Slayers: Next - Volume 3

Introduction

Slayers has turned out to be quite the surprise. Until comparatively recently, longer running anime series have found it difficult to find a market in the UK, while the appetite for more retro shows has been pretty much absent. With MVM having been singed once with Yu Yu Hakusho, it must have been a risk to take on something like Slayers. But it's a risk that has paid off, and it turns out that there is a market for retro anime, as long as it is competitively packaged, of high quality, and entertaining. It's refreshing to realise that UK anime audiences don't just want the latest thing, with pixel perfect animation and CGI eye-candy.

Lina Inverse is a powerful sorceress in a pint-sized package. She's into wealth redistribution. She takes on the toughest of bandits, the meanest of monsters, with an arsenal of powerful and destructive spells, and then liberates them from their gold, gems and magical artefacts, redistributing it into her own pocket. Somehow though, she's become one of a group of adventurers, working together to fight evil, defeat monsters, and make enough money to fill their stomachs. After all, fighting the Dark sorcerer Rezo, and the resurrected Shabranigdo tends to unite people against adversity. Gourry Gabriev is the heroic figure, who is a dab hand with a sword, if not too bright of intellect. Zelgadis is a powerful warrior/magic user, who in the pursuit of more power was cursed so that his skin turned to stone, and is now looking for a cure. Amelia is a trainee sorceress, and heir to the throne of Seyruun, who has an unwavering belief in goodness and justice, and who as an apprentice, continually manages to rub Lina the wrong way. Their adventures continue in the second series, Slayers Next.

This time, it's personal, as the heroes search for a copy of the Claire Bible, a tome that promises to hold the cure to Zelgadis' curse, leaving him with a skin problem no amount of exfoliating can solve.


The next seven episodes of Slayers Next are presented here on this disc from MVM, although the episode numbering counts the episodes in the first series as well.

40. Where! Is the Strongest Spell
Having solved the Seyruun problem, Lina and friends are taking it easy at a resort, soaking up the sun and enjoying a swimming pool. Well actually they are waiting for a man named Borden to come across with a map to a hidden ruin, in which lies the ultimate magic spell. But it turns out that Borden is a crooked salesman, and Lina and the others will be competing against twins Nene and Mimi in a race to get the treasure.

41. A Big Crash! The Battle at Artemay Tower
Once upon a time, a man grew to hate other people and the world so much, that he locked himself away in a tower, where his only friends were the dolls he created. But then he fell in love with a girl called Anne, and he pursued her and wooed her until she went to the tower with him, where she was never seen of again. Neither were the villagers who went to rescue her. Xellos' story isn't just a spooky tale to send shivers down everyone's spine during a moody meal. The legend may be true, and the man's power may come from the Claire Bible. The band of adventurers head to the local tower to find out.


42. Bitter Curve Balls! Gutsy Fast Balls!
A battle for the last meatball in a restaurant turns the eyes of the other patrons, and the eyes of Ruso Balzac in particular. He's a Brass Rackets player who is in desperate need of a doubles partner, and he sees something in Lina Inverse's determination. Lina's not interested, until she learns that the trophy in the next Brass Rackets tournament holds a clue to the Claire Bible.

43. They're Talking! About a Girl Named Zelgadis
The Kingdom of Femille, no men allowed under pain of death. It's a city that is unusually blessed in the number of pure and chaste shrine maidens it produces, and such purity can only come from powerful magic. Lina's determined to investigate. It's cross-dressing time again. But Zelgadis, I mean Lulu gets into trouble when she rescues a runaway princess named Miwan.


44. The Temple of Sand! The Secret of the Giga Slave
The search continues for a magic powerful enough to defeat the Monsters, which means looking for a complete copy of the Claire Bible. Xellos mentions that there is such a copy in a temple on a nearby mountain, but he doesn't think it will be useful. The reason becomes clear when they walk through the temple doors, into an infinite desert dimension. The Claire Bible has been transcribed on an infinite number of stone tablets, all encoded, and finding the one they need seems impossible. Fortunately there is a kindly temple guardian named Auntie Aqua to help. Unfortunately, the Demon Dragon King Gaav sees his nemeses getting close to a way of defeating him, and decides to attack.

45. Disclosure At Last! Xellos's True Form
It turns out not to be much of a surprise when Xellos reveals his true identity. There's a jostling for power among Shabranigdo's lieutenants, and Gaav wants a bigger piece of the pie than Hellmaster Phibrizzo. The temple is the perfect place to make his move, as the Claire Bible will mask his actions. Lina's just had a rude reminder of why she can never use the Giga Slave spell again, but with Gaav impervious to all other spells, things look bleak. That's until Martina of all people saves the day.


46. Set Course! For Dragon Valley
They need to find a way to the Katahto Mountains and Dragon Valley, where a complete copy of the Claire Bible is rumoured to exist. Of course the path has been lost for years, and they'll need a guide. What they find is a pickpocket who to tries lift Lina's purse. Knowing that they may be walking into danger, they leave him behind and make do with a map, only for the little thief to be accosted by Martina who is in hot pursuit. The Valley of the Dragons is aptly named, swarming with the creatures, and all of them have a grievance with Xellos. After some tense negotiating, they get the help of the Golden Dragon Milgasia, but Gaav's minion Saygraam isn't far behind.

