Story and characters
Main article: List of The Familiar of Zero characters
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, and those who cannot use magic are
known as "commoners" or "plebeians".Louise is terrible at magic, and can never use it the way she wants to, as her attempts of using magic ends up as a general explosion. She is given the nickname "Louise the Zero" or "Zero Louise" 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 (dot mage), two (line) three (triangle) and four (square). 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 Japanese high school boy 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.
Louise and Saito's relationship develops during the course of the story to the point where they risk their lives to save the other. Though, Saito is usually the one to do so since Louise is almost always the one in danger. Together they face many mysteries and uncover unexpected truths, including the nature of Saito's mysterious power which leaves Del, his legendary sword, to let him know that he is the Gandalfr, and the truth behind Louise's inability to cast magic.
Setting
- Halkeginia
- Halkeginia (ハルケギニア Harukeginia) is the continent that the story of The Familiar of Zero takes place on. Halkeginia's social structure is similar to the feudal class systems of Europe in the Middle Ages, with magic-users being considered nobles. The continent itself is vaguely reminiscent in shape of western Europe, with many of the countries carrying ancient and Roman names.
- Tristain
- Tristain (トリステイン Torisutein) is the nation in which the majority of the story takes place. It is a small monarchal country located in the northwest of Halkeginia. It is under threat from Albion. Tristain is home to a highly acclaimed magical academy which attracts students from nearby countries known as the Tristain Academy of Magic.
- Militarily, the country is weak, with only a small permanent force, which forces it to make marriage alliances with other countries. The capital city is Tristania (トリスタニア Torisutania).
- Germania
- Germania (ゲルマニア Gerumania) is the largest kingdom in Halkeginia, and is also regarded as the strongest in terms of military might. It is regarded as a more barbaric and down-to-earth type of country, with its men considered to be brutish. Germania is located to the northeast of Tristain. Germania is the ancient Roman for the region that is now Germany, the natives were at the time considered by the Romans to be barbarians.
- Gallia
- Gallia (ガリア Garia) 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. Within the Gallia Royal Family, murders and assassination attempts have led to an unstable royalty. There is a city named La Rochelle in the mountains, which is a major port. Gallia is reminiscent of modern day France, which in the Roman era was called Gaul.
- Albion
- Albion (アルビオン Arubion), nicknamed the white country, is a floating island nation which is in a period of political strife. According to the storyline, a group of nobles known as Reconquista initiated a coup d'etat against the royalty, and over the course of the story, succeed in killing the entire Albion Royal Family. Cromwell, the leader of the Albion rebellion, seeks to spread his power elsewhere, and begins by attacking Tristain. Albion is the ancient Greek name for the main island of Great Britain upon which are the modern nations England, Wales, and Scotland.
- Cromwell is named after the leader of the Roundheads during the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell, who successfully ousted the Monarchy, and establishing a brief reign as Lord Protector until the return of Charles II.
- Romalia
- Romalia (ロマリア Romaria) is a holy empire, located to the south of Gallia. Reminiscent of Italy, and specifically the Holy Roman Empire (and the Vatican City, it is mentioned, that they have a pope and officials who are bound to celibacy), which once formed northern Italy and much of central Europe.
Magic
- The nobles of Halkeginia are magi, otherwise known as wizards or magicians, and must use a wand or a staff to cast spells. 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 primary 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. 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. The ability to combine two, three or four elements together leads to a magic user being referred to as a line, triangle, or square mage. In myths, there is a fifth rank called pentagram mage.
- One of the major themes is that humans and technology from Earth displaced into the world of Halkeginia are considered to be highly magical since Halkeginia itself has relatively primitive science and technology. For example, a magical item called the "Staff of Destruction" is, in reality, a human-made Vietnam-era M72 LAW rocket launcher. Other examples of Earth technology, often weaponry, appear throughout the story.
