zero no tsukaima 8

Siesta is .

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The episode starts off with a cheap joke/jab at Louise… she complains that Saito is “grabbing” onto her as they ride her horse back to the academy, and Saito dismisses her complaints with a classic, “Don’t worry, they’re flat so it’s ok.” Right before she murders him. Bad end.

It turns out that Saito survives, and that the academy is quiet for summer vacation. We’re tossed into three subplots: Tabitha and Kirche vacationing in her home country; Montmorency and Guiche having a lover’s quarrel; and Saito and Louise having a lover’s quarrel. Basically, the anime equivalent of 90210. If only the characters did turnaround shots during the OP and Guiche showing off an Ian Ziering-level of male pattern baldness. (Seeing Louise and Saito kiss in the OP just cracks me up now.)

Tabitha and Kirche have a very boring trip back to her place, and I’m surprised that they didn’t just ride her frickin’ dragon there. I’m also surprised that Kirche isn’t using this downtime to stop by the VD clinic.

Meanwhile, Saito/Louise and Mont/Guiche are business as usual. Mont’s pissed at Guiche’s lack of honest affection, Guiche’s an idiot, Saito’s washing panties, and Louise’s pissed at Saito’s flirting.

“He just doesn’t care who it is, as long as he can flirt!”

(He does care! All the other girls have better baked melonpan than you, Louise!)

“Why am I getting upset about that?”

(Translation from anime-English to English-English would be “I’m starting to fall in love with this male character!” Starving guys, whipping them, and command them to do menial chores isn’t the way to woo a guy. The whipping and commanding is for after marriage.)

Saito eventually spies the cook tossing out an old pot, and he decides to take it. “Wait ’til tonight” he says… we can’t wait. We saw the preview from last episode. Meanwhile, we have to endure ten minutes of the Tabitha/Kirche story where we’re told why Tabitha doesn’t talk. I hate it when anime does this… rather than have characters act out a flash back, they have a completely minor, useless character babble on for ten minutes recapping what could be summarized with: “Hamlet, read it.”

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At the very least, instead of having a stuffy butler do a recap for ten minutes, couldn’t Tabitha’s servent be Siesta’s long lost younger sister, Cinnamon? She could recap while waxing Kirche’s legs, and I’m positive it’ll be a lot more interesting. Anyway, Tabitha’s real name is “Rei” “Charlotte,” and she apparently slayed a three-headed dragon back in the day. Considering how she couldn’t even dent the golem, the deus ex machina runs strong in her as well.

Back at the academy, it’s nighttime. In the night I dream of love so true / Just another night, another vision of love. Saito deploys his new hot tub (though I thought of cannibals for a sec when I first saw it) and starts enjoying his hot bath. What could be better than enjoying an outdoor bath when he hasn’t bathed in a long while? Hawt meido Siesta joining in the hot tub. Nakkid. Playful. Flirty. And that’s exactly what happens.

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Siesta asks what he’s doing, he says that he’s taking a bath and invites Siesta to join him on a whim. Absolutely fantastic how she undressed right after Saito asks if she wanted to join him… yep, I think that’s a “Yes.” Sieta also gets points for being such a quick dresser/undresser and wasn’t exactly blushing because she’s nakkid. I think she was blushing for this rare opportunity. She was tossing very hittable strikes at Saito, and the poor dude couldn’t hit a home run let alone a bloop single. Here’s my play-by-play for Siesta’s performance:

“I want to try!”

(Momoka-class trappage.)

“It’s convenient because I can dry my clothes at the same time.”

(Wait, it’s nighttime… clothes won’t exactly dry quickly. Plus, wouldn’t you get your clothes wet again since you don’t have a towel to dry off? That’s what makes this line so great: she’s making flimsy excuses to spend quality nakkid time with her man.)

“Please don’t be so embarrassed. I will be embarrassed too.”

(Translation: “Do my breasts displease you? I can’t even fully cover them up! They’re so big! How can they displease you?” *sob*)

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(I hate steam. Fogs the glasses. Burns. Obscures assests.)

“You can look this way– since it’s dark, you won’t be able to see much anyway.”

(Translation: “I will ruin you for other women.”)

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“Saito’s country’s bathtub sure feels good.”

(Translation: “Dammit, if I knew it was customary for you to bathe with females, I’d done this four episodes ago.”)

“You’re making fun of me, just because I’m a country bumpkin!”

