With a little magic, Pedo-sama knocks down Saito, winning the round. Pedo-sama taunts Saito, claiming that Saito isn’t fit to protect Louise. With that, round two of the duel begins… only to cut to the ED. *sigh* And I wanted some Pedo buttkicking!
 
Summary of Summary
- Possibility of incestuous Royal relationship.
- Saito’s jealousy of Pedo-sama
- Arrival at La Rochelle, mission’s going smoothly
- Duel with Pedo-sama, possibility of pedo butt kicking
- Pedo-sama. *shudders*
 
Screencaps

From this angle, it looks all wrong…

Aww, Louise is concerned over Saito!

Isn’t he like, TRIPLE her age??

Isn’t he like, QUADRUPLE her age?? (And Yotsuba, much?)

Kick that pedo’s butt!

Bonus picture of Pedo-sama

 
Thoughts
         Whoa, this episode had a lot of tidbits that got me thinking of how this series is going to proceed. So instead of ranting on how disturbed I am about Pedo-sama, I’ll go into theories instead.
         Shirukii and I both agree that the supposed “dragons” that the professor saw was nothing more than two airplanes from Saito’s world that somehow came to the world of mages. Continuing this, the “dragon’s blood” becomes gasoline, which makes a lot of sense given Saito’s strange fixation on its scent.
         Taking this into account, I think that those two planes will essentially lead to Saito’s return to his world. One plane disappeared, which I suspect Saito will find and pilot, using the fuel that the professor creates when replicating the “dragon’s blood”. Now Saito’s no pilot, but if we continue the theme of war and the military as seen with the Staff of Destruction [and possibly Siesta’s grandfather], then it wouldn’t be surprising to find that the planes are actually military aircraft, thus being created for the purpose of being a weapon. Being a Gundalf, this should allow Saito to use his… “Gundalfery” and instantly learn how to use said weapon, meaning he instantaneously becomes a pilot. This solves the problem of how Saito is to return back to his time, yet other things related to his return have yet to be explained.
         As I said before, I’m not going to delve into how disturbed I am about Pedo-sama, but he’s still quite the topic of discussion. I’m fairly certain that he’s working under Cromwell. The person who freed Fouquet and the person accompanying Fouquet in the dark throne room of Cromwell seems to be Pedo-sama. Looking at his cloak, they have similar characteristics. Both have white outlines, are black in colour, feature white cuffs, and are folded at the shoulder in the same way. In fact, the only real difference between attire is that the mystery man doesn’t wear a hat and has a cloth covering his face. A hat is easily taken off, and the mask is there so that we cannot see the mystery man’s facial hair, in which if we did, I’m QUITE sure it would match up perfectly to Pedo-sama’s.
         On top of that, the mystery man’s hair colour seems to be silver/grey. If more hints are needed, then I shall supply. In the dinner scene, there is a short period of time when we can see Fouquet, in which she seems to be sitting alone. After the dinner and after Pedo-sama leaves Louise’s room however, we see Fouquet now accompanied by the mystery man. Coincidence of timing? I think not. Finally, before he left Louise’s room, he kept talking of wanting more, of being a Noble that will “move all of this country, no, all of Halkeginia”. A little ambitious, I must say. His plans for accomplishing this must lie with Cromwell.
         On the plus side, Pedo-sama probably only wants to use Louise’s abilities as a void mage, and doesn’t ACTUALLY want her. Because that would be disturbing. The day he consummates the marriage is the day he’s charged with statutory rape. But I digress; I said I wouldn’t talk of his pedoistic ways.
         Having dealt with Saito and Pedo-sama, I’ll move on to the last male on this mission: Guiche. It’s quite a distinct possibility that Guiche WON’T turn out to be completely useless and excess baggage to this trip. Belldandy’s fascination with jewellery will most likely lead to the discovery of Cromwell since he wears the Ring of Andvari, which will also reveal the true identity of Pedo-sama. This will tie the original mission given by Henrietta to Cromwell and also lead to the end of the series. Louise and Saito will defeat Cromwell and get the Ring back, returning it to the Water Spirit. The Spirit will probably reveal some information about the past Gundalfs, which can allow Saito the knowledge of how to get back to his own world.
         With any luck, when/if Saito goes back to his world, Louise will tag along for the ride, keeping up with her theme of “well you’re my familiar, so isn’t it obvious?” Should he really pilot a plane, lets just hope his Gundalf abilities don’t suddenly quit on him.
         So yes, that’s my take on the end of this series. Just watch, come episode 11, I’ll be completely proven wrong. But with only three episodes left to watch, there isn’t much time to tie everything together, which my theory seems to do fine.

