Slayers Revolution - a comeback
By einar
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It’s been a long time since Slayers had aired on TV, basically since Slayers TRY was released, which means more than 10 years ago. Then, this year news told that two new series were planned, and this post is about the first episode (out of 13, aired on July 2nd; the second series will start sometime around January).
First of all, the staff is the same as the old production: the director Takashi Watanabe, the character deisgner Naomi Miyata, animation by J.C. STAFF, same people for the music (vink, this time called vink4), and of course, same voices, including Megumi Hayashibara as Lina Inverse.
After a brief moment describing Lina by her peculiar features (“Demon eyes”, “demon mouth” and… “no bust”), the opening kicks off with a song by… Megumi Hayashibara. Then we see a group of pirates that are busy collecting their loot, when a lone ship starts destroying their fleet. And Lina and Gourry are on that ship, of course (apparently bandits are running low on numbers, so Lina chose to target pirates instead).[]({{ site.url }}/images/2008/07/slayers1.jpg)
Lina of course gives them the speech, but apparently the pirates fail to recognize her and just launch an assault. Suffice is to say that they are no match for the crazy sorceress, as she blows them away. Gourry manages to do his part, but his sword keeps on breaking (don’t forget he no longer has the Gorn Nova/Sword of Light).
[]({{ site.url }}/images/2008/07/slayers2.jpg)Elsewhere, the fleet of Sairoon is approaching the area, with Zelgadiss and Amelia on board, along with another person that expresses his desire to meet Lina. Their arrival (along with Amelia’s usual over the top lines) almost destroys what is left of the pirate ship (and Lina’s one too). The pirates attempt an escape, but their cries of “flat chest” anger Lina so much that she sends them flying around with a well timed spell.
[]({{ site.url }}/images/2008/07/slayers4.jpg)Later, at an inn, Lina and Gourry are counting the money they got (and of course their eating habits haven’t changed a bit), while Zel and Amelia come in, along with this other person, who then identifies himself as an inspector. A moment later, he arrests Lina! And the grounds for arrest are as strange as his action: Lina is to be arrested under the accusation of… being Lina Inverse.
[]({{ site.url }}/images/2008/07/slayers5.jpg)The rest of the group thinks about a “strategy” to fight in court, but all they get is to get Lina mad, and then she just kicks them. While Zel suggests that Lina would be hard to arrest, the inspector has some aces up his sleeve, including calling a whole army. Of course, those kind of people aren’t much for Lina, who just wipes them with a Mega Brand spell.
The group decides to run away but their advance is stopped by the arrival of a huge tank-like machine, although “slow as a tortoise”. The battle rages on, destroying most of the town as well. When Lina is about to pull something off, voices echo from above. A… _thing _(I can’t really describe that creature) casts a Dragon Slave, destroying everything in sight. Of course Lina is mad, and all because that one stole her scene…
That’s how the first episode ends. The animation quality is just decent: in some parts it fluctuates quite a bit and backgrounds tend to be overly simplistic at times. Sounds are in the same league as other Slayers series, including some remixed versions of old tracks. The ending song, along with the opening, is sung by M.Hayashibara, and overall it’s decent, although both songs are a bit too dance-like for my tastes.
Some voices may sound slightly different to the audience: the effect is noticeably mostly for Lina and Amelia, but after all, it has been more than ten years.
What about the story? Like most Slayers first episodes, there’s no real insight yet and a lot of comical moments (some genuinely funny). We’ll have to see in the future what it will happen, especially considering that 13 episodes aren’t a lot.
In any case, it’s a good return after all this time (and after last season, which I found to be rather lackign in anything interesting to watch). I’ll be sure to try and watch an episode live when I’m in Japan (more on that in a future blog post).