Review for Slayers, The: Volume 2

Introduction

I’m catching up to this review a little late, considering that the UK has long since left the age of the single volume anime release behind, and that if you are going to buy Slayers, you’ll probably find it as a complete series release. The thing is that when the show was initially released, and volume 2 check discs were distributed to reviewers, it turned out that the disc was incompatible with a large number of players, including mine, and I just couldn’t watch it in any decent way to review it, although I did manage to stutter through it on my PC with a decrepit software player to know what happens in the story. MVM immediately issued a replacement program, and if you did wind up with one of those early discs, you should have got a replacement. It’s taken me this long to get round to watching Slayers again, and I now have one of those replacement discs, so I can review it the way that it was meant to be reviewed, on television. Obsessive, moi?


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. Having just laid waste to a group of bandits, she’s happily traipsing through a forest when the surviving thugs set upon her. Before she can lift a finger, a tall, handsome and brave warrior leaps in to defend her. Gourry Gabriev is the heroic figure, who’s frankly disappointed that the damsel in distress turned out to be a flat-chested brat (It’s not Lina’s fault she’s a late developer), but circumstances conspire so that the two wind up travelling together. It’s just that among the various items of Lina’s latest haul, is a little something that attracts the attention of certain unsavoury characters, and will lead Lina and Gourry on a series of fantastic adventures.


It all started when Lina picked the wrong group of bandits to harass. She had no problem with the bandits, and even picked up a bodyguard of sorts in Gourry Gabriev when they came looking for payback, not that she needs protecting. But it’s the loot that she liberated from the bandits that is bringing her trouble. A cursed knife is just the start of her problems. It’s actually an Orihalcon Statue that some nefarious characters want, masked characters like Zelgadis and his gang. The famous priest Rezo shows up to explain that Zelgadis wants to resurrect the Dark Lord Shabranigdo, and will stop at nothing to get the statue. Sure enough, Lina’s captured when her powers are at their lowest ebb, but suddenly the truth gets turned on its head. It turns out that Zelgadis isn’t the villain, it’s actually the Red Priest Rezo, and as this volume starts, Zelgadis and Lina are on the run.


Seven more episodes of Slayers are presented on this disc from MVM.

7. Give Up! But, The Sure Kill Sword Appears!
It isn’t the statue that Rezo wants, it’s the Philosopher’s Stone hidden within; not that it makes much difference for Zelgadis and Lina, who are fleeing Zelgadis’ former allies. Rezo wants more than just the statue now, he wants vengeance on the one who betrayed him, and he’s summoned a monster to do his bidding. As Gourry continues to search for his missing charge, Lina and Zel are heading into an ambush. Trolls, golems, ogres and werewolves may not be much of a challenge for Lina, now that she has her magic back, but the monster Zoran is not only immune to conventional swords, but he’s immune to magic as well. But it turns out that Gourry has a very special sort of sword...


8. Help! Shabranigdo is Reborn!
The new team of Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, Rodimus and Zolf have their trust issues to resolve, but fate isn’t going to be kind enough to give them the time. Rezo wants the Philosopher’s Stone, and he will do whatever it takes to make it happen. When he takes the village the group is currently bickering in hostage, threatening the villagers with his magic, it seems that Lina has no other choice than to capitulate. They accept the invitation to Rezo’s tower, but giving him the stone is the worst mistake they can make.


9. Impact! The Eve of the Menacing Battle!
Shabranigdo has been reborn, and instantly the heroes face a lethal challenge. With Dragon Slave ineffective, and even Zelgadis’ strongest spells useless, they’ve no other choice but to run. It’s lucky for them that Shabranigdo still needs time to consolidate his power and fully reawaken. But they may not have the time to decide what to do next, as Shabranigdo’s awakening alone has brought out every monster and troll in the neighbourhood.


10. Jackpot! The Great Life of Death Gamble!
They’ve pinned all their hopes on Gourry’s Sword of Light, but even that may not be effective. It may take something unprecedented, combining Gourry’s Sword, Zel’s Shaman magic, and Lina’s Dark magic to have a chance against Shabranigdo. It may take Lina using a last ditch magic spell that has as much chance of destroying the caster as it does the target, it may mean relying on Rezo. It may be time for the Giga Slave!