//Soda

         Woo, this episode was filled to the brim with Louise’s deredere. It might’ve taken nine episodes, and it might’ve needed the strength of a love potion, but it’s finally here in full force. Was it worth the wait? You bet it was.

Zero no Tsukaima 09
Louise’s Transformation

Summary
         Louise is still under the love spell from the previous episode, and Saito certainly is reaping the benefits of it. Heck, he can’t even go out to wash her laundry without being followed, clinged on to, accused of meeting other girls, and being missed. Monmon, aka Montmorency, already explained the situation to Saito and of the whole love potion deal… which then leads to a mini-confession to Guiche. Ending the flashback, we’re back to Saito trying to do the laundry with Louise clinging on him. A challenger appears! Siesta walks in on the two love birds, causing some tension between the two ladies. After failing to choose his prey, Saito ends up losing both rabbits as they walk away, unhappy at the player Saito is. A little late, but he finally makes the decision and runs after Siesta. However, this doesn’t do him any good since the use of love potions is highly illegal and Siesta doesn’t believe a word of Saito’s explanation.
         Defeated, Saito returns to Louise’s room… only to find her going all out, trying to use her sex appeal to gain Saito’s favour. She complains on how he isn’t making his move on her, even if they share the same room. Even under the effects of a love potion, Louise puts up a little tsuntsun, claiming she doesn’t want him to make a move anyways. She quickly adds that if Saito DID make a move, she wouldn’t exactly resist him, if you know what I mean. Having enough of Louise’s crazy actions, Saito promises to return her to normal, and with that, leaves the room.
         He meets up with Monmon and Guiche, demanding a potion to return Louise back to normal. Apparently, such a potion requires “Tears of a Holy Spirit”, not something you can find in any store. This little ingredient can be obtained from a Holy Water Spirit, and one lives right at the borders of Gallia. Thus, the three of them plus Louise set off to obtain the Tears, starting the mission the next day.
         Upon arrival at the destination, Louise takes out a handmade jellyfish hat she made for Saito. Hilarity ensues. Back to the mission, we notice that the location is the flooded region that Tabitha and Kirche passed by earlier on the way to the Gallia Castle. By her water familiar, Monmon calls for the Water Spirit, requesting the Tears. When the Water Spirit emerges, Saito’s sword notes that it was “nostalgic”. In any case, the Water Spirit refuses to give the Tears, causing Saito to burst out and beg the Spirit to reconsider. The Spirit does, on the condition that Saito go forth and defeat those who are attacking the Spirit. Accepting this, Saito and friends wait for the attackers to come.
         Night falls, and two suspicious mages approach the water. In a tag-team effort with Guiche, Saito rushes at the mages, only to be defeated when the mages showcase great coordination and power. Louise pops out waving her wand, trying to defend her precious Saito. Not surprisingly, an explosion erupts from the end of Louise’s wand, and in its confusion, the two mysterious mages are revealed to be our very own Kirche and Tabitha. Tabitha was ordered to defeat the Water Spirit by the Gallia Royal Family because of the recent floodings.
         Arranging another meeting with the Water Spirit, Saito asks why she is flooding the surrounding region. Turns out her precious Ring of Andvari was stolen by someone named Cromwell. Saito promises to recover her ring for her if she lowers the water and gives them the Tears. Amazingly enough, the Water Spirit agrees to these terms, stating that Gundolf in the past have kept their promises, and that’s why she’ll choose to trust Saito.
         Having completed their mission, Saito and Louise are back in their room, back to normal. And by “back to normal”, I mean “Louise is back to beating poor Saito”. Yes, Louise is her normal tsuntsun self, keeping all her memories when she was in full out deredere mode. After a few swings from her horsewhip, who else but Henrietta flies through the window, greeting the duo.
         The scene changes to a dark throne room, where we see Fouquet and two other mages. She is told that the time to set motion to their plans is now, an order coming from King Cromwell…
 
