Slayers Try

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.