Sandbox / Zatch Bell Zeno And Dufort

Zeno Bell (Zeon Bell) and Dufort (Dufaux)

Zeno (Right Foreground) and Dufort (Left Background)

Citizenship: Unknown (Dufort)

Power: Lightning

Other Abilities: Zeno: Mantle, Doll Emissary, Mind Wiping || Dufort: Answer Talker

Voiced By: Zeno: Urara Takano (JP), Debi Derryberry (EN), Sara Vivas (SP) || Dufort: Hikaru Midorikawa (JP), Dave Wittenberg (EN)

"Naive. You guys are so naive. You're acting like you had a choice. When I meet a couple of guys as naive as you two. It puts me in the mood to destroy your book."

—Zeno

A demon with strong electrical powers who looks uncannily like Zatch. He's tied to the loss of Zatch's memories. He also uses lightning, but is colored white instead of Zatch's yellow.

Zeon's partner, a mysterious, quiet young man of initially unclear origin.

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Note: English names of characters, terminologies, and spell nomenclature are used where applicable. Japanese versions will be used sparingly, particularly in parentheses, to acknowledge distinctions.

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Tropes Applicable to Both

Tropes for Zeno

• Adaptational Jerkass: Not only does Zeno retain his evil traits as said below, Zeno continues to be a loathsome dog-kicker even at the point he's supposed to be redeemed in accordance to the manga. Continuously attacking downed opponents, mocking everyone beside Dufort around him, and ultimately defeating Faudo's Remote Control so it can freely ravage the world just to spite Zatch before he disappears.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the manga, Zeon does start out rather dickish but as the battle goes on we start to see he does have a noble side and that his actions were purely driven by jealously which he eventually overcomes once he sees Zatch's past. In the anime, no such development exists, he's evil through and through and has nothing but contempt for Zatch to the bitter end, even when he's beaten. This was because the author had broken his hand as he was in the midst of the story arc and the anime rapidly caught up before he could do the battle between Zatch and Zeno. So the animation staff just had to go with anything and just ran with what they had.
• Aloof Big Brother: According to himself, Zeno is the older twin.
• Arch-Enemy: To Zatch. He erased his enemies, he's related to him, and Zeno resents Zatch for having Baou, so they have the most personal connection this side of Sherry and Zofis.
• Big Bad: For the last half of the Faudo arc, and for most of the series seeing as he's the one who removed Zatch's memories.
• Blood Knight: Zeno is very ruthless and it was something he inherited from his father. This reason is exactly why King Bell gave Bao to Zatch. Bao consumed so much darkness, the spell became dangerous and Zeno, possessing his father's wrath, would've been consumed by it. Contrast this to Zatch, who not only manage to resist it, but purify Bao.
• Cain and Abel: The Cain to Zatch's Abel, though they get better.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: His spell selection is similar to Gash's, meaning his feats of extreme strength and speed come from pure physical training.
• Evil Is Petty: In the anime, after being defeated by Zatch, Zeno rejects redemption and destroys Faudo's control mechanism to let it rampage freely on the human world. All because he lost.
• Evil Twin: Of Zatch, natch. Literally.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His purple have some sort of shiny tint to them. Keith of the Faudo group particularly is fascinated by them.
• Flash Step: Spams this, often to get behind opponents.
• Freudian Excuse: His grudge against Zatch? He believed that, since Zatch got the incredible power of Bao, and he himself had to go through Training from Hell, that his parents favored Zatch. His Heel Realization hits when he realizes Zatch's bad past yet never waivered from his kind self while also learning Zatch was given Bao to protect Zeno from it.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Part of what drives him. He feels driven to surpass Zatch's Bao Zakeruga with his own power, born from his Training from Hell. If he can do so, he'll prove to himself that the suffering of said training was actually worth something. He actually is stronger than Zatch during their fight, but he loses because Zatch matches his and Dufort's suffering and the power coming from it with the care from his friends, empowering Bao.
• The Heavy: His actions kickstart the plot, and he's the driving force behind the second major arc of the series. Even afterwards, he heralds the coming of the final arc by alluding to Clear Note's existence.
• Heel–Face Turn: His last act in the human world.
• Ignored Epiphany: He sees fragments of Zatch's memories, revealing bits of Zatch's past along with the horrific might of Bao. He seemingly shrugs it off though he eventually realizes he was in the wrong. Furthermore, he confessed that if he did win, he would've destroyed Zatch's book to prevent Bao from consuming him.
• Kick the Dog: Beating Rops was all part of the competition, but he rubs it in by having Dufort Zaker the already burning book, destroying it instantly so Rops doesn't have the chance to give his bookkeeper a farewell.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Starts undergoing one when he catches a glimpse of Zatch's memories and seeing the corrupted form of Bao. Finally hits it when defeated and sees Zatch's unpleasant past. Sums it up as such: "Forgive me, Zatch. Your brother has been a fool."
• Out of Focus: He's introduced in one scene and then later we find out he burned Rops' book...and then we don't hear from him again 'til the second arc.
• Pet the Dog: Seeing Rodeaux being willing to risk his life to attack him, Zeon tanks the hit rather than dodge it.
• The Power of Hate: His suffering along with the hate from Dufort resulted in his ultimate spell. He and Dufort were released from it when Bao ate the spell.
• Shock and Awe: Just like Zatch, although he's far more competent with it.
• Slasher Smile: Very fond of these.
• Smug Super: Fond of using only the bare minimum of force to counter his enemies' spells. This still comes off as him showing off though since he's beating them with spells that ought to be much weaker than theirs.
• Tyke Bomb: Trained from when he was three to be a candidate for king.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Subverted. He started off an evil little kid with sociopathic tendencies because of his Freudian Excuse, but after learning and seeing the truth firsthand, Zeno immediately changes his tune and opts to act better for his twin brother. Played straight in the anime however.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Of Baou Zakeruga. Not until he sees Gash and Kiyomaro nearly devoured by its power, he doesn't.