Summary of Summary
- Deredere Louise. Since the entire episode like that, maybe I should say derederederederederederederederedere Louise, should that make any sense whatsoever
- Saito messes up with Siesta, let’s hope it’s still salvageable.
- Saito walks into a derederederederederederederederedere Louise in bed, realizes he needs to get her back to normal. NOW.
- Awww, a little confession from Monmon to Guiche!
- Tabitha and Kirche battle it out with Saito
- Tsuntsun Louise rises back to power, exerts said power over Saito.
 
Screencaps

Derederederederederederederederedere Louise

Catfight gogogogogo!

Monmon =3

That little jellyfish hat is the most awesome thing ever.

Unfortunately, all returns to normal…

 
Thoughts
         Oh Louise, you so crazy! It was definitely nice to see deredere Louise, even though it only lasted for one episode. I’ll admit I was a little surprised it turned out to be a love potion, I didn’t expect that. As I said in the last post, I was expecting a truth potion since I didn’t see Monmon wanting Guiche hanging over her. Looks like I was wrong, but nothing’s wrong with that!
         The episode was rather enjoyable overall. Saito’s little love problems with Louise was to be expected, as with Siesta. Something tells me he’s seeing a LOT more action now than he did back at Japan. Louise coming back to normal while still retaining all her memories was a plus, since it only added to the fire. Montmorency and Guiche were expanded on as characters as well, and looks like their relationship is progressing strongly.
         Saito’s sword, Derflinger, is quite the interesting one. It notes that it was having a nostalgic feeling when they were calling for the Water Spirit. Add in the fact that the Water Spirit had other Gundolfs before… and it seems to point to the fact that Derflinger’s previous owner was also a Gundolf. In episode 03, Derflinger finally wakes up from his slumber and speaks out for the first time, claiming it was no wonder he woke up since he was being wielded by such a swordsman. If it takes a swordsman of considerable skill to wake him, then again, a swordsman Gundolf as its previous owner would make sense. Maybe it can bring insight into how Saito can return home, based on previous experience.
         Finally, Louise’s complete revert to tsuntsun was a little disappointing, I was hoping for a little more progression between Saito and her. Alas, I may be asking too much. With Siesta seeming to be Saito’s favourite, it’s not going to be an easy rise from Louise’s current situation to Saito’s first choice.

