Zazie Rainyday

(aka. The Silent Acrobat) is Student Number 31 of Class 3-A. One of the most mysterious girls of the class, not much is known about Zazie except a few simple facts. Recently, it has been revealed that she has an elder sister, Poyo, and that both belonging to the Royal Family of the Demon Folk, with Poyo as crown princess.

Name
When Zazie's name is seen it is written in the Latin alphabet, rather than in Japanese. Similarly, Evangeline's name is also written with the Roman alphabet. This seems to indicate that, like Evangeline, Zazie isn't from Japan and is instead from a country which uses the Roman alphabet. This is backed up by the fact that Chisame referred to her as a transfer student. Her name is most closely related to the word "zany" meaning clownish or whimsical.

Characterization
As mentioned before (this is important), not much information is given about Zazie. She communicates with other characters very little, and speaks even less. She is somehow able to hold a telephone conversation with Ayaka without saying a word.

According to Negi's Class Register, Zazie is a member of the school's Magic Club. She performs as an acrobat in the "Nightmare Circus" at Mahora Academy, which is listed as a non-school activity. She also has been shown to see Sayo without the assistance of Negi or holding a closeness towards her like Kazumi.

Story Plot
During and after MahoraFest, she is often seen in the company of black shadowy phantoms with white mask-like faces (that occasionally want to eat people (and even ghosts like Sayo), and gave Chao a tiny dragon as a farewell present.

At the summit of the Magical World Arc, are Negi and his troupe breaking into the Gravekeepers Palace (AKA Fates hideout). However upon entry, they appear to be greeted by Zazie herself, dressed in her Mahora uniform, who appears to have her fingers developing small points, perhaps priming her claws. She then displays a very high level of magical power by subduing Mana, Kaede and Setsuna, and offers the group a chance to return that very instant to Mahora, stating that Negi's actions will help the cause the future Chao Lingshen sought to prevent. Upon Negi's refusal of her offer, "Zazie" reveals her pactio card and artifact Magic Lantern Circus, which enables her to transport Negi as well as all of his allies into the Eternal Garden, manifested for Negi as his first year of teaching class 3A in which both his parents are not missing and only faint memories of the real world remain. During Negi's 'dream' of reality, a representation of the actual Zazie Rainyday (The Zazie that appeared in the Magic World is actually her sister Poyo), still present at Mahora, somehow watches as he moves through a single day of his own version of paradise. Negi manages to gather the will to begin to question the reality he finds himself in, and confronts Zazie, who is still present and watching him. She claims the illusion he finds himself in, while not the actual Cosmo Entelecheia, is "so close to the real thing as to be indistinguishable." Zazie states that the illusion presents not so much a 'convenient dreamworld', but rather a 'happy reality that could have been', or the happiest possible world for each individual 'trapped' within. Taking a side that is neither completely for nor against helping Negi to complete his goals, she explains to Negi the nature of the world around him, including how to leave it, while still questioning whether leaving that world, his ideal world, is what Negi really wants to do. When he remains firm in his resolve Zazie bids him farewell, warning him to be careful when facing her elder sister Poyo, who was responsible for the original attack in Gravekeepers Palace (and sealing Ala Alba (White Wing, Negi's group) away with Magic Lantern Circus; Zazie's sister's artifact), as well as telling him she will be waiting for him in Mahora, with Ayaka and all the other students who are still in the Old World.

After Negi states that he has a solution to halting the deterioration of the magical world, Poyo reveals her true form: that of a high member of the demonfolk clan. She grows two sets of horns from her head and a giant demonic silhouette that is capable of firing powerful beams of energy. Mana and Keade manage to block her attack right before the gravity mines (provided by Chao) the sniper planted activated and smashed the high demon through the floor. Mana dives after her, knowing that Negi needs to conserve his strength. As the two plunge, Mana reveals her own trump card: Time dilation bullets and her own half demonfolk blood (that is the source of her abilities.)

When Chisame realized that she didn't have enough power to awaken Asuna, Zazie appeared and summoned the rest of her classmates, promising Chisame that she'd protect them for the time being. Negi's class tried after war to find out who Negi really likes. To Negi's surprise, Zazie practiced in it too, while commentating and smiling: "This is my serious mode, Sensei. I owe very much to everyone after what happened. After all, even I should help out my class once in a while."

Epilogue

She, like the rest of the class, assists Negi in saving Nagi and defeating the Mage of the Beginning. She is a guardian. She was immensely satisfied with the labor of the boy and his comrades and sent generous praise. Her appearing before them as an goodwill ambassador would be a story much further in the future.

Abilities

 * Pactio: Primaria In Diabolimundo (literally, "First Princess of the Demon World"). Zazie's artifact is called Devil Pierrot ('Pierrot' being the french word of for clown). Her artifact is the same as her older sister Poyo, allowing her to interact with Poyo's Pactio, Magic Lantern Circus and use it to create a false Cosmo Entelecheia. She is also able to enter, move about, and manipulate (to a certain extent) the illusions created by her sister's artifact, in spite of the fact that she is physically supposed to be in Mahora at the time. How true this statement is, remains to be seen. She also helps explain to Negi many of the intricacies of her sister's artifact's illusionary world, indicating a certain familiarity with it.
 * Acrobatic Skills: Zazie is a member of the Mahora Academy's Acrobatic Club, the Nightmare Circus. In the anime, she is shown to have proficiency in all kinds of circus tricks such as juggling, sleight of hand and costume changing.
 * Magic Power: According to Negi's class register, Zazie is a member of the school's Magic Club. Zazie notes to Negi that her powers are comparable to that of her older Sister, making her one of the most powerful beings in the series. She is also seen directing a group of "monsters" and "spirits" (similar to No-Face in Spirited Away). She is also one of the initial characters capable of seeing Sayo Aisaka. Her wordless interaction with Ayaka could be due teleparthy.

Gallery


Negima!
After gaining her Pactio, she gets a set of magical slicing cards. Also, in her costume her facepaint colour changes to that of her appearance in Negima!? She also gets in her only line of the series in the final episode, as well as her only ever time she smiled (she also speaks lines for the final preview of the series, but that is outside continuity).

Negima!?
Although usually quiet and seen juggling around items in this series, Zazie does speak more often, primarily in small conversations with roommate Mana, which primarily involve her making very bad puns and being scored on them by Mana or whoever else is present. 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 nor sense Sayo until the mass pactio, only sensing her in one scene when she sees her costume seemingly move by its own (Sayo is actually wearing it).[3] Furthermore, the teardrop mark on her face is painted blue (similar to a water droplet) instead of brown.

UQ Holder!
As discriped by Nagumo towards Karin while explaining Touta's Magic Magia Erebea, seems that Zazie was, at least for a short time, a member when not even a founding member of UQ Holder or at least confederated with them.

Later, Zazie appeared in the Mahora Festival along with Ayaka, Mana, Sayo, and Chachamaru to meet Evangeline and Touta Konoe in 3-A class, she explain about the Mage of the Beginning﻿﻿'s true power to Touta.

Trivia

 * Her and Evangeline's Epilogue suggest that sequel aren't out of reach.
 * In the Negima fanbase, Zazie has the largest amount of fanfictions.
 * Zazie often gets portrayed with a bird, or with Chisame or Mana.
 * The Nightmare Circus, which might have finally given Zazie some character development, was cut due to the Chao arc taking more time than Akamatsu expected.