(Translation: “I better not be getting my sister’s second’s…” Actually, she was probably tossing him a question that would require use of this head. If he answered smartly, she’d know that he was thinking straight, and she would have to rethink her tactics. If he babbered like a brainless idiot, she knew that she was having the appropriate effect. Sneaky.)

“I had quite a lot of fun. ”

(“… but should have had more.”)

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“But the most wonderful thing was… you…” with the blush and butt wiggle.

(Translation: “If you could see my assests, I could see your assests. Louise is a nitwit for passing it up.” As Yoshida would say to Yuki in some DVD omake, “Suteki!”)

The kid, is hot tonight / Whoa so hot tonight But where will he be tomorrow… I can just imagine that playing in the background. Either that or Barry White’s “Can’t get enough of your love, babe.”

Meanwhile while Saito/Siesta are enjoying their time together, in typical 90210 fashion, Louise just so happens to be walking around campus looking for Saito. And she sees him. Nakkid. With Siesta. Nakkid. And completely goes catatonic. Instead of confronting them, she sulks away and bumps into Mont and Guiche.

Mont is trying to progress her relationship with Guiche by mixing a potion and trying to get him to drink it to no success. I guess Mont has been taking dating tips from Rika and Urd. Unfortunately, a distraught Louise grabs the potion and chugs it. Uh-oh. Is it a love potion? Truth serum? Liquid Viagra?

Louise manages to make it back to her room, and Saito joins her in there a bit later. She starts questioning him about the night’s events, but rather than get angry or break out the horse whip, the potion makes her extremely love-love emo and starts bawling, “Baka, baka, baka! Saito no baka! Why’d you ditch me and spend time with that hussy? Saito no baka-baka!”

“You must be joking…”

“How can you say that it’s a joke when I love you this much!”

(If we find Saito dead at the start of episode 9, it won’t be because of the strangle marks on his neck, the horsewhip lashes on his back, or the decapitation. It’ll be because Louise loved him too much.)

Zero no Tsukaima Character Power Rankings™

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1. Siesta HD

After a short absence, Siesta returns… with a vengence. Loved how she tried to get Saito to aim his eyes on her best assets. See, that’s the way to do it. Too bad Saito’s got the typical loser harem male disorder– he needs to dispell the “won’t do anything perverted baggage” as badly as Jake Gyllenhaal needs to dispell his Brokeback baggage. One of these days, some company needs to make a harem anime where the male lead does nothing but flirt and score. And, no Tamaki doesn’t count… when was the last time he scored?

Saito really, really, really, really needs to dig his head out of the ground. Siesta tossing herself at Saito is sadly going to become a running theme, and it’s sad because it’s just a waste of a perfectly good meido. Oh, well, watching Siesta seduce Saito and forcing Emo Louise to emerge isn’t a bad consolation prize.

(Where would you place Siesta in the Meido Power Rankings™? It’s about that time for a new ranking… think she could displace Mikuru?)

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2. Saito HD

(This screenshot of Saito with the laundry… and right on top like a cherry on a sundae is a pair of panties… cracked me up.)

I have to give him credit for the brilliant idea of making an open air hot tub/chix0r magnet. Then I have to take some away for not doing anything to the hawt, nakkid meido across from him. Though he does seem more fiesty this episode… loved that “it’s okay because they’re flat” comment at the beginning.

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3. Louise

Loved the Pink Haird Zero Magic Mage’s jealous emo faces. She reminds me of Naru in Earth Defense Force Mao-chan 20 when Naru hunts down that no-good, womanizer husband of hers. (You know that AoMM has some history when I can toss up an old post from 2002 about Earth Defense Force Mao-Chan. Damn, sometimes I wish I had my old, old archives of Love Hina still available.)

The reason why I said that the OP’s depiction of Saito and Louise kissing on the boat was ridiculous is because why would Saito pick Louise out of all the women? Let’s see… the wrathful loli who beats him… or the hawt meido who would do anything for him… or the hawt flame mage who would treat him like a cabana boy… or the hawt tavern wench would teach him all 64 positions of the Kama Sutra… or the hawt queen… or the hawt Rei-clone (imagine if Saito was an Evangelion fanboy)… I mean, out of all of them, Louise? That’s like drafting Darko ahead of ‘Melo, Wade, Bosh, Kaman, Ford, and Hinrich.)