Media
Light novels
The Familiar of Zero began as a series of light novels written by Noboru Yamaguchi and illustrated by Eiji Usatsuka under the original title Zero no Tsukaima. The first volume was published in Japan on June 25, 2004, and as of February 25, 2011, 20 volumes have been published by Media Factory. Further publication was threatened by Yamaguchi's advanced cancer,[1] but the surgery on August 4, 2011 was successful,[2] and Yamaguchi planned to put out the 21st of 22 planned volumes as early as October 2011.[3] A side-story, Tabitha's Adventure, initially available as a cellular-phone online serial, has been released in three published volumes to date. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the series in 2007 under the title Zero's Familiar,[4] but later cancelled the release of the novels.Anime
See also: List of The Familiar of Zero episodes
The Familiar of Zero has been adapted four times into an anime series by the animation studio J.C.Staff. The first season aired in Japan between July 3 and September 25, 2006, and contained thirteen episodes. In April 2007 at Anime Boston, Geneon announced that they had picked up the English dubbing rights of the first season of the anime series under the title The Familiar of Zero.[5]
In July 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment
announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America.
While Geneon Entertainment still retained the license, Funimation
Entertainment assumed 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.[6]
Funimation released a complete box set of the series on November 4,
2008. However, as of August 2011, the rights to the series expired due
to low sales.[7]The second season under the extended title Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi (ゼロの使い魔 ～双月の騎士～, lit. The Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Two Moons) aired in Japan between July 9 and September 24, 2007, containing twelve episodes. A third season, also containing twelve episodes, entitled Zero no Tsukaima: Princesse no Rondo (ゼロの使い魔～三美姫の輪舞(プリンセッセのロンド)～),[8] aired on Japan's Chiba TV between July 6 and September 21, 2008, and Arts Central in Singapore between July 10 and September 24, 2008. A fourth and final season titled Zero no Tsukaima F aired twelve episodes between January 7 and March 24, 2012.[9][10][11] Sentai Filmworks have announced that they have licensed the fourth season (under the name Familar of Zero F) and it will be released digitally and on home video in North America.[12]
The TV and DVD versions of the first two seasons are the same with some bonus trailers and other short clips. However, the TV version of the third season was censored to some extent. The frames became dark and/or blurry when some scenes took place.[citation needed] The DVD version also has an unaired original video animation episode.
Music and audio CDs
The four anime seasons used two pieces of theme music each; one opening theme and one ending theme. The first season's opening theme is "First kiss" by Ichiko, released on July 26, 2006, and the ending theme is "My True Feelings" (ホントノキモチ Honto no Kimochi) by Rie Kugimiya, released on August 9, 2006. The second season's opening theme is "I Say Yes" by Ichiko, released on July 25, 2007, and the ending theme is "Suki!? Kirai!? Suki!!!" (スキ!? キライ!? スキ!!! lit. Love?! Hate?! Love!!!) by Rie Kugimiya, released on August 8, 2007. The first seasons original soundtrack was released on August 23, 2006, and the second seasons' soundtrack was released on August 22, 2007. The third season's opening theme is "You're The One" by Ichiko and the ending theme is "Gomen ne" by Rie Kugimiya. The fourth season's opening theme is "I'll Be There For You" by Ichiko and the ending theme is "Kiss Shite Agenai" by Rie Kugimiya, both released on February 1, 2012.Both the first and second seasons released four character song albums each. The first CD is for Louise and Saito which is sung by Rie Kugimiya and Satoshi Hino. The second CD is for Montmorency and Guiche which is sung by Mikako Takahashi and Takahiro Sakurai; the first two CDs were both released on September 6, 2006. The third CD is for Kirche and Tabitha which is sung by Nanako Inoue and Yuka Inokuchi. The fourth, and final CD from the first season, is for Henrietta and Siesta which is sung by Ayako Kawasumi and Yui Horie; the third and fourth CDs were both released on September 21, 2006. The first CD for the second season is for Louise which is sung by Rie Kugimiya. The second CD is for Henrietta which is sung by Ayako Kawasumi; the first two CDs were both released on October 10, 2007. The third CD is for Siesta which is sung by Yui Horie. The fourth, and final CD from the second season, is for Eleanor and Cattleya which is sung by Kikuko Inoue and Kotomi Yamakawa; the third and fourth CDs were both released on October 24, 2007.
