Slayers was one of the first animes i saw. It is really hillarious. ^_^
Great review!
Slayers tv,ova Review
Story & Playability
Slayers is a series of OVAs, a movie and three TV series chronicling the adventures of the redheaded, small, but powerhouse sorceress Lina Inverse. Although the TV series came out before the OVAs and movies, they are set before the TV series.
All stories are set on a world where there are three kinds or races. On one side stand the dragon gods and their lower dragon siblings, who want to protect the world and the life on it. On the opposite side are the Mazoku, created to destroy the world and return it to the nothingness from which it came. The highest level members of both groups are so incredibly powerful that any clashes between them can level much of the world, and the forces pretty much equal each other.
In Linas days they mostly act by proxy through less powerful underlings as it is less dangerous to them and to their goals, although to a human those underlings are still plenty strong. That brings us to the third type of people, the humans and other mortals, who are neither dark nor light and can use both light and dark magic. On the downside, by far the most are, relative to the dragon gods and Mazoku, very weak.
The OVAs and movie are about a younger Lina and describe how she meets up with her (self described) eternal rival slash travelling companion, Naga. Where Lina is small and to her frustration will be a late bloomer at best, Naga is tall, massively endowed and can pull off wearing a black leather string bikini as her daily costume. She is proud of her laugh, but everyone else is terrified by it. While they make a good team, Lina is very certain that she would be even better if Naga was not there. She certainly would be less irritated, and regularly tries to leave the taller girl behind. Especially because Naga can decide to play the pesky rival once in a while rather than the travelling companion.
Lina Inverse already has a reputation that makes lower dragons run away as fast as they can manage, no small feat. Then again, her signature spell is the Dragon Slave, which is best compared to a tactical nuke, so that is understandable. The movie, in which Lina and Naga engage a Mazoku named Joyrock, is set during or shortly after the OVAs.
Then come the three TV series: Slayers, Slayers Next and Slayers Try.
Set chronologically (shortly?) after Lina has managed to get away from Naga permanently, in the first half of the first Slayers series she collects some new companions, who will stay with her through the three TV series. First there is the very dimwitted swordsman Gourry. Not only is he very good with a sword, he also has a mythical 'Sword of Light' that comes in very handy on many occasions. Later we are introduced to Zelgadis, once human and now one third human, one third demon and one third stone golem (magically moving stone). He enjoys the power and armor that his form gives him, but would rather be fully human, almost as much as he wants to kill the person who made him into this. The fourth of the main characters is Amelia, Princess of Sailune and on a justice streak to punish all evildoers.
The second TV series, Slayers Next, also introduces Xelloss, a high level Mazoku given the job to keep Lina alive by his superiors, for their own nefarious purposes. He does so with a style that is hard to match, and if possible in such a way the other four provide him with maximum entertainment and plenty of dark emotions, which is what he feeds upon. The comic relief is provided by Martina, yet another princess whose home city had an accident of the Lina Inverse kind and needs major and prolonged rebuilding. Needless to say, Martina, happily ignoring she was in fact the one who brought it on her city, is most unhappy with Lina and constantly tries to kill her as slowly and painfully as she can manage. Most often it ends up being painful for herself though.
The third series, Try, no longer has Martina, but introduces the character of Filia, a golden dragon (usually in human form) on a quest to save the world. The main (there are a lot) enemy this time is a half-dragon half-Mazoku called Valgaav, who has an account to settle with the golden dragons. And the Mazoku. And with Lina Inverse. In no particular order, but if he can get them all in one strike, so much easier.
The above is a small list of the main characters, I have left out the major and interesting but minor characters that appear in one or more of the OVAs and TV series episodes. Slayers has too large a cast list to mention quickly.
Rating:
Graphics
What can be said of the slayers animation quality? I would say it is always consistent within a TV series or whithin the OVAs/movie. It is also of good quality for its time frame, with the first TV series being the oldest and most dated.
The animation for the OVAs and movie is very good. Sharp, colorful, and well drawn, it is never painful to watch. The detail is pretty good too, this was made with a larger budget than the TV series and it shows.
The art of the TV series improves with each series, but it is never bad and always consistent within a series. It can be seen that the budget for the second and third series was larger, but Slayers animation has never been below expectations.
Rating:
Sound
While Slayers is not know for its tremendous musical score, I think this aspect of the series is often overlooked. The first TV series may have had pretty much standard music, but the second and third TV series had catchy tunes, and really excellent back ground music that fit the mood perfectly. I went so far as to hunt down the sound tracks.
The OVA series also has some gems; for example a very spooky choral played during a charge by Naga and ten exact copy Naga-clones on a castle. The inhabitants of that castle were justly terrified, and the music played very well with that.
The Japanese voice actor cast sports some great names, and is very well chosen for their talent and delivery. The English voice cast was equally well chosen in most cases, though when one compares the voices for Xelloss and priestess Sylphiel I think they picked less well, but that is my opinion.
