Slayers: Try - Volume 3

Introduction

It's Slayers time again, although this time there will finally be a delay until the next and final volume of Slayers Try. After this, I'll finally get a month to take a breather from all things Lina Inverse related. It's a respite that has to be balanced with the news from the most recent Expo that MVM will be releasing the Slayers Evolution-R follow-up in addition to the new Slayers Revolution series it had previously announced. At least this time we'll be able to take a leisurely stroll through the shows, as Funimation are still in the process of dubbing them. Anyway, on with the third volume of Slayers Try.

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. And if that isn't enough, searching for the Clare Bible and defeating the nefarious plans of the Monsters, taking down the Dark Demon King Gaav in the process ought to suffice. 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. Even more of their misadventures are presented in the third series, Slayers Try.


Defeating the Monsters has changed the world, the magical barrier that surrounded the land has vanished, and now travel outside is possible. But there are ominous signs on the horizon, both literally and figuratively. A glowing pillar of light heralds something dire, and there are rumours of other lands preparing to invade. As you would expect, Lina and her friends are all fired up, ready to board ship, and head out to sample all that foreign cuisine. But there is a small matter of a dragon with a prophecy, and one of Gaav's minions named Valgaav looking for revenge.

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

66. Lamentation Without End!
Valgaav has taken the two weapons of light, and has vanished. But Lina and the others aren't far behind him, and they all teleport to where he has to be to open the portal to the Overworld and let Darkstar in. And so begins a desperate battle to save the world, not helped by a Filia tormented by guilt, and a Gourry armed with a large toy mallet. But Lina has a trick or two up her sleeves.


67. This Place Is A Wonder Island!
Lina wakes up, washed ashore on a desert island… in a dress and heels? Exploring, and learning to walk without falling flat on her face, she discovers a miniature penguin army, who turn on her and shoot. And she falls through a crack in space and winds up trapped between worlds. Her guide to this strange space is a talking pig, a guide that she resolutely ignores, just to wind up in ever more bizarre realities.

68. Pandemonium!
Lina has found Filia and Zelgadis, but there's no sign of Gourry and Amelia. They must be on one of the neighbouring islands. The problem is that the boat that they have commandeered, in other words stolen has sprung a leak. Fortunately there is a large ship bearing down on them. Unfortunately, it's a ghost ship. There's no one aboard except an enchanted jar. Captain Jarlov (painful pun) has been trapped by evil spirits, and sealed up in the jar. When he finds out that Lina is a magic user, he offers them his treasure, in exchange for their help in beating the evil spirits.


69. Love is in the Tiny Differences!
Filia tries the ancient art of divination to find Gourry and Amelia. Lina and Zelgadis are understandably amused when she draws a fish. They'd be laughing on the other sides of their faces if they knew where Amelia had been washed up, a fish shaped island. Two fish people rescued her (reverse mermaids with human limbs and the body and head of a fish), father and daughter who have been caring for her while she slept. The girl has a problem though. She's in love with a human, a love forbidden by her father. This stirs the spirit of justice and love in Amelia, and she resolves to help them. Long story short, it involves Gourry cross dressing as a mermaid.

70. Amelia in the Village of Justice!
A country plagued by demons, warriors of justice stricken before they can rise to the challenge, it looks like Amelia and Gourry have arrived just in time. They were a team of five, but only three are left to welcome Amelia and Gourry. Seeing Amelia teach Gourry the ways of Justice (well he needs something to keep him occupied now that he's lost his sword), the three warriors realise they have the perfect replacements. Soon Amelia and Gourry are the two newest members of the Shooting Stars Warriors, on an intrepid adventure to defeat demons, and protect the country. It's just that this country's protectors are all geriatrics.


71. Where the Light Leads!
Now that Lina, Zelgadis, Filia, Gourry and Amelia have been reunited, it's time to finish what they started, and head back to the pillar of light to save the world. Darkstar is still trying to get into the world, and Almayce and Xellos, with the help of fellow Overworlders Erulogos and Sirius, are trying to keep him at bay. But to seal the portal, and destroy Darkstar, they need the fifth weapon of light. Erulogos sends out a swarm of insect like hunters to track it down, and in their path lies a farm where Jillas has found respite, is mourning the loss of Valgaav, and lamenting that he couldn't avenge his friends upon Lina. It just so happens that Lina and her friends have noticed the swarm and have decided to follow. It's time for a fateful reunion.

