Zero No Tsukaima (The Familiar of Zero)

The Familiar of Zero (Zero No Tsukaima) is a fantasy and comedy-oriented series of Japanese light novels written by Noboru Yamaguchi and illustrated by Eiji Usatsuka. The story features several characters from the second year class of a magic academy in a fictional magical world with the main characters being the inept mage Louise and her familiar from Earth, Saito Hiraga. The series has been adapted three times as an anime series. The first season aired in Japan between July and September 2006 produced by the animation studio J.C. Staff and directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki.

The second season, entitled Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi, was directed by Yū Kō and aired in Japan between July and September 2007. A third anime adaptation, titled Zero no Tsukaima: Princesse no Rondo, is produced by J.C.Staff, with Yū Kō as the director, and aired on Japanese television between July and September 2008.

A manga version drawn by Nana Mochizuki began serialization in Media Factory's manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive in July 2006. On April 21, 2007, Geneon announced that they have picked up the English dubbing rights of the first season of the anime series and will be under the title The Familiar of Zero. The announcement was made at the 2007 Anime Boston convention.

On July 3, 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon Entertainment still retains the license, Funimation Entertainment assumes exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. The Familiar of Zero was one of several titles involved in the deal.

Story

The Familiar of Zero follows the adventures of the protagonists Louise and her familiar Saito. Louise is a second year student at the Tristain Academy of Magic. In this world, those who can use magic are either mages or nobles.

Louise is terrible at magic, and can never use it the way she wants to. She is given the nickname "Louise the Zero" by her classmates, due to the inability to use any of the four common magic elements, whereby a mage's power is determined by the number of elements they can use ranging from a single element, one line, to four, square mage. Early in the school year, the second year students summon their familiars; this is considered a special ritual where a mage summons their eternal protector and partner, which usually is some sort of magical creature. Louise manages to summon a human commoner named Saito Hiraga, leaving her totally humiliated. Due to the sacredness of the ritual, Louise is left with no choice but to reluctantly accept Saito as her familiar. She proceeds to treat Saito as any other familiar only worse, making him sleep on a bed of hay and beats him with a whip for little to no reason, among other things.

One day Saito challenges a noble who disrespects commoners (Guiche) to a duel. Saito is beaten badly at first, but once a sword was put in Saito's hands, he gained a mysterious power and with this power he is able to defeat the noble in the duel. Louise and Saito's relationship's develop during the course of the story. Together they face many mysteries and uncover unexpected truths, including the nature of Saito's mysterious power, and the truth behind Louise's inability to cast magic.

Main characters

Louise

Louise Françoise de la Bamue le Blanc de la Vallière, third daughter of the noble family La Vallière who owns the north-eastern territory of Tristain, is the main female character. She is a second year student at the Tristain Academy of Magic. Louise is a terrible mage who is often scorned by her fellow classmates because every spell she casts fails, so she is nicknamed "Louise the Zero" after her zero success rate and zero attributes. This has led her to be very bitter and in the way she treats her future familiar Saito to an even cruel extent.

She initially treats Saito like a dog, making him lie on a straw bed, and even getting naked in front of him. She also makes him dress her and wash all of her clothes (including her underwear). As is typical of Rie Kugimiya's voice roles as tsundere type characters, Louise at first hates Saito, but because of various situations, grows fond of him, even falling in love with him. Even so, when he gets (momentously determined by Louise to be) perverted thoughts about other girls and when she is jealous of or mad at him, she beats him with a whip and later gets into the habit of kicking him in the groin from behind on multiple occasions or blowing up Saito with magic. In one instance, she beat him for hours until he had wounds all over his body (though somehow, all the wounds would always disappear on a later scene) and later on buys a more brutal type of whip. All this is intended in a comical manner and is seen more as the story progresses.

Later it is revealed that Louise's failure in performing magic of any of the four basic attributes is because, in fact, her magical affinity is with the rare and powerful Void element, hence being known as the Void Wizard since then. This relies, at first, on the cooperation of Saito's ability to trigger it, even though they do not get along.

Saito Hiraga

Saito Hiraga, the main male character, is from Earth (specifically Tokyo, Japan). At the time of the summoning, he had just picked up his laptop (on his way home from school in the manga) from getting repaired. A portal of some kind opened in front of him, and, Saito's curiosity getting the better of him, he touched it and was sucked through. At first, Saito had no idea where he was, and was thoroughly disoriented. In the anime, he also could not identify or understand the language the students were speaking, but after Louise attempts to cast a silence spell on him that fails, he can understand and communicate with others as though they were speaking Japanese.