Rating:
Fun
The TV series alternates slapstick episodes with very serious ones. The OVA was less suited for that and has a less constant storyboard quality, sometimes overdosing on humor, at other times hitting a perfect balance. The best OVA-era episodes in my opinion are the movie, and the first story in the OVA "Book of Spells". In the latter one Lina simply keeps refusing to have her head removed from her body. The idea was to place the head on top of a very powerful monster, creating the ultimate weapon. Naga liked the idea and found the resulting monster very attractive, but Lina disagreed. Violently and painfully for others.
The first TV series was the first Slayers anime. It is the story of the priest Rezo, born blind and determined to cure himself. He is a mage of very high ability, and responsible for the condition of Zelgadis. The problem here is that restoring his eyes will release the head-honcho Dark Lord against whom all spells of this world are useless. Fortunately Lina knows a spell, calling upon something outside of the world. That battle is settled in the first part of the first series. The second part is about a clone of Rezo, who wants to surpass his creator, and do what that priest never managed to do: go head to head with Lina Inverse and win.
In the Slayers Next series the defeat of their boss (in the first TV series) has become known to the Mazoku second in command, Fibrizo. He is fighting with a break-away faction of the Mazoku lead by his rival Gaav, and hatches a plan to draw him out by using Lina Inverse and her crew as bait. But that is only half of it, he calculates that Lina Inverse can bring about the Mazokus true goal: the destruction of the world. Xelloss is his main pawn in this plan, and needless to say, pretty much everyone else disagrees with it.
Slayers Try had the problem of the dark lord and his second in command having been defeated, and the writers did not feel comfortable with settling for a lesser Evil. So they introduced the gods of another world, who are hunting for the five weapons of light (including the sword of light) to draw their own demon lord Dark Star to the Slayers world and defeat him there. While agreeing in principle that defeating dark lords is a good thing, the dragons of the Slayers world do wish they did so elsewhere. But their wishes are moot as a vengeance-filled Valgaav co-opts the plan and makes some changes.
While the OVAs are very much fun to watch, the real meat of Slayers is in the TV series, with their plotlines and many characters. I have heard that some people find the third TV series the most repetitive in plot, but I always thought that it is also the one that shows the most how much the characters have grown to know themselves and each other since the first episodes of the first series. For example, after hearing that Xelloss betrayed her, Lina doesn't blast him or kick him out, but replies that, well, he is a Mazoku who only aids them when he is ordered to, so what can you expect? Later on, when fighting desperately against Dark Star, Lina and Xelloss flawlessly work together despite that earlier episode and it is the new character Filia that is the most hesitant to play her part.
Slayers is a classic. It is also a very large anime. So is this review.
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.5000 (very good)
Reviewed by ptptn, Nov 26, 2005
Comments
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HikariSorano Nov 26, 2005
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toru07 Nov 26, 2005
Very nice review. Thanks a lot for doing one for Slayers. This review gives me now a clearer view of what slayers is since I've only seen a very few episodes from different seasons/series. Well I've seen one of its movie (I don't know which one), XD actually I find it boring, maybe because I didn't know who Naga is. XD
I really like the series, its really funny. ;) Its one of the first animes I've seen..... and if I remember it right, Martina likes Xelloss right? And theres a character I like you didn't mention, I think her name is Sylphiel. :)
Anyways, Nice review. :) -
shinsengumi Retired Moderator Nov 26, 2005
Just for future reference, the Story and Characters section is not a place for you to write a plot synopsis. Rather, it is a place for you to note the merits (or lack thereof) of the plot, the cast of characters, development, and the like.
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JKLeganes Nov 27, 2005
Slayers made me start watching anime 8 years ago, and im so, so happy for it...the first series was on TV for a long time in Spain, so i watched it complete at least 4 times, and still wanted more hehe
I think this review is almost perfect, and it made my eyes open: I want more! -
somorc Nov 28, 2005
Slayer is is magnify,very exciting.
Very captivating characters...
Excuse my English, it is because I am of Brasil... -
snarzz Nov 28, 2005
I think it would be better to devide all the movies and different slayers series. It would be better for people to understand AND it would be better to use casual english when making a review on the net since there are people who do not understand all that much english.
Love the serie though ^^ -
merelie Nov 29, 2005
it might be better to differentiate between the tv series and the movies as they have little in common save for lina's character
they have their own brand of fun, though the overall plot and emphasis is different
regardless, slayers is something very fun to watch and i enjoy the series in all its incarnations :D
you managed to sum up a lot of things (and jot my memory on some points too!)
thanks for the review -
runemaster Dec 13, 2005
For what I know, Slayers is about a girl named Lina Inverse who is obsess in making her breast bigger whenever Serpent Naga is around.
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MegasXLRFanX85 Dec 20, 2005
When I first watcthed this series, I was blown away by the extemely compelling action sequences and the fast and furious humor.
Lina Linverse must be one the most quirkest and endearing anime heroines I have seen in a while. This anime is definately worth looking into. -
Chans Mar 15, 2006
This is my favorite anime...THE BEST ANIME EVER! Lina Inverse, you are my greatest love in allthe universe!
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Sanisa Feb 24, 2010
Thanks for the review! Nice ^__^
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