<p>Given it was recent and from Funimation, I'd argue that it's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Ravens" rel="nofollow"><strong>Tokyo Ravens</strong></a>, rather than <em>Familar of Zero</em>. Both are good series though, so do check them out.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Licencer panel was Funimation, and <em>Tokyo Ravens</em> is distributed by Funimation.</p></li>
<li><p>Tokyo Ravens original run was from October 9 2013, to March 26 2014, which is quite recent. <em>Familiar of Zero</em> has been out for more than 3 years, given that it has 4 seasons.</p></li>
<li><p>The male protagonist, Harutora Tsuchimikado, fits the <strong>normal guy</strong> setting. He was born into an onmyouji family, but has no power to sense spiritual power whatsoever.</p></li>
<li><p>He takes up on a promise he made long ago to become Natsume's shikigami (<strong>familiar</strong>).</p></li>
<li><p>As Harutora becomes Natsume's shikigami, he has to follow her back to Tokyo and attend the Onmyo Prep School (which is a <strong>specialized school</strong>) with Natsume.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Figured I'd give a small quip from work... </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T17:30:19.253Z
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Ravens
Charles Coulton
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T17:37:27.047Z
Please add a quick description of the anime itself into your post. Take the above answer for Zero no Tsukaima as inspiration. We’re looking for good answers that provide the content and context *in the answer* not by a link to Wikipedia ;) The edit-button is at the bottom left of your answer, next to share ^^ And welcome to Anime & Mange SX
Jan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T19:49:14.447Z
@CharlesCoulton: I have edited the special school part to point to the fact that they goes to Onmyo Prep School. School during summer break is not abnormal for students failing their exam.
nhahtdh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-02T10:20:00.327Z
I agree!! `Tokyo Ravens` fits the description of the question more!!
Arcanyx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-02T15:42:00.883Z
@HotelCalifornia I feel you should change the accepted answer to this one because this was the real answer to your question.
Jan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-22T07:13:54.280Z
Well, I would if I could figure out how to do it on mobile (yeah I'm late- I've been busy). I'll try to fix this tomorrow
HotelCalifornia
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T17:26:59.147Z
2015-06-01T19:47:51.973Z
2015-06-01T19:47:51.973Z
Charles Coulton
<p>That sounds like <strong>Zero no Tsukaima</strong> or <strong>The Familiar of Zero</strong>.</p>

<p>Visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Familiar_of_Zero" rel="nofollow">its Wikipedia article</a> to verify whether it matches your description.</p>

<p>It's one of my favorite, and it already has season 2.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T05:22:18.333Z
welcome ^^ Hope you enjoy it too :)
name me
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T11:54:30.203Z
It has seasons three and four, too.
Jan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T16:27:06.927Z
Well, IMHO season 2 was worse and 3 was yet worse, but the looks are pretty indeed.

BTW, the devil-may-care Kirshe is actually the most known Russian Empress ;-)

