Slayers Evolution-R 10
スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 10
Slayers EVOLUTION-R Ep. 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

While camping for the night, Zelgadiss steals the Hellmaster Jar and escapes. Pokota awakens to discover it is missing, so he, Lina, Amelia, and Ozel fly off to find Zelgadiss leaving Gourry to follow on the ground. Zelgadiss has decided to force Rezo to give him the knowledge of how to restore his body to human form or be cast into the sea. Rezo tells Zelgadiss to go ahead and cast the jar into the sea since he has no knowledge of how to return Zelgadiss to his proper form. Zelgadiss recounts how he, Zolf, Rodimus, Dilgear, and Noonsa all worked for Rezo to help the people. Zelgadiss also recounts how a failed mission caused him to want to get stronger and how Rezo granted that wish by turning Zelgadiss into a chimera.

This is overheard by Lina and company, who’ve just arrived. Pokota doesn’t want to believe the story since he holds Rezo in high esteem. Rezo confirms is all, revealing that one of the methods for restoring Rezo’s eyesight was to have 1000 specimen. Rezo found that with the people of Taforashia. All that was needed was a new suitable host body for Rezo’s soul to enter and he found that in Posel Korba Taforashia — Pokota. However, before Rezo brought this plan about, he was killed by Ruby Eye Shabranigdu (by becoming the piece of the mazoku dark lord) and then by Lina.

Since Zelgadiss hasn’t destroyed the jar yet, Pokota grabs it, deciding that living the rest of his life in his current form is a good sacrifice if it means that his people can come back to life. As such, he gives Rezo permission to use his human body as a new host and then takes off for Taforashia. The others follow in pursuit (Gourry still on the ground) though Lina feels there’s something else still not revealed. This is all observed by Xellos from high above.

Thoughts/Review:

The story Rezo told about his true purpose for creating the Hellmaster Jar and sealing the inhabitants of Taforashia smacks hard of retconning on the surface, especially since the writers can’t take the time to explain things (because it would be complicated and lengthy). However, I think I can fill in the gaps left by Slayers Evolution-R 10. We know Rezo had been experimenting and researching all possible means to restore his eyesight. He created many chimeras as we saw in Slayers and were reminded of in this episode. He even created a clone of himself. So his obsession with curing his blindness is well documented.

My understanding is that in the novels, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu is sealed within the souls of humans such as Rezo and not in his eyes as Lina thought. However, that fact has not been established in the anime yet. I think that after Rezo sent Zelgadiss out to find the Philosopher’s Stone, Rezo made Taforashia a “Plan B” if you will. By that time, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu had put it within him to find the stone where by Shabranigdu could then unseal himself from Rezo’s soul (eyes so far in the anime). Having Rezo transfer his soul into Pokota’s human body may have had potentially negative consequences for Shabranigdu. So Rezo leaves Taforashia and then is killed by Lina after he unseals Ruby Eye.

The problem remaining is the soul itself. For Rezo in the jar to actually know that he had been killed by Lina and Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, then that means that the soul transfer didn’t happen until after his death. When Lina slew Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, we did hear Rezo speak to Lina briefly. During that time, Rezo’s soul could have transferred to the jar already prepared. That’s not unreasonable seeing as how “Nama-chan” had her soul transferred to a box some distance away after Xellos broke her transfer jar.

So where does Ozel fit into the picture? I think she is a creation of Rezo’s and possibly a “Plan C” if you will. After her creation, she’s given instructions on how to release Rezo (at least to some degree) as a safety precaution should something go wrong and his soul remain trapped in the jar.

That out of the way, lets talk Zelgadiss. Again, potential for retcon exists but the writers are pretty cagey. As I remember events in Slayers, all we are shown is a young Zelgadiss practicing with his sword in the woods and desperate to get stronger. I don’t remember a reason behind his desire but the implication we are left with is that Zelgadiss was minding his own business and training like mad when Rezo came upon him and granted his wish to be stronger by turning him into the chimera he is today. The further implication is that when they met in at that time, it was the first time, but it is never stated directly from what I recall.

This reminds me of a minor issue I had with Slayers — why did Zelgadiss work for Rezo if he hated him? It was clear that Rezo didn’t trust Zelgadiss after Zelgadiss located the Philosopher’s Stone because he put Lina onto the trail of Zelgadiss wanting to resurrect Ruby Eye Shabranigdu when it was Rezo who wanted that done (in the hopes Ruby Eye would cure him in thanks). I was reminded that Zelgadiss couldn’t have hated Rezo at first despite being a chimera because in a perverse way, Rezo had done what he promised — he made Zelgadiss stronger.

In Slayers Evolution-R 10, Zolf, Rodimus, Dilgear, and Noonsa all appear in the form of the flashback, which rocked. I liked how the writers worked in Rezo’s helping reputation and I did like how Zelgadiss was with Zolf, Rodimus, Dilgear, and Noonsa before becoming a chimera. Somehow, that made sense to me because it explained how the goodhearted Zolf and Rodimus would team up with the troll-wolf-man Dilgear and the fish-man Noonsa. It also explained why Zelgadiss was friends and comrades with them in the first place. It also helps with the split of the team after Zelgadiss decides to throw his lot in with Lina and Zolf and Rodimus join him while Dilgear and Noonsa follow Rezo until the end.

There is still some room to argue alternate points here and I certainly understand that. If you wish to vocalize them, be my guest in the comments section. ^_^

So while I wasn’t expecting much, in the end, this turned out to be a very enjoyable episode simply because we saw more of Zelgadiss’s past and some answers to questions. 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?