Review of The Familiar of Zero: Rondo of Princesses
Zero no Tsukaima ~princess no Rondo~ is the third installment to the series where the story carries on from the previous 2 series, with saito and Louise now closer together but with more competition now from the other girls. The story reveals the presence of more than one void user and this is what the story revolves around. I must say that as someone who has watched the first 2 series of this show, it is a big letdown. The story does not develop very far until the last few episodes. And is very slow moving even for a 13 episode anime.While there is some progression,much of the story is actually left open ended, and i presume a fourth series will be produced to continue from this. Also i feel that many charcters have been altered or bent in terms of personanlity in order to fit this comedy filled anime. Of course this is a romantic comedy so romance and comedy are both evident, but i think that the producers tried too hard this time, but there are some good moments still so it still passes.
The art was the same as the previous series with artwork leaning more to the cartoonic side to portray the comedy in this show. Nothing wrong with this area.
Sound was actually quite good compared to the first two series, the inserts were timed nicely to bring out the atmosphere of the different moments in the story. OP and ED songs were more lively and actually hints a comedy show.
The characters was another huge disappointment. As mentioned earlier, the characters have been altered here and there to the point that nearly all the girls go for Saito...it feels like this anime is becoming a harem more than romance. Louise is now some really over emotional girl who is quite dense(when you watch it you'll know what i mean) all the way through the show. Of course the characters were still as effective in portraying the comedy as the other two series had done but i felt no significance in the characters anymore. Depth was especially lacking in a lot of characters, i still give it a pass on the account of the comedy and romantic moments here and there in the show.
Overall, If you have watched the first two series of the anime, don't expect anything better than the first two, it is a bid disappointment compared to them. The anime has become too emotional in some aspects and is clearly lacking in the romance genre as they have to create situations whereby louise gets jealous in order to keep up the love tension, they do this by altering the personality of some characters. Also the sheer number of characters has again increased which would explain the lack of depth in the characters. Hopefully, the fourth season would be something to look foward to...should there be one.