//Soda

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

Zero no Tsukaima 07
Louise’s Part Time Job

Summary
         It’s another bright and cheery morning, and we’re greeted by Louise and Saito at the Royal Castle visiting Henrietta. Having done a splendid job apprehending Fouquet, Henrietta congratulates the both of them, and allows Saito the honour of kissing her hand. Of course, Saito’s an idiot who doesn’t understand the customs of their world, and umm, yes. A rather predictable outcome emerges resulting in a Louise beatdown.
         After Saito receives his punishment, Henrietta reveals her true intentions of bringing the pair before her. She wants them to pose as Commoners, and investigate whether or not Nobles are oppressing the Commoners. Judging by the fact Louise is a Noble… and Saito is a Commoner… I’d say YES. But that’s not the issue; the problem is how they are treated in town. So after being paid some money, Louise and Saito enter town and try to start their mission.
         It soon becomes rather apparent that everything is rather expensive, and the pair cannot even afford a decent room at the inn. By a stroke of genius, Louise gambles all their money in a casino to be able to pay for anything and everything they’d want. Of course, because this is an anime, she’s able to win consistently and she makes a lot of money, much to Saito’s delight They lose everything.
         Meanwhile, a woman… — A stereotypically gay… — A confused… — A REALLY creepy… — A large lipped… — A man approaches them, offering a place to stay on the condition that they work for him. Not THAT bad, right? Little did we know this woman, Scarron, has a huge meido fetish, and she owns a meido café. Louise is forced to don one of these uniforms, while Saito takes backseat and helps with dishwashing. Louise seems to have drawn the short stick, as Saito works along with Jessica, the well endowed daughter of Scarron.
         Every week, in Scarron’s little fetish-house, there is a “tip race”, in which waitresses compete to get the most money in tips. The winner of this contest gets to wear the “Enchanting Fairy Bustier” for one day, a bustier that has the ability to essentially manipulate men by seduction. Should one wear it, and I pray it be not Scarron, you can earn godly amounts of cash by customer’s tips. Why the heck Scarron doesn’t use this to get money for himself herself itself is beyond me. Unless he just wants to work just to watch his waitresses all day, then that would make sense. In any case, the abilities of the bustier immediately captures the interest of Louise, who obviously aims to win said contest/bustier.
         Work starts, but Louise’s pride gets in the way. She’s having a hard time serving Commoners when she’s a Noble, clearly a discrepancy in the ranks. After being insulted for being flat by a customer, she starts a scene, and it’s up to Scarron to save the day. Indeed, I have been scarred by Scarron.
         Finally it’s night, and Louise and Saito share a room. Saito of course gets the floor, while Louise complains about her living conditions. In the middle of the night, bats start flying about, scaring Louise into crawling into Saito’s “bed”.
         Morning comes, and Louise is back to her difficulties of being a waitress. After many remarks of her flatness and many fights with the people who make remarks of her flatness, Scarron retires Louise to the back of the café, only to watch the other waitresses work. Meanwhile, Saito is getting closer and closer to Jessica, causing Louise to get jealous. Louise picks up a beer bottle… she winds up… DIRECT HIT! Saito has been successfully knocked out!
         Saito finally wakes up to an unfamiliar bed, with Jessica sitting right beside him. She figures out almost everything about exactly who Saito and Louise really are, and tries to use her sex appeal to get more answers. I must say, it must’ve been working, looked like he was going to crack. Louise busts into the room, pissed off. Louise approaches… gets further irritated… DIRECT HIT! Saito has been successfully knocked out with a nut kick! Ouch, even I felt that one. Louise carries Saito away, but not before being challenged by Jessica to win the Tips Race.
         Turene, a Noble Tax Collector, then enters the café. Having been there before, all the waitresses know he likes to cop a feel and doesn’t like leaving tips. All waitresses know… except Louise, that is. As to be expected, when Louise goes to serve Turene, she is insulted over her flatness, and a fight breaks out between them. Saito, being the hero that he is, enters the scene to protect Louise. Unfortunately, he didn’t think his sword would be useful in his dishwashing job, and thus left his sword in his room. Louise finally decides that it would be a good time to pull out her wand and Royal Court certificate. After exercising her Royal power, Turene runs away, leaving BAGS of money so that Louise would look the other way.
         With the recent turn of events, Louise wins the Tip Race as well as the honour of wearing the Fairy Bustier. Unfortunately, since their cover was blown, the pair has to move to another place to stay. However, with the money earned, it wont’ be a problem.
         The final scene is of Fouquet in prison, being freed by a shadow and new comrade…
 
Summary of Summary
– Saito’s either a genius or a moron, and he somehow manages to kiss the princess. Props for that.
- Louise and Saito pretend to be commoners and live in town, meeting Scarron
- Louise = meido. Saito = dishwasher. Saito wins.
- Louise causes Saito significant pain. Three times. Twice she knocked him out.
- Saito wins over Jessica. Somehow he’s less successful than when he was with Henrietta.
- Louise wins the Tips Race, much to nobody’s surprise
 
Screencaps

Genius or moron, you decide

Words fail me.