Two audio dramas were released for the second season. The first is a compilation of radio drama episodes from The Familiar of Zero Internet radio show Zero no Tsukaima on the radio: Tristain Mahō Gakuin e Yōkoso and was released on July 25, 2007. The second album is a drama CD featuring the characters Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha—voiced by Rie Kugimiya, Nanako Inoue, and Yuka Inokuchi respectively — which was released on September 5, 2007.
Manga
A manga series illustrated by Nana Mochizuki was serialized in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive between the August 2006 and October 2009 issues, published by Media Factory. Seven tankōbon volumes have been released by Media Factory under their MF Comics imprint. Compared to the anime, characters appear younger in the manga. In Indonesia, the manga has been licensed and released up to volume three by Elex Media Komputindo in English under the title The Familiar of Zero, and in the Czech Republic by Zoner Press.[13] A sequel series known as Zero no Tsukaima Chevalier illustrated by Higa Yukari began serialization in the March 2010 issue of Comic Alive. There are also two other spin-offs serialized in Comic Alive: Zero no Tsukaima Gaiden: Tabatha no Bōken by Takuto Kon, which was serialized between December 2007 and August 2010 and compiled in five volumes, and Zero no Chukaima: Yōchien nano! by Takamura Masaya.Visual novels
Three visual novels for the PlayStation 2 were developed by Marvelous Interactive. The first, Zero no Tsukaima: Shōakuma to Shunpū Concerto (ゼロの使い魔 小悪魔と春風の協奏曲, lit. The Familiar of Zero: Goblins and the Spring Breeze Concerto), was released in limited and regular editions on February 15, 2007 in Japan. This was followed by Zero no Tsukaima: Muma ga Tsumugu Yokaze no Fantasy (ゼロの使い魔 夢魔が紡ぐ夜風の幻想曲) on November 29, 2007 and Zero no Tsukaima: Maigo no Period to Ikusen no Symphony (ゼロの使い魔 迷子の終止符と幾千の交響曲) on November 27, 2008.Notes and references
- ^ "Zero no Tsukaima's Yamaguchi Confirms He Has Cancer". Anime News Network. July 15, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
- ^ "Zero no Tsukaima's Yamaguchi Ends Trouble-Free Surgery". Anime News Network. August 4, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
- ^ "Zero no Tsukaima Author Noboru Yamaguchi Plans Surgery". Anime News Network. July 8, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
- ^ "Zero's Familiar English light novel". Seven Seas Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
- ^ "Anime Boston: Geneon Announces The Familiar of Zero". Anime News Network. 2007-04-21. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
- ^ "FUNimation Entertainment and Geneon Entertainment Sign Exclusive Distribution Agreement for North America" (Press release). Anime News Network. 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
- ^ "Funimation's Higurashi, Familiar of Zero Licenses Expire". Anime News Network. June 11, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ "3rd Zero no Tsukaima Anime: Summer's Princesse no Rondo". Anime News Network. 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
- ^ "Zero no Tsukaima Gets Final Series as TV Anime". Anime News Network. August 20, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ "Author: 4th Zero no Tsukaima Season Slated for 2012". Anime News Network. August 20, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ "Zero no Tsukaima F Slated for January 7". Anime News Network. November 27, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
- ^ "Sentai Filmworks Licenses Zero no Tsukaima F TV Anime Series". Anime News Network. January 10, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "Ve službách Nuly" (in Czech). Zoner Press. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
- J.C. Staff's The Familiar of Zero website (Japanese)
- First PS2 game official website (Japanese)
- Second PS2 game official website (Japanese)
- Third PS2 game official website (Japanese)
- The Familiar of Zero (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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