Slayers, The: Volume 3

Introduction

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed a distinct lack of a volume 2 review on this site. It wasn't through lack of will I can assure you, rather a dodgy disc scuppering my viewing pleasure. It's hard to watch a show when the disc keeps freezing every few seconds. The problem also cropped up to varying degrees on my computers, so that was that. Anecdotal evidence (anime sales volumes being what they are, that amounts to one person on another forum) shows that mine was not an isolated incident. Apparently the same problem cropped up with a retail disc. It may be one of those obscure combinations of random discs and odd players, but MVM are aware of the situation and are investigating.

When I first started in on the Slayers series, I had a few reservations about such an old series coming to the UK, most significantly the fact that Funimation (Slayers licence holder in the US) have put the dub version of Slayers up on Youtube and on their own video portal, for everyone to stream and enjoy. I was torn between 'an opportunity to try before you buy' and 'nabbing potential customers' when it came to this service, but in the end it turned out to be a godsend for this reviewer. At least I don't have a 7-episode gap in narrative to deal with, having seen volume 2's episodes online. I can also confirm that stream-o-vision, despite the bandwidth hogging and claims of high-resolution video, still isn't a patch on watching a DVD on your television set.


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.

The pleasant thing about MVM's release of this series is that they certainly aren't scrimping on the episode count on these discs, and indeed volume 3 also comes with a hefty seven episodes to enjoy. The previous volume saw the conclusion of the Shabranigdo arc, with the mismatched pair of adventurers teaming up with Zelgadis to take on the might of the resurrected Dark Lord Shabranigdo. Following that, the pair parted company with Zelgadis and resumed their journey, except that they encountered a princess turned trainee sorceress named Amelia, whose belief in justice and righteousness constantly leads them into trouble. They escort her home, only to wind up framed for a crime they didn't commit. A couple of nefarious characters named Vrumugun and Zangulus have been paid to bring them to the city of Sairaag by hook or by crook, and they start by setting every bounty hunter in the kingdom after them. The opt for the better part of valour and hop it, although they can't shake Amelia, who has decided that clearing her friends' names is the right thing to do.


14. Navigation! An Invitation to Sairaag!
There's a flaw in logic here, the bounty hunters want to capture Lina and Gourry and bring them to Sairaag, while Lina and Gourry have decided to go to Sairaag to confront whoever it is that has framed them. Surely they can come to some arrangement. Instead the bounty hunters keep attacking Lina and Gourry, and our heroes keep soundly defeating the bounty hunters. On top of that, Amelia's willingness to be helpful isn't helping. Something's got to give, and that's Lina's temper.

15. Oh No! Lina's Wedding Rhapsody?
Another bunch of would be bounty hunters detonated, and Lina's about to go ballistic on another young man sneaking about in the bushes. Only this one isn't after any reward. In fact, Hallas Ryzu is repulsive, he's hideous, and he's creeping Amelia and Lina out, though Gourry can't see why. It turns out that Hallas is cursed, and it's his would-be mother in law Cally who has done it. Cally is a sorceress who makes a living by marrying her daughters off to rich men, then draining them dry. Hallas was about to have his nuptials when he made a deal with Cally, if he can find an alternate wife within a week then Cally will take her daughter and leave, which is when she cursed him. Now that the curse is broken, Hallas wants Lina to be his lawful wedded wife, and he's willing to pay money.


16. Passion! We Give Our Lives For the Stage?
You should take it as read that our heroes are hungry, they always are, but when you are fugitives, it's hard to pop into town for a slap up feast. When they sniff out a pot of stew bubbling in the forest, it isn't a trap, as you would expect, but a passing band of theatre performers. They are on their way to Mosquita for a talent contest, and when they offer Lina, Gourry and Amelia roles in their play, it seems like a nice way to get closer to Sairaag incognito. The trouble is that the play is called The Death of the Abominable Lina Inverse.

17. Question? He's Proposing To That Girl!
They arrive at the outskirts of the port city of Sandoria, but trouble arises when they see the number of heroes, bounty hunters and fighters in the area. There is a Sea Dragon threatening shipping, and anyone handy with a sword is looking to turn a quick buck. Capturing the dreaded Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev would just be a bonus. They will have to sneak into town in disguise, which means dressing Gourry up as a woman.


