Ah, Slayers... for years this series has amazed me with its punchlines and comedy. If the people of Dungeons and Dragons rolled this series around in comedy, laughter and antics, then chances are this series would be the end result. Spawning many titles, the anime has come from a D&D-inspired anime to a rarity of a series.
The heroine of Slayers is a hot-blooded sorceress who gained a reputation as the bandit killer and dragon spooker. The sorceress, Lina Inverse, is the type that strives to get her way, punishing all before her, and is backed by her magical prowess, among which is the very destructive ace: the Dragon Slave. As it opens, she is "saved" by a traveling mercenary named Goury Gabriev, who is strong, but is seen more or less as an idiot. Despite this, his skills as a swordsman are formidable, and his weapon, the Sword of Light, is to be feared. Along the way, other people show up, consisting of the righteous Seyruun princess Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, the tough and cunning chimera Zelgadis Greywords, as well as other characters that appear (and reappear). However, conflicts rise, and nearly all of which are focused on her! From bandits, to dark lords, Lina Inverse has her work cut out for her. She'll need immense powers and a full stomach to smash any threat opposing her!!
Slayers has spun many titles over the years, and even today, it continues. While it's canon is something to be questioned, there are characters specific in certain titles. As Lost Universe is spun off of this, the story takes place in a different world belonging to one of the parallel 4 created by the Lord of Nightmares. The setting for Slayers is the Red World, where there is an ongoing battle between the gods and demons, but demi-gods had physical form. Perhaps in coincidence with the world's name, Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo is the supreme demon of the Red World, challenged by the supreme god Flare Gragon Ceiphied. Revisiting the canon issue, as some characters existed in certain media, the group of the TV series and the OVA characters, notably Naga the White Serpent, never cross, and the backgrounds of her and Amelia raises some suspicion as to if they're related (with proof possibly supporting this.)
Slayers started out as a 26 episode TV anime, succeeded by Slayers Next which was the same length. The third TV entry, Slayers Try, also ran for 26 episodes. Afterwords, it went on a haitus of sorts until 2008 when Slayers Revolution was created, and was followed by Slayers Evolution-R, both running 13 episodes each. They made their TV debut for North America in 2010. All of the TV anime were licensed by Central Park Media and Funimation Entertainment, for Canada and USA respectively. In addition, 5 films were created as well as 2 OVA series, which were 3 episodes a piece. Other merchandise consist of manga and even games of the series. Aside from doing the theme songs, Megumi Hayashibara is known as the Japanese voice of the key character Lina. In the North American localization, her TV voice is done under Lisa Oritz, while, Cynthia Martinex covers her voice in the Movies/OVAs.
Full of antics and silliness, Slayers is a respectable series in general, scoring a 8.8 of 10. As an anime that was inspired by an old RPG title, I have a fave spot for it personally.
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