The Familiar of Zero: "Rondo" of Princesses - Reviews

Before I start I must warn you, that this review is written, with an assumption that reader watched previous 2 seaons. I won't hesitate with major spoilers of the preceeding shows, so if you haven't seen them then you might reconsider further reading.

Even the greatest can make a blunder, and past glory won't save them from it. A succesful brand with large fanbase. A 2 seasons, that receive positive feedback. J.C.Staff - company, that could be nicknamed "god of awesome cliche stories", for it's skills in making the unoriginal content shine. Sounds like ingredients for something epic? Unfortunately, the result is a bastard child of "excessive fanservice" and "annoying characters" - a one of a kind, total failure. 

Story - 3/10

First two seasons of Zero no Tsukaima, weren't anything deep or extraordinary and no one expected them to be like that. They managed to bring out their charms, due to combination of cute, tsundere romance and magical world that resembled XVIIth century France. Among the fights, fanservice driven misunderstandings and arguements about the difference between nobleman and commoners, Saito and Louise slowly progressed their romance. That's why when the season 2 had it's epic ending I had my hopes really high up. I mean they married, god damn it. It should no longer be master-familiar relationship, but something deeper and more intimate...Unfortunately J.C.Staff thought otherwise...

Excessive fanservice won against cute relationship, and Saito x Louise are pretty much back to square one. Louise still acts high and mighty.You would thought, that having her go through the pain of loosing the loved one would make her mature up a little, but no, she is the same spoiled brat. Saito still can't manage to say no to the charms of woman body, which makes his self-declared love towards Louise highly questionable. The problem is - while this pattern worked when they were at "have a crush at each other, but not an official relationship yet", it's incredibly pathetic at "lovers, who vowed to each other" stage. If that wasn't enough, the creators decided to turn this poor show into pathetic harem. What previously was only a love-triangle between Saito, Louise and Siesta, suddenly changed into "almost every girl have hots for Saito". Tabitha does. Henrietta does. Tiffania, with her overgrown rack, also does. So we are showered with every female available having some ecchi scene, possibly with Saito. Great. The army of boys at their puberty might find this enjoyable, everyone else will yawn from boredom.

The story could still try to somehow defend itself, by delivering interesting bits at "fights, void magic and war" part of storyline. Unfortunately, this part naturally self-destructs, leaving the viewer with the question - what the hell it was about?  First half of the show makes us believe, that Louise being a void mage (and possibly Tiffania as well) bears a great significance to the whole world.  The evil boss sends his lackeys after her, to amplify the suspense. While the plot dissolves in the boring episodes, made only for fanservice, we can still claim to the belief that there is an evil force after Louise - so there is some story. Unfortunately after ep 7, the focus of the anime shifts completely. No longer any1 care about aquiring void mages - Tabitha becomes more important. They recall that they were after Louise, at the last episode, but at this point I didn't care anymore. The final battle, comes out bleak and boring, especially with the images from the previous season finale, of "Saito vs whole army", still burned into a memory.

Animation - 7.5/10

At least at this part J.C.Staff didn't dissapoint. The animation is crisp clear, and the fights, while not really breathtaking, are done properly. I could say something about ridicolous hair colours, but since it didn't annoy me that much during previous seasons (since the story was good) I'll stay quiet.  However I have to take a note of ridicolously large breasts, Tiffania posseses. Even if I forget about how they defy law of physics - they are simply not appealing. Maybe there are people who have fetish for Eiken-like size of womans chest, but I don't.

Sound - 8/10

J.C.Staff as always hired amazing crew of voice actors, making japaneese dialogues very appealing for the ears. Stars like Rie Kugimiya, Ayako Kawasumi or Yui Horie are awesome spice to any show. With their easily recognisable voices, and  a talent at bringing out character emotions, they are one of the few awesome things in this anime. Opening and ending weren't really good enough, to listen to them outside of the show, but I still didn't skip them so I'd say they are at average quality. Finally background tracks - they were appealing and tried to help set up the mood (even though the story/characters were constantly destroying it), but they weren't anything extraordinary. Just properly done music.