I’d take Angel Mort over this ANYDAY.

Wait… what?

Saito’s expression is priceless

Wait……. WHAT?!?!?!

 
Thoughts
         I really enjoyed the previous episode, but I can’t say the same for this one. Unlike some other people, I’m not really into meido myself, and this was a meido fanservice episode. Other than the very last scene involving Fouquet, nothing ACTUALLY happened, which disappointed me. There were plenty of chances for something to happen, but they failed to deliver.
         Let’s do a single scene study for argument. In the case of when Louise and Saito were sleeping at the storage room of the café, absolutely nothing happened there. Louise complained of how the room was a horrible place to sleep. However, Saito easily adjusted, saying it was very much like sleeping at the school. It was a perfect chance for Louise to realize that Saito’s a human too, and he should be treated with more respect. She should have sympathized with his situation, instead of making him sleep on hay every night at school. Alas, she only thinks of HER situation, not his. Strike one. Later in the night, when the bats come flying in, she gets scared and crawls into Saito’s “bed”. Another perfect chance to realize how bad Saito has it, but alas. Or at least recognize how bad Commoners have it. Why even HAVE the whole bat scene? It barely accomplished anything, really. Strike two. Now let me get this straight. Louise sleeps in the bed, Saito on the floor. Louise leaves bed, joins Saito while he’s asleep. SO THEN WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE WAKES UP? What happened to the entire morning sequence?? SOMETHING must’ve happened. Strike three.
         Now I’m just hoping there’ll be a flashback or something next epi that’ll correct everything I pointed out in that scene, but by how episodic these episodes seem, I don’t really see it happening.
         But I will say that Scarron has scared a few laughs out of me, and it wasn’t a total loss. Personally unappealing fanservice, lack of progression of Saito and Louise, lack of progression in the story less the last scene. I’ll admit that maybe I’m just expecting the wrong things out of this anime, maybe I’m just supposed to sit back and watch the visuals, nothing else. As it stands, however, this was a rather disappointing episode, especially after the fact I really enjoyed the previous episode.

//Soda

With the Staff of Destruction having been stolen, the headmaster calls the witnesses, Louise and Tabitha (Zerbst tags along for the hell of it), to his office along with some high ranking nobles. It is decided that seeking help from the royal court would take too long and Fouquet would have time to counter or run away. Using a composite sketch from Ms. Longueville the headmaster asks for volunteers to go and recapture the staff. The higher ranking nobles appear to be too scared, so Louise, Zerbst and Tabitha offer to take the job. With Longueville as their escort, they are approved and under way.

On the wagon ride there Saito asks why a noble would become a thief. Longueville tells him that not all mages are nobles, some have their nobility revoked and decide to become thiefs or mercenaries. She then reveals that she herself has lost her nobility, when questioned as to how and why she dodges the question. Toss in some Saito based slapstick comedy, and we arrive at the house cabin shack of Fouquet. After checking for traps, Saito, Tabitha and Zerbst enter the shack while Louise stands guard and Longueville goes to patrol the perimeter.

Upon finding the Staff of Destruction, Fouquet’s golem rises from the ground and begins to attack the gang. Tabitha and Zerbst unleash their attacks to no success, so Tabitha calls her Sylph and flees with Zerbst. Meanwhile, Louise is trying her best to fend off the golem and while her attacks are landing and chipping pieces off the golem, they’re too small to do any damage. Saito tells her to run but she refuses on her pride as a noble. After pushing her out of the way of what would have been a fatal blow, Saito slaps Louise and tells her that pride is meaningless if she’s dead. Tabitha comes to pick up Louise while Saito goes berserk and starts pwning the golem. Unfortunately, the golem regens faster than Saito can hurt it, so Louise pulls out the Staff of Destruction and tries to use it to save Saito. But wait…the staff is actually not a staff at all, it’s a rocket launcher, which Saito conveniently knows how to use.

