Zero no Tsukaima F – 08 & 09

“How are you doing this?” “Oh, I used a tool that fell from your world. It says ‘Aperture Science’ on it.”

Sorry for the late post, everyone! Yeah, IRL stuff again, and I decided to prioritize Nisemonogatari for the time being, as that’s one I feel more comfortable writing about. Anyway, without further ado, let’s catch up on what Louise and Saito have been up to the past couple weeks.

Episode 8

What Saito really is a tiny old green master to lift the plane from the bog oasis for him.

Saito tries to fly the downed plane, but to no avail; even a Gandalfr can’t make a plane work under water. At least his captors are nice, but soon he and Tifania are summoned to the elven council where most of them are accusing Tifania of being a demon due to her void magic, demanding an execution. Though there are plenty who are willing to stand up for them too, including Lukshana and Vitartial, but Saito doesn’t do any favors for himself by attacking his accuser when he speaks too harshly of Tifania.

Believe it or not, this may have saved Saito’s life.

Meanwhile, the rescue crew from the school has entered elven territory. They run into some elven defense ships, but they use their superior steam powered engines to fly right past them. And it works for a while, but the engine eventually stalls, and they’re forced to take hits. Louise suggests using her Explosion to pop the elves out of the sky, but Colbert wisely stops her, knowing that that could spark an international incident.

Saito and Tifania are locked up waiting for more of their trial and feeling pretty down. Tifania decides this is the only chance she has and tells Saito that she loves him, resulting in a kiss and… him also becoming her familiar. Just then, Lukshana, Vitartial, and Ari break through the door to rescue them. And thus proceeds the escape through the sewers. They are found out relatively quickly, but they’re able to use Vitartial’s magic and Saito’s sword skills to fend off the pursuers, at least until they reach an impregnable barrier. They’ve walled off the back to keep the attacking elves out, but they’re quickly breaking through and threatening to release poison gas…

You’d think Saito would learn eventually to stop going around sticking his tongue down other girls’ throats…

But when you’ve got nowhere to run, you can turn to the magic of portals! So that near-tryst by Saito and Henrietta in the secret room in his mansion did have a point after all! Louise suddenly enters void mode in her room on the ship, seemingly activated by the book on her bedside, and forms a portal directly into the walled off area where Saito and company are trapped. The elven rescuers come along too, leaving the pursuing elves to break down the wall to find… just another wall.

This was a triumph!

On the ship, the elves have boarded and are actually quite reasonable about listening to Colbert, but they haven’t heard of this kidnapping of which he speaks. That is, until Vitartial appears from below deck and asks them to let them go as a favor. And so our heroes are rescued and reunited with their friends. Vitartial decides he’ll go back home and into hiding, but he recommends that Lukshana and Ari go with the humans, so the gang gets a couple more elven sidekicks. Louise is at a loss as to how she created that portal, and Saito foolishly mentions that it might have to do with his becoming Tifania’s familiar, which, of course, means they kissed. So again, the episode ends with Louise attempting to inflict injury on Saito, with Siesta and Tabitha helping.

Yes, Saito, everyone can see you’ve got a nice bod, but you do know this is going to get you into trouble, right?

Episode 9

Once rescued, Saito and the gang go straight via airship to Lutis, the Gallian capital, where Tabitha has decided to take on the crown. This gives everyone a chance to rest, fix the ship, and play dress up for the big coronation ceremony, though Louise – egged on by Siesta – is having a hard time controlling her jealousy that Saito now also belongs to Tifania.

To be fair to Louise, you’d have to be an idiot as big as Saito and Tifania to do this like this out in the open.

Lukshana is ecstatic to be in a real human city, but unfortunately for her the Undine Knights are keeping her locked away in a safe house, in order not to be caught housing elves. The fact that the pope Vittorio is coming from Romalia for the coronation seems to be an important reason for this. Ari and the knights on guard – Guiche and that chubby blond dude – get started off on the wrong foot when they are forced to physically stop his fiancee from leaving the house, and Saito has to come and break up the fight.

