This next installment in the Slayers saga follows Lina and Gourry as they attempt to find a weapon to take the place of the Sword of Light.

Episode Summary

Since the bandit population has been in short supply lately, Lina has decided to switch to the high seas and go after pirates instead. She and Gourry manage to put most of a pirate group down. The pirate captain tries to use a recently-captured mermaid as a hostage, but she’s mostly-fish and reminds them that Lina Inverse is the true incarnation of chaos and evil, so they bow before her and surrender. Just then, an armada of military ships from Seyruun shows up, manned by Amelia and Zelgadis. The pirates try to make their escape but end up getting blasted for calling Lina a flat chest.

Lina, Gourry, Zel and Amelia meet up in a local restaurant, and they explain that they’re looking for a replacement sword for Gourry. They’re introduced to Wiser, an Inspector, who arrests Lina for the crime of being herself. Even the local army has been called in, though Lina blasts them and is forced to run away. Just as things are looking bad, someone unaffiliated uses the Dragon Slave spell and blasts everything to smithereens.

Thoughts

Okay, now I know pretty much everyone who’s going to read this review is going to hate me, so I expect at least a few repercussions in this case, but I really have to start off this review by stating truthfully that I have never liked and will probably never like Slayers. This is not necessarily the fault of the show itself, but since the few episodes I have seen I’ve seen fairly recently, I don’t have that nostalgic attachment to it that many people have. Slapstick humor? I can dig it, but I dislike on-again-off-again romantic entanglements enough to cancel that out (from what I understand, there’s a bit of a “thing” between Lina and Gourry that neither of them are keen to acknowledge). And small chest jokes? Not funny at all, sorry. If the show had been packed full of small penis jokes, I can bet you a lot of people wouldn’t be laughing. Lina’s obviously a destructive powerhouse, so when people have to hit below-the-belt like that (or above-the-belt technically, I suppose... it’s confusing!) it’s very depressing to me. Obviously a woman’s talent and respectability is directly related to the size of her bosom.

ahem

The show manages to strike a balance between maintaining its decidedly retro look and updating it to the current era. I was actually surprised at how well this was done, considering how distinctive the show is and how much its look tends to summon up the feeling of a bygone era (you know, the mid-nineties). While the animation certainly isn’t the best I’ve seen lately, there was obviously some money behind this, and it shows in the bright colors and consistent animation production.

I imagine that anyone who’s a fan of the other Slayers seasons (which means just about everyone other than me) will thoroughly enjoy this one. It brings back favorite characters, retains the spirit and the sense of humor that the show’s always had, and stands out in an age where this kind of slapstick fantasy isn’t quite as common. Forgive me, though, if I just can’t quite get into it. I rarely like shows that keep going on and on for multiple seasons (forty episodes is really my limit, I think), so unfortunately this one isn’t really for me.

Pros

• Retains the look and feel of earlier seasons
• Has a good grasp of slapstick humor

Cons

• Small breast jokes aren’t funny
• If I had watched the other seasons I probably would have given up before this point

By Jessi – 08/31/08