11. Knockout! The Seyruun Family Feud!
It’s back to the usual grind for Lina and Gourry, as Zelgadis has bid them farewell. They’re looking to top up their finances enough to keep their stomachs filled. Only this time Lina has turned her mind away from bandits. She’s set her wallet, I mean her heart on a prince rumoured to be passing a crossroads. Princes are handsome and rich, and a rich prince is bound to find Lina irresistible. Gourry goes on ahead, where he bumps into a pint sized guardian of justice named Amelia, who needs a swordsman for a mission. Meanwhile Lina’s filling her stomach to get over her failed prince recruitment plan, when into the inn walks an ominous looking bandit of man named Philionel, and a priest named Randy, and they’re looking to hire a sorceress for a mission of their own.


12. Lovely! Amelia’s Magic Training!
They’re heading to Seyruun so that they can get the reward promised by Prince Philionel and his daughter Amelia, and the distance is beginning to wear on Lina, although not as much as the justice that fuels Amelia and her father. Even when a welcome banditry diversion appears, Amelia clumsily wades in to dispense her righteous integrity, requiring a save from Lina. Instantly, Amelia is inspired by Lina’s example, and determines to learn from the master. So a practitioner of white magic, wanting to learn the ultimate in dark spells, the Dragon Slave... Nah, nothing can go wrong there!


13. Money! Crush Those Bounty Hunters!
They finally arrive in Seyruun, and Lina’s looking forward to the reward that the Prince owes her, when they are confronted by their chilling visages on a couple of wanted posters. Someone is paying good money for Lina and Gourry, and with that kind of investment, it isn’t long before champions of justice Philionel and Amelia are convinced of their guilt. So not only do Lina and Gourry have to deal with every bounty hunter around looking to collect on them, but they have to deal with their erstwhile allies as well. It isn’t long before the true villains of the piece appear, a bounty hunter named Zangulus, and a sorcerer named Vrumugun who are set on taking Lina and Gourry to the city of Sairaag.

Picture

Slayers is an anime from the mid-nineties, so pixel perfect CGI perfection is just an animator’s dream. 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.

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. 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 of nice themes to get the toes tapping, from Japanese voice of Lina, Megumi Hayashibara.

Conclusion

This is my third time watching The Slayers, although my first time watching disc 2 without any faults to mar the experience. I have to say that the show just gets better and better with repeated exposure. I’ve now seen all of the Slayers television series, this, Slayers Next, Try, Revolution and Evolution-R and there’s something to be said for long running franchises which allow you to grow with the characters, and get all of the in-jokes. Stuff that I didn’t find all that funny the first time I watched Slayers, now feel like comfortable touchstones. It’s also nice to take in the show at my own pace, rather than one dictated by a review deadline. This is a show that works best in small doses, an episode a night or so. Slayers is a show full of running gags, and character stereotypes, and several episodes of that in one sitting can begin to tire. Slayers Volume 2, watched for the third time, at a leisurely pace, turned out to be funnier than ever. I was laughing more this time around than I did before, and I was appreciating these episodes in the context of the whole franchise.


Previously when watching Slayers, I would tune in for the comedy episodes, the single stories and the quick hits of narrative, rather than the overarching storylines and big villain showdowns, but this time I realised that the sense of humour is still there even in the darkest of Slayers moments, and given what I know about the characters and the overarching storyline, there is a lot more to take in, even in these episodes which initially seemed like your average multi-episode shonen combat arc. On this disc it’s the reveal of Rezo’s true nature, and the rebirth of Shabranigdo that dominate, but the storytelling at this point is sharp, the narrative well paced, and there’s just enough comedy to balance the drama to maintain the tone of Slayers.


Too much world-shattering confrontation could begin to wear, but here it’s just the first four episodes on this disc that are devoted to dealing with Rezo and Shabranigdo. Thereafter we meet the next major player in the Slayers universe, Amelia. Her first scene in her debut episode in this show establishes her character without reservation. She’s standing precariously atop a tree, declaring her Champion of Justice credentials to a band of unwitting bandits, before falling flat on her face. At the same time, Lina’s busy double-taking at the unlikeliest looking member of royalty going, Prince Philionel, who is as far from her ideal meal ticket as she was expecting. He’s the one that has been imparting his ideals to his impressionable daughter, and together, once they unleash their pacifist crush on their enemies, a Slayers meme is born.


Slayers just gets better with age, and more importantly with repeat exposure. There’s a lot of re-watch value in these discs, and given that MVM now sell the Slayers series in boxsets as opposed to single volumes, investing in the show is even better value for money. Today’s shows have production values coming out of their ears, they cater for every otaku whim, and there is a lot of good stuff being made. But somewhere along the way, anime has lost something, something that Slayers has in abundance, broad appeal that makes the most of its entertaining characters, and its great sense of humour.