There are runes inscribed into Saito's hand as a result of his being bound to Louise. They read or Gandalfr (actually "Gundolf") These runes glow when his Gandalfr powers activate. As a Gandalfr, Saito has the ability to use any object that was made with the intent of being used as a weapon at an extremely high level of skill. He also becomes significantly stronger, faster and tougher. This physical augmentation fades more or less instantly when he stops using the power, which can result in him falling unconscious if he'd been wounded previously. That he can only use items specifically crafted for "the purpose of weapons" was revealed by Derflinger after a failed attempt to use an ornamental sword. It has not been made clear whether Gandalfr powers could be used in conjunction with purely magical weaponry such as a wand or a staff. He is said to be the left hand of god and death cannot get to him for that reason.

His partner, the talking sword Derflinger, was also the partner of the Gandalfr six-thousand years previously. Saito protects Louise with a passion, and it is later shown that he has feelings for her as well, saying that " All that he is good at is protecting her". He is revealed to be a Gandalfr, a familiar who exists to protect a Void Wizard as they cast their spells. He eventually falls in love with Louise, as he later confesses his love for her even after the way she treats him.

Tabitha

Tabitha is a quiet girl who is a classmate and the best friend of Kirche, as well as being Louise's classmate. Throughout the series she is almost always reading a book. Later it was revealed that the name Tabitha is an alias; she is in fact Charlotte, daughter of the King's murdered brother, and the rightful heir to the throne of Gallia. Her specialty is wind magic. She is also a chevalier knight, which is the lowest rank of knight. Her familiar is a nature dragon named Sylphid. She also seems to have feelings for Saito.

Kirche

Louise's well-endowed classmate. Fire magic is her specialty — drawn from her strong passion for love. The territory she is from has long since had a dislike for the La Vallière family. She flirts and has dated (and heavily implied in the anime, slept with) many of the academy boys, but falls in love with Saito after seeing his ability. Often her schemes and aggressive invitations for him to sleep with her leads to him getting punished by his master Louise because of her overwhelming jealousy. Her familiar is a salamander called Flame.

Guiche

Guiche is one of Louise's classmate who, despite being in love with Montmorency, is a conceited playboy who cannot decide which girl he really wants. He always carries an artificial rose with him, the stem of which is his wand. He also likes to dote upon his familiar, a giant mole named Belldandy. As his familiar indicates, his specialty is earth magic.

Siesta

A maid at the academy. She has a crush on Saito, and treats him very kindly. She cares heavily for Saito and is very concerned with his well-being. Although bearing witness to a possible relationship between Saito and Louise and its accompanying sharp up and downs, Siesta (in proper agreement with her actions) believes she can provide Saito a more gentle and caring relationship and love. She has also been commonly aware of Louise's continually abusive treatment of Saito. Although timid, her love for Saito draws her to take increasingly confident actions to win Saito's love, including reticent lying following an unveiled seduction attempt, and donning various costumes to attempt to win Saito's affection. Her recent attempts, although somewhat less aggressive, have revealed unveiled reciprocal feelings on Saito's character to at least a minor extent. It is revealed later that Siesta is actually descended from a World War II Japanese pilot, explaining her physical Japanese features akin to Saito's, including black hair.

Henrietta

The Princess of Tristain. She is loved by her nationals and is also an old friend of Louise. Later, she becomes the queen of Tristain and decides to defend Tristain from the Albion invasion after the assassination of the Albion prince. She also seems to have developed an affinity for Saito. While at first she is presented as your stereotypical princess, her character later grows to show her struggles with the war.

Montmorency

She is Louise's classmate. Like most Tristain nobles, she has a great deal of pride. She also had made a contract with a Water spirit. She has feelings for Guiche, but she doesn't reveal it to him. She also can create various potions, including a prohibited love potion.

Setting

Halkeginia

Halkeginia is the continent that the story of The Familiar of Zero takes place on. It can be thought of as a sort of alternate Europe, with similar, although not entirely identical, geographical and political boundaries. During the course of the story, its history begins to parallel Europe's history as well, and is in a period of transition. Halkeginia's social structure is similar to the feudal class systems of Europe in the Middle Ages. Nobles hold great power in the royal courts, and only they are able to use magic. Commoners are generally treated poorly by the nobility.

