Zero no Tsukaima (second season) - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Darknemo2000]

Kou You still hasnt stepped over his puberty period... And he thinks that everyone are like him, and having the same tit-festsh as he .Which should make ZnT 2 a big hit. Sadly, its not the case, as some people do grow up. Surprise, surprise...

Maybe he'll grow up some day and will stop using breasts as the main plot device. Though i personally think, it would be better to just stop giving him any work connected to anime directing...

ZnT novels are originally a seinen - meaning for young adult. Its just anime lowered it to teens only...

[Guido]

Honestly, I did not want to bother to give my final thoughts for this sequel which turned out disappointing.

Last week the autumn season started, but, fortunately, for this thread I chose to pick very few titles in comparison to this year's previous season.

The main flaw why this second series failed was that they focused heavily on a newly-introduced character, Agnes, in order to setup the right timing and pacing to explore and study her background.

I also think that the episode where Henrietta reunites with Wales could had been used better, like had the briefly resurrected Wales could had told who is the true leader of the insurrection that is brewing at Albion and what her she is aiming for at short term.

Next, the sequel should had been better off without introducing Louise's family. Another excuse to setup more busty and cute female characters on the sidelines for the pleasure and needs of male otakus.

They should have used the remaining three episodes to dive deep into the schemes that Sheffield was devising, but instead we got to see more useless characters and more Louises' rants about Saito peeping at other girls' breasts.

There wasn't any instance at most of the episodes without Saito being fried or burst by Louises' spells for his sex-transgressions. Give it a break, he's a teen boy with healthy tastes.

I do really miss the precious characters that made the previous season very rich and engaging. It was sad to watch Kirche and Tabatha demoted to the sidelines, as well as Derrflinger (by far my favorite character) having limited participation in the remaining episodes. I really missed Fouquet, where could she have gone to?

The reason why this sequel was dissapointing I read was because they hired a different director to take charge for the second series, and likely I vote that to be one of the many factors that made the second delivery to go downhill.

Although not all is lost, this year is the year for Rie Kugimiya.

She has already voiced Louise, right now she's voicing Nagi Sanzennin which Hayate no Gotoku has entered its second phase of other 26 episodes for the next half-year.

And since last week Shakugan no Shana second series has started. We're hearing Kugimiya Rie in the role that made her well famous in anime, at least that's the case for me, making a comeback as Shana the Enpatsu Shakugan no Uchite.

Returning again are her peers from Zero no Tsukaima second season: Satoshi Hino: previously Saito Hiraaga, and now Sakai Yuuji again; and Ayako Kawasumi: previously Henrietta, and now Kasumi Yoshida.

The second title I concluded for the summer season.

Overall rating: 77/100

[Akeval]

overall i think this series should get a 5.5

the 1st season had gotten a 8 on my scale, but this one totally lacked the follow through of season one that i had hoped for.

the ending was pretty alright though, that perked it up just a bit.

still can't be as shitty as lucky star though

[Darknemo2000]

I cant comment on Lucky star as I havent watched it and frankly dont plan to do so. But ZnT 2 itself is clearly not the best product this year. Its the one that is somewhere oin the bottom line of this years anime's sadly.

And one of the worst JCC staffs works as well.

Every studio has their own ups or their own failures. Sadly ZnT 2 was one of those failures...

[Kabitzin]

I agree with the many responses that criticized the poor directing and pacing. It is ok to mix up the chronology of events if it will make for a tighter adaptation, and to this end, I think that Agnes was over-emphasized at the cost of characters we actually care about. I think having a different team on season 2 led to a real disconnect between season 1 and 2, and I wonder if future seasons will be plagued with the same problem.

[Darknemo2000]

Well the first season has its own mistakes you know. The character personalities that they showed were too bright and dumbed down, this wasnt so bad as they took out all comedy scenes and made the show for kids avoiding any seriousness like fire.

However, second season didnt had those juicy comedy bits that were stolen from them (as first season raped all volumes taking best comedy scenes).

What second season creators had on their had - raped ZnT novels that had mostly the serious scenes left. They tried to make upo for that with their own original comedy but the Tit-jokes grew old fast just like Louise-explodes-on-Saito ending.

