Slayers: The Motion Picture

Holy Smokes! I've got one thing to say to start this review off: Where've I been these past 16 years!!

This movie is on the same ENJOYMENT RATE as Slayers NEXT. Except for different reasons, of course.

This movie had elements of Ranma, Dragon Half, and Magic Knight Rayearth in it! This was probably the biggest lure since whip creamed waffles! Seriously though, we had three Hot Spring girls in there with names that went with other classics! One of them went by the name Shampoo even!

Lina's scene-time back in her hometown of Zil... .. something other? XD was that of Ranma Girl-Type! And ... as we already know, the Japanese voice for Ran-Chan in Ranma 1/2 is the same as Lina's Japanese voice. So it makes sense! :D

It was this movie that made me finally Dial In to the idea that Lina's flying spell (Raywing) is a combined name of both Hikaru's Rayeath Rune God and Fuu's Windam Rune God! :D Those are also my two favorite characters in Magic Knight Rayearth! ... Except Wing and Wind are not necessarily the same name... but... they are both Ariel names, right? XD

I have no idea who the blue-haired Gourry is, but am assuming he's a descendant of his? It was easy to call that he possessed the Sword of Light when he was holding it as just a hilt! :)

Basically with this Movie, I continued to make calls in it left, right and center. Another reason why it was a Masterpiece to me. I am not in sync like this with just any anime haha! Another time was when the Sage dude was telling Lina about the Fountain of Growth. ... Keyword, "Growth!" XD

Oh, and speaking of the Fountain of Growth that shape shifts the person who plunges into it, anyone know what this sounds like? XD

Lina's spells looked great in this series. She had a lot more ways of casting the Fire Ball, spells like the Dragon Slayer (Slave) had a different spell casting chant, which was also really catchy! Lina's apparel looked great, too! More like the manga!

Naga (Pronounced Nahga) was like the Kodachi Kuno of the series haha. She was great! I knew Slayers had been missing the spark of a good rival character in the three seasons of the original series. she seems to have an interesting type of magic, too!

I think there were two or three moments in total that made me go into critiquing mode though lol. One was when the Sage dude was talking to Lina in the house... the scene kind of repeated itself there, and it wasn't because it was the half way point or anything lol. Kinda made me think that I accidentally clicked on the computer screen and made the episode skip back or something lol. Another time was when the Sword of Light from blue-haired Gourry fell right in front of him. The animation there kind of felt off to me a bit haha. There were also moments where the Reptilian Boss grabbed the Sword of Light BY ITS LIGHT-BLADE with his hand! That's like reaching out and grabbing a Light-saber by its blade! IMPOSSIBLE!

But ya! :3 It got an Overall 10! Because it was Super-Great! :D

I was planning on reviewing the Valkyria Chronicles anime this week, but things have been rather hectic and I wasn't able to finish it. I'll just have to take care of that one next week. In the meantime, let's talk about the Slayers. The Slayers is pretty well known to anime fans. It has over fifty light novels, five anime series, five films, two OVAs, video game adaptations and several manga. It's by far Kanzaka Hajime's best known and most influential work. When I initially saw the original anime, I hated it. See, my brother got several VHS's of the English dubbed version, since all ... of us speak English and, supposedly, they were cheaper that way. The voice acting was terrible and hurt my head. I had to use ear plugs whenever he played the tapes since he's an inconsiderate clod who put the volume up far too high. It wasn't until later, when I tried the anime subtitled that I came to appreciate it and now I've got a Lina Inverse plush sitting on my shelf between Edward Elric and Sailor Neptune. Now, I obviously didn't have time to rewatch the whole franchise or even just the first anime series. I did, however, rewatch the first film. So let's take a look at Slayers: The Motion Picture.

The story is a prequel to the first anime series, and it's competently written so it can stand on its own. As such, I won't be going into any details about the backstory. The story follows the sorceress Lina Inverse and her friendly rival/sidekick, Naga the Serpent. They get discount tickets to a strange island famous for its hot spring. While there they embark on a quest to unravel the truth about the island and the unusual power affecting it. It's what you would expect from the Slayers. The story is full of absurdity played up for laughs, action, some intrigue and absurd action. The plot is pretty straight forward, but it works pretty well. The only real issue with the film is that it should have been longer. It's barely an hour and the story rushes through the important points as a result. It's still hilarious, but it could've used more time to flesh things out.