Tristain

Tristain is the nation in which the majority of the story takes place. It is a small monarchal country resembling modern day Belgium and Luxembourg with a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Benelux). It is under threat from Albion, because of a rebellion there by the people against the royalty. Tristain is home to a magical academy which attracts students from nearby countries known as the Tristain Academy of Magic. The academy is a highly acclaimed school for magical studies, where students gather to study the mysteries of magic. It even attracts students from Germania and Gallia. The main courtyard of the school is known as Vestri Court.

Militarily, the country is weak, with only a small permanent force, which forces it to make marriage alliances with other countries. This mirrors the political state of the Low Countries on many occasions throughout history, in reality. The capital city is Tristania and is located in the northwest of Halkeginia.

Germania

Germania is the largest kingdom in Halkeginia, and is also regarded as the strongest in terms of military might. Although its name comes from the Roman word for Germany, its landmass is much larger than would be expected, and seems to also occupy where a lot of Eastern European States and Western Russia should be. It is regarded as a more barbaric and down-to-earth type of country, with its men considered to be brutish. This parallels the Roman view on the people of Germania in reality. Gemania is located to the northeast of Tristain.

Gallia

Gallia is another kingdom in Halkeginia, located to the southeast of Tristania. Germania is on its eastern border, in the Alden Forest. It is the second largest country in Halkeginia, and it most similar to France, although it also seems to occupy where Iberia should be as well. Within the Gallia Royal Family, murders and assassination attempts have lead to an unstable royalty. There is a city named La Rochelle in the mountains, which is also a major treeport.

Romalia

Romalia is a holy empire, located to the south of Gallia. It occupies a peninsula similar to Italy.

Albion

Albion is a floating island nation nicknamed the white country, which is similar to Britain, and is in a period of political strife. According to the storyline, the people initiated a coup d'etat against the royalty, and all but one of the Albion Royal Family had been killed. The last royal left alive is named Prince Wales, which also parallels real history to a certain extent, although his counterpart in reality, Charles I, was more a Dane and a Scot than an Englishman. The rebellion in the story mirrors the English Civil War, when the parliament elected by the people rebelled against the Royal family in a brutal power struggle. The name of the leader of the Parliament forces was Oliver Cromwell, and the leader of the Albion rebellion is also aptly named Cromwell. Cromwell seeks to spread his power elsewhere, and begins with Tristain.

Magic

The nobles of Halkeginia are magi, otherwise known as wizards or magicians, and must use a wand or a staff to cast spells. Some of the wands are uniquely shaped and made, such as Guiche's, which was made from the stem of a rose. Not all magi are nobles as some have given up their nobility to use their magic for thievery or to work as mercenaries.

There are four magic elements: fire, water, wind, and earth. Magi have an affinity to one of those elements. There is a fifth element, the legendary lost branch of element, known as void. The only known users of this power are Louise, Tiffania and most likely King Joseph (Sheffield's, a familiar of the void, master). The five elements referenced in the story are not the classical Greek elements or the Chinese elements, but the five classical Japanese elements, also known as the Godai. According to this system, they are Chi (Earth), Sui (Water), Ka (Fire), Fū (Wind), and Kū (Void). In the story, Kū has been changed to Kyomu but remains the same in concept.

Magi can combine different magical elements or even stack the same element on top of itself to make spells more powerful. The power of a mage is determined by how many elements he or she can combine. There are four ranks of magician based upon this factor. Those who cannot combine any element together have the first rank, which is symbolized as a dot. Most magic students are in this class. Those who can combine two together are called line magi, the second rank; some of the better students are capable of this. The third rank, triangle mage, is for those who can combine three elements together. If one reaches the rank of triangle, one is worthy of being an instructor of magic as an elite class mage. The fourth rank, the square mage, is rare. Those who reach it are worthy to be called legends. In myths, there is even a fifth rank called pentagram mage. Royal blooded magi are also able to combine their skills to boost their level past the pentagram level. This happened when the undead Wales and Princess Henrietta did this to perform "Hexagon Magic".

One of the major themes is that humans and technology from Earth displaced into the world of Halkeginia are considered to be highly magical. A magical item called the "Staff of Destruction" is, in reality, a human-made Vietnam-era M72 LAW rocket launcher. Another item called the "Dragon's Mantle" is a World War II-era A6M Zero fighter plane. These also spawn many myths about them. The name of the "Staff of Destruction" came about when the war veteran who brought it into Halkeginia killed a dragon with it. The "Dragon's Mantle" yielded what is known as "Dragon's blood", which turns out to be gasoline. Another artifact from the real world, a German Flak 88 artillery gun, is later revealed.