Actually you may have fun just opening Wikipedia and reading about the historical persons, whom Japanese turned into those typical anime magic girls. It is I think no less interesting than the plot itself.
Arioch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-02T02:30:39.300Z
oh didn't know about the season 3 and 4! what should i expect with those season?
name me
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-02T15:41:09.997Z
@nameme Season three was much like season two, apparantly, with little plot progression and lots of fillers. Season four stepped up the pace and got through a lot more source with more plot. But basically, we’re just watching it for a tsundere loli, so it doesn’t matter what actually *happens*, right?
Jan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-03T01:58:38.787Z
@Jan woah i hate fillers! uhm well it depends to what type of anime haha but for this i think fillers are fun. I'll be watching this on weekend! Thank you so much.
name me
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T05:19:23.557Z
2015-06-01T19:51:11.037Z
2015-06-01T19:51:11.037Z
name me
<p>It could be <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6660" rel="noreferrer">The Familiar of Zero</a></p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/CDq9K.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Meet Louise, a budding magician. The students at the Tristein Academy call her &quot;Zero Louise&quot;, due to her current record of zero successes with magic. In fact, her magic tends to go spectacularly wrong. Now, as an important test of her aptitude for magic, she must summon a familiar to be her servant. At this critical moment, she summons up all her magic and wishes for a familiar that is &quot;devoted, beautiful and powerful&quot;, and gets... Hiraga Saito, an ordinary Japanese boy. It's difficult to say who is more surprised and dismayed, but the rules don't allow for second attempts. Louise is stuck with her strange familiar, and he with her.</p>
</blockquote>
<h1>Proof's</h1>
<blockquote>
<p>By some random circumstance, this guy (I assume he's the main character), a human, becomes this girl's spirit familiar (or something).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This would be <strong>Hiraga Saito</strong>, as the description of the series points out he is an ordinary Japanese boy and becomes the Familiar for <strong>Louise</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Then they go to a special school</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Saito starts going to the same school as Louise, <em>Tristein Academy</em>, because he is now no longer of Earth but instead another world</p>
<h1>Contradictions</h1>
<blockquote>
<p>at a funimation panel, they were showing off some anime that they had recently dubbed</p>
</blockquote>
<p>FUNimation Entertainment did at one time have the licenses to distribute The Familiar of Zero, however these licenses have since expired and now owned by Section23 Films (Since 2014)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T05:20:56.267Z
Yup, first one that came to my mind.
Cattua
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T06:24:55.453Z
Weird that they were talking about it this year then... Well, in my head it had the animations from nobunagun, so I guess anything goes x_x
HotelCalifornia
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T06:34:33.823Z
@HotelCalifornia it's the reason why i put in the contradiction. the Proofs match to what you describe but the Contradictions state that FUNimation hasn't had the licences since Since 2014 and i am unsure when you saw this panel
Memor-X
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T06:58:32.940Z
I saw the panel about two weeks ago, like it says in the question. I guess there's two possibilities as to why they were talking about it: 1) the two people holding the panel just mentioned an anime that they liked or 2) funimation is rereleasing the episodes it holds the license to. I'm thinking that it was probably the first one, but I really don't remember.
HotelCalifornia
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T22:08:10.527Z
@HotelCalifornia i didn't see your edit when i posted my answer but as to the second point in your comment having not seen the series itself and only just owning the DVDs i have yet to confirm is FUNimation is even credited but if they were talking about an anime they recently dubbed then it would be The Familiar of Zero unless by "recently" they mean early last year as it was 7 May 2014 that Australia got the DVD, one would assume the US had it a lot sooner and it could have possible been streamed even sooner than that
Memor-X
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T22:28:54.523Z
Alright, fair enough. In any case, it seems that the actual series I was thinking of was in fact Tokyo Ravens. So now I have two things to watch \0/
HotelCalifornia
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-01T05:20:12.023Z
2015-06-01T05:21:02.637Z
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303Z
Memor-X
<p>About two weeks ago, at a Funimation panel, they were showing off some anime that they had recently dubbed. One of the anime they showed caught my eye, but I completely forgot what it was called.</p>

<p>As far as I can remember, the plot went something like this:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>By some random circumstance, this guy (I assume he's the main character),  a human, becomes this girl's spirit familiar (or something). Then they go to a special school.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Yep, that's what my brain remembers. If anyone has any clue as to what I'm talking about, please help.</p>

<p>I was at ACen 2015 (15-17 May, so two weeks ago) when I heard about this. I honestly don't remember anything about how it looked like, but the series couldn't have been more than 3 years old.</p>

<tokyo-ravens>
Anime about a guy who becomes a girl's spirit familiar
# Anime about a guy who becomes a girl's spirit familiar
Posted by: username_0 on 2015-06-01
About two weeks ago, at a Funimation panel, they were showing off some anime that they had recently dubbed. One of the anime they showed caught my eye, but I completely forgot what it was called.

As far as I can remember, the plot went something like this:

> By some random circumstance, this guy (I assume he's the main character), a human, becomes this girl's spirit familiar (or something). Then they go to a special school.

Yep, that's what my brain remembers. If anyone has any clue as to what I'm talking about, please help.

I was at ACen 2015 (15-17 May, so two weeks ago) when I heard about this. I honestly don't remember anything about how it looked like, but the series couldn't have been more than 3 years old.
**Tags:** tokyo-ravens
---
## 3 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2015-06-01. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
Given it was recent and from Funimation, I'd argue that it's [**Tokyo Ravens**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Ravens), rather than *Familar of Zero*. Both are good series though, so do check them out.

* Licencer panel was Funimation, and *Tokyo Ravens* is distributed by Funimation.
* Tokyo Ravens original run was from October 9 2013, to March 26 2014, which is quite recent. *Familiar of Zero* has been out for more than 3 years, given that it has 4 seasons.
* The male protagonist, Harutora Tsuchimikado, fits the **normal guy** setting. He was born into an onmyouji family, but has no power to sense spiritual power whatsoever.
* He takes up on a promise he made long ago to become Natsume's shikigami (**familiar**).
* As Harutora becomes Natsume's shikigami, he has to follow her back to Tokyo and attend the Onmyo Prep School (which is a **specialized school**) with Natsume.