Characters - 3/10

I can forgive lack of growth from characters in shounen romance.  But when they regress, and turn into annoying versions of their former selves, than I see them as a major failures. Like I mentioned before, Louise didn't learn a thing from the 2nd season. She still first smacks with a whip, then throw insults and finally perhaps listen a bit to what Saito has to say. This is already not a tsundere type  - it's a bitch type. If you want to see properly done, loli-tsundere with Rie Kugimiya voice, go watch Toradora, since Taiga is the best use of that archetype I've seen in the anime. Saito still can't clearly say - "leave me alone god damn it, I have a partner already". Siesta instead of love rival, now plays the role of annoying meddler. Basicly even the most enjoyable characters from previous seasons manage to become irritating and pointless. Also without spoiling much I'll say that one character, who shouldn't come back does so, insulting the past actions, and making them turn into a pointless joke.

Overall - 3.8/10

Zero no Tsukaima : Princesses no Rondo  can be compared to a drunken woman, that just fell off  the stairs. You watched her for some time and thought she was beatiful. But now she's lying in the mud, with her expensive dress dirtied, makeup messed up, teeth broken and arm bend the wrong way. She still sends you, what she thinks is a charming smile, trying to seduce you. The questions remains - are you drunk enough, to see her as beauty, or will you look at the reality before you? This show is a mistake, that should never happen. You can watch it on the account of previous seasons, but you will be dissapointed nevertheless. I know I was. So unless you are prepared to sit through 12 episodes of pointless and boring, just for the sake of knowing how the story continues after previous seasons, I suggest you stay away from this show.

Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo

The Familiar of Zero: Rondo of Princesses

 

I thought the quality of the series could hardly go down until I saw the third season. And what was my surprise here? I am actually impressed with myself for getting all 12 episodes through.

All seasons were already just below average, but this season was lacking in every area. Although the first two seasons had at least a solid conclusion, this was not the case here. Fan service has been turned up even further than before.

The point that scares me the most are probably the two protagonists at the time. Louise goes through no change and is the same melodramatic crying habit and chews the same thing over and over again. Even if you add sad music to it, the scene doesn't get more emotional. The characters have no real depth, nor are their dialogues well written. In the last episode alone they just talked in the sand for almost 4 minutes.

And then there is the protagonist Saito. Not only that he has already confessed his love to Louise 10-20 times, no. He lets every woman close to him running forward, starts everybody on the breasts, feels aroused as soon as any girl jumps in, and doesn't get rid of here. But in retrospect, he wonders why the two pro episodes have a relationship crash twice. And honestly, we used the scene in the Louis explosion or both of them bitch, we've already had countless times. Individuality is a foreign word here.

Certainly, as long as you reduce your demands FAR, you can be satisfied with the work. He also has one or the other highlight moment when I thought "Ok, that was actually amusing / cleverly written" but these moments are in a massive minority.

 

Story

No lie, the plot is still there. But it has been pushed into the background so fragmented. 90% of all scenes are balanced either by comedy or by fan service. The plot amounts to 5% per season. And one cannot speak of a great plot so far anyway. However, there is at least potential behind it.

 

Animation/pictures Nothing changed since season 2 and stayed mostly dull. You still go to great lengths to animate your breasts like excellent jelly. I can still see where the budget is going.

Characters

The new character is also superior to the protagonist duo. Basically, each supporting character is a much more interesting character than the two actual protagonists. And it was the same with the new elf. However, nothing has changed in terms of the characters, it's the same result as before.

Music

The Osts stayed the same. The intro was very weak this time. The first two seasons had a slightly more individual intro.

 

Conclusion

Below-average performance no matter how I look at it. You can watch this title, but you shouldn't have any expectations in characters, story, or romance.