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4. Tabitha and Kirche (Tie) HD

To everyone who is thinking of making a, “jason, you’re watching Zero no Tsukaima for the wrong reasons!” comment, all I can say is that plot and political intrigue are absolutely unnecesasry in harem fanservice comedies. Any anime featuring a wrathful loli with a horse whip who demands that her frilly underwear be washed cannot be in any other genre. That’s just the way things are. What’s absolutely necessary? Meido fanservice.

(Though Kirche’s comforting of Tabitha was straight out of the Aki Hinata “smothering of love” playbook. Still, even though Kirche exudes sexuality, I still find Jessica and Siesta much hawter than her. Probably because meido and tavern wenches are more moe than mages with stockings. But that’s just me. Your milage may vary.)

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LAST. Mont and Guiche (Tie) HD

I think we all have a friend who just is completely wrong with his/her significant other. We all can see it, but they can’t. That’s Mont and Guiche. If you need to drug your significant other to get what you want out of the relationship, you might as well start taking relationship consoling sessions with Satoshi/Shion and Rena/K1.

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I am looking for the next episode. Saito better prove to me that he’s a man. (Notice how they show’d Louise’s underwear on the floor before this shot; therefore, she’s only wearing that camisole. Saito passed up a Siesta buffet. Will he pass up the wrathful loli shrimp cocktail?)

49 Responses to “zero no tsukaima 8”

  1. The trashy novel is beginning to emerge! Siesta is fearsome; she pretends to be all good and nice, but she can’t hide her true nature. Good girl.

    I got some Shana-tan flashbacks with Louise’s “Baka, Baka, Baka”

  2. I’m just curious, after reading about Saito in Shushi-Y’s resumes: Does anyone know if this scene is the same as in the novel? Because I can just picture Saito going at it completely and giving us some hawt meido fanservice.

  3. Wow… EDF Mao… that brings back memories. Mostly things I shudder at though… The things we watch for those we love… at least physically.

    You seen the Yoake promo vid yet Jace?
    http://www.tbs.co.jp/yoakena/yoakena-pv.asx
    Spitting image of Siesta hanging around in more than a few shots of it. I think she’s already got her next series lined up. Too bad it’s not still Horie Yui, though that would have been kind of creepy.

  4. >> (Where would you place Siesta in the Meido Power Rankings™? It’s about that time for a new ranking… think she could displace Mikuru?)

    Unless Saito manage to pull an ear rape on Siesta, I don’t think so. BUT Siesta could give Mikuru a run for her money because she is looking more self-confident than our squealing goddess.
    Decisions, decisions…

  5. Siesta is just better than All-woman Mikuru.
    If you’re unsatisfied, let’s say the doujins will fulfil that void in Siesta. :P

  6. I haven’t read any novels or anything, and I don’t really know what happens but…Don’t you think Siesta and Saito have an unreasonably similar look(same genes). Say, perhaps, cousins? We just found out this episode that Siesta’s father wasn’t from their world, so maybe it was Saito’s uncle or someshit? Suprise?! Incest. Big twist?! Not only that, it’d rocket Zero no Tsukaima from “trasy romance novel” to “trashy romance soap opera.” I think that’d be awesome.

    There’s no way you could replace Mikuru with Siesta. Not enough moe factor, and you can’t beat the zillions of costumes. Plus Mikuru has 10000x the personality that Siesta has. In fact, I don’t think Siesta really has a personality besides being a commoner who is more than friendly with Saito. No contest.

  7. I never read a trashy novel before. I think I’ll check one out of my school library once school starts.

  8. The 1st half was horrible but Kirsche has gone up in my ranking for being more then just your a whore. 2nd half was loads of fun, but then the awful lovepotion cliché came, why could they have done something a bit more inventive with it? o well fanservice investment for the next episode i guess.

  9. By the time Louise took the love potion i was smiling from ear to ear (i already got the spoiler so i know what’s gonna happen ;)
    And Saito really needs to be such a chickenshit. Hasn’t he saw a porno movie in his life? Thats EXACTLY how the start would be.

  10. to be such a -> to stop being such a*

  11. Given ZnT’s horrible foreshadowing, does Siesta talking about her grandfathers stories that resemble Saito’s mean that she might be a descendant from someone in tokyo, and be revealed to be saito’s relative, and this could end up as incest?
    it explains the seifuku! siesta coming to a japan near you! with removable meido costume!

