Slayers Try

Title:Slayers Try
The Slayers Try
スレイヤーズ TRY
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: HAYASHIBARA Megumi
ISHIDA Akira
KUWASHIMA Houko
MATSUMOTO Yasunori
R1 License - FUNimation
With the defeat of the Mazoku lords Gaav and Phibrizzo, the barrier surrounding the land for the last 1000 years has dropped. As such, new lands await to be explored anew. A miko named Filia has a job for Lina in the new lands and promises a big reward. However, Filia is not all that she seems and further complicating matters is the arrival of Xellos on the new lands. There, the group discovers Gaav's aid Valgaav, a former ancient dragon turned Mazoku, who wants Lina dead for killing Gaav by summoning the dark Lord Darkstar from his universe to destroy everyone in Lina's universe. But is he the true foe or not? Is the kami (god) race any different from the Mazoku? Will Lina get paid and be able to face her older sister?
[26 TV episodes. It is an original creation, with the outline of this story done by Hajime-sensei. Series was originally licensed by CPM but the license has now been acquired by FUNimation. It will have no improved subtitles and no fixes in the dub using the original VA's as FUNimation (for whatever reason) simply re-released what CPM.]
[edit] The ↗Slayers franchise time line: Lost Universe (same universe):
Episode Details 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 7 8 7 8 7 Ggultra2764 [series:11#1552]
After seeing this third season of the Slayers franchise, I do have to admit this is a bit weaker than the first two TV seasons. But before I get to my issues with the series, I'll at least cover what I liked about it and for this season, it was the plot. Perhaps the most complex developments within the Slayers franchise I've seen thus far, Slayers Try has several different parties involved in the main plot of obtaining five powerful weapons that involve Mazoku, gods, Lina's group and Filia's dragon race. The major characters among these four factions all have their justifications for why they are obtaining the weapons, protecting them or preventing the other sides from getting their hands on them which keeps characters from being seemingly shallow. And don't be surprised if you see treachery and underhanded tactics among some of the characters in order to meet their own ends. These plot twists are what mostly hooked me onto this season of the series. Also, it looks like the show's animators finally learned to put a bit more effort on their visuals as the character designs and scenery looked better polished. And while the animation is still not too impressive, I did take notice of some scenes that looked different from how action scenes were handled from the first two seasons.

However, the series suffers quite a bit with its humor as unlike the first two seasons, I found it to be a bit more hit-or-miss. As AstroNerdBoy notes, the humor is a bit more cartoonish at points as weak characters that would normally be killed off in the earlier seasons yet retaining the show's humor (like how a certain fishman's corpse is treated by his goons in the first season) are just blasted away a la Team Rocket with one character literally blasted into space yet still alive by the end of the series. In addition, four filler episodes I seen during the middle of the series had to be the weakest material I've seen from the franchise thus far. There are still points where the show's humor shines. But as the series progresses, especially beyond said four filler episodes, the major plot becomes more prominent with the occasional bits of humor.

Thus far, Slayers Try is the weakest season of the show I've seen, though that doesn't mean it was a complete dud for me. While I wasn't as impressed with the humor, this season did have the most complex plot developments I've seen out of the franchise thus far and featuring new characters fleshed out enough where they weren't completely your run-of-the-mill character archetypes. I give this season of Slayers a strong Rent recommendation.

Last updated Wednesday, February 02 2011. Created Wednesday, February 02 2011.
Buy 8 8 8 7 10 9 Dreamer [series:11#2279]
Having seen the original Slayers and Slayers Next, I had high expectations for this one. Sure enough, it didn't leave me hanging.

Art, Animation and Character Design
This time around (opposed to the past 2 installments), the art and animation is pretty good.... considering the time period of this series. The characters designs are more refined yet our characters are still extremely recognizable. Frame rate seems improved as well.

Music
The music was more or less the same as the previous installments althought, improved ever so slightly. Aside from the opening theme song, nothing else was noticable.

Episode and Series Stories
Once more, I'm impressed by the Slayers series. This third installment brough even more laughs, silly antics and awesome magic moments. All your characters are back once more with additions to the line up. As for the plot, this time, it was much more serious and deeper than the previous two series. The ending and how things got tied up was fantastic! The whole cast of so many different parties, "humans"," devils" and "dragons", all fighting it out was an exciting unfolding of events. This installment is by far the best of the lot.