 

Zero no Tsukaima ~Princesses no Rondo~ is a romance comedy harem series and is the third animation adaptation of the Zero no Tsukaima series. Not long after the War with Albion, the runes from Saito's hand somehow vanish causing him to lose the Gandalfr power and his bound with Louise. In order to find an answer on what cause the loss of Saito's runes, they search for the Elf (Tiffania Westwood) who was responsible in saving Saito's life during his battle against Albion's forces. Eventually, Tiffania joins the group and the ~Princesses no Rondo~ series starts to head underway.

Compare to the last two seasons of ZnT, the storyline of ~Princesses no Rondo~ was probably the most disappointing among the three seasons. Unlike the last two seasons, ~Princesses no Rondo~ seems to bring too much focus on its fanservice which can get very tiring to its audience. There are also certain humor sequences (ex: the Love Potion gimmick) that either can get repetitive or annoying to the audience in its results. Still, the storyline does bring along a few good and interesting results that keep it decent to its viewers. Some of the good results would include the increase spotlight of Tabitha, the politics that surface in the story, and the shocking outcome of Henrietta having feelings for Saito.

Along with the original cast from the previous ZnT series, some new characters are also introduced in ~Princesses no Rondo~. Like the previous two seasons, each character provides their own personality and beliefs so viewers can certainly pick favorites among the cast. Louise and Saito often bring out some nice romantic moments and the usual relationship resets at certain parts of the story. Also with Tabitha gaining some spotlight in this series, it brings out a refreshing result to the ZnT series since she was largely ignore in the second season.

The animation from ~Princesses no Rondo~ is mainly the best aspect for this series. The character designs are provided good visuals and coloring from this third season. Also, the illustrations that feature the character expressions manage to fit well from the humor moments in this series. The backgrounds also provide nice images such as the certain night scenes that occur in ~Princesses no Rondo~.

As for the sound, the opening and ending theme songs are decent and manage to fit well in this series. Some of the bgm's also manage to fit well in certain scenes, even though it can get repetitive at times. Also, the seiyu performances certainly fit their roles as the characters in ZnT.

All in all, Zero no Tsukaima ~Princesses no Rondo~ is a decent to pretty good series that often brings out some good and interesting moments in its story. It is unfortunate that some of the serious and interesting parts of the storyline did not get much time for development due to the large focus of annoying humor and excessive fanservice taking place in the series. It also doesn't help that the writing was a bit weak and unoriginal at certain times during this third season.

So this is how my first opinion was... 
"This anime is so funny and so cool!"
But at the end of the series, this is what I thought...
"Actually, this entire anime was just a b/tchf/ght about one guy."
I didn't really like Saito at the end of the anime, and I hated that Louise and he got married. Actually, I support Louise and Gulio. Saito kissed with every girl or showed romantic affections towards them (Louise, Henrietta, Siesta, Kirche, that elf-girl (blergh!), ... and even Tabitha!). He simply doesn't deserve Louise, actually, and all the jealousy and stuff kind of ruined the plots/series. However, the plot itself was very good! I liked the battles and the magic! But I just can't like this anime's romance..  

If you haven't seen the first 2 seasons, I'm not sure why you're watching this. 

Assuming you have seen it all, then I'll begin my review. Still not a fan of the abusive relationship. I never will be. That being said, this season actually showed character growth, albeit it was very little. This show has too much fan service to be considered a children's anime, yet the show is so childish. 

This story could have been done in 3-4 episodes, but they wanted to draw it out with ridiculous situations. They engineered childish situations and solved them with the same ridiculous... ugh. The worst part is how this season concluded. No consequences? Are you kidding me? They hypothetically started a war, actually committed treason, and yet were rewarded? It's absurd. 

At this point, I'm watching the show because I'm hoping something different will happen. I dunno, like transform into a good anime. Perish the thought.