スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina, still furious at having been out staged by a Digimon small critter, demands some answers from Amelia and Zelgadiss. Amelia reveals that Ruvinagald Kingdom requested the help of Saillune to find Lina, but Amelia wasn’t told the reasons behind this. Since she knows Lina and Saillune could not turn down the request, she and Zelgadiss (hired to be Amelia’s body guard) accompanied Wiser to find Lina. Lina wonders why a country would be so interested in a mere sorceress, to which Amelia answers that the Seillune legislature considers Lina capable of causing major problems for them. Lina decides that the next time she visits Seillune, she will have to turn it into ash, followed by the Ruvinagald Kingdom.

Wiser enters the ruined building where the foursome is at and views Lina’s threats as further proof of her crime. Lina is not amused by this and tells Wiser that he better present a case to her. If she sees the facts point to her actually having done something wrong, she’ll submit. If not, she will go on a rampage. Wiser presents his circumstantial case, which hinges on the fact that mage-tanks have been destroyed with Dragon Slave spells and Lina Inverse has a reputation of firing off Dragon Slave spells with frequency. Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadiss hear this and confer, agreeing that the evidence against Lina is strong. Lina is forced to remind them about the Digimon critter they witnessed casting the Dragon Slave.

Wiser leads the group to a nearby fortress, which is armed to the teeth with cannons. Lina is determined to catch this critter and provide Wiser with the proof of her innocence. In the fort is another mage-tank, this time looking like a cow instead of a turtle. It doesn’t take much time at all before a massive fireball spell comes flying into the vault holding the tank. While the initial impact is absorbed by the tank, the tank still ends up being destroyed, injuring Wiser, the captain of the guards, and others. Leaving Amelia and Zelgadiss behind to take care of the wounded, Lina and Gourry go in pursuit of the critter, who had just taken off.

Lina and the critter do battle with various spells. The critters small size and speed keep him from being trapped while Lina’s abilities keep her protected. Gourry gets into the act (having cut down a tree the critter was hiding in), behaving like a wild monkey and coming close to nailing the small creature. However, the critter hits him with a Diem Wing spell and then has the ground basically swallow him with a Behfis Bring spell. Lina shows back up and the mage fight is back on. Lina knows the critters size and speed gives him an edge on avoiding her attacks and the critter prevents her from casting any big spells. So she casts Furious Breed while on the run to avoid an attack from the critter, which the critter is not familiar with. Lina tells him he’ll see the results of the spell pretty soon and sure enough, the critter is attacked by a large, angry flock of birds.

Though Lina scored a hit with that spell, the critter is angry at being called “tiny creature” by Lina constantly and begins insulting Lina for her small stature, especially her small breasts. The critter, seeing Lina react to the insults, he presses his verbal attacks, calling her the Boobless Queen. Lina has had enough and the atmosphere reacts to her anger, dark storm clouds circling overhead, causing the critter to react with surprise. He’s further surprise when Lina activates her Demon’s Blood Talismans and begins to cast an amplified Dragon Slave. The critter pulls a Sword of Light out of his zipper and activates it as Lina casts the spell.

The critter emerges from inside a rock with the help of his sword, leading Gourry and Lina to question where he obtained the Sword of Light. The critter says it is a replica that he built along with the mage-tanks. Lina introduces herself and Gourry and the critter introduces himself as Pokota. Pokota tells Lina that he’s after the person who stole his mage-tanks, but before Lina can learn more, Wiser arrives to arrest Lina, giving Pokota time to escape.

Thoughts/Review: Another fun episode of pure Slayers (and Lina Inverse) goodness. We’ll start with the good. It was funny to me how Wiser’s circumstantial evidence on the destruction of the mage tanks with Dragon Slave spells pointed to Lina. Of course, it is funnier to have Lina threaten to go on a rampage. *lol* The thing is, based on my previous experiences with Lina, I know she could turn Saillune and Ruvinagald into ash if she wanted.

Gourry’s pursuit of Pokota while emitting wild monkey sounds cracked me up. The fact that the animators kept his sword in messed up condition (from Gourry’s many repair jobs) cracked me up as well.

Someone pointed out that the incidental music is the same from the original TV series. I hadn’t paid attention to that because it is just natural for me to hear this music. Now that it has been pointed out to me, I am glad they kept the old music.

I liked the little moment between Gourry and Lina before the obvious joke of Lina punishing him for his statement happened. It shows me that the writers are very keen on doing things right, and that means the hints of romance between Gourry and Lina. I hope that gets advanced as the story progresses.

I liked the battle between Pokota and Lina purely from a mage-fight perspective. Modern animation techniques allow for a much more animated battle, which I liked. However, the amplified Dragon Slave (and kudos for having the Demon’s Blood Talismans brought into play) was a bit of a problem for me. I laughed at Lina losing it over the breasts jokes, but when someone survives a direct hit from Dragon Slave, I’m not laughing so much. Now, did Pokota’s replica Sword of Light help him to survive somehow (it seemed the critter was encased in a rock after the spell was over)? If the writers provided a means of explanation (or Lina acting surprised that the Digimon survived even), maybe I could buy it. However, what good is an amplified Dragon Slave if it can’t even kill a tiny, annoying creature (but a flock of birds apparently do him some damage)?

Still, that’s a small complaint at this point as I did thoroughly enjoy the episode.

That leads me to some obvious questions. What is Pokota (likely someone who’s been modified like Zelgadiss was)? Why did he create a replica Sword of Light? Why did he create the mage-tanks and who stole them?

I’m looking forward to more Slayers goodness with episode 3.