72. A Hero's Advent?
A rift is developing between Almayce and Erulogos over how to deal with Darkstar. Almayce wants to draw him here, and destroy him to protect both worlds. It would be less work for Erulogos just to bring him here and seal him in. It's an attitude that Lina doesn't appreciate when they first meet. Now Lina has travelled to a mining town, abandoned at the end of a gold rush, where the fifth weapon is rumoured to be hidden. They meet a young girl named Anna, who still lives there, grows flowers and has a sense of optimism about the world. She believes that a hero will come to save the town, and when Erulogos' comrade Sirius walks into town, Anna is sure that he will be that hero. Lina on the other hand has tarred him with the same brush as Erulogos, and as they start to tear up the town looking for the fifth weapon, it looks as if Lina is justified.

Picture

Slayers Try 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. Once again, it's a shame that the remastered Funimation version couldn't have been 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 weren't a period known for its excellence in dubs, but I was pleasantly surprised by the English audio in Slayers Try. 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.

Conclusion

Can I use a ditto at this point and get away with it? For the eleventeenth time, a volume of Slayers delivers just what it promises, more tongue in cheek, madcap RPG fun, oddball stories, bizarre characters, and just a little heart. It's all terribly good fun, even if the animation has dated, and the story can never be accused of being cutting edge. It's comfortable, middle of the road, comedy anime, and indeed there is nothing wrong with that. It just makes writing about it seem like drudgework after a while. There's only so much you can say about this show that is fresh and unique. I did mention in my previous volume review, that some of that drudgery was beginning to tell in my watching of the show as well. Well because of the extended delay in receiving this review disc, I didn't feel that at all for these seven episodes, although I may have been in something of a Slayers slump for volume 2. Most of the episodes on this disc were still bright and entertaining.


I enjoy Slayers most when they get away from the more serious, main storylines, and thrown in some stand-alone episodes played purely for laughs. There's a run of four such episodes on this disc, and they are nicely placed in between two segments of the Darkstar arc. Of course we begin by seeing the end of the first segment, with the battle against Valgaav at the pillar of light, a battle that concludes with a bang big enough to send everyone flying in different directions. So for the first of the comedy episodes, the friends have been separated, and we begin with Lina's Adventures in Wonderland. It's a common enough homage to have practically become a trope in anime, the Lewis Carroll pastiche. This one throws in a bit of Wizard of Oz and Gulliver's Travels as well, with Lina washed ashore on a desert island, only to be confronted with more and more absurdities, as she travels from reality to reality. Someone should have warned them not to confuse a sorceress.


Reunited with Zelgadis and Filia, what follows next is probably the weakest of this disc's episodes; certainly it managed to put me to sleep, twice. Pandemonium is a ghost ship yarn, with a Captain trapped in a jar, on board an abandoned ship haunted by evil spirits. What follows is dull, un-entertaining, and worse, unfunny. Fortunately, it's followed up by the fish folk episode, where Amelia brings love and justice to two ill-crossed teenage lovers. A fish-person falls for a human, and trouble lies in store, unless one of them drinks a magic potion that will turn them into the opposite species. The trouble is the potion's main ingredient lies in a sea monster with a predilection for pretty girls. Now where can they find a pretty girl to act as bait? It's that point in the volume where Gourry dons drag, and once again proves that he is the prettiest girl in the series. We end up with a delightful Power Rangers parody, as Amelia and Gourry meet the pinnacle of the Love and Justice movement, and Amelia finds the natural home for her talents. Unfortunately, it's a retirement home.


Then it is back to the main storyline, and I feel that this thread will take us all the way to the end of the series, there will be less goofing off from now on. If Valgaav and his minions weren't bad enough, now Almayce's compatriots Erulogos and Sirius have arrived, and for two good guys looking to defeat Darkstar and keep the worlds safe, they appear to be pretty villainous in their own right. Certainly Erulogos is shown to be uncaring of the world and its inhabitants in the callous way that he searches for the fifth weapon. The final two episodes on this disc concern that search, and in the process tell the tale of Valgaav's forgotten minion Jillas, who's found some solace and respite, but is re-energised to vengeance when he realises that Lina's still alive. There's also a pretty run of the mill episode to end the disc, with a young girl fervently believing in heroes despite all evidence to the contrary, and eventually being proved right.


The main grand villainous storylines in Slayers never interest me as much as the short stand-alone comedy episodes, and this volume delivers three Slayers classics in that regard. It looks to be full steam ahead back to the main storyline though in the final disc, and my interest may wane. That is balanced with the most sophisticated and interesting antagonists yet. Valgaav may have been tormented and full of misplaced rage, but Almayce and his compatriots certainly aren't heading in the same direction, and their attitude to stopping Darkstar and protecting both worlds is conflicted to say the least. It should make the final volume worth watching, if not exactly a laugh riot. Volume 3 is good old Slayers though, dittoing its way through the DVD reviews.