They were forced to use serious scenes now thus they had to show other personalities of the characters. The problem is that nor silly firs season characters nor more serious (well they attempted to make them more serious, but failed miserably, and they were actually even more dumbed down than in the first season) parts of personality connected into a single characters.

More so they had to exageratte some parts of personalities to make it funny. Like Saito's being a pervert or Louise exploding about almost every single thing. Sure, those are parts of their personalities in the novels as well, but anime focused on it too much make it rather one-sided characters all-together.

I guess ZnT 2 is what you get when you put mistakes of previous animation and very talentless (without any decent humour sense, i might add) director into one.

[HurricaneHige]

JC Staff not only dropped the ball, they basically threw an interception for the game-losing touchdown on ZnT2.

The first season, altho wasn't closely following the novel, was very enjoyable and characters were developed at a steady, watchable pace. The whole first season was very well done for anyone that did not read the novel, such as myself.

However, the second season JC Staff decides to turn up the fan service and repeat stale jokes done in the first season, even if the plot was decent if the line connecting the dots are not drawn properly it will, and did leave viewers wondering wtf just happened.

The ending for second season would've been one of the most dramatic, heart-breaking cliffhanging ending along side code geass from last year, but surely enough JC Staff can somehow find a way to screw it all up. How? by spoiling the plot from the next arc but not provide any additional information, ruining wat could've been a wonderful ending to the second season. Only after i read summaries for the novel did i find out wtf that was all about, and curses at JC Staff for blowing the game for us.

I hope they come up with an OVA ending like they did with Destiny(It made it better, still about 1000x worse than Seed tho) to correct for the mistakes and lead into the third season (should they choose to do a third one) and fire the current director's ass cuz he really needs to go back to film school.

[Darknemo2000]

One of bad things about ZnT 2 is not only following the novels closely, what is worse - it is not following the first season closely enough as well...

You get the felling that theres a huge crack between season 1 and season 2. I understand if they dont wish or are not able to follow novels closely enough, but they at least should be able to follow their own first season...

They did not follow first season nor the novels... In the end they created a VERY loose interpretation of Zero No Tsukaima with increased ecchi jokes, plain plotline, weird character changes and rushed ending.

JCC Staff really screwed up big time with ZnT2. One of the worst series that this studio has done up to date.

Though at times ZnT2 still manages to be enjoyable but those enjoyable parts come mostly from following novels closely. When their own interpretation begins - series loose all its charm completely. Sadly they did a lot of interpretation with this season.

[holyman282]

I agree, most of the zero no Tsukaima second season, was bad.. There were several good scenes offcourse, such as Saito Vs the 70000 soldiers.. That scene was actually quite emotional and brought a tear to my eyes... The good scenes are quite hard to find... Most of it was just boob jokes..

[Anima]

Originally Posted by holyman282

There were several good scenes offcourse, such as Saito Vs the 70000 soldiers.. That scene was actually quite emotional and brought a tear to my eyes... The good scenes are quite hard to find... Most of it was just boob jokes..

Well, if you knew how the novel handled that part, you would probably see how stupid the anime made it look

[holyman282]

Actually i do know a bit of how the novel handled the scene..

Spoiler for novel:

apparently before they finished him off derf used the magic he's been absorbing and makes saito runs for it hence saving his life. There were also comments made by the enemy of how honourable and strong saito is before they tried to finish him off...

Personally i felt the way in which they portrayed it in the anime was more emotional, it left first time viewers thinking that he died, rather then the stupid scene with the sword in the novel.

Favourite part would have to be when he was surrounded by the soldiers and their wands all lit up as the piano piece of Stay with Me reaches it's crescendo.. Truly quite emotional.. Loved that scene, only wished more of the anime was like that.

[Rume]

Certainly, this season does not live up to my expectation as I am expecting for a deeper/better plot. Though I'm not a reader of the novel itself, this season has been disappointing in bringing forward the plot and characters' development from season 1; from the anime point-of-view. Such as the drastic change in Siesta (Yes, it's drastic), and the increase of pervert-ness in Saito. Furthermore, there is just not enough screen time for the important plots in this season.

