The Slayers


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Type: series
Genre: Fantasy
Dub/Sub: Subtitled
Length: 100 minutes
Copyright date: 1995/1996
Animation quality: 7 to 8.5
Rating:
                     V--V
          G-----------PG----------PG13-----------R------NC17
Why: v, al, mt
General overall quality: 8
Distributed by:Software Sculptors

Light fantasy.... Lina Inverse, famous sorceress. She who beats up evil dudes, and takes their treasure for herself.

Well, when Lina appropriates treasure from the Dragon Fang gang, she gets a little more then she bargained for. For:

  1. The Dragon Fang gang got their name from the black dragon they kept as a pet. Lina didn't know they had a pet dragon. You can probably work out the rest.
  2. Lina looks young, therefore, when the Dragon Fang gang comes after Lina, she manages to pick up a companion. A heroic fighter named Gourry.
  3. She also managed to meet a famous priest named Rezo. Not exactly related to the Dragon Fang gang, except for that particular member who wants to raise the Dark Lord, and father of all the monsters in the world.
  4. Of course, by Episode #5, nearly everything you thought was going on, isn't.
  5. Or is it??? In any case, Lina and friends finish their big adventure with the Father of all Monsters at the end of Episode #10. On to more adventures......
Volume 4 begins a new story arc. Low on cash from the last adventure, Lina figures that the best way to do this would be to marry into royalty. In particular, one Prince Philionel.

However, the Prince is not exactly your typical handsome prince on a while horse. For one thing he is looks like a bandit and is a complete pacifist, except for the violent bits.

He also has an overzealous, overactive daughter named Amelia. Ms. "Total Justice" is also a magic user, in training, and develops a sort of hero freak/worship sort of thing for Lina.

This does not exactly help Lina and Gourry when they are framed as bad guys by a couple of disrespectful bounty hunters in Episode 13.

In the long awaited volume 5, Lina and Gourry continue their trip to Sairaag. In pursuit of them are Vrumugun and Zangalus, the wizard and bounty hunter from the previous volume, who want to take them to Sairaag. Lina will not let them, however, as she does not like pushy guys. Lina and company find themselves in a number of strange and odd situations, including a wedding and a theater production of "Bring Us Justice and Peace: The Death of the Abominable Fiend Lina Inverse". Gourry even gets to dress up like a girl in the last episode on the volume.

Lina is a very well created character and The Slayers is a very fun series. Fans of Record of Lodoss War, and fantasy, in general, will probably enjoy The Slayers as long as they do not expect anything very serious.

Thanks to Brian Kern (afn17933@afn.org) these are the release dates for volumes 5 to 8:

Volume 5: April 7th
Volume 6: June 2nd
Volume 7: August 4th
Volumes 5-8 box set: August 4th (yes, volume 8 will be out in the box set before it is released individually)
Volume 8: October 6th

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