After blasting the golem to pieces, Fouquet appears, surprise surprise, it’s Mion Shion Ms. Longueville! Apparently she didn’t know how to use the rocket launcher and thanks Saito for the crash course. Of course things in our world have ammo, after realizing that it won’t work a second time, Saito knocks her out.

Back at the academy the headmaster thanks the four heroes and assures awards for the nobles, but not Saito =( Instead of a reward Saito asks for some information about the origins of the rocket launcher, looking for a clue to get back to his world. The headmaster explains that his life was once saved by a man who wielded two of them, one which was buried with him and the other kept in the treasury. Not knowing the origins of the man, and seeing as he died soon after, Saito is back to square one.

A party is thrown in celebration of the return of the “Staff” and the heroes who secured it. Zerbst pimps some guys, Tabitha channels Yuki’s eating powers and Saito talks to his sword. Suddenly Louise arrives, looking rather beautiful in an evening dress. Rejecting several advances, she heads to Saito and asks him to dance. Dere dere Louise! Yay! How you have been missed. And so ends ZnT 6.

Thoughts:

Rather good episode, I saw the identity of the thief a mile away, partially because it was a theory of Soda’s. Add to the fact that she explains in detail the type of person Fouquet might be (rogue noble) and that she’s the only character with green hair and it’s rather obvious.

Saito’s harem is going strong, who will win?! Will it be the well endowed and voluptuous Zerbst? The supporting and ever cute meido Siesta? The pink-haired tsundere goshujin-sama? Or will Yuki Tabitha fly in from the shadows and steal him away!? Stay tuned for next week’s dragon ba…err…yea.

Tabitha has taken over Siesta as my favourite character, and not just because she is channeling Yuki. She is made of pure win, I don’t usually like the stoic silent types, but something about Tabitha just makes my inner moe meter go berserk. Let’s hope she gets some more screen time and an epic Yuki vs Asakura-esque battle sequence.

And thank Haruhi we finally got some dere dere from Louise, she was really starting to scare me >.<

Louise the tsun tsun D=

So…who’s been brushing up on their rocket launcher assembly and firing skills?

LOL! Moé!

Louise the dere dere <3

Victories

- Dere dere Louise
- Tabitha (especially as depicted in the above screenie)
- Touching, yet cliche, “shikashirou!” (get a hold of yourself) scene

Phailures

- Saito slapstick is getting old’d
- Zerbst’s fawning is also getting old’d
- Headmaster was too serious, where was the ecchi! T_T
- Predictability of Longueville/Fouquet
- More engrish

~ Shirukii ~

This episode starts off with an unknown mage dropping in on our beloved academy, opening a hole above its treasure room, and stealing some jewels. The mystery thief identifies herself as Fouquet, the Crumbling Dirt…aaaand cue OP.

Cut to the ever lovable Shan…err…Louise and her unwilling familiar Saito preparing for a yearly tradition where familiars are evaluated. This year is to be especially important because the Princess (Queen?) of Toristein is going to be attending. The evaluation basically consists of the familiar showing off its talents and abilities, of which Saito has NONE. After realizing his complete worthlessness Saito suggests he do the only thing he’s good at…washing Louise’s panties. Obviously not appreciating the sarcasm, the pink haired tsundere brings out the horse whip. But by some miracle of Haruhi, Saito’s sword catches her eye and she remembers he’s a decent swordsman…NOT, turns out he can’t swing it properly, and the whole ordeal vs Guiche was a fluke. But alas, with nothing else to work with Saito grabs his sword and heads out to practice.

