Guilty Pleasure - Familiar of Zero

Allow me to start of with a personal anecdote to set the stage.  My latest anime collection obsession is figures, since I have too much money, apparently.  I indulged this at the New York Comic Con by buying a figure for two reasons, which are the two primary reasons I buy anything - it wasn't ecchi, and it was on sale.  The figure turned out to be "Tabitha" from a series called "Familiar of Zero".  Quick research found that the series seemed right up my alley, was on sale, and was released by Geneon, which means buy it now or never see it again.



Here is my DVD box summary of the show:

Louise lives in a magical world, and attends a magical school, but has one small problem - she's lousy at magic.  So when it comes time for her and her classmates to summon their familiars, it's no surprise that hers is kind of unique.  Her familiar is, in fact, Saito, a young boy from Japan, who would like to know where he is and how he got there!  Now Saito has to get used to being treated like the dog he is, forced to do laundry for his meals.  But he also realizes he's become a master swordsman, a trait he certainly didn't have in Japan.  Could the mysterious runes on his hand have anything to do with it?  Follow our heroes as they discover the secrets behind both Saito and Louise's powers while they explore and defend their magical home.

I should be paid for this stuff...

So, a short review:

FABULOUS!

Slightly longer review:

Excellent story with a weak ending, but lots of fun overall

Really, really long review after the break.

I devoured this 13 episode series in about three days.  The base plot is exactly what I love.  While there are elements of "harem", the main pair are established early on and the others are just foils driving them both apart and together at the same time.  Mix in a comedic touch and a magical alternate world, and I knew I was going to like it.  As I said, the end peeters out, but I've gotten use to the fact that they tend to leave these short series open ended just in case.  As I watched it, I thought of the review I wanted to write.  Being a somewhat serious critic, I also thought of the counterpoints I could make to my own gushing.  And as I did, I realized something - this wasn't a very good show.  Most of the secondary characters are barely fleshed out.  The "mysteries" of the world are pretty obvious.  In fact, one of them is spoiler in the opening credits, and one is spoiled in the name of the final episode.  There are major plot holes (like the fact that they fail to secure a letter with damning contents after passing it over no less than three candles.  PAPER BURNS PEOPLE!).  And the main character, Saito, is really schizophrenic, ranging from obedient dog to proud warrior to wounded child at way too fast a pace.  A majority of my complaints can be blamed on rushing the story to the end, but that just makes the obvious filler stories even more painful.  I'd still give this a four out of five, but what is it about a certain genera of story that allows me to ignore all manner of weaknesses in the story telling?  I'm going to stick with "whatever makes you happy" from now on, but this will certainly inform what you can expect from me in the future on this blog.