ALL MY TEARS. SALUTES

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Summary

The Ancient Dragon approaches Magic Academy, and the Elemental Siblings set up a barrier to stop the dragon advancing any further, aided by the Halkeginia Alliance Fleet, comprising of all the nations plus a fleet sent by the elves. When the dragon manages to break the barrier, it immediately goes straight for Louise and Tiffa, who manage to escape for the moment on Tabitha’s dragon. The Ancient Dragon manages to corner Louise just as all her magic is used up, but she is saved at the last minute by Saito, who flew back into Halkeginia through a solar eclipse that brought so many Japanese there in the past. Saito and the fleet wear down the dragon with missiles, with Louise finally finishing it off using her Explosion, charged up by the last of Saito’s Lifdrasil powers.

Impression

There’s that feeling you get when you see everyone banding together to fight a common enemy – it’s hard to believe that at one point, various parts of the alliance were all against each other. The Magic Academy people, troops from Gallia, Albion, even the elves decided to pitch in. Though it seems like they didn’t do much compared to Louise and Saito’s work, if the Elemental Siblings or the elves weren’t there when they were, a lot of people would have died a horrible fiery death. Which is unfitting for this series really.

Speaking of Saito, Y U SO COOL? It clicked to me right as he pondered on how to get back – the solar eclipse that brought so many other people over to Halkeginia in the past. This was my only problem with the episode, how a solar eclipse just happened to occur on the day Saito was brought back, and how Saito managed to steal a jet fighter from a guarded military base and fly directly into a solar eclipse. Well, I can’t think of any other way he could have done it, but it was inventive at least. And Derf, you’re alive! I knew it wouldn’t end tragically xD

Louise’s Explosions was definitely a highlight. It’s quite fitting actually – for Louise to end it all with a trademark explosion, as First Kiss played in the background, calling back all the good times back from the original season. Saito holding Louise in his arms, as she points her wand towards the Ancient Dragon and blows it up to save the world – it’s so cheesy, but I’m cheering them on, because that’s what Zero no Tsukaima has always been about – a girl and her familiar, overcoming challenges to be together.

I was afraid a final plot twist would have Saito die from Lifdrasil’s power, but while it’s such a deus ex machina, it’s a good thing Saito’s Gandalfr life hasn’t ended yet, which means he can live on with Louise – and properly marry her this time, unlike that impromptu one before he went off to fight as a single-man army in Futatsuki no Kishi. This also means that there’s no harem ending, but it’s well deserved, seeing as how Saito worked so hard just to get back to where Louise is, so they can be together again.

It would have ended with a funeral or a wedding, and the latter is definitely less depressing. Louise was stunning in her wedding dress (a lot more mature too) and when you look at the whole character cast all sitting there, you realize how far the series has actually come since it first began, as a romcom with a tsundere and an unwilling male lead. Saito going back to Tokyo for Louise to meet his parents was unexpected, but I feel a bit cheated not seeing the outcome of that, so an OVA on it (rather than a beach/festival episode) would be nice to see.

So that’s it, then. Six years since the first Zero no Tsukaima series aired, and now it’s all over. You know, Season 1 was one of the first anime series I ever watched, so I don’t react to it like some critics do, who label it “generic fantasy romcom #14832”. It’s always been a part of my “anime childhood” you could say, and it always will be – I’m so glad I’ve been able to follow it to the very end.

This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. Matthew

    Hey Vantage-San. How are you doing?

    Well, for me, Zero no Tsukaima is on of (if it isn’t) the best Shoujo with a little of Shounen on it.

    I love how Louise’s Tsundere Personality is Told.

    For the Season 4, i expected an 24 episodes season.
    I think they Wasted like 4 or 5 episodes doing the Harem Thing, Just imagine if the Thermal Pool episode didn’t existed?
    They would have space to do one more episode. Maybe about Louise meeting Saito’s Parents…

    So my Thoughs:

    Zero no Tsukaima: Wonderful
    Zero no Tsukaima – Princess no Rondo: Great
    Zero no Tsukaima – Futatsuri no Kishi: Good
    and
    Zero no Tsukaima – F: The best season, but still, a little Borring S:

    I love ZnT, but it could be better…

    Thanks for your attention, Bye =3

    1. Vantage

      JC Staff aren’t perfect, so I wasn’t too surprised at some of the harem episodes tbh. 24 episodes would have resulted in too much filler, since the ZnT light novels aren’t finished yet due to the author coming down with cancer.

