スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A village under nightly assault from a headless dullahan (think “headless horseman”) is visited by Lina and company. Upon seeing Nama-chan, the villagers attack, feeling she is another dullahan. This causes Lina to blast a nearby mountain with a Dragon Slave to get them to stop their attacks. After learning the situation and feeling that maybe they can find another clue to the Hellmaster Jar, Lina agrees to help the villagers. Sure enough, the headless dullahan comes to town that evening, demanding to know where his head is and is followed by an army of zombies and skeletons. The dullahan sees Nama-chan’s head and goes for it, but sees it isn’t his helmet-head so he tosses it aside. It is then that Lina springs her trap, whereby they ensnare the dullahan.

After Amelia dispatches the dullahan’s undead army by threatening them with purification, the dullahan gives up. He says his name is Hans and that he lost his head as part of a dullahan meeting. After somehow getting drunk off adult beverages, he woke up to discover his head missing. He mentions his large jar collection, which Lina can see if she helps him. Lina has Hans summon the dullahan for a meeting in order to get everyone back for the investigation. The hero dullahan Dune returns on his chariot and when Lina learns he’s now wearing a hood, she discovers Dune has Hans’ helmet. Turns out that Dune had lost his and took Hans’ to protect Dune’s status. Lina gets frustrated, more so when she discovers that Hans’ pots are actually used as octopus traps.

Thoughts/Review: This episode was only mildly amusing, and just “OK.” The octopus element at the end reminded me of Slayers Premium. However, as a joke, it didn’t really work for me.

By not having the normal conflict between Nama-chan and Lina this episode, that removed a good bit of comedic material. I was disappointed by this. Nama-chan’s use as bait worked for the episode but then the episode was kinda boring to me. After getting over the surprise that the dullahan weren’t evil, things were rather “meh.”

That’s not to say that I didn’t get some enjoyment from this. The best laughs came from Amelia threatening to purify the undead, then threatening to do the same to Dune.

I do look forward to the next episode and I do apologize for this lack-luster blog entry. Blame some setbacks on the job-hunting front which have me off center as I write this (which is Jan. 27). Hopefully, I’ll recenter and get back on track.