Tropes for Dufort

• Ask a Stupid Question...: Given his Answer Talker power, asking him how he knows something causes him to respond with derision.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: His Answer Talker ability.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: He considers the lives of human beings to have no more importance than the lives of flies. Since no one cares if a fly dies, he figures it doesn't matter if people die. He admits that most people would probably disagree with his assessment.
• Came Back Strong: Implied. He indicates the Answer Talker comes from dying then coming back to life.
• Freudian Excuse: Dufort was raised in a lab environment from childhood, treated cruelly and anyone kind to him was removed. After years of torment and testing, he was given one final battery of tests that opened the path to his release, all while taunted by the scientist who had ruled his life. Turns out that A)His Answer Talker was being used for military application, B) He was being released into the Arctic to die rather than being freed, and, oh, C) His mother sold him for ten thousand dollars. Teaming up with Zeon doesn't seem so far-fetched, considering...
• Nerves of Steel: He jumps off a pillar at least three stories tall without flinching, confident Zeon will catch him.
• Psychic Powers: In the Anime; Dufort had vast psychic powers for which he was poked and prodded within an undisclosed facility most of his life for.
  • Mind over Matter: His "answer talker" abilities, which let him instantly calculate the best winning strategy for any situation.
    • Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Does this a few times.
• The Mentor: During the Clear Note arc, he helps the remaining Main Characters bring out their greatest potential via his use of the Answer Talker.
• The Power of Hate: His Answer Talker ability was honed through pure hatred. It's implied his immense amount of heart power comes from this hatred as well.
• Skewed Priorities. He cure a child's fatal disease because the boy's family's wailing was keeping him from getting any sleep.
• The Stoic: He's rarely seen with so much as a twitch.
  • Not So Stoic: Was angered so much when Apollo asked how much hatred he was hiding to the point where he attempted to finish him and Rops off with a 'Giga' level spell, until Zeon convinced him otherwise. He is also moved to tears when he sees Zatch taking in his suffering to free him from it.
• Straw Nihilist: Given his past, it's no surprise. Character Development frees him from this.
• Walking the Earth: After Zeno's gone, he decides to wander.