Slayers

Nahga the Serpent is a great addition to Slayers in that she brings another level of comedy with her. But what separates this film from the rest of the movies and the Specials is that Lina's and Nahga's adventure intertwine with the story of a human whos memories and quest are perhaps more important to the audience than that of the two sorceresses. Slayers the Motion Picture had everything I wanted from a Slayers film and more: love, heroism, wit, adventure, and comedy.

I remember as a child, my mom got me Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie on a library rental; in the bonus features was a trailer for Slayers: The Motion Picture. I watched that trailer over and over, being in love with the song.

Years later (actually, this was 10 years ago! I would've been 13 at the time) I recalled that trailer and song, and found the whole film available on YouTube to watch. It was amazing - met my expectations! Beautiful main characters, good humor, exciting action, well-added drama...

The English dub was excellent, as well. Cynthia Martinez really brings out Lina Inverse's fiestiness; while I expected Naga to sound more seductive, I appreciated the haughtiness to her voice, brought by Kelly Manison. Upon my first viewing, I was wondering if these characters, given by their names, were really meant to be European, and also if Naga's laugh sounds like the original Japanese. It turned out I might as well be right!

I also learned afterwards that this is based on an anime series. Thankfully, you don't even need to watch it first in order to understand this. It's short, sweet, and stands as its own. And if it wasn't for The Motion Picture, I wouldn't have checked out and fallen in love with the Slayers show.

I went through a period of time when I was obsessed with the theme, "Midnight Blue" by Megumi Hayashibara (Lina's original voice actress). I'd listen to it endlessly, much to the annoyance of my family!

I love this movie so much, I added it to my Christmas list in 2015, and got it on DVD in the mail.

I've been an anime fan for six years now, and had never seen "The Slayers" in any shape or form before this movie. I had always meant to though, since I'd learned from other fans that it was a great series. Last week, I noticed this tape was available for rent at the video store. I eagerly picked it up........

And was VERY disappointed. I thought that this movie was just plain awful. It was neither funny nor containing any shred of an interesting plot. On top of my list of problems with this movie:

-I found the dialogue to be irritating (though the humor found in the Slayers series might rely on campiness, so I might have missed the point);

-the characters annoying, with personality traits that are barely interesting;

-a rather dumb plot (why exactly DO Lina and Naga team up, anyway?). I will admit that the 'breast enlargement' sub-plot made me smirk (as did the breast-bouncing bit in the castle midway through the flick), but a quest for a bigger bust does NOT make for a good movie when that's all that's going for it;

-and the battle scenes almost put me to sleep. Lina and Naga just fire off spell after spell after spell - whoopee ding. There was no sense of challenge or suspense/danger of the protagonists losing the magic fights.

Sorry to those who enjoyed this (though I'll be darned if I can figure out how you did), but this movie wasn't worth the free rental coupon I used to get it. 'Slayers: The Motion Picture' wasn't as bad as the first 'Sorcerer Hunters' video, or that loathsome 'Battle Arena Toshinden' movie, but it wasn't too far behind in my book.

I won't be giving up on the 'Slayers' series - maybe 'Next' or 'Try' or the originals will float my boat. But it'll be a cold day in hell before this turkey winds up in my anime collection.

Try the Project A-Ko series instead.

É um filme que não é muito ruim, se não dormir, dá para assistir. It's a movie that's not too bad, if you don't sleep, you can watch it.

My son introduced me to anime not that long ago. Like most things, there's a lot of junk, but "Slayers, the Motion Picture" is definitely NOT junk! I was unaware that it was originally a tv series in Japan, but this movie can stand entirely on its own: Heroines, villains, good writing and characterization, great animation, and, finally, an evil foe with great power and no conscience whatsoever. I do have to agree with my son, though, that it's best to watch this movie with subtitles rather than dubbing. Dubbing cannot capture the same character qualities as the original- and often very witty- Japanese dialogue does.