スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Ep. 12
Slayers REVOLUTION Episode 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

At a fort outside of Saillune City, the troops come under attack from Zanaffar. A group of mage troops mass-cast the Fireball spell, but it fails. The miko Sylphiel attempts to defend the troops against Zanaffar’s breath attack (laser beam) but nearly gets knocked out in the process. Lina and company arrive on scene, so Duclis and Zanaffar disappear. Amelia gives some orders to the troops before Lina and Gourry head to get a recharge from a food-feast. They give Sylphiel a rundown on what they are facing, which surprised her.

Meanwhile, Prince Phil has a council meeting with Amelia in attendance as Wiser briefs them on what has happened and Zanaffar’s impending attack. The council has trouble accepting this news and debate ensues on what to do about it. Prince Posel Korba Taforashia (Pokota) presents his case for getting Saillrune’s assistance. The man in charge of the regular army argues with the man in charge of the mage army over what to do about the Zanaffar threat. Phil breaks the table and makes a decision to evacuate the city. He apologizes to Pokota for not doing more to help Taforashia and Pokota takes a knee to Prince Phil.

Lina and company arrive to offer their services which Prince Phil accepts. As Phil helps with the evacuation of the city, Lina and company head to the armory where they grab new swords before moving to a plaza with a statue of one of the shinzoku (Ceifeed?). Wiser wonders about the possibly of Zanaffar coming up through the ground as the others look around for signs of Zanaffar. Pokota senses Duclis, who emerges from behind the statue. After a little chat between Duclis and Pokota, Zanaffar pushes up from the ground beneath the shinzoku statue.

Zelgadiss notices that Zanaffar is even bigger and gets information that Zanaffar not only eats humans, it gains their knowledge and experience. Gourry isn’t about to be eaten, though Sylphiel, Amelia, Wiser, and Zelgadiss ponder what would happen if the beast ate Lina as she might make it sick. Lina isn’t happy with that suggestion, though Zanaffar is intrigued. Even though Zanaffar cannot use magic, the creature would like a knowledge of magic.

Pokota attempts to attack Zanaffar with the Sword of Light but failing to even reach the beast. Lina tells Pokota to give the weapon to Gourry who would be able to use blade better. Gourry is able to get some hits on Zanaffar, who brings out his tentacles to aid in fighting Gourry off. Zelgadiss casts Astral Vine on his sword as he and Amelia attack Zanaffar, only to discover Zanaffar’s hide is too tough, like thick metal armor. Gourry restarts his attack while Sylphiel asks Lina if they shouldn’t be doing something to help Gourry, especially “that” spell. Lina is holding that in reserve for now due to its power consumption but for now, she’s keeping an eye on Duclis.

Thoughts/Review:

I liked the symbolism of Zanaffar emerging from the ground beneath the statue of one of the shinzoku in the Saillune plaza (I’d guess that would be Flare Dragon Ceifeed since Ceifeed was the opposite of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu and is supposed to be heavily worshiped in Saillune). I laughed when Wiser was freaked out about the idea that Zanaffar might come up from the ground. Too bad he was right on target with his fears, eh? Anyway, I like how Zanaffar’s tentacles finally came into play.

It is great seeing Sylphiel again even if she was pretty worthless. I’m not sure why she cast a Flare Seal spell when Zanaffar attacked, which is a shield against fire-based attacks. Zanaffar attacks with laser breath and since Sylphiel is from Sairaag and thus knows the story of Zanaffar (which destroyed the city long ago), she should know its attack. However, it almost seems that Slayers REVOLUTION is playing down the Zanaffar aspect of Slayers (anime).

Prince Phil was also a nice return even if he didn’t do a whole lot. I did like seeing some additional political aspects of Saillune that were shown in this episode. I liked how he just took charge to get things done.

The production team is clearly having fun bringing up old characters and as a longtime Slayers fan, I don’t mind that at all.

One more episode to go. ^_^