18. Return! The Red Priest Is Back!
Lina, Gourry and Amelia have arrived in Sairaag, but getting into the city means sneaking in undercover of night. It isn't soon until they are spotted, although fortunately it turns out to be an old friend of Gourry, a temple maiden named Sylphiel. They learn that a girl named Eris has placed the bounty on their heads, and she's someone who is well thought of in Sairaag, with references from the sage Red Priest Rezo. That rings alarm bells for Lina, and the three head to Eris' mansion to confront her. Eris is all about revenge, and her minions Vrumugun and Zangulus are there waiting for a rematch. Surrounded by multiple Vrumuguns clones, Lina is only rescued when a face from the past shows up. But there's a face from the past behind Eris as well.

19. Shock! Sairaag Falls!
How could Rezo have survived? Did he copy himself like Vrumugun? Or was the earlier Rezo a fake, and this one the original? Good questions all, but no answers are forthcoming. It's time to do a little research, and while Zelgadis goes his own way, Lina and the others head to a little magic lab outside town to take a look at the copy process. Before they can learn anything of use, Rezo reappears, and this time he's powered up beyond belief.


20. Trouble! Rahanimu, The Furious Fish Man!
While Sylphiel mourns her father and her lost city, the others try to figure out what to do about Rezo. They defeated him once before when Lina used the Giga Slave spell, but Sylphiel vehemently vetoes this. One mistake in casting the spell would mean the end of the universe, and it was sheer luck that Lina managed it the first time. The only thing to do is to seek out Rezo's Legacy, an underground laboratory that contains his secrets, in the hope of finding a way to defeat him. But Eris has unleashed a menageries of chimera to attack the adventurers.

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

I enjoyed volume 3 of Slayers even more than the first two, although having to watch the second set of episodes on a small PC laptop screen didn't go any distance in endearing me to them. It was back to the comfort of my lounge for this volume, and relaxing and watching them at leisure is certainly the way to go. I'm also quite surprised at how entertaining this series is, given its age and apparently low budget production values. There's something about the zany sense of humour though which certainly is appealing, it's a parody that works by rarely taking anything too seriously, and the characters put a smile on your face before the story even begins. Given that this was made in a period where anime generally had to have broad humour and mass audience appeal, as opposed to the myriads of niche genres that have developed today, it's surprising that it still feels so fresh.


The problem I find is that Slayers really only appeals when it is going all out for the gags, it's at its strongest when it's aiming for the funny bone, and when it threatens with something approaching a storyline, or dare I say it, character development, I find my attention beginning to drift. Volume 3 is a perfect example of this, with the first four episodes following Lina, Gourry and Amelia as they head to Sairaag, dodging bounty hunters, and the two mercenaries that have been hired to capture them. Each episode is essentially a different story, and with them come new characters and new laughs. The first episode concerns itself with their battle with their pursuers, and the effects that lack of food has on them. Then comes the diversion with Hallas Ryzu, as Lina has to pretend to be his bride to save him from a sorceress mother-in-law, followed by the trio becoming actors as they travel with a theatre company. Then there is the peach of the disc, the Gourry cross-dressing episode, as he attracts the attention of one of the bounty hunters they are trying to flee; only it's the wrong sort of attention. Four different scenarios, four sets of new characters, and plenty of fun to be had with wild humour and crazy situations.


But then we finally get to Sairaag, and with it we lose the episodic tales and switch back to the serial format, as we get a little more serious with the storyline. We meet some old characters again, like Zelgadis and Rezo, as well as meeting new ones like Sylphiel and Eris. The trouble is that the main story at this point stops being a parody, stops playing it purely for laughs, and tries to add a sense of drama and emotional weight. We're supposed to sympathise with Sylphiel when her father dies, but frankly, she's just been in two episodes so far, her father barely had three lines in the whole show before croaking, and I just can't work up the energy to care. Rezo's gathering power, Eris at his right hand, and he looks to be threatening the world once again, but having just seen Gourry in a dress, it's hard to take his determined stance against evil seriously. There is humour to be had in these final three episodes, there's a great clone sequence that made me crack up, and a giant fish with legs once more plagues Lina. But the pesky storyline keeps getting in the way.


Slayers volume 3 made me laugh a whole lot more than I was expecting, it's certainly defying the seven signs of aging, and is a pleasant enough diversion if you're looking for something to ease the brain into a more relaxed state. It's not a show that I would eagerly pounce on in a shop, but if an episode is playing, I'm not going to change the channel either.