The Slayers Review 
スレイヤーズ
Slayers

Since the Community Anime Reviews site continues to go down, I’m republishing some of my OG reviews from there. I have corrected obvious spelling errors though. I will add new notes in parenthesis, labeled “ANB  note.”  😅 I won’t count these as part of the “Back to the Vaults” series as I have not rewatched them. However, I do plan to rewatch The Slayers for a future “Back to the Vaults” article.

–> Buy The Slayers DVD/BD Collection on Amazon.com!

Community Anime Review of The Slayers

(ANB note: This series was originally reviewed on 09-Aug-2003.)

Review

I really didn’t know what to expect when I started watching The Slayers and have been pleasantly surprised. It is funny in a more silly way. It might be funnier to those who’ve played a lot of RPG games though. I will admit that I’ve had no belly laughs, but I have enjoyed Lina and her insults. 😁 Since the series doesn’t take itself seriously, we get a lot of humor where the characters know they are actors playing a role in a series. The times the series got serious, something would happen causing one of the characters to remark on how they knew this couldn’t stay serious. 😁

The title is serial in nature which I love, though there are a lot of “filler” episodes in the middle. Those were mostly fun, but a couple were a little tedious. The story is interesting as well. Actually, there are two stories with the 2nd tied to the first. The first 9 episodes cover the first story and the second story starts almost immediately with the introduction of the cleric-mage Amelia and the departure of the fighter-mage Zelgadis (he comes back though).

The first half of the 2nd story is where the filler comes in as the plot is not advanced beyond setting the table. In the last third of the series, the miko (think RPG cleric) Slyphiel joins the party and Zelgadis comes back. The main reason the story is done like this is because of the original Japanese Slayers stories that were first published in the Japanese Dragon magazine. The story about Shabranigdu is only four chapters long. Not a very big novel for sure, thus the reason it only took 9 episodes to tell.

That said, I think that those who aren’t fantasy buffs or who haven’t played fantasy RPG’s (whether on the computer, on a BBS, or original D&D style) won’t appreciate this as much. English dub watchers are REALLY missing out on a lot as the Japanese seiyuu cast does an outstanding job. HAYASHIBARA Megumi IS Lina Inverse. Casting her in the role was perfect and she plays it well. Had I only seen this in English, I would have still enjoyed the series, but not nearly as much.

Central Park Media DVD

As for the DVD, expect a pretty standard domestication (localization) of the series including forced translations of honorifics in the subtitles. I disagree with Software Sculptors (a division of CPM) decision to translate the name of the evil powerful race (Mazoku) to “monster race”. There are monsters and there are Mazoku. They are VERY different. Thus the term “monster race” doesn’t clear things up, but rather adds to the confusion.

Bottom line:

The Slayers is a lot of fun and Lina is now my hero!

If Stretch will pardon me, I’m going to copy him and throw in my favorite line to date: “I just helped myself to a little of their treasure and now they’re just never gonna leave me alone.” — Lina.