The characters in this are a bunch of strange, silly people. They aren't particularly deep, but they work exceedingly well for a comedic work. And their motivations and actions do make sense, which is better than some supposedly serious anime manage. Still, don't expect deep characters with fascinating psychological aspects.

The art in this looks rushed. It's in the general style of the rest of the series, but the colours look duller and the animation looks sloppier. It still looks okay, but not nearly as good as the regular series. I would criticise Naga's outfit, but it's clearly meant to be a parody of the "battle bikini" convention you frequently see in fantasy works rather than being designed for fan-service. Frankly, the satire works pretty well since it's actual done in a deliberate and aware fashion rather than fan-service which attempts to excuse itself as a parody.

the vocal cast in this is excellent. Takayama Minami, Kawamura Maria, Genda Tessyo and, especially, Hayashibara Megumi all do really well in their roles. There is some exaggeration which can get tiring, but it's used for comedic effect and, generally, works. The music is really amazing. the film is certainly an auditory treat.

The yuri factor is a 1/10. This doesn't have yuri.

So, how does the first Slayers movie hold up? The humour works really well. The characters, though not deep, are fun. The acting and music are excellent. That being said, the art is only okay and the story is pretty rushed. It's a quick, fun watch. My final rating is a 7/10. Check it out if you need a good laugh. If you want something with depth, look elsewhere. Maybe I'll look at more of the franchise at another time, but next week is going to have to be Valkyria Chronicles.

Slayers: The Motion Picture, also called Slayers Perfect, is a short movie that serves as a prequel to the television series that aired in 1995. The movie itself was released in July of 1995, after approximately half the television series had run its course. Do you remember that I mentioned wanting to see Slayers since I saw a trailer for one of the movies? This is the movie I was talking about.

After a misunderstanding regarding some bandits, Lina Inverse runs into Naga the Serpent, a rival of hers, and they end up going to a famous hot spring together. The hot spring itself is ... located on a mysterious island, shrouded in mist, that only seems to open for visitors once a year. Soon, Lina finds out that something terrible happened on this island many years before, and it's up to her to right the wrongs committed by the evil being that still lurks.

Hot springs? Sounds like an excuse for some fan service! Well, say what you want, but there's an amazingly small amount of “ecchi” in this film. The bulk of it is provided by Naga's outfit merely existing. It's basically a bikini, and more or less a reference to how female warriors are pretty much nude in a lot of fantasy comics and games. The outfit itself is handled quite tastefully, and there isn't much in the way of perverse camera angles obviously meant to monopolize her skin-tight threads.

As for the story itself, Slayers Perfect starts off comedic, dabbles in a bit of mystery, and ends off with a short battle and some celebrations. You can even find a bit of a moral in the last five minutes of the movie if you squint. Slayers: The Motion Picture may not have a bad idea for a plot (far from it), but it does suffer from being a bit rushed. Some scenes have awkward transitioning and the movie's pacing alternates from being too slow or too fast at varying points during its runtime of about sixty-five minutes. It really ought to have been more competently planned out, or been longer (by, say, at least thirty more minutes perhaps).

Speaking of competence, the movie is written well enough that at the very least, you don't need to be familiar with the television series to watch it. It could even serve as a window to help deciding whether you want to give the original anime a go. Aspects that are explained or referenced in the television series are also explained or referenced in the movie where pertinent, and the film doesn't treat you as if you are already familiar with Lina or Naga (the latter of whom doesn't appear in the first season of the anime anyway).

The primary protagonists of Slayers Perfect are, of course, Lina and Naga. Both are proficient sorceresses. Lina acts much the same as she did in the television series – for the uninitiated, a gluttonous and money-loving teenager. We don't get much out of Naga this time around, but at least she is amusing with her arrogance and manages to be quite intriguing. Rowdy Gabriev joins Lina and Naga as a hero, although he mostly passes on advice and cryptic messages and his role as a whole can't truly be explored in a review without digging up some spoilers. The side characters exist and serve their purpose, but unlike the first season of Slayers, none are particularly memorable or striking. Character development is nonexistent in this film. There isn't much to say about the subject other than that.

The animation of this film was handled by J.C. Staff as opposed to SoftX, so we can see some subtle character design differences and a general change in art style. The colours are a bit darker and muted, and the movie has an overall grungy, dirty look despite its material. The animation is nothing to sneeze about, though. It's pretty well-done and good quality for a film; however, it would have certainly benefited from using the same sort of palette as the television series.

