The Familiar of Zero

It was on one of the occasions when I was asked for anime recommendations of various genres that I had to rack my brain to remember more series of this or that genre than I had listed in my MAL that I could recommend. I ended up resorting to a notebook I remembered having where I was sure I had written down those anime I had stumbled upon on Youtube (those with episodes divided into 20 parts).

"Wow, I saw an isekai without realizing it, an isekai from the 2000s” I rewatched it a few months later, and boy, it screams 2000s anime. It was a trip back in time, and I realized that I had seen an anime that, by today's standards, would be considered an isekai. Beforehand, I want to let you know that this anime has four seasons, but we will only focus on the first one for now. Anyway, here is the review of what might be one of the first isekais that many watched.

In a world with magic and an inevitable social inequality between people who can perform magic and those who cannot, Louise, nicknamed the Zero because she cannot perform a spell without an explosion, attends a prestigious magic academy.

At this academy, there is a ritual by which everyone summons their” familiar,” a creature that will accompany the magician and be at their service for the rest of their lives. At this event, Louise summons Saito, a human from Earth, which causes an enormous commotion because it has never been seen before that someone would summon a commoner (a person with no mastery of magic), which surprises everyone.

In 2006, when The Familiar of Zero was released, we can assume that the plot was very original, but the passing of the years has taken away its charm for people who have already seen some anime of the isekai genre. It may now be considered repetitive and not innovative at all, but it is honestly a very complete and entertaining adventure anime to watch.

It doesn't waste any time developing the plot. The twists and turns in the situations keep you hooked. On the one hand, Saito is trying to cope with being in a new dimension, with the obstacle being the protagonist herself most of the time by taking her anger out on him. Often, the series will find itself in a comedic situation, switch to an action or drama setting, end with a romantic moment, or return to comedy.

The comedy is not the best, but it has moments to shine. One point against it (from my perspective) was the inclusion of ecchi which the humor relies on 80% of the time. Ecchi in any series is not a bad thing as long as it doesn't get in the way of the story, and unfortunately, here, it did at times and was clearly seen as an unnecessary addition.

We have what could be considered a large cast of characters, but I will only focus on the main characters for reasons I will mention later. The story focuses on Louise and Saito. In my opinion, another main character would be our protagonist's sword, Derflinger, who will play an essential role in all four seasons.

It has to be said; that there is not much variety in terms of personality archetypes in the cast. We've already talked about how the series can currently be seen as too cliché. This also applies to the characters' personalities, which will mostly be the same as the ones we see repeated in anime of the same genre. The classic Tsundere who beats up the male protagonist, as well as the male protagonist getting an ability that immediately establishes him as practically invincible (your classic Kirito).

This reduces the large cast to being mostly backgrounded characters for the plot. However, as the story unfolds, some seem to become more important than the rest. And so the rest of the characters end up being of little relevance as almost every occasion where they can play a role is put aside to make a point about how overpowered the protagonist is.

In my opinion, these things don't take any positive points away from the series as it is in the present day when the characters already feel worn out. I also find it entertaining to see how the love-hate relationship between Louise and Saito evolves.

For a series over a decade old, the animation is still preserved as more than decent by today's standards. The animation sequences have the technical level that the series requires at the given moment. We will not find the classic tricks that animation studios use when they need to save their budget. It has an excellent design of characters and scenery; the character designs may seem simple at first glance. Still, it turns out that in practice, they are pretty expressive, something that can be appreciated, especially in comedy moments.

And it must be said that they made good use of the color palette to indicate the tone of the scenes, an aspect that can even be taken as a support to the narrative. Such "vibrant" color management is appropriate for a magical world, and JC Staff always does a great job.

The Familiar of Zero won't offer us anything new, but it does have the touches that give it a certain originality. Saito constantly strives to understand the new world he has been brought into and to understand Louise simultaneously. It's a good anime; you get attached to its characters very quickly, and even though its story is not very original, it captures you and makes you enjoy some funny moments.