      For the series as a whole, it definitely could have been better told, but hey, minimal fanservice is always good xD

  2. Train

    MY TEARSSSSSSSSSSS, OMG, WHAT AN ENDING!!! claps

    Thanks for covering the entire season, Vantage, your posts were really awesome :D( just thought i should have commented them earlier hahaha) And here comes the insane big text:

    And now we reach an “end” to this anime, six years after it first aired. And again, WHAT AN ENDING!
    I found myself really interacting with the entire last episode: began the episode smiling at the entire opening( sadly, it didn’t have that “special edition” the opening to the last episodes usually had ;;), cheering on them against the Ancient Dragon, going all “YEAHHHHHHHHH GOOOOOOO SAITOOOOOOO!!!!” when he appeared almost out of nowhere to save Louise, being all happy and all from Derflinger’s comeback and finally sheding tears in the end when they actually got married.

    Everything, no, i mean, EVERYTHING went pretty well in this episode. The moment when we hear Derflinger’s voice and see part of him in that plane’s monitor was reaaaaaaaally awesome. And then, we get to see everyone fighting together a fierce battle against a common enemy.( a thing to point out, is, that i think the other girls FINALLY( about time i guess) realized, when Saito came flying back to Halkeginia, that he and Louise really belonged together and that he loved her, and only her ).
    By the way, when they were together in the plane and they kiss and “First Kiss” began to play in the background, i went in tears, it remembered everything back from season 1 when it first started( and yeahhhhh, this music really illustrates how things starts for them). Really touching…

    Then we get that comic scene about Louise and Saito, and he says he wants to get married to her. WOW, that was pretty good.

    Then we have the wedding, AHH the Wedding. Everyone who was in the series appeared in their wedding, Louise and Saito looked amazing in their wedding customes, both looking extremely happy( guess the two really couldn’t live without each other)
    A lot of tears came down my eyes when ” I Say Yes, The Wedding Version” began playing… Seriously, Zero no Tsukaima’s OST is really something to congratulate them for, the songs are amazing and most of times played in really fitting scenes.

    For last, Louise uses World Door, and opens a path to them to Tokyo, guess Louise wants to meet his parents and expend their honeymoon in Saito’s birhplace.
    An OVA, telling us what happened when Saito finally came back home and with a wife would be outstanding to watch to say the least. And i absolutely don’t care about how they try to label Zero no Tsukaima as a whole, i loved the series, it was touching, had emotion, i loved it. For me: Zero no Tsukaima seasons 2 and 4( F ) equalize themselves in quality, with season 1 coming right after and for last season 3( altough hated by many, i enjoyed it anyway)

    ZnT also was part of my “anime childhood”, actually the second anime i have ever watched, so i’m sad it ended, seeing how there was so much story that could be told also doesn’t help with the feeling. Ah well, guess i will have to watch the series all over again sometime to help with it, and well… i think all’s well when it ends well, right? I’m also glad i could watch it until the “end”…

    Altough sad because it ended, I’m REALLY happy because Zero no Tsukaima had a PERFECT HAPPY ENDING!

    1. Vantage

      Spoken like a true ZnT fan applauds Ahh, so the trip to Japan was for their honeymoon, it makes sense now xD

  3. Khaos

    It wasn’t perfect because of the “WarJet stealing” part that didn’t made much of a sense how he managed to… apart from that yeah i can’t think a better way to put an entire ending of such awesome anime like ZnT in only one episode, the staff did a remarkable work, i just hope there’ll still be future OVA’s

    1. Vantage

      Yeah that was slightly unrealistic, but hey, the power of love can do anything, ne? An OVA of their trip to Japan would be epic.

    2. Train

      Yeah, that part wasn’t really explained… but come on now, the man stood up against a 70,000 men army back in Season 2, thinking like that, stealing a plane would be a breeze to him haha xD And like Vantage said the power of love can do anything ^^

      I’M SO GONNA MISS THIS ANIME… One of the best animes i have watched of all time in my opinion T_T

      From what i have been reading throughout the internet, i guess almost everyone who liked the show wants at least an OVA of their adventures in Japan 😀

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