Slayers Premium

Title:Slayers Premium
Slayers Movie 5: Premium
スレイヤーズぷれみあむ
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: HAYASHIBARA Megumi
ISHIDA Akira
KAWAMURA Maria
MATSUMOTO Yasunori
MIDORIKAWA Hikaru
R1 License - ADV (Renamed)
SHIRATORI Yuri
SUZUKI Masami
Lina and Gourry are back, doing what they do best -- sampling food at a local seaside village. Having worked hard at the catch, Gourry has a huge ship-styled plate full of food and Lina's work netted her a small fish. As they fight over an octopus, Gourry eats it, only to discover that it curses him, forcing him to speak the language of the octopus.

Rhuma, the young female white magic user in training, isn't powerful enough to remove the curse, which affects many in the village as well. When Zelgadis and Amelia stop by, they are briefed by Xellos as to the situation, which causes them to join come to Lina's aid. But when they become infected, things start to look grim, especially when Lina can no longer cast spells. Will Rhuma be able to heal Lina in time to cast Dragon Slave? Can they stop the resurrection of a demon by the octopus race before it is too late?
[Movie, 2001, 30 min. Animation by Hal Film Maker. This was initially shown with a DiGi Charat movie.]
[edit] The ↗Slayers franchise time line: Lost Universe (same universe):
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 8 8 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:720#1552]
Considering the other Slayers "movies" only featured Lina and Naga, I chose to skip ahead to Premium since I heard the major cast from the TV titles returned for it and I couldn't stand the thought of seeing more hit or miss comedic delivery coming from Lina and Naga. With the TV cast back, the comedic chemistry with the main cast returns in golden fashion with Lina putting up with Gourry's bumbling and the off-the-wall baddies she and her group encounter in the form of the revenge-seeking squids. Xellos and Naga even make cameo appearances within the series to add laughs where appropriate. The visual presentation is up a notch from the 1990s TV titles as there is more defined color and details with characters and scenery, as well as more fluid animation in battle scenes. Still though, this movie is treated more as an extra treat for Slayers fans as it doesn't add anything new to the series and it isn't the best way to introduce new fans to the franchise. However, it is worth a quick watch if you wanted to get more laughs from the main cast of the TV series and it definitely beats seeing Naga and Lina's hit or miss moments.

Last updated Thursday, December 08 2011. Created Thursday, December 08 2011.
Buy 8 8 8 7 8 8 Dreamer [series:720#2279]
Just when you thought Slayers was getting old and worn out.... they come out with yet another movie, but....

Art, Animation and Character Designs
This time around, the art and animation has a dramatic improvement. The colors are richer, the animation is smoother and the characters are much more refined and better overall. At the same time, the characters, Lina, Gourry, etc are still noticable.

Music
The music has even improved! Wow! Although it's still not my cup of tea, I'd take it over the past installments any day.

Episode and Series Story
Finally, we have a story and movie worthy of a Slayers title (almost). The best part is, all our favorite characters are back! Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis are present and being their usual selves. Even Xellos makes a small appearance. The story itself isn't really anything special but you will find a lot of "traditional" Lina and Gourry antics and good laughs. Oh, see if you can guess the "anomaly" when Naga makes a guess appearance.

Overall, it's a buy for sure. If you're a Slayers fan like me, then this is a must watch.

Last updated Thursday, February 19 2009. Created Thursday, February 19 2009.
Buy 9 9 8 8 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:720#436]

*happy sigh* Oh, how I've dreamed of a new Slayers title in which the original four are reunited. At long last, I've seen it, and I'm glad of the experience.

At only 30-minutes, this movie is more like an OAV. Supposedly, this is the last Slayers title to be done, so it is full of fanservice for Slayers fans! Gourry and Lina are still traveling together. Amelia is now travelling with Zelgadis (nice touch considering how Slayers Try ended). Xellos is still hanging around, though he doesn't have much to do but utter his tradmark "It's a secret" line in addition to a couple of others. Near the movie's climax, Naga does her cameo which strangly causes Amelia to be blown away. According to the Anime News Network site, this was done to fuel speculation that Naga and Amelia are in fact long-lost sisters. I didn't know Amelia had a sister until I rewatched Slayers Next and sure enough, Zelgedis mentions the crown princess, Amelia's older sister, is misssing. Interesting... ;-D (Note: further research had the series creator as basically confirming that Naga is Amelia's long lost sister.)

One note about the DVD. While Software Sculptors made the bad decision to translate the evil race known as Mazoku to "monster race", ADV felt it should be translated as "demon folk". *sigh* While this may reflect what this race is, they aren't "monsters" and they aren't "demons". They are Mazoku. It's a good thing Tolkien wasn't Japanese, otherwise there would be no Nazgul, only "winged monsters".

Bottom line: I enjoyed this movie. It is simple, predictable, but just a lot of fun. It was great seeing the original Lina gang back together doing what they do best. Fans of the series will really want to see this movie. If you haven't seen Slayers, see the TV shows first, then watch this.

Last updated Monday, July 26 2004. Created Wednesday, January 14 2004.


Other Sites
NameURL
Q's Slayer's Page http://homepage3.nifty.com/QPHOUSE/slayers_e.html
From a Japanese fan but done in English, all you want to know about the series.
Slayers Serious http://homepage.mac.com/ssagan2/SlayersSerious/
Another good fansite for Slayers stuff.

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