After being ridiculed by some passing nobles and showing no improvement, Saito decides to take a break. Cue Siesta entrance stage left! She takes him to where all the other familiars are practicing and gives him a little background info on the princess before wishing him luck and running off to help prepare.

That evening the princess herself arrives leaving a sea of flustered students in awe. After a brief introduction and greeting from the headmaster we flash forward to night time.

Saito is showing off his drunken bar dance leet sword skills, leaving Louise less than impressed and ready to bust out the horse whip. But wait! There’s someone at the door, seeking salvation Saito goes to greet the guest who turns out to be the princess, who proceeds to glomp Louise. After some flashbacks and random Saito-grade stupidity we learn that Louise and the princess are childhood friends. Apparently the reason why Louise hasn’t been getting punished for her and Saito’s recent fiascos was because the princess has been defending her. Of course for every dramatic moment in this anime, there has to be a counterbalance and what better way to follow up to a touching reunion than some more Saito abuse. (Though I must say he’s getting good at dodging the whip)

And so we arrive at the familiar examination, impressive displays from most of the students, except Guiche…that guy creeps me out. Tabitha is soooo channeling Yuki, everything she does is so effortless and nonchalant toss her a book, some glasses and maybe an optical mouse and I dare you to tell the two apart. Realizing that she’s hopelessly screwed, Louise tells Saito to walk on stage, bow, and get off. As they’re called up and Louise announces her familiar’s class (Commoner) the audience bursts into laughter. Aggravated, Saito lashes out at the crowd, of course this doesn’t help and he ends up being dragged off stage by Louise. The winner of the examination? Yuki Tabitha of course.

After the ceremony the princess asks to see Tabitha’s sylph in flight again. Suddenly a loud crash is heard which turns out to be the thief from earlier coming to steal the “Staff of Destruction”. Despite his best efforts (lol) to fight off the thief’s golem, Saito ends up in its grips. Louise tries to cast a spell, which ends up missing (surprise surprise) and nearly killing Saito. Interstingly enough, it cracks the treasury’s wall, which the thief (triangle-mage) couldn’t break. Taking advantage of the crack, the thief breaks in and makes away with the staff. Add some random ecchi from the headmaster and that’s Tsukaima 5! Great ep.

Thoughts:

Really enjoyed this episode, Saito deserves credit as the gutsiest Harem lead I’ve ever seen. Personally, I would never mock Louise, hontou ni kowai! Though I would like to see their relationship begin to develop past the status it seems to be stuck in. Slapstick romance comedy is a nice starting point, but they need to move forward, and there isn’t much time left to do it either.

There wasn’t much action in this episode, as is the trend for Tsukaima, not necessarily a bad thing, but something I’d like to see played out more. This show needs an epic Yuki vs Asakura type battle, unfortunately, I see this happening with Saito as opposed to Tabitha =(

The revelation of Louise’s relationship with the princess was a nice boost for continuity, which was previously lacking.

All in all an excellent episode, though I would recommend more Tabitha and Siesta, less Saito cruelty. And most of all, more dere dere Louise, whatever happened to her T_T. The only dere dere we’ve seen from her is some brief moments of concern while Saito was getting manhandled by a golem.

Sorry for the low quality pics, sceenies are from the medium quality kuroneko sub AND they had to be resized =(

…lucky bastard

…I retract that statement, unless Saito is into S&M

Ecchi headmaster for the ultimate win

Oh Siesta, should Louise steal Saito away, I’LL always love you <3

Victories

- Tabitha, Yuki channeling ftw
- Ecchi headmaster, made me literally lol
- Saito’s bravery/stupidity
- Siesta, Horie Yui = <3
- Loli Louise

Phailures

- Guiche, he named that thing Belldandy!? BLASPHEMY!
- Engrish “FIREBALL!”
- Staff of Destruction? It seems J.C.Staff has misplaced their creativity
- The pacing of this anime seems to be running slow, I don’t see how they’re going to tie everything up in 13 eps

~ Shirukii ~