  12. Saito is gay. Flamingly so. I mean, SIESTA o_o… err, O_O!

    And I wonder if they have laws regarding date rape in that world; I mean, a magic student was easily able to create the magical equivalent of roofies…

  13. Somehow, the two-in-a-tub scene DOES remind me of Keitaro and Naru’s first meeting in LH, but with ginormous differences. Mainly,

    1) Girl’s a maid, guy’s a pseudo-Servant
    2) Girl instantly has the hots for the guy, guy desperately tries *not* to see the girl nekkid (exact reverse for LH)

    Overall: Harem owners need to learn from Saito, AND Saito needs to learn something from harem owners. You do the math on learning which. :D

  14. I am pretty sure that Saito and Kyon are both differents yet quite alike reactions to the spineless male leads we had to stand during 10 years.
    I see them as projection of what *we* would do in a given situation:

    a) while being as ordinary as the Joe’s next door. (Kyon)
    b) while being given uberhaxtheMatrix powers like Superman on Earth. (Saito)

  15. W-O-W.
    I’ve been sitting on the fence so far, but can’t resist much longer. I’m a new Siesta convert.

    She only lacked a “Do me. Now”. Jessica would’ve said it, I’m sure of it.

    >> (Where would you place Siesta in the Meido Power Rankings™? It’s about that time for a new ranking… think she could displace Mikuru?)

    Well, after this episode, cunning Siesta beats doormat schoolgirl Mikuru by a mile. Flirty bold adult Mikuru is a whole other matter however. Can we have an adult Siesta to compare?

  16. I wonder, did anyone else see the similarity between the whole story with Tabitha and her mother and Miyazaki’s classic Nausicaa? It would make me feel really old to think I’m the only person who saw that connection. Practically the same thing happened to Princess Kushana, and the similarity is so obvious I can’t help thinking it’s an homage to a great work.

    On another note, Saito has more spine than most harem owners, but he is not a perverted old man who’ll do nothing but stare at Siesta’s breasts. This is why Siesta is attracted to him; if he were a noble, he wouldn’t use his political power the way Count Mott did.

  17. Siesta and All-Woman Mikuru both share a lot of self-confidence (now – Siesta sure didn’t have it when she went off to be a concubine), which make them very attractive, on top of their.. ah.. assets. They’re ahead of younger Mikuru, outside of the moe factor, which the latter dominates the other two with.

    I’d rather see Siesta and Jessica tag-team Saito, though – then they could both easily outdo Mikuru on the Meido rankings. ;)

  18. Also, with regards to Kirche being less sexy – I think it’s because Kirche flaunts it more than Siesta does… while not having the same type of sauciness that Jessica exudes which makes her ‘wanton ways’ more attractive. Basically, it’s like comparing a streetwalker in a short-short skirt to a normal attractive woman with a crush and a high-class courtesan… or something like that; the latter two have sincerity (Siesta) and style along with an alluring manner (Jessica), while the former’s just trashy.

    Yes… these are your readers, Jason.

    Still, I loved watching Kirche using her powers of cleavage for good there, especially since Rei Tabitha/Charlotte seems to have Asuka’s mother for a Mom…

  19. Jason, can you add a strikeout effect to the Rei part? Thanks.

  20. Upon watching this episode, I can’t help but feel that Louise is the next Yoshida despite being the lead character.

    “It’s a coincidence, right? It’s a coincidence that they’re bathing nakkid together in a hot tub, right?”

  21. If I met a maid I met a week decided that she liked me so much as to jump into the same bath tub as me naked, I would think she’s actually pretty shallow… while staring at her boobies… but shallow none the less.

  22. More than a week went by, or so it seemed to me. I can’t put Siesta and shallow in the same sentence, whether mentally or physically. Now Louise could be considered shallow in the assets department. Is she too late for a growth spurt?

  23. Louise is so much better in her dere-dere mode than her tsun-tsun.

    Siesta ftw. Pity she wore shorts instead of pantsu.

  24. Siesta is great, no doubt. I am on ep.4 now and I marked her for special attention already. BTW, her character design strongly reminds me of Hinata Huuga.

    Sheba is very much on to something. I’ve read it on Den Beste’s place that the key to the great harem anime is if the man gets his act together in the end, and I quite agree. So, maybe anime creators finally figured it out.

  25. O and i was dissapointed that tabitha’s real name wasn’t yuki or rei.

  26. It is, they just don’t want to admit it.

  27. >>> One of these days, some company needs to make a harem anime where the male lead does nothing but flirt and score.

    Do you mean Utawarerumono? Or do you need 13 epsiode anime series based on the game ‘Knights of Xentar’?

    >>> If I met a maid I met a week decided that she liked me so much as to jump into the same bath tub as me naked, I would think she’s actually pretty shallow… while staring at her boobies… but shallow none the less.

