Anime Review | The Familiar of Zero: Series 4 (Lights, Camera, Action!)

The Familiar of Zero F: Season 4 (UK Rating: 15)

For the uninitiated, the story follows a magician aristocrat sophomore called Louise - nicknamed Zero for her severe lack of ability - who studies at a grand academy of magic. Louise is constantly mocked and blamed there, until one day during a spirit summoning exam where each student is required to summon a spirit from another world. Louise pulls to her the second protagonist of the series, a boy named Saito from modern day Japan. The exam and ritual bound Saito to Louise as her servant and titular "Familiar of Zero," and from here began the fish out of water, harem fantasy adventure.

The first season was fantastic; it felt fresh in a genre that was heavily over saturated, but as more seasons were produced that quality began to dip. Thankfully, this season goes back to the well and manages to save much of what was originally so good with the show. Not to say that there aren't issues, as the cast seems to forget lessons learned over the past few seasons and are often retreading old ground. Many of the expanded cast is completely neglected, too - there was a lot of promise shown in characters like Tabitha and Siesta, which feels wasted here.

Now in the final season, Louise and Saito have admitted their feelings for each other and are ready to marry and settle down together. Thankfully, the relationship between the two actually begins to feel like a real romance and the pair really begin to feel like a couple and Saito starts to feel more like Kirito from Sword Art Online, with the girls constantly pursuing him, but really there's only one girl for him. That's not to say this has become a shoujo-esque romance series - oh no. The series knows what its fans want and ensures there are plenty of ecchi moments. These are, frankly, well done - genuinely funny in places and capturing that perfect balance of lewd without being too much.

The beginning of the season starts very slow, with the setup of Joseph the King in the previous season being resolved in the first "arc" of the season in a mere three episodes… The season actually tries to fit in three other "arcs" across this season but they feel quite rushed. It makes sense to some degree, as this is a completely original story and the creators wanted to wrap up as much of the tale as possible, but then there are strange decisions mixed in that feel like padding to episodes, while some big questions about what happens to the supporting cast are left unanswered. The most important part of this season is simply the final "arc" - the last four episodes. Here, the season finally shows signs of living up to fans' hopes from the first season, and it almost makes all the problems in previous seasons worthwhile. The ending, too, is superb and will keep any long-time fans satisfied.

Those watching this series today, will likely think this is a very old season that has only recently been picked up for distribution in the UK due to the low quality of both art and animation. It's actually a 2012 show but suffers terribly from the very low production values. The soundtrack is almost as bad, with forgettable and uninspired music that has been reused since the first season.

The art, sound and storytelling may have issues, but the humour doesn't. With these type of cliché harem series, the tropes and accidental nudity/groping gags usually come thick and fast and rarely land, but here there are plenty of genuinely funny moment that elicit big laughs from the audience. Fans that have enjoyed the series, and this season, in particular, would be wise to track down the light novels. This final fourth season is a completely original story, with the novels taking quite a different path and one worth experiencing.

5/10

Average

The Familiar of Zero F: Season 4 is a fun and enjoyable harem romance series that sadly lacks much to set it apart, or even make it very memorable. It's a satisfying conclusion, at least, for those that have stuck with the show throughout the last few seasons, but it has been a real slog to finally get there.