Light novel talk: Zero no Tsukaima
Since I’d heard that the Zero no Tsukaima anime started off alright but quickly did a quality nosedive, I’d avoided watching it for a while. I was pretty pleased to find a handful I volumes translated at Baka-Tsuki so I read through those, up to Volume 9.
It turns out ZnT is really a harem. I know that I probably shouldn’t be too surprised and that I probably realized this way too late. After all, every single girl was trying to get into Saito’s pants: Louise, Kirche, Siesta, Tiffania, and even Henrietta, the goddamned queen of the country. I’d probably linked Shana, which is more like shounen romance, and ZnT in my mind and expected it to be similar.
The two series do share some similarities. Both feature annoyingly prideful female leads and normal dudes who turn out to be legendary items. This leads both to have incredibly frustrating relationship development in which both main characters waffle on their feelings and get into countless misunderstandings and relationship resets. I’d kinda hoped that Louise’s and Saito’s relationship would solidify more after nine volumes, but I guess they don’t call it a reset for nothing.
Unfortunately, it turns out anything having to do with Louise or Saito are the most interesting parts of the story. His relationships with the other girls don’t really matter since they’re there just to get in the way of the main relationship. The politics between countries are boring because they’re generic fantasy nations lead by generic fantasy people. But, the issue of class and nobility is pretty interesting, because that’s the major problem for the main relationship and is the primary motivation for almost every other character.
So I guess I got through it really quickly because I just skipped all the parts that didn’t have to do with Louise or Saito. It makes me wish that Shana was getting translated instead.
Tags: Anime, light novel, zero no tsukaima
i had a hunch about that from reading the manga…