Overall, I can almost say this was a grand epic. If you were to tie all three installments together, you have one hell of a ride and a fun laugh-your-ass-off rollercoaster ride. MUST buy!

Last updated Monday, February 16 2009. Created Monday, February 16 2009.
Buy Forbin [series:11#1573]
Drama : Med
Comedy : High
Action : Med/High
SciFi : High
Ecchi : Low

Well after finishing this I feel this is the 2nd best series of the Slayers TV franchise (Next being the best). All the gang is here, and practically everyone changes sides so many times that I have a headache (BUT everyone is following a plan, it's just that Lina's group is evolving with each episode). I have a few quibbles with the reuse of scenes such as one where Amelia is holding a weapon which she didn't get for 20 minutes later. Owells.

No Clones, Lots of characters, no Sylphiel (WAAAAAAA)!

Very good!

Last updated Monday, June 13 2005. Created Monday, June 13 2005.
Watch 7 7 6 5 5 Tom [series:11#1086]
IMHO this is the weakest offering from the Slayers TV series (I liked the OAVs and movies less). The humor was good in the first two season, but got too silly in this one. There were some good moments, like when Amielia grabbed one of the Aliens and did a hip throw on him, or when Zelgadis showed everyone how to use guns. This just didn't hold a candle to the first two seasons, sorry.

Last updated Monday, December 01 2003. Created Monday, December 01 2003.
Rent 8 8 8 9 8 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:11#436]

The third and final Slayers TV installment is a very good one. All of the core Lina party (Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, & Amelia) are back as is Xellos who pops in and out. Joining Lina's party is the miko (priestess/shrine maiden) Filia who replaces the miko Sylphiel. While I like Sylphiel, lets face it, she didn't do much beyond cast powerful healing spells and say "Gourry-sama" a lot. Filia takes some of those elements but adds a giant, heavy mace to the equation in addition to her other "gift". There are a vast array of "villians" this time too. I say that because up until the very end, you really don't know who's working against Lina's party and who's actually working with them. This is similar to what we saw early in the first Slayers series only much broader.

As before, the series is divided into three segments. However, due to the very complicated and deeper nature of the story, the first segments takes the first 13 episodes. Then we get three filler episodes followed by part two of the main story. I say part 2 because it is heavily linked with the first story segment, more so than the other two series (IMO). Slayers Try isn't as funny as its predecessors though the first two episodes contained some of the funniest stuff in the entire Slayers series. Wait until you see who Lina is afraid of (and this person is only shown in the opening credits and has been mentioned briefly in the previous series). Very funny! However, most of the humor is cartoonish and a step down from the previous series. As such, even powerful spells like Dragon Slave are use to knock a weak villain into orbit rather than kill him. Weak villains arent killed, but rather blown away time and time again. Bombs go off in peoples faces and dont cause any damage (other than the traditional blackened face and messed up hair). The more I watch Slayers Try, the more this aspect of the series annoyed me. Weak villains were killed in the previous titles and the humor still remained.

The other problem I had was with the romance elements of the series. Toward the end of Slayers Next, Lina and Gourry shared a kiss though neither remembered it, however at the end, Lina and Gourry were certainly closer. I would liked to have seen the writers advance the romance angle between Gourry and Lina, but it was completely ignored. They do get one moment in this series and there is one other tender moment shared by a couple of members of the cast, something that had long been hinted at all along. If you are worried about mush, don't be. It is a very brief moment and then in the end credits, shown another way briefly. Touching for fans of the series, but sadly not explored.

Speaking of the end credits, Kuwashima Houko (Filia) sings the final closing song in English! This was an unexpected surprise and well done. Of course Megumi does the normal open/close songs and those are good as usual.

Bottom line: There are some problems, but for the most part, the series manages to keep the elements that made Slayers a hit. If you liked the first two titles, I think you'll like this one too. However, it doesn't hold up well on repeat viewings, so while I initially gave this a "Buy" in 2004, I'm now dropping it to a "Rent."

Last updated Monday, April 09 2007. Created Monday, September 01 2003.

