The Familiar Of Zero

Story and characters
Main article: List of The Familiar of Zero characters
The Familiar of Zero follows the adventures of the protagonists Louise and her familiar Saito. Louise is a second year student at the Tristain Academy of Magic. In this world, those who can use magic are either mages or nobles, and those who cannot use magic are known as "commoners" or "plebeians".
Louise is terrible at magic, and can never use it the way she wants to, as her attempts of using magic ends up as a general explosion. She is given the nickname "Louise the Zero" or "Zero Louise" by her classmates, due to the inability to use any of the four common magic elements, whereby a mage's power is determined by the number of elements they can use ranging from a single element, one (dot mage), two (line) three (triangle) and four (square). Early in the school year, the second year students summon their familiars; this is considered a special ritual where a mage summons their eternal protector and partner, which usually is some sort of magical creature. Louise manages to summon a Japanese high school boy named Saito Hiraga, leaving her totally humiliated. Due to the sacredness of the ritual, Louise is left with no choice but to reluctantly accept Saito as her familiar. She proceeds to treat Saito as any other familiar only worse, making him sleep on a bed of hay and beats him with a whip for little to no reason, among other things.
Louise and Saito's relationship develops during the course of the story to the point where they risk their lives to save the other. Though, Saito is usually the one to do so since Louise is almost always the one in danger. Together they face many mysteries and uncover unexpected truths, including the nature of Saito's mysterious power which leaves Del, his legendary sword, to let him know that he is the Gandalfr, and the truth behind Louise's inability to cast magic.

Anime
The Familiar of Zero has been adapted four times into an anime series by the animation studio J.C.Staff. The first season aired in Japan between July 3 and September 25, 2006, and contained thirteen episodes. In April 2007 at Anime Boston, Geneon announced that they had picked up the English dubbing rights of the first season of the anime series under the title The Familiar of Zero. In July 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon Entertainment still retained the license, Funimation Entertainment assumed exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. The Familiar of Zero was one of several titles involved in the deal. Funimation released a complete box set of the series on November 4, 2008. However, as of August 2011, the rights to the series expired due to low sales.The second season under the extended title Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi  lit. The Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Two Moons) aired in Japan between July 9 and September 24, 2007, containing twelve episodes. A third season, also containing twelve episodes, entitled Zero no Tsukaima: Princesse no Rondo , aired on Japan's Chiba TV between July 6 and September 21, 2008, and Arts Central in Singapore between July 10 and September 24, 2008. A fourth and final season titled Zero no Tsukaima F aired twelve episodes between January 7 and March 24, 2012. Sentai Filmworks have announced that they have licensed the fourth season  and it will be released digitally and on home video in North America.The TV and DVD versions of the first two seasons are the same with some bonus trailers and other short clips. However, the TV version of the third season was censored to some extent. The frames became dark and/or blurry when some scenes took place. The DVD version also has an unaired original video animation episode.
Music and audio CDs
The four anime seasons used two pieces of theme music each; one opening theme and one ending theme. The first season's opening theme is "First kiss" by Ichiko, released on July 26, 2006, and the ending theme is "My True Feelings"  by Rie Kugimiya, released on August 9, 2006. The second season's opening theme is "I Say Yes" by Ichiko, released on July 25, 2007, and the ending theme  by Rie Kugimiya, released on August 8, 2007. The first seasons original soundtrack was released on August 23, 2006, and the second seasons' soundtrack was released on August 22, 2007. The third season's opening theme is "You're The One" by Ichiko and the ending theme is "Gomen ne" by Rie Kugimiya. The fourth season's opening theme is "I'll Be There For You" by Ichiko and the ending theme is "Kiss Shite Agenai" by Rie Kugimiya, both released on February 1, 2012.Both the first and second seasons released four character song albums each. The first CD is for Louise and Saito which is sung by Rie Kugimiya and Satoshi Hino. The second CD is for Montmorency and Guiche which is sung by Mikako Takahashi and Takahiro Sakurai; the first two CDs were both released on September 6, 2006. The third CD is for Kirche and Tabitha which is sung by Nanako Inoue and Yuka Inokuchi. The fourth, and final CD from the first season, is for Henrietta and Siesta which is sung by Ayako Kawasumi and Yui Horie; the third and fourth CDs were both released on September 21, 2006. The first CD for the second season is for Louise which is sung by Rie Kugimiya. The second CD is for Henrietta which is sung by Ayako Kawasumi; the first two CDs were both released on October 10, 2007. The third CD is for Siesta which is sung by Yui Horie. The fourth, and final CD from the second season, is for Eleanor and Cattleya which is sung by Kikuko Inoue and Kotomi Yamakawa; the third and fourth CDs were both released on October 24, 2007.Two audio dramas were released for the second season. The first is a compilation of radio drama episodes from The Familiar of Zero Internet radio show Zero no Tsukaima on the radio: Tristain Mahō Gakuin e Yōkoso and was released on July 25, 2007. The second album is a drama CD featuring the characters Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha voiced by Rie Kugimiya, Nanako Inoue, and Yuka Inokuchi respectively  which was released on September 5, 2007.
Manga
A manga series illustrated by Nana Mochizuki was serialized in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive between the August 2006 and October 2009 issues, published by Media Factory. Seven tankōbon volumes have been released by Media Factory under their MF Comics imprint. Compared to the anime, characters appear younger in the manga. In Indonesia, the manga has been licensed and released up to volume three by Elex Media Komputindo in English under the title The Familiar of Zero, and in the Czech Republic by Zoner Press. A sequel series known as Zero no Tsukaima Chevalier illustrated by Higa Yukari began serialization in the March 2010 issue of Comic Alive. There are also two other spin-offs serialized in Comic Alive: Zero no Tsukaima Gaiden: Tabatha no Bōken by Takuto Kon, which was serialized between December 2007 and August 2010 and compiled in five volumes, and Zero no Chukaima: Yōchien nano! by Takamura Masaya.