Student Number 31:

Zazie Rainyday (Zaji Reinīdei?) Birthday: 17 March 1989. The silent acrobat, and one of the most mysterious girls of the class. Nothing much is known about her, as she rarely associates with anybody, and even when she does, she rarely talks (she has spoken only seven times in the serialized manga thus far), although in volume 6, a snapshot hints that she may have a mature body. What is known is that she is a member of the Nightmare Circus, the school’s Acrobatic Club, and is seen directing a group of “monsters” or “spirits” (similar to No-Face from Spirited Away) when she offered to cover for her classmates during the school festival, and gave Chao a tiny living dragon as a farewell gift.

She also has been shown to see Sayo without the assistance of Negi or holding a closeness towards her like Kazumi. According to Negi’s Class Register, Zazie is also a member of the school’s Magic Club, (though if she knows real magic like Negi is still in question). In the anime, she is shown to have proficiency in all kinds of circus tricks such as juggling, sleight of hand, and costume changing.

She has dark skin, and has two particular face paint marks: a large teardrop under her left eye (strongly resembling the carnival character “pierro”), and a vertical line resembling a scar crossing the right side of her face. A splash picture of the cast shows her with claws growing from her fingers.[2] She is sometimes seen with her pet bird, but more recently with her “friends” (the black spirits-monsters). So far, she is the least known of all the students in Negi’s class and very little has been revealed about her.

When Zazie’s name is seen written down it uses the Latin alphabet, rather than being written in Japanese. This is similar to Evangeline’s written name which is also written with the Roman alphabet. This may indicate that Zazie isn’t from Japan and may be from another culture which uses the Roman alphabet, like Evangeline being from Europe. This is backed up by the fact that Chisame referred to her as a transfer student in volume 2.

  • Negima!: After gaining Pactio, she gets a set of magical slicing cards. She also gets in her only line of the series in the final episode, as well as her only ever time she smiled.
  • Negima!?: Although usually quiet and seen juggling around items in this series, Zazie does speak more often, primarily in small conversations with roommate Mana. Also, when she is accidentally captured in a trap intended to catch the Black Rose Baron, Asuna refers to her as a foreigner (just like the accusation in the manga). During the “Suka incident”, she turns into a squid (which is also her card representation during the final battle, while all the other girls are represented by Armor cards). As an added note, unlike events in the manga, she does not see or sense Sayo until the mass pactio, only sensing her in one scene when she sees her costume seemingly move by its own.[3]

(Seiyū: Yuka Inokuchi English VA: Carrie Savage Spanish VA: Mayra Arellano)