The Familiar of Zero (ゼロの使い魔, Zero no Tsukaima?) is a fantasy and comedy-oriented series of Japanese light novels written by Noboru Yamaguchi, with illustrations by Eiji Usatsuka. Media Factory published 20 volumes between June 2004 and February 2011. The series was left unfinished due to the author's death on April 4, 2013. The story features several characters from the second year class of a magic academy in a fictional magical world with the main characters being the inept mage Louise and her familiar from Earth, Saito Hiraga.
Between 2006 and 2012, the series was adapted by J.C.Staff into four anime television series and an additional original video animation episode. The first anime series was licensed by Geneon Entertainment in English, but the license expired in 2011. A manga version drawn by Nana Mochizuki was serialized in Media Factory's manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive between August 2006 and October 2009. The manga is licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment for release in North America. Three additional spin-off manga were also created, as were three visual novels.
Famous quotes containing the word familiar:
“We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. “Strong and Sensitive Cats,” Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)