Zero no Tsukaima is an original light novel series by Noboru Yamaguchi published under MF文庫 (Media Factory bunko).
The first novel took me about three days to finish. For comparison, it took me a few weeks of half-hearted reading to complete Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki. Either Zero was that good or Tameiki really really sucked. Anyway, read on for my thoughts and some comparisons to the anime.
In case you have yet to watch the anime, the basic story of Zero goes like this: Saito Hiraga wakes up in an unfamiliar world and finds himself face to face with Louise Françoise le Bran de la Valiel, a student of Tristine’s magic academy. She was trying to summon a familiar but somehow Saito appeared instead. With no way home and no other options, Saito ends up becoming Louise’s familiar and spends his days washing her pantsu.
I only realized that I had previously read a title by Yamaguchi before when I was looking through his short biography. Apparently he wrote Green Green ~ Kanenone Stand By Me based on the original Green Green adventure game from Groover. It was one of my favourite light novels, although I may just be biased since it’s a novelization of Futaba’s story. <3 Anyway, the point is that I was quite excited about the Zero novels because of this.
After finishing the first volume, I have to say that I was not disappointed. It’s easy to be engaged by Yamaguchi’s style of writing and feel yourself immersed in the fantastic kingdom of Tristine. It’s a lot more story-centric as compared to the Suzumiya Haruhi novels and more reader-friendly than Nagaru Tanigawa with his blockbuster-length noun modifiers and random analogies.
The illustrator for the novels, Eiji Usatsuka, has quite a unique style. Some of the character designs are quite different from the anime, such as for Siesta. Speaking of Siesta, she barely gets any lines at all in the first novel. In fact, I get the feeling that she’s not really an important character at all…? Well, maybe in the later volumes. But somehow it seems that the anime is giving her a lot more screentime than necessary when you consider her role (or the lack thereof) in the story so far. I guess they realized the importance of a meido and that it’s not enough to just focus on the tsunderekko.
The first novel basically covers up to the capture of the thief Fouquet. Other than the lack of Siesta, there are a few differences from the anime that I noticed.
- Princess Henrietta is not introduced yet. I’m guessing she’s in Vol.2.
- Saito fantasizes naughty things about Louise during lesson…
- …gets locked out of Louise’s room and subsequently invited (and not taken forcefully by a giant salamander) into Kirche’s room.
- Kirche buys her sword for 1,000 instead of 500 gold.
- Louise and Kirche have a duel (of sorts) in the middle of the night to decide whose sword Saito will use.
- Fouquet steals the Staff of Destruction during this duel.
The second novel is titled 「風ã®ã‚¢ãƒ«ãƒ“オン〠or “Albion of Wind”, which probably refers to the story arc involving Princess Henrietta and Prince Wales of Albion. The anime is currently at Albion and nearing its end. Considering the fact that the first novel only covers up to Fouquet’s capture, I am guessing that a lot of the episodes in between, such as Siesta’s and Tabitha’s, are actually taken from more recent novels. Judging purely by title, the fourth volume 「誓約ã®æ°´ç²¾éœŠã€ (“Covenant of the Water Spirit”) seems to be where the Tabitha/Charlotte and love potion episodes come from.
This rearrangement is unlike Suzumiya Haruhi anime where although the episodes air order was shuffled, the timeline itself is kept unchanged. In the case of Zero, because the stories have been cut and resequenced to create a new timeline for the anime, this might make a second season less plausible.
Anyway, can’t wait till I get my hands on the next book.
Where’s the war and character deaths? O_O lol
Episode 11.
The prince’s death is considered a character death? He just came out for a few frames….^^;;. I was thinking along the lines that the blue haried girl with dragon aor the red hair girl with salamander girl die?
Umm…Wales did die, but he gets revived again in a later chapter. ONLY to be killed again, though he has his last breath in Henrietta’s arms…
If only I don’t have to refer to my jap>english dictionary all the time, I’d buy this as well.
NOOOO SPOILER!! Megashounen YOU HAVE BURNT MY EYES!! I SHOULDNT HAVE CLICKED ON IT!!!…wait im drunk i wil forget tomorrow…right right…
to anyone intersted, Sushi-Y’s translations and summaries of the novels are available here: http://z4.invisionfree.com/aquastar/index.php?showtopic=3312&st=80
Do you read these ‘light novel’ things much? Care to suggest a quick list of what’s good and what’s not?
I am currently using bishoujo games to practice my Japanese on, which are all well and good, but you can’t take them with you onto public transportation very easily.
I was thinking of dipping into light novels, Haruhi being at the top of my list. However, from what you’ve said it might not be that suitable.
FMP was another consideration, but i’d guess that’s full of military terms which would require me to get out the dictionary every two seconds.
Zero no Tsukaima isn’t really my thing, unfortunately.
Well since you are playing bishoujo games, it might be a good idea to start with novels that are based on them. Almost all the popular game series have novel adaptations and the story is usually different enough to be interesting. I started with Da Capo novels.
I am currently reading a book called 神様ゲームby 宮崎柊羽 (Syu Miyazaki) and it looks pretty decent so far. It’s published under Kadokawa’s Sneaker line just like Haruhi.
As for Haruhi, I can honestly only recommend the first novel. I have yet to read beyond the third, but I haven’t heard much good things about the later volumes from people who have. The first novel was just so brilliant, but then again the impact is probably lowered now that the anime has aired. The second book (Tameiki) is rubbish.
zomgbbq they changed the amount of gold they paid for the sword! I now deem this anime adaptation a blight upon humanity. And my ass.
http://www.zero-tsukaima.135.it
this is a first italian web site of this anime ^_*
does anyone know where i can read this online for free?
They really need to give saito different clothes, the only thing they added for a few minutes is a cape. I wonder why they arent rags now. Theyv been hit with void magic on a daily basis, cut up by arrows,stained with saito’s blood as hes dieing and a load of other crap.
http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Zero_no_Tsukaima
A translation of up to volume 10 chapter 3 of zero no tsukaima light novels.
enjoy!
OMG, please someone help me here!!!
I really want to get my hands on the Light Novels, but wherever i ask they tell me it’s against the law to ask! I know that they are translated to English, but for some reason they aren’t available in America or something like that…
I tried this site:
http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Zero_no_Tsukaima
but it seems very unprofessional and i admit that the writing is mediocre at times. Is this the only translation available? Is there nothing in book-form?
I wish i could read Japanese… X_X