Zero no Tsukaima F EP 02-03 Roundup

It was obvious from its debut episode that Zero F would venture where its former seasons has not and waste no time diving into some pretty sizable plot developments early on. Of course, it makes sense considering that this is the all-important final season, but that doesn’t make an outright invasion headed by the hellish antagonist to destroy all that is decent in the world any less surprising at the third episode. I’m certainly not complaining, however, as this level of consistent action from this series already has me far beyond content, but that is not to say that a number of the smaller developments felt noticeably rushed and could have either been more subtle or brought about in another way.

Starting things off on a good note, the Pope’s two-week long celebration has brought out the best that the kingdom of Romalia has to offer—banquets of food, endless festivities and, of course, Louise and Tiffa fully-clad in Index cosplay. I’d have to agree with Saito on this one—Sister-Louise is way too cute to resist, but the “lemon-chan” thing went right over my head. Maybe it was another example of cross-series advertising with Ano Natsu (I wouldn’t doubt it, episode 2 was hilarious!), or possibly the anxiety of being deprived of Tiffa’s oppai-hugs. I don’t know, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the comedy antics are cut short when Louise is yet again captured by the villain—this time, however, her captor is the youngest of the Elemental siblings, goth-maid Jeanette. Meanwhile, Saito, gets caught up in a sword fight of his own with the squinty-eyed sword fighter, Doudou. I have found the inclusion of the Elemental siblings to be a catalyst for the rapid rate at which the plot development has travel so far in the story, which I’ve greatly enjoyed watching. Also, unlike so many other sub-par baddies that should really only be guilty of making rookie mistakes, the siblings have already demonstrated their level of competence, preferring to use authentic tactics like stealth, deceit, and even the use of poison (badass!).

With the invasion force drawing ever closer to the kingdom’s aerial forces, Joseph initiates his plan by first acquiring a portion of Louise’s void unique ability, explosion, and sets it into motion by detonating a series of powerful fire stone “bombs”. As the destruction ensues, members of the ‘dream team’—Tabitha and Sylphid at its head—soar into action, which brings me to the segment where I boast one of my favorite characters of the series, and the star of particular episode, Saito. Where his unyielding determination is naturally full of confidence, his performances are usually just that—rehearsed and devoid of genuine emotion. However, in this episode he turns a full 180 degrees, making it difficult not to give him a good amount of attention. The first instance that impressed surprised me was his “mind’s eye” bluff. Not only did the hilarious implications of Saito bringing a gun to a magic fight introduce a good few laughs, but discovering that Joseph possesses the “accelerator” ability solidified the joke with an out-of-place comparison. Sitting there watching Saito close his eyes had me questioning his sanity, considering Joseph’s powers—and Saito’s certainly no Kamijou Touma, but after seeing him pull of a workable “unafraid of death” creepy smile-of-determination, I questioned if this was the same Saito that’s been around all of this time. And on that same note of emerging maturity, was the instance where Tabitha was in a position to kill her wounded uncle. Of course, I was expecting to hear a righteous loli-rant from both Louise and Saito on the evils of revenge, but surprisingly he let her make the decision herself. Another very smart move. Finally, let us not forget his perceptiveness when he called out the pope and Julio for scheming with Louise’s life. All in all, he undoubtedly lived up to his reputation as hero.

My only caveat, as mentioned earlier, with this episode was the brevity of the individual sequences and the grand development involving Joseph’s plotting and the invasion of Romalia. The main problem with the smaller developments, mostly those that took place during the invasion—Tiffa being prompted and using her ‘forgetfulness spell’ on the gargoyle in under a minute; the half-minute FB of Julio giving Saito an ‘ancient artifact’ to explain the gun to name a few—was that they lacked a substantial tie-in to the plot’s rapid development. Maybe J.C. Staff got carried away by their own strength—after all, they’ve been cranking out great episodes for a number of current series. What would have been better is if the build up to the invasion way stretched over possibly one or two more episodes, allowing time to subtly introduce these important factors and maybe even go a bit deeper into discovering who Tiffa’s familiar might be. In the end the resolution just came so fast that it left me longing to simply see more on behalf of Joseph’s truly dastardly personality. In my opinion, it might have been nice to throw in an extra extended half episode devoted to mayhem— evil gargoyles snatching up babies, ships colliding head on, and an all-out magic fight between the invading fleet and the other index-mages, but you can’t have it all .

Taking everything into account, I am extremely pleased with the balance this season is displaying thus far. A key aspect of balance is finding a desirable ratio of fast-paced action and comedic romance sequences, something the final season is employing near-flawlessly. What Zero F does remarkably well in addition to employing such a balance, is in it’s fanservice department. While as of yet Tiffa seems to be holding the fort on her own in terms of fanservice, I can’t think of a better way to have it; after all, it’s one of those things that delivers a greater punch when used less frequently. So another fantastic episode from Zero F, how did you like it? What I’m anxiously awaiting now is the next big development hopefully leading up to another grand conglomeration of good vs. evil. As for next week it’s looking like things might break for some ecchi fanservice, but hopefully this intermission won’t take too long.