Slayers Evolution-R 11
スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 11
Slayers EVOLUTION-R Ep. 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Pokota flees to Taforashia with Lina and company in pursuit. He makes it through the barrier and attempts to hurry to resurrect Rezo. Rezo (in the jar) tells him that it is pointless to rush since the ceremony to free Rezo has to be done at night in the moonlight. Pokota is soon joined by Ozel where they have a talk about emotions (which Rezo had taught Ozel about) and Pokota’s hesitancy despite his desire to free his people.

Meanwhile, Lina and company have also made their way inside Taforashia. The group can’t figure out the connection between Ozel and Rezo. Further, they find themselves lost when Xellos shows up. He won’t provide any answers to Lina’s questions, but does offer to lead them to the temple where Pokota is sure to be. He goes one step further and opens the temple doors for them but again, he refuses to answer Lina’s questions. Xellos’s behavior confirms Lina’s suspicion that there’s more to the Hellmaster Jar than just Rezo’s soul. However, they have no choice but to enter and find Pokota to stop him.

As Lina and company attempt to make their way through the maze of the temple, Pokota and Ozel lead the casket containing the human form of Pokota to the place of the ceremony. Now Ozel hesitates despite Pokota’s pleas to help him free his people. Xellos arrives, insisting on the jar. When Pokota refuses, Xellos is not amused by this and shows Pokota just how serious he can be when provoked. Lina and company arrive just at that moment with Lina shouting for Xellos and Pokota to wait. She again implores Pokota to not go through with this, but he doesn’t want to hear her suspicions. Xellos approaches Ozel and gives her the choice on what to do, saying he’ll respect her wishes either way. With that he leaves and Ozel chooses to bring Rezo back to life.

Handing the jar over to Pokota, he smashes it and the soul of Rezo is released, entering the crystal and destroying it. She faded form of Rezo appears and after exchanging some pleasantries with Ozel, the doll falls to the ground lifeless, thanked by Rezo. Rezo then turns and greets Lina, whom he has not seen in a long time.

Thoughts/Review:

You know, last episode, I was mostly joking when I said this, “With Xellos observing, I’m sure more fun is to be had. Maybe a return of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu? Nah, they wouldn’t do that, would they?” After this episode, I’m really beginning to wonder if the writers don’t end this with a bang and old Ruby Eye making some sort of appearance. The writers have shown that they are pulling more and more elements from the novels that were passed on in Slayers and Slayers Next. If they pull the concept of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu being in Rezo’s soul, then it would explain some things. For starters, it would explain Rezo’s hesitancy in being resurrected. Rezo remembers Lina and remembers what happened to him before. Thus, if Shabranigdu is in Rezo’s soul as in the novels, then we could well see the piece of the chief mazoku return.

Second, there’s Xellos. Xellos has really behaved as his novel counterpart in both Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R. He is ruthless, coy, has an agenda, and you don’t want to mess with him. Granted, the writers tossed in a comedy bit with Lina threatening to whack Xellos with a harisen (and that helps it be consistent with the previous anime titles) but otherwise, Xellos has been played mostly the way he should be played, seeing as how he is such a powerful mazoku.

Anyway, with Xellos clearly having a stake in the Hellmaster Jar, it wasn’t until his words to Ozel where he gave her the choice on what to do with the jar that I began to suspect that we may very well have a return of Ruby Eye. Xellos made some cryptic remarks about having a theory about what would happen should Rezo’s soul be placed into Pokota’s human body and I think that Xellos believes that Ruby Eye will indeed come back to life. If this happens, I would think it would be a great thing for Xellos and if not, well no harm done.

Question is, if the writers DO have Shabranigdu come back, Lina isn’t going to be able to perform another Giga Slave and I doubt Xellos would allow anyone to harm Shabranigdu short of the dark lord behaving in a way counter to what mazoku most desire.

The other thing is that the anime focused on Rezo’s blind eyes. That could either be foreshadowing or a red herring. We’ll see which it is down the road.

Regarding Ozel, there are still a lot of questions such as what was she truly. Obviously, she’s a life-sized doll, but what made her “alive?” Why didn’t Zelgadiss know about her since he worked for Rezo for such a long time? Hopefully, we’ll get some answers next episode.

One more thing — I thought it was a nice touch having Pokota say a few words to Duclis’s body before leading his own encased human form outside.

So a pretty enjoyable episode despite some Pokota whining. Two more episodes in which we’ll learn exactly what all is going on and whether my suspicions about Ruby Eye are correct. ^_^