Picture

Slayers Next is an anime from the mid-nineties, so there's no pixel perfect CGI perfection. This is traditional, hand painted, cel acetate animation with all the inconsistencies and flaws that implies. It looks pretty good for all that, with a decent transfer of a good clean source. There's no sign of age or print damage here, and the animation may be comparatively rough and ready, but it still has all the vibrancy and imagination that I have come to expect from anime. It isn't all that flash or high budget, but the character designs are memorable and the world design does what it needs to, to get the story across. It does seem a little more fluid and brighter than Slayers though. However, I've recently seen the trailer for Funimation's US re-release of Slayers Next, which has been digitally remastered. It looks a whole lot brighter, colourful and sharper, and it's a shame that version couldn't be sourced for the UK.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, along with optional English subtitles (except for the credit reels, where the subs are burnt in). My instinct as always was to go for the Japanese language option, and I wasn't disappointed. I was dreading the English track though, the mid-nineties wasn't a period known for its excellence in dubs, but I was pleasantly surprised by the English audio in Slayers Next. For one thing it's quieter than the Japanese track, and not just in terms of audio levels. For once, a dub cast plays comedy for the jokes, rather than the misapprehension that by screaming a line they make it funnier. Also, there are some occasional choice diversions from the Japanese script, responding to the onscreen action, that are actually funnier than the original dialogue. It may be sacrilege to some purists, but I think in this case it works. The sad thing is that this dub is from the old days, where technology wasn't as good as today, and the English dub feels layered on top of the anime, rather than an integral part of it. There are also a couple more nice themes to get the toes tapping, from Japanese voice of Lina, Megumi Hayashibara.

Extras

There are only trailers for Shana and Starship Operators for your perusal here.

Conclusion

I'm torn between, 'ditto', 'more of the same', 'rinse and repeat', [insert your own review here], or just cutting and pasting sections from my previous Slayers reviews in the hope that something coherent will result. We're seven discs into the saga, my sixth review in as many months, and I'm hard pressed to come up with something new and fresh to say about the series. For those who look for consistency of quality and style in their anime, that can only be a good thing, and I have to admit that the further I'm going into the saga, the more that I'm enjoying it. I have to trot out the tried and trusted, 'best volume yet' cliché for Slayers Next: Volume 3. If you are a fan of the show, then there's no reason whatsoever to avoid this disc (unless you're a snob for a remastered transfer and are going to import from the US).


To reiterate the basics, Slayers is a comedy RPG series, a twist on the Dungeons and Dragons genre, with a band of adventurers thrown together against adversity and completing various quests and challenges, in order to save the world and keep their stomachs filled. Of course Slayers plays it completely tongue in cheek, constantly winking at the audience, and refusing to take itself seriously. It's terribly entertaining and funny as a result, and an object lesson to Krod Mandoon in comedy. Slayers Next is more entertaining than the first Slayers series, more consistent in its storytelling and less delineated in terms of drama and humour. I'm enjoying this second series considerably more.


This is the penultimate volume of Slayers Next, and as such, this is where we see the last of the stand-alone episodes, with our heroes trying various tricks to find the Claire Bible, and usually ending up in totally the wrong place. As usual, this is where the humour is strongest and the most laughs to be found. We begin with a crooked treasure hunt that ends in a laughable cosplay situation, and there's more cosplay to be had in the next episode, which sees the band venture into a haunted tower inhabited by a misanthrope with a doll fetish. This disc should come out at the hind end of Wimbledon, so the third episode will be appropriate, featuring as its centrepiece the Brass Rackets tournament, a.k.a. Magic Tennis, and this wouldn't be a Slayers series without a cross dressing episode. It's Gourry's own fault, as with hair like that, it's inevitable that Lina will try and get him into a dress. This time it's Zelgadis who is reluctant to don the lipstick, but Xellos is a little too comfortable in makeup. The twist in the tale is a little predictable, but no less funny for all that.


For the final three episodes, we return to the main Monsters storyline, and at this point in time, I'm pretty sure that we will stay with it for the final volume as well. It's a little belated, but we finally meet the villain of the piece, Gaav, the Demon Dragon King, who is looking to usurp his master's position, and stopping Lina from getting the Claire Bible seems to be a key point of his plan. Of course, the worst kept secret of all, that Xellos has a secret identity, finally comes out, and only Martina is surprised. Lina has got herself caught up in the politics and internal machinations of some high level demonic forces, and she has to follow through with her plans just to stay alive. So things begin to get more serious from this point. We get to see just what would have happened if Lina has been unable to control the Giga Slave spell, and why she should never try it again, we also see some more of those feelings develop between her and Gourry, although neither will admit to them, and we see the group finally get close to the Claire Bible that will hopefully solve all these problems. Unlike the first series though, there's no letup in the comedy either, so you'll be chuckling and glued to the screen at the same time.


As I said, it's more of the same. It may be easy to watch, but it sure isn't easy to write about. Next month sees the conclusion of Slayers Next, and following that, MVM aim on bringing us Slayers Try. Much as I enjoy this series, as a reviewer I'm hoping for a couple of months respite, if only for my sanity. Slayers Next: Volume 3; just as good as Volumes 1 & 2.