    That still beats either being treated like a toy, or getting whipped and forced into menial tasks. Siesta is also kind, capable, and good looking as well. I dare say vast majority of males in Saito’s situation in the tub will think, ‘ What the heck, shallow or not, she still is the best choice I got and she is giving me the green light. I’m going to do some ‘driving’. ‘

  28. No ‘Rei’s mom is Friagne’ here either? Double-u Tee Eff.

  29. it is hot, naked and counseling

  30. Saito’s going to end up in a love pentagon – Henrietta, Tiffania, Louise, and Siesta all just waiting for the right moment to jump him. Why are you so harsh on the guy, he’s doing a shitload better than the loser harem males that we all too commonly see. That’s pretty fawking good, he gets 4/6 of the girls who showed interest in him want to jump him eventually. Just let him be a loser for now, he’ll give you the scenes you enjoy later. Definitely not next week though, ;)

    btw post a fawking pic of yourself sir

  31. We need a special tag-team moe battle between Siesta + Jessica and Mikuru + All-Woman Mikuru.

  32. That would cause a time paradox on so many levels…

  33. btw, forgot to mention those scenes will not be in the first season, sorry sir jason you’ll have to endure it just as you watch bad football games.

  34. The more I look back at the graphic novel, the more toned-down the anime is. The tub that Siesta and Saito use in the novel is so small that the two are just centimeters away from each other.

    http://img93.imageshack.us/my......0857nn.png

    Compared to that, the anime version has them miles away in a pot so large not even military cooks would use it (well, not nowadays with all the outsourcing of labor in the US military).

    If the anime got a second season, how would it handle the Saito-and-Siesta-sharing-a-room scene in vol.7?

  35. oh the injustice! siesta and saito will probably sleep in separate rooms for god’s sake when they get there ^^

  36. On the upside, Siesta’s.. ah.. melonpan got upgraded in the anime. Given the measurements for all the girls from the official webpage, I think they’re basing their measurements on the manga and not the anime, which seems to have given Siesta a bit of a figure upgrade.

  37. Yuuji no back… etooo…. Saito no baka…

    He deservs to die for not doing nothing with Siesta, c’mon dud; she is more than glad to do anything for you, and you… little creppy swordsman good-for-nothing didn’t make any movments.

    Is funny to see Louise all lovey-dovey for Saito. I guess that posion doesn’t last too much (but if that was the case, what a waste of time… and magic).

    hey! In the next episode I want to know why Kirche & Charlotte are fighting with Saito… damn it!

  38. Oh, the potion lasts long. In fact, the next episode preview shows Louise waiting for Satio on the bed wearing nothing but a night gown, under the effects of said love potion (and here’s a big spoiler for you, Saito does nothing)

  39. i wouldn’t say it is louise’s underwear.. i think it is mont and gauche… coz of the ribbon which i could have sworn i saw… :/

  40. Kuma: that’s a spoiler? Since when does Saito do anything but insult Louise? :D

    Now, if you’d said ‘he and Siesta and Jessica got into bed with her’, I’d be horribly shocked…

  41. >>> (Translation: “I will ruin you for other women.”)

    Best line I have read in some time.

  42. Lol

  43. Men can be ruined for other women? Do they brand you or something?
    Except for Kirche which would result in carrying some sort of an VD, Saito can do every one of them without second thought. God i wanna kill him again now.

  44. If a woman can be ruined for marriage, so can man be. Although there is a double standard for men’s flirting, nobody really thinks it is a good idea for a man to get physically intimate with multiple women in short span of time.

  45. Muti: If you can’t look at another woman without comparing her to someone else… you’re ‘ruined’ for other women. So Siesta is setting up for the future. ;)

  46. @ Haesslich

    Future?! Siesta is setting up now!

  47. wontaek: She’s making it so no other woman can be compared to her without it drawing a complaint or slap from the other woman, when Saito zones out and thinks “Gee, this makes me remember Siesta’s….” – women can SENSE this sort of thing.

  48. Honestly, I’d rather Saito be the loser-type male harem lead guy. I mean, he at least DOESN’T look like a loser (unlike Magikano’s Haruo).

    But really, the opposite of that kind of main character in a harem series…I couldn’t stand it!!

    *Think Tonagura’s Yuuji or Inukami’s Keita*

  49. DAMN RIGHTS!!! if Saito passes this up god he’ll be like Drake!

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