Slayers Revolution

• Lina – The red-headed small chested 16-year-old sorceress, who favors the ‘dragon-slave’ demolition spell as a response to any insult.
• Gourry – The blond air-headed ditzy master swordsman, who serves as Lina’s body guard and rival at the dinner table.
• Amelia – The princess of Seyrum and self-proclaimed hammer of justice, defender of the weak.
• Zelgadiss – The purple-haired enigmatic and sagely rock-man, who finds himself having to contend with the antics of his troublesome traveling companions.

It had been over 10-years since Slayers Try came out on TV and for many Slayers fans, it was high time that a new TV series be created. With Slayers REVOLUTION, their wish came true. Now, would it live up to expectations? Fortunately, the answer for me is, "yes."

The series gets off to a great start with Lina going after pirates rather than bandits. In doing this, the audience is quickly not only introduced to the four main characters, but also to the style of show this is -- wacky and fun! Lina being a kick-bottom, take no prisoners sorceress comes off immediately too, as does the general character feel of the miko Amelia, the fighter-mage Zelgadiss, and the fighter Gourry. In this regard, the writers insure that one does not have to have watched or read anything about Slayers to quickly get caught up into things. Of course for a long-time fan as myself, this also served as pure, non-H fanservice and I loved it.

The staff takes Slayers REVOLUTION back to its roots in several ways. I've already mentioned how the wacky fun is immediately brought into the anime. However, the way Lina and company are put on their quest is similar to how they got roped into things in Slayers and Slayers Next -- they stumble into it. Also returning from Slayers is a mystery regarding the Red Priest Rezo and a return of the beast Zanaffar. Characters such as Amelia's father Prince Phil and the miko Sylphiel also return as does the mazoku Xellos.

In regards to Zanaffar, the writers go back to the source novels from Kanzaka-sensei. While Slayers had a Zanaffar story in the 2nd-half of that anime series, the creature's design and creation were completely made up by the anime writers then. This time, the writers create a true Zanaffar. As such, when Zanaffar shows up, he looks and acts pretty much as described in the novels. Further, his creation is based on how he is created in the novels, complete with the tiger-man Duclis's involvement. The writers even introduce the assassin Zuuma from the novels.

With those elements from the novels in place, the writers then create their own story. So while Duclis is a tiger-man as he is in the novel, he's not the same person as in the novel. The writers create a new, small country of Taforashia for Duclis to originate from, as well as a Digimon-like critter named Pokota. The writers also look back to Slayers to bring back a mystery element by having these events somehow tied to Rezo. This is all good (though some fans have complained about name-dropping Rezo).

Things are fine here, but when Zanaffar is finally "born," things get a bit odd for fans who've watched Slayers. While other elements, such as Rezo, have explanations given so that the audience understands that Lina and company have dealt with that before, we don't get that with Zanaffar. In fact, Lina and company act like they've never encountered Zanaffar, even if in an altered form and for me, that was odd. For new Slayers fans, I'm guessing that won't be a problem (what you don't know won't hurt you).

Out of the thirteen episodes, there's only one bad one -- episode 6 (if you are interested, you can read the summary, see the screen captures, and read my thoughts from my blog on the episode). Basically, the episode is a big waste of time. The only other major weakness in the series is a running joke of Inspector Wiser and his dealings with Lina. Fortunately, just as the audience is becoming sick of that joke and plot element, the writers leave it alone.

While I'm thinking of it, another big plus for long-time Slayers anime fans, the incidental music from the original TV series are here. I honestly think that for me, if this music hadn't returned, I don't think I would have enjoyed things as much. This is a case where music clearly helps set the tone and mood of things, thus making the viewing of this series a more enjoyable experience.

While the Zanaffar arc concludes with this series, the story with the mystery of Rezo, the assassin Zuuma, and the cursed country of Taforashia remain unresolved, but those will be addressed in Slayers EVOLUTION-R.

Bottom line: Outside of episode 6, Slayers REVOLUTION is a good return to the Slayers franchise. For long-time Slayers fans, there's plenty of good things to make you remember why you became a fan in the first place. For new viewers, you'll know right from episode 1 whether this is something that you'll like or not based on the action, characters, and humor of things. For me, I can't wait for a sub-license to be handed out (FUNimation I hope) so I can buy this.

Last updated Tuesday, November 11 2008. Created Saturday, July 05 2008.