Preview

Following exactly where the first season ended (beware, this review will spoil the first season from now on), Saito and Louise relationship improved to the extent where Louise accepts him as a human and even lets him sleep with her at her bed! However, certainly his pervert ness will spoil that soon, as a new danger befalls the kingdom. With Louise's (uncontrollable) Void Magic and Saito's powers as a Gandalf, Queen Henrietta will need their full support to prevent a full-fledged war against neighboring power-hungry countries.

Pacing

"Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Nishi" follows the exact same formula from the first season, and one could easily consider it a single 24 episode series only divided into two 12 parts. However, as character development is now a lot more complex as Saito's and Louise feelings are somewhat widely know, Zero no Tsukaima II successfully covers more into a reciprocal romantic approach, despite the fact that EVERY SINGLE CUTE ROMANCE MOMMENT is interrupted by a slapstick comedy-like event that will, certainly enough, lead Saito to get whipped almost to death by Louise's jealousy. Yet, the title still bring some unforgettable romantic scenes, such as a very cute confession in a small boat, keep your expectations high!

Trying to add some twists to the romantic development, Siesta gets a more aggressive personality and consciously tries to break up Saito and Louise, which brings a little disappointment to Siesta fans since she now is more portrayed as a bitch who wants to break up a loving couple for her own personal feelings, totally ignoring Louise or Saito's real feelings. While at the first season Kirche "toyed" with Saito, Siesta is ready to give (literally) her all to Saito. Aside from the comic consequences of this, it eventually just serves to drag more and more any romantic conclusion and reduces Siesta’s cutesy into a pervert nymphomaniac.

The plot is somewhat plain and secondary, but is nice enough to throw Louise and Saito in situations where they eventually have to evaluate not only their own approaches towards love, but also their thoughts about honor and war (Louise is pretty much a honor/war freak who believes there is nothing more important than honor and dying for her country, while Saito, coming from Japan and the slapped-up reality about a world war, fights against this conception, believing that one should focus in their own life and protecting their loved ones, not for honor, but for love and friendship).

As an added bonus, we get to meet Louise sisters, which are as unique as she is.

Conclusion

For a romantic comedy that has no pretension whatsoever to be serious, Zero no Tsukaima II manages to make us think about war and love more often than one would expect, and in the end it manages to pass up some subtle and nice concepts about the subject without leaving the main comedy alone.

A very nice addition to the first season, and with an extra "almost-decisive" closure - complete with predictable-set of clichés, yet cute as hell - Zero no Tsukaima is certainly a good title for a lot of laugher and, can't forget to mention, fan service (take a look at our wallpaper collection)

If you liked the first season, go for it. If not, avoid: it's the same thing, with added romance spice.