Hayashibara Megumi shines again with her song Midnight Blue, which serves as the movie's ending theme and has got to be my favourite track I've heard from her yet. It is haunting albeit melodic and I love listening to it. The rest of Slayers Perfect's soundtrack could use some work. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not something to really write home about. Hayashibara does a good job as Lina Inverse as per usual, and the rest of the Japanese VAs are adequate. Kawamura Maria deserves special mention for her role as Naga, and that amazing laugh that almost rivals Sumeragi Hokuto's (Tokyo Babylon).

Slayers Perfect wasn't necessarily a letdown, but it certainly wasn't anything to write home about, either. It's a nice little stand alone addition to the Slayers franchise, and it gives us some curiosity to deal with regarding Naga and her relationship with Lina, but that's pretty much it. Don't expect to be blown away by it; it's just a little taste of what the first season brought us.

The Slayers Motion Picure felt like a quick after-thought from the outstanding orignal "The Slayers" TV series.

Though the plot was pretty straight forward and even somewhat thought out, I felt as if everything was rushed. I have never been one who overly cares if a series spends hours developing the characters within, but if I hadn't already seen the TV series I would have no idea who these people are and why they are doing what they are doing.

The art throughout also seems a little less vibrant, using darker shades of all previous colors. Even Lina herself was less imaculate then before. ... She still looked the same, but different, if you catch my drift.

One of the great things about the original series was the interaction between Lina and her cohorts. This time she was travelling with someone completely new, and though certainly easy on the eyes, she was given no time to develop as a main character. She was passed off as Lina's closest rival, yet with what was seen in the movie, most half wit wizards could wipe their ass with her skimpy wardrobe without breaking a sweat. It just seemed forced.

The music was sub standard, but not dreadful. Basically the type of music you would hear from an 80's video arcade game. Lots of keyboard smashing and no layering. The voice acting on the other hand I liked. Lina was as perfect as usually, Nana (her companion)(I think that was her name) had even a higher pitched voice and a laugh that most would find annoying, but I was really into, and the supporting casts did their jobs well.

The main villian was given a complex that screamed evil and with a short flash-back and a breif moment of actual story development, you learn to hate the bastard. I'm into hating the "bad guys" so I guess that was another plus.

All in all, I can't say that I hated the motion picture, but don't go into this movie with the same expections as the TV series. You'll be let down too.

The first of the Slayers movies gives us a mildly amusing story with the introduction of a new main character and a lot more uniqueness to the world than the main television series was able to produce. That said, it falls flat in nearly every way and doesn’t entertain as thoroughly as the series did.

In this film Lina runs into Naga, a dark mage and Lina’s biggest rival, and the two decide to run off to a hot spring island that was once populated by elves. When they get there they face off against a myriad of mostly hilarious enemies, eventually getting to the rip-off ... hot spring. Later on, Lina takes on a demon and goes back in time to save the lost elves and return the hot spring to its former glory.

This film is a prequel to the television series meaning we’re not spending time with the characters we’ve come to love; all we have is Lina (who is, again, a selfish, loud, and pretty annoying girl). Naga joins the fray here, a character who doesn’t add much of anything to the series as a whole and isn’t unique enough to be interesting. She’s a moronic bimbo mage who laughs at everything and has huge tits.

In any other context this character would be bad but especially in the context of having seen The Slayers before this movie it’s rather painful. If anything Naga is the fapbait character who would make sense if she were part of a larger group but doesn’t need to be spotlighted as heavily as she is in this film. It just brings the movie down.

Regardless, the humor is still here and just as entertaining as ever, especially the owner of the hot spring. The world itself is a lot livelier than the TV series as well, adding in unique and interesting creatures as well as having more to offer in visual splendor. This film looks fantastic, even by today’s standards.

The film is sixty minutes long though you can tell the filmmakers had a lot more planned due to the very abrupt ending. The movie spends a lot of time building up to the meeting between Lina and the demon (in fact, about half the movie has very little to do with the actual plot) and around the last ten minutes the film quickly cuts to the final battle without any real explanation or bridge between the previous scene and the action. Then the film is over, you’re left scratching your head, and you forget you ever saw it.

It’s not that Slayers: The Motion Picture is bad, it’s that it lost a lot of what made the TV series work. Without the likable cast of idiots and the empathetic bad guys, the movie really can’t use Lina and Naga’s tits as the two crutches to hold it up. Naga doesn’t even need to exist. Despit e being with Lina through the entire adventure when our heroine is transported back in time for the final battle, Naga is nowhere to be scene, leading me to wonder just what the hell the point of having Naga tag along was.