After going through the comments/discussions for this season, as much as I will like to see more of Louise/Saito, I do not pin for a season 3. As it has taken a comical-direction, I personally think it will be better to end it here once and for all, as what a normal comedy does usually.

Alas, I think I shall head for the novels, in order to understand and enjoy Zero to the fullest.

Oh ya, I give it a 5/10; at least, I can see some of the familiar faces and hear some familiar voices. Other than that.. hmm..

[jouttex]

7/10 for me.

WAY too many fanservice for Saito >_< And definitely not enough Louise!!

I was pretty disappointed because this season is far from what I expected, compared to 1st season. It's not a bad thing to focus on a larger scale and the new characters and all... but forgetting 1st season characters is a big NO-NO~~ >_< I was expecting more in-depth story about Tabitha or Kirche.. and what I got was only a few shots of them.

And the last fight was so lame that I really wished for Saito's death... >_< but well, I forgive the lameness the moment I heard Mamiko Noto's voice....

The good points of this anime were... um, the yuri fanservice? xD Comedy-level is ok, but still not as good as the 1st season~

Kugimiya Rie was awesome as expected, though.

[shaolinx]

So, I know that there was an epic battle in the novel but I was wondering how manages to escape/defeat their army forces in the novel??? The anime only showed us that he somehow manages to escape into the forest even when there was a huge horde of magic/arrow was cast upon him, which really made no sense at all... maybe it is a question to be answered in S3, but it doesnt seem that way...

[yadango]

i really liked it, but it needed to be longer and the tit jokes needed to go. the last episode there needed to be more than just a 30 second butt-kicking scene. tabitha and kirche really only appear in 2 episodes so character development kind of sucked. it had it's touching moments which made the series salvageable at least to me. but it could have been soooo much better...

[heomap]

7/10 I thought the second season went to fast!

[aliasxn]

Hum... I liked the first season better but I loved the second season too... The only thing I really didn't like was Saito's crises of conscience, I just hate this politically correct shit. It's ok to be against killing people, but would rather die instead?

[incube]

I see loots of disappointed posts... although i also felt that 13 episodes was too short for such this anime, i dont feel dissapointed at all. I really enjoyed Zero no Tsukaima, both S1 and S2. Yeah.. the story was too rushed and there was too much fanservice but as someone said, the comedy and drama was really good too. I hope they can make it better with the next season.

The ending of S2 would be strange in other animes but for ZnT it was expected xD It felt like a completely different anime from the marriage till Saito comes back to the academy... and then the "fairy's big breasts" was like a kick back to reality lol.

I really liked it how instead of ending things with a bitter taste i could finish S2 and wait for the next season with a smile.

[Darknemo2000]

Well most of those posts come incube from the fact that when you compare anime and novels anime looses so much that it becomes painful to watch.

Have you read the novels? Considering that you enjoyed the anime I can guess that you didn't. Simple as that. Once you don't know what you have lost you are not grieving over it. Which actually helps to enjoy the series.

Anime isn.t all THAT bad compared to other anime's, yes its dumb and it is rushed with overdose of tit-jokes and fanservice in general but it's not all that bad in it. However, once you compare to how it is in the novels the anime does really start to look like a total crap.

[incube]

Originally Posted by Darknemo2000

Well most of those posts come incube from the fact that when you compare anime and novels anime looses so much that it becomes painful to watch.

Have you read the novels? Considering that you enjoyed the anime I can guess that you didn't. Simple as that. Once you don't know what you have lost you are not grieving over it. Which actually helps to enjoy the series.

Anime isn.t all THAT bad compared to other anime's, yes its dumb and it is rushed with overdose of tit-jokes and fanservice in general but it's not all that bad in it. However, once you compare to how it is in the novels the anime does really start to look like a total crap.

I know that much... but the novel and the anime adaptation are two different things. There is no need to read the novel to enjoy the anime. If you really enjoy reading novels that much and the anime wasnt what you expected then just focus on what you like. There is no need to call "crap" everything that doesnt suit you.