Buy 8 8 8 7 8 7 Sesen Kelader [series:11#471]
As usual, I follow Akito around....Nay.
As usual, SLayers Try is full of astonishing magic and fighting scenes. But this time it's outside of "Lina's world," since after the fight in NExt, the barrier that separates the world Lina lives from the outside breaks.
This time there are "ALIENS" in Try, who trys save their own world by deluding the Evil ruining their world to the world Lina lives and then try to finish it here(Very selfsih). There is a character who does not belong to the aliens, humans, the golden dragons, or the devils. It's the character who even helps the Aliens to bring the evil to the world after the aliens decide not to. He's the character who takes revenge by all acounts.
However I like Next better because the creator of the world, the "Golden Evil" does not show up in this episode because Lina can't summon it anymore (Maybe it's becasue the evil does not want to be "kissed" again). Moreover, there is no kiss scene in Try!!! I'm a little disappoited by it. However, Try is pretty cool, since all the races on the Earth (Is it really the Earth?) and the Aliens unite together to fight the absolute evil (Is there really an absolute evil?). I like the motto in Try, "It's our job to destroy the world, not yours." And that's why the Devils fights against the evil from another world. What a great REASON!!!
Try concludes for Slayers TV series (Is it a trend that movies and anime always have 3 stages? Star Wars, Lord of the Rings....).

Last updated Saturday, January 04 2003. Created Saturday, January 04 2003.
Buy 7 7 8 8 9 9 Akito [series:11#472]
This series is very funny. It is a continuation of NEXT, so it might be kinda confusing for those who haven't watch it. Slayers, as always, is very funny. In my opinion, this series has more plot than the other one, and it has a very nice ending. This is a must watch for those who love slayers.

Last updated Friday, January 03 2003. Created Friday, January 03 2003.
Buy 7 10 8 10 Black Panther [series:11#142]
A great anime that it is. There always making new friends arn't they?? Well you can expect your fav. characters and a whole lot more!!!! As always their back again saving the plaint, but this time there in real...........well, you watch and find out.

Last updated Friday, March 02 2001. Created Friday, March 02 2001.
Buy 7 6 10 8 10 CatWoman [series:11#65]
AGGGGGHHHHHH, It over! thats it, the end of Slayers! I have watched all the slayers know! I have come to LOVE this series! I love Lyna and the gang, but you just have to love Zel! For any slayers fan THIS IS A MUST BUY!!!!!!!!!!

Last updated Wednesday, January 10 2001. Created Wednesday, January 10 2001.
Buy 6 6 8 8 9 The Coyote [series:11#64]
A series worthy of the slayers name which says alot. this is a very enjoyable series if you have seen the rest of the slayers series. who can get enough of lyna and gouri and zel. they are some of the best out there. a must buy

Last updated Tuesday, December 19 2000. Created Tuesday, December 19 2000.
Buy 7 7 10 8 10 9 Dr.Yoshi [series:11#110]
Slayers Try is by far the best of the Slayers series.
Many new characters are thrown in the Slayers mix. Filia and Valgarv are not only two new main characters we see in the Slayers Universe, but (in my mind) two of the best characters series. Plus all of the old favorites are back. (Xellos rules!) But the characters are by far the best part of Slayers. And as we go on we get to see the relationships of these great characters grow.
The story in Slayers Try is heavy (as far as Slayers goes) And like Dingle said "If you have not seen Next DO NOT WATCH TRY."
Slayers has always been my favorite anime. I started watching anime with the original Slayers went through Slayers next and now end with Slayers Try.
This is a must watch. The climax of the Slayers Saga. Just when you think things can't get better

Last updated Friday, January 12 2001. Created Sunday, December 17 2000.
Buy 7 7 10 7 8 7 Epoch [series:11#85]
TRY is the best out of all the Slayers series in my opinnion. The story is better than that of the previous episodes and the character Valgarv is really quite interesting. The animation is not that great compared to some other anime series and I don't see much difference from NEXT. However the one good thing that sticks out about TRY is the characters. Filia is lovable even though sometimes annoying, and Valgarv is one of the more sympathetic villains of the Slayers series. In all I think that any Slayers fan should buy this series; you won't be disappointed.

Last updated Saturday, October 21 2000. Created Saturday, October 21 2000.
Buy 9 Dingle [series:11#35]
I saw this show in a horrible real media format, so I can not rate the technical aspect. This show is almost entirely story driven. If you have not seen Next DO NOT WATCH TRY. There are a lot of spoilers if you have not seen Next. This is my favorite of the three series. Every thing seems to come together in this series. I am now a Slayers fan because of TRY.

Last updated Thursday, July 13 2000. Created Thursday, July 13 2000.

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