Anime: Zero no Tsukaima F 44615l

And finally we come to the conclusion of the Zero franchise. The final series is an interesting mix of increased ecchi, confusing plot direction, and the all-to-predictable conclusion that anyone could have made after watching the first two episodes of the very first season. While this season does put a solid end to the franchise, it feels superficial- after four seasons of the Louise/Saito relationship being interrupted by the slightest feminine behavior of any other (female) character, it's hard to swallow the supposed reality that it is finally established. In any case, other than the ending, this season is (with a very strong sense of deja vu) more of the same.

Animation:
On a positive note, the series finally gets a much overdue visual upgrade. The overall animation looks more crisp while all other aspects remain in line with expectations based on previous seasons (background, action, coloring). This is enough to earn this series the award of "back to par" animation quality. There are a few new characters to go along with the, once again, increased world scope of the series. These include the holy emperor/pope of Romalia who for some reason reminds me of the emperor in Saiunkoku Monogatari.

There is a decent amount of magic-based action in this final series, though as usual there is basically no gore. In place of blood, you get lots of skin on the female characters and elves. This series has gotten significantly bolder with the amount of skin-ship Saito 'enjoys' with the other female characters- all of which results in violent retribution from Louise. Yes, as noted by others, there is an onsen episode. One of my largest complaints would be the lazy animation during the final battle. Supposedly all the ships of the world's forces are present at a battle; yet pathetically few vessels are assembled (I recall more ships in the Albion invasion of Tristain).

Sound:
If you loved the OP in the third season, you'll like the one here. If you disliked the previous OP (like me) then you may find this one unpleasant as well. This time Rie Kugimiya gives us an upbeat and somewhat flirtatious (lyric-wise) ED with an overdose of tsundere. As in the previous series, you can expect the BGM to consist of mostly (by now) familiar tunes.

VA-wise, you can expect pretty much what you experienced in the previous three series. I personally enjoyed the 4x combo of Kugimiya, Horie, Kawasumi, and Noto.

Story:
Overall the story is fair, albeit completely predictable. As with previous seasons, the story pacing is not the series' strong point. There are essentially three arcs that combine to give the overall plot intensity the general shape of two plateaus with a valley in the middle. By necessity, they needed to give some conclusion to the antagonists of the first three seasons- which they do in oh a mere three episodes. This is followed by some fan-service centric episodes before moving to a world crisis to finally close the series. It feels very jerky for what should have been a very easy conclusion, though I will say it makes more sense than the Shana 3 ending. I felt some very strong parallels to the first Inuyasha movie in the final arc; as the overused saying goes "love triumphs over all"; yes even love for a seriously sadistic loli tsundere.

Also as with previous seasons, they decided to increase the scale of the world, introducing us to Romalia (think parallel Italy) and the pope; who tells our heroes that the four void mages are assembling to save the world from an unknown crisis. They also throw in more elves to give some more background on the roots of Tiffa, as well as to add an additional political mess of Elves vs. humans into the already messy aristocrats vs. plebeians battle. Don't expect any depth in these, as we saw how shallow the aristocrat/plebeian theme was explored in previous seasons.

Character:
In the final series, Tiffa and Tabitha up the ante in their competition against Louise. It's nice to see some competition for Saito but the fact that he is (for still unknown reasons) solely devoted to Louise minus his eyes and hands really kills any chance for serious tension in the series. Furthermore, the addition of even more baggage characters truly degraded the overall experience. The Zero universe was already enormous, and adding over half a dozen additional ing characters was totally unnecessary. Relationship wise, I felt this was the least believable of all the seasons, and was totally disappointed by the level of determination the other girls showed in trying to get Saito. Talk about a one-sided harem...

Value:
For fans of the series, this is a much needed conclusion. For everyone else, this is a fairly standard-feeling comedic ecchi-harem with subpar pacing and a magical parallel-universe theme. It's a fair watch but just make sure you're not rooting for anyone other than Louise.

Wretched. I am not a fan of Zero no Tsukaima, and this fourth season validated every criticism I have of these types of shows.

12 episodes of the same old crap you've seen in the previous 3, with gratuitous fanservice, sexualized misunderstandings and random violent outbursts from the 'heroine' aka total cunt, Louise.

Any *plot* this show might've had was lost in between token, pointless stereotypical hot springs episodes and endless boob jokes. And AS THE SHOW HAS DONE BEFORE, a world-threatening apocalypse rears its ugly head and is resolved successfully in a throwaway three episodes, essentially using the same plot device they did the first time. Colour me unimpressed, I've felt more dramatic tension in a battle over microwave dinners in last season's Ben-Tou.

Many others cite this as a *good ending* to a long-running show, saying it's good to see the protagonists close the book on their troubles. All I can say is I'm glad the book is closed, and hopefully won't ever be opened again, as it had nothing original, interesting or even *good* to teach us.