Zero no Tsukaima F – 07

“Stop, or I’ll take her clothes off!” “Um… OK.”

After the rather humdrum fanservice episode last week, we were promised some more action and the return of the Elemental Siblings this week. Did the show deliver?

Morning after the party, Tabitha is up early to leave before seeing more Saito would make her want to stay. But as she’s saying goodbye to him outside, they’re accosted by none other than the Elemental Siblings – or at least 3 of them – who’ve come to take revenge on Saito. Doudou and Saito go at it, with Jacque attacking as well, though the noise has awoken the boys who’ve come out to help. Jeanette goes inside to capture Louise.

Doudou sure does enjoy fighting.

Meanwhile, those blondes we saw riding this way last episode – turns out they’re elves, not the royal guard as I had assumed – watch from the bushes, waiting for a chance to kidnap Tifania. Fortunately for them, she walks out the back of the house with Siesta, looking for an opportunity to help her friends in the front. In the front, Jeanette has taken a hold of Louise, preventing Saito from fighting.

But that’s when the oldest Elemental Sibling, Damian, appears, and he’s none too happy about his kin coming here for revenge when that wouldn’t make them any money (kindred spirit to the villain of another current show). His magic is alchemy, and he turns the ground into water… I’m actually not sure what he was trying to accomplish, but it gets everyone’s attention. It also provides a destraction for Louise to get free. When they hear Tifania’s scream from the back of the house, Saito goes to investigate, running into the elves in the middle of taking Tifania.

One hell of a fancy horn he’s got there. Where was he hiding it? It’s almost as big as he is!

But Damian’s alchemy also gave one of the elves the water necessary to cast his sleeping spell, which affects everyone in the front of the house as well. One of the elves identifies Saito based on his Gandalfr mark on his hand and decides to take him along as they kidnap Tifania.

Saito and Tifania wake up in a hut by an oasis and learn from their captor Lukshana that they’re in the Elf lands now, and she kidnapped them in order to study them. During her explanation to her captives, the Void magic issue that was introduced in the very first episode comes back, as the elves, like pope Vittorio was, are very concerned about the 4 void mages leading to some sort of destruction for their land. Lukshana’s uncle Bidalsha makes an appearance – it seems that Saito defeated him in battle once, which was their motivation for kidnapping him. I guess that must have happened in season 3.

Lukshana introduces herself to her captives.

Back in Tristain, it’s been a week since the kidnapping, but queen Henrietta’s hands are tied because correspondences with elves are in the realm of Romalia (you’d think, considering that Saito just saved Romalia a week ago, they’d be happy to saddle up and save him). Louise decides that it’s time for her to save Saito this time and decides to go at it alone, only to be joined by Siesta, then Tabitha and her dragon, then the rest of the gang from the school on their airship.

Meanwhile, Saito and Tifania decide to make the best of things in their captivity, going swimming in the oasis – the latter in the nude, of course. Saito is about to succumb to his manly desires and cheat on Louise when he notices that the mossy rock in the middle of the oasis is actually metal, leading him to investigate under water and… discover a fallen plane, undoubtedly from his world.

“Since we’re friends, it’s okay if you touch them.” Tifania may be only half elf, but her understanding of human society seems just as flawed.

Well, here we go, things are happening again! Not that this was some amazing episode, but there were fights, magic, kidnappings, and a clear direction for the next episode, which is more than could be said about the previous 3 episodes. I enjoyed seeing the Elemental Siblings again. Doudou and his insane love for fighting and Jeanette’s touchy-feely-licky way of handling Louise were sorely missed. And the oldest sibling, the shota Damian, finally made an appearance proper, showing off his fancy horn and his ability to use it for alchemy. I found it curious that they could identify Tabitha as Gallian royalty but had no qualms about attacking her, given that they’re supposed to be part of their army. Given Damian’s love for money, I guess they’re mercenaries.

The show was very efficient in introducing the elves to us. Given that I haven’t watched season 3, this was much appreciated. As best as I can make it, they have a separate society and consider humans to be lower creatures or “beasts” as they called them. Their understanding of humans was laughably inaccurate, leading me to believe that they have very little relations with them. Lukshana seemed to be quite surprised to see Saito and Tifania just swimming and relaxing, just as elves do.

And that plane was a nice little reveal. Again, without having seen season 3, this is just a shot in the dark, but I wonder if the connection to Saito’s (our) world is something integral to elven society. Or maybe this will just be a once-off thing, much like the semiautomatic pistol from episode 3. Either way, those real-world elements help to add a bit of flavor to this medieval fantasy setting, and I’m eager to find out what will come of the plane.

Preview

Apparently they’ll find some sewers to escape through, and also Louise in Void mode!