Slayers

Anime fans who have enjoyed the first series of Slayers will not be disappointed with it's hilarious sequel! It is the best in which I give it a 10. For those who have not seen the first series, the story stands on it's own so don't worry. I highly recommend people who are new to Anime to go and pick this title up as a must see!

While I enjoyed this series, I found it to be a little anti-climatic when seen after "next" and still having that series fresh in mind. In "Try", the plot is more complicated (I got totally lost at times), the filler-episodes are somewhat less good than the previous fillers, and I was very disappointed in that Lina cast the Giga-Slave after what happened last time. There was no chemistry between Lina and Gourry this time =( , but on the other hand, Amelia is starting to get hooked on someone (hehe...). Also, I totally adored the interaction between Filia and Xellos. And I loved Valgaav! He had that sad, pained air about him that just makes me want to be on his side instead...

But what's up with no Drag-queen episode? ;-) I missed that. Would have loved to see Zelgadis in drag again... ;-) The closest they got in "try" was dressing Gourry up as a mermaid to make a virgin sacrifice out of him for a dragon.

See it!

/Anna

"Slayers" was the funniest anime series I'd ever watched...then I saw "Slayers Next". The series just kept getting better, especially with the introduction of Xellos, a character whose motives, means and intentions are always in doubt until the last minute. He makes an excellent addition to the funny, familiar team of Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis.

Slayers Next shows you that maybe sequels can be better than the originals. The series of Slayers gave us a not-so-typical leading female and continued to add more amusing characters. Slayers Next throws us a couple more fun characters and an interesting and fun storyline.

Probably the best of the three "Slayers" TV seasons, this one has Lina Inverse, the short, scrawny, bad tempered, feisty red haired sorceress with an unquenchable appetite, Gourry Gabriev, her big blond idiot swordsman friend, Zelgadis the cranky man of stone, and bouncy, justice loving princess Amelia going out on a quest to find a legendary book called the Claire Bible, hoping that it can save the world from a threat from the demonic monsters who wish to destroy our lovely little world. Along the way they are dogged by the mysterious (and obnoxious) Xellos, the obsessive Princess Martina who wants to destroy Lina because Lina blew up her home town, and once again they are eventually joined by Sylphiel, Gourry's fan-girl like admirer.

Better animation than the first season and far less obnoxious and self-righteous than the ensuing "TRY", "NEXT" comes closest to balancing the nuances of the characters with lots of slapstick humor and drama. The English dub track is actually pretty decent (and keeps closer to the original Japanese dialogue than most English dubs) with Lisa Ortiz (Lina), Eric Stuart (Gourry), Crispin Freeman (Zelgadis) and Veronica Taylor (Amelia) giving their all, but what would essentially be one of the better English dubs is ruined by the crucial casting error of David Moo as Xellos. I don't know what the casting people were thinking, but David Moo is badly miscast as Xellos, making the character sound most annoying, borderline stereotypical nerd, when he should sound smooth and slick; unless the original and proper Japanese interpretation of Xellos IS an annoying little nerd.

But for those of you who don't listen to the English dub, it's all good. Favorite moments include the oxy-moronic attacks of Amelia's dad Prince Philionel of Seyruun and Gourry being turned evil and unleashed against the other characters. Lina's unexpected attraction to Gourry is also funny along with nice opening and closing theme songs.

LINA: "Just how long do you plan on protecting me?"

GOURRY: "I dunno... the rest of my life?"

LINA [blushing & incredulous]: "The rest of your...?"