So as I mentioned yesterday, I’ve started watching Shakugan no Shana (灼眼のシャナ) and I can’t stop thinking of how much it reminds me of Zero no Tsukaima (ゼロの使い魔).
Not only do they both star a prepubescent girl who’s supposedly very powerful, but her power hasn’t been fully awaken yet, they also feature a clueless guy who basically follows her orders. And of course they both somehow fall in love with each other, but have a hard time expressing so.
Anyway, I did some extra research and it turns out the voice actors for both the main female and male characters are the same!
Hino Satoshi (日野聡) voices both Hiraga Saito (from Zero no Tsukaima) and Sakai Yuji (from Shakugan no Shana).
Kugimiya Rie (釘宮 理恵) voices both Louise (from Zero no Tsukaima) and Shana (from Shakugan no Shana).
If I had to guess, the story/manga is probably done by the same artist/company too.
I am working on the translation for a chapter of the novel for Zero no Tsukaima for a group, but haven’t actually seen the anime or read the other books. Are they any good? To be honest, from what I have translated so far, it looks like its a standard fan-service/moe series in the same realm as Love Hina or Sister Princess. I don’t despise these kinds of series, but they do seem to get boring/tedious very quickly.
They’re nothing spectacular, but they were fun. First Zero no Tsukaima was better than the 2nd season, and Shakugan no Shana was somewhere in between.
Zero no Tsukaima is an anime that can cheer you up while Shakugan no shana is more gloomy with melancholy and revenge, but a more serious serie.
I would rate Tsukaima at about 9.2/10 and Shana at about 8.7/10
both are made by same company with same main lead male and female seiyuu.
although in Tsukaima season2-3 theres little bit more inappropriate scenes then necessary, it is a good show. While I am also a fan of shakugan no shana and is glad there will be a season 3, however, The male lead in SnS is much too useless -_-;