• Title: Slayers Revolution
• Studio: J.C. Staff
• Genre: Fantasy/Comedy

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥♥♥ (Now with 100% more pirates!)

Thoughts:
So it took 11 years for Megumi Hayashibara’s schedule to finally clear up enough to do Slayers Revolution, and the first episode certainly won’t disappoint long-time fans: Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia reunite after Lina and Gourry kick some pirate ass (apparently bandits are becoming an endangered species thanks to Lina). Gourry has lost the Sword of Light somewhere along the way, and his temporary replacement keeps breaking. Aw…

But trouble, of course, follows the foursome, this time in the form of an inspector who wants to arrest Lina Inverse for the crime of being Lina Inverse. Lina is, as you might expect, a little bit perturbed, and doesn’t exactly go quietly. I’ll let you figure it out from there.

So, the long-time fans are taken care of so far (and I’m not yet worried about the addition of the mascot character Pokota, by the way). But will the series attract new fans?

For you Slayers newbies, you don’t need to worry that starting with Revolution will cause problems: all the characters are introduced pretty easily and frankly, the Slayers canon isn’t one of the most convoluted and complicated out there. References to Gourry’s sword, Lina’s “Dragon Slave” ability, and Zelgadis’ body are the only ones that might confuse you

So here you go: one of the things Lina is infamous for is being able to produce the spell “Dragon Slave,” which produces mayhem along the lines of an atom bomb or something. And Gourry is normally the wielder of the Sword of Light, which is kinda like a light saber, but apparently he no longer has it for reasons yet unrevealed. Zelgadis was cursed by his ancestor to become part-human, part-golem, and part-demon, so he has a body made essentially of rock. And that’s pretty much it.

But the humor is all still there, including the constant “flat-chest” jokes, Gourry’s stupidity (also a handy exposition tool!), and all the usual mayhem and destruction that comes as a result of slights to Lina’s pride. As in the past, it’s a solidly enjoyable comedy, and judging only from the first episode, I’d recommend it to anyone. (And if you can check out the older seasons, go for it– they’re awesome, if you can deal with old-school animation style.)

Speaking of old-school, I did want to mention the look: while the art is still classic Slayers, the animation is fully updated, for those of you who expressed concern that the designs might get “updated” or something along those lines. Also, the OP and ED are classic Hayashibara tunes, much like past Slayers themes in style– I like the ED better than the OP, personally.

Hayashibara still sounds every bit as Lina-esque as ever, and Gourry and Zel both sound great too. I kinda think Amelia’s seiyuu, Masami Suzuki, is just a touch deeper than she was in the past, but it HAS been eleven years. And she still sounds awesome, which is all that matters.

So! All in all, a resounding AWESOME for Slayers REVOLUTION so far. Now where’s my Xellos?

Tags: first-dates, slayers revolution, summer 08

7 Responses to “First Date: Slayers REVOLUTION”

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