Figured I'd give a small quip from work...
> **Comments:**
> **username_1** (2015-06-01): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Ravens  
> **username_2** (2015-06-01): Please add a quick description of the anime itself into your post. Take the above answer for Zero no Tsukaima as inspiration. We’re looking for good answers that provide the content and context *in the answer* not by a link to Wikipedia ;) The edit-button is at the bottom left of your answer, next to share ^^ And welcome to Anime & Mange SX  
> **username_3** (2015-06-01): @CharlesCoulton: I have edited the special school part to point to the fact that they goes to Onmyo Prep School. School during summer break is not abnormal for students failing their exam.  
> **username_4** (2015-06-02): I agree!! `Tokyo Ravens` fits the description of the question more!!  
> **username_2** (2015-06-02): @HotelCalifornia I feel you should change the accepted answer to this one because this was the real answer to your question.  
> **username_0** (2015-11-22): Well, I would if I could figure out how to do it on mobile (yeah I'm late- I've been busy). I'll try to fix this tomorrow  
---
### Answer by username_5 on 2015-06-01. Score: 6
That sounds like **Zero no Tsukaima** or **The Familiar of Zero**.

Visit [its Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Familiar_of_Zero) to verify whether it matches your description.

It's one of my favorite, and it already has season 2.
> **Comments:**
> **username_5** (2015-06-01): welcome ^^ Hope you enjoy it too :)  
> **username_2** (2015-06-01): It has seasons three and four, too.  
> **username_6** (2015-06-01): Well, IMHO season 2 was worse and 3 was yet worse, but the looks are pretty indeed.

BTW, the devil-may-care Kirshe is actually the most known Russian Empress ;-)

Actually you may have fun just opening Wikipedia and reading about the historical persons, whom Japanese turned into those typical anime magic girls. It is I think no less interesting than the plot itself.  
> **username_5** (2015-06-02): oh didn't know about the season 3 and 4! what should i expect with those season?  
> **username_2** (2015-06-02): @nameme Season three was much like season two, apparantly, with little plot progression and lots of fillers. Season four stepped up the pace and got through a lot more source with more plot. But basically, we’re just watching it for a tsundere loli, so it doesn’t matter what actually *happens*, right?  
> **username_5** (2015-06-03): @Jan woah i hate fillers! uhm well it depends to what type of anime haha but for this i think fillers are fun. I'll be watching this on weekend! Thank you so much.  
---
### Answer by username_7 on 2015-06-01. Score: 6
It could be [The Familiar of Zero](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6660)

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/CDq9K.jpg)

> Meet Louise, a budding magician. The students at the Tristein Academy call her "Zero Louise", due to her current record of zero successes with magic. In fact, her magic tends to go spectacularly wrong. Now, as an important test of her aptitude for magic, she must summon a familiar to be her servant. At this critical moment, she summons up all her magic and wishes for a familiar that is "devoted, beautiful and powerful", and gets... Hiraga Saito, an ordinary Japanese boy. It's difficult to say who is more surprised and dismayed, but the rules don't allow for second attempts. Louise is stuck with her strange familiar, and he with her.

# Proof's

> By some random circumstance, this guy (I assume he's the main character), a human, becomes this girl's spirit familiar (or something).

This would be **Hiraga Saito**, as the description of the series points out he is an ordinary Japanese boy and becomes the Familiar for **Louise**

> Then they go to a special school

Saito starts going to the same school as Louise, *Tristein Academy*, because he is now no longer of Earth but instead another world

# Contradictions

> at a funimation panel, they were showing off some anime that they had recently dubbed

FUNimation Entertainment did at one time have the licenses to distribute The Familiar of Zero, however these licenses have since expired and now owned by Section23 Films (Since 2014)
> **Comments:**
> **username_8** (2015-06-01): Yup, first one that came to my mind.  
> **username_0** (2015-06-01): Weird that they were talking about it this year then... Well, in my head it had the animations from nobunagun, so I guess anything goes x_x  
> **username_7** (2015-06-01): @HotelCalifornia it's the reason why i put in the contradiction. the Proofs match to what you describe but the Contradictions state that FUNimation hasn't had the licences since Since 2014 and i am unsure when you saw this panel  
> **username_0** (2015-06-01): I saw the panel about two weeks ago, like it says in the question. I guess there's two possibilities as to why they were talking about it: 1) the two people holding the panel just mentioned an anime that they liked or 2) funimation is rereleasing the episodes it holds the license to. I'm thinking that it was probably the first one, but I really don't remember.  
> **username_7** (2015-06-01): @HotelCalifornia i didn't see your edit when i posted my answer but as to the second point in your comment having not seen the series itself and only just owning the DVDs i have yet to confirm is FUNimation is even credited but if they were talking about an anime they recently dubbed then it would be The Familiar of Zero unless by "recently" they mean early last year as it was 7 May 2014 that Australia got the DVD, one would assume the US had it a lot sooner and it could have possible been streamed even sooner than that  
> **username_0** (2015-06-01): Alright, fair enough. In any case, it seems that the actual series I was thinking of was in fact Tokyo Ravens. So now I have two things to watch \0/  
---