But the next day, Lukshana has gone missing, leading Ari to team up with the aforementioned guards to find her. Meanwhile, Saito is meeting up with the pope who is happy to see him back alive (despite not having lifted a finger to save him). They ask about the mysterious portal that Louise had made which she still doesn’t understand, and Vittorio describes it as the “World’s Door,” magic that can connect distant locations via portals. He’s also quite fascinated by Saito taking on a new master, something he’s never seen before, and he also explains that Saito has the ability to power up his masters, for example making Louise’s Explosion magic stronger, at the cost of his own strength.

Not that Saito is a gentleman by any stretch of the imagination, but I think Mortmorency has a better case than Louise for her jealousy. And physical abuse.

This being the day before Tabitha’s coronation, the girls decide to have one final girls’ night together in Tabitha’s room, and as Mortmorency, Kirche, Louise, and Tifania are headed there, they run into Guiche who is still looking for Lukshana by hitting on a random girl. Obviously Mortmorency attacks him without letting him explain, leading to some male bonding between Ari and Guiche over food as they realize that the men and women of their races are not so different after all. Meanwhile, the girls run into Lukshana who decides to join the sleepover, and the girls come to a similar realization when Mortmorency learns that she was wrong about reprimanding Guiche in this case.

Tabitha is coronated queen the next day. Before the party, as Saito dresses Louise, he gives her some ease by telling her that though Tifania is also his master, the only one he loves is Louise. He runs off ahead to the dance, and Louise is having trouble finding him in the halls, when she happens to overhear Vittorio talking with his familiar. Apparently he wasn’t being so honest, and Saito using himself as a booster for his masters will result in permanent damage and will shorten his lifespan. Meanwhile, elsewhere, in what appears to be a volcano, the ancient prophecy of disaster looks to be coming true, with something awakening…

I’ll be honest; it probably would’ve made more sense for them to be drinking mead or something, but I enjoyed seeing Ari chewing his food angrily.

So we got treated to an action heavy episode, followed by a rather slow and uneventful one. I gotta hand it to JC Staff, they keep me guessing when it comes to the pacing of this show. At least things seem to be headed in some direction, though the destination is obviously still a mystery. I’m glad they brought the story back to the issue of the 4 void mages, which seems to have gotten the elves in an uproar. Despite believing themselves to be higher beings, they haven’t shown themselves to handle issues with wisdom or maturity so far.

I got some major JRPG vibes from the late-game powerup that Saito got thanks to his contracting with Tifania (Actually, I think the setting of Zero no Tsukaima is interesting enough that I’d enjoy playing a JRPG set within). And I guess Tifania has served her role now, giving Saito a boost so that he can help his real master. 8 episodes of doing virtually nothing, and now playing support. She could’ve been such a fun character. Shouldn’t the hybrid be one of the mains, because of the unique position she has as both part of and pariah to 2 different groups? And remember that ring Henrietta gave her in the 1st episode? Well, I guess we’ve still got 3 episodes to go.

The airplane in the oasis at the end of episode 7 got dropped about as quickly as the semiautomatic pistol that Saito got from Julio in episode 3. I said I liked these modern touches, these bits of evidence that this fantasy world connects with our own, but it looks like the show just doesn’t want to do anything with them. Come on, use the unique strengths of the franchise – no, the flat chested tsundere voiced by Rie Kugimiya isn’t one of them – to enhance the narrative, not just as window dressing! If that plane doesn’t come back by the end of the show, I’ll be very disappointed.

I see that Vittorio is up to his deceiving ways again. I guess he’s being set up as the misguided good guy, someone who genuinely wants to save the world but is willing to lie to and even kill his comrades in order to reach this goal. By most moral standards, that would make him a bad guy, but I don’t think the show will make him the villain. Because we did see the villain at the end of episode 9, some lava monster thing. Well, I can only hope the pope will get his comeuppance somehow, whether it be death in battle, disgrace before his subjects, or just plain old shame from having to live with his actions.

Anyway, I’m hoping for real bad guys, that is, the Elemental Siblings, to come back. Remember them? What happened to them once there fell asleep on Saito’s property anyway? If they’re only after money, are they going to step out while our heroes take on real issues like saving the world? Or will Doudou come back again to take revenge on Saito? I really hope it’s the latter, and Jeanette gets her hands on Louise again.

Preview

I guess a little girl dies? Or, knowing this series, she’ll be saved in the nick of time but drop her doll, which we see here. Or maybe it’ll be a little boy who likes to play with dolls. Or an adult who likes to watch cartoons? Wait, getting too meta here.