Alas, if you’re a hardcore fan of the series you’ll probably want to watch the movie for curiosities sake, but I can’t otherwise suggest it. It doesn’t offer much and there’s really no reward for getting through it. It’s just a pointless sixty minute exercise in mediocrity.

As someone who was a big fan of the anime show.... It was alright. It was reluctant to watch it, because to me, Slayers ain't Slayers without Lina's familiar companions (Gourry, Zelgadis, Amelia, etc.), but I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try anyway, and I was positively surprised. It was alright. Not as outstandingly amazing as the anime show, but neither particularly bad.

If you want to get into Slayers, maybe start with this instead of the anime show, because this is a prequel to the anime show.

Animation is good (peak 90s animation), voice acting is good, the story is okay, but ... overall, it's nothing to write home about.

I've been a big fan of Slayers since discovering the TV series in the late '90s, which I've seen the first 3 seasons of. I always enjoyed it for how entertaining and humorous it was, a sort of diametrically opposed companion to The Record of Lodoss War, another favorite of mine growing up. Oddly enough, I have never seen any of the films or OVAs, so having decided to go back and revisit the TV series for a blast of nostalgia, I figured now was the time to check them out. First off, the animation here of the first film is just great. Anyone that ... is familiar with the original 3 seasons of the TV series knows for whatever reason, the quality of releases over the years in regards to PQ isn't the best (why I couldn't say), making the show look far older than it actually is and sort of paling in comparison to the preservation of other anime series released around the same time. So seeing Lina and her universe in such clear, nice quality was a joy. Just like the series, the story is a light affair, with copious amounts of comedy, oddball villains, and a quick pace. I will say that I thought the story being told came off a bit on the unimportant side overall, for some reason. Sure, as I've said, the series is definitely light-hearted, but this comes off even less weighty than the TV series. It's certainly still a fun little romp, though.

The biggest thing to mention here though is the introduction of Naga, Lina's sidekick/rival/tag-along, or whatever you'd like to call her. As all of the movies and OVAs take place before the start of the series, this was my first introduction to her, and boy is she a ton of fun. She's a great companion for Lina on her travels, their interactions with one another are well-done, and their relationship dynamic feels different than that of Line and her travelling buddies in the TV series. And then there's Naga's laugh, which is over-the-top, borderline annoying, but kept making me grin like an idiot. It fits the tone of the Slayers universe perfectly. If I was subjected to that cackle in any other form of media, I'd probably have a whole different take on the subject.

So yeah, I'm glad I'm finally getting a chance to see this side of the Slayers franchise that I never have before. And hey, if you've never seen ANY of this series, this is actually a perfect place to start. As a prequel, you don't need to know anything going in, and could probably just stick with the movies and OVAs if 100+ episodes of a TV series looks a little too daunting. But trust me, if you end up enjoying this, you'll want to check out the TV series, as it's just as zany and as much of a blast as this. Slayers is sorta like a bag of super sugary candy; sure, it's bad for you and you'll probably get a cavity or two, but it's hard to say no to just one more piece.

This is quite an interesting show basically going along the lines of the OVA rather then the TV show. You know the one with the really scantily clad Naga the Serpent. Now though I really don’t like Naga, I do like the movies plot. This story has Lina heading to an elf town and defeating a demon. It would be no different then any other episode except this is when she is first introduced to the sword of light.

Naga is a really stupid woman who couldn’t even tell when someone is actually a bandit. Sometimes I think the only reason they brought her in ... is to make a reason for Lina to go the island where the story takes place. The bandits are extremely stupid, and I have to say they didn’t show any thought in creating them. All the teams seem to be families. Other enemies seem to do long winded explanations on what there diabolical plans are before they even fight Lina (Of course, I don’t understand how everyone knows her on the island as well but that’s another story). Other characters seem as though they were quickly put together and given stupid names.

Sadly, most of the show does have a rather ‘filler’ feeling about it. The ending was rather anti-climatic, only about 10 minutes of the long movie so it feels bland in that aspect. I may have loved the journey, but the finish line felt like it was lacking.

The artwork shows its age rather nicely actually. It means that the show might look rather old but it to me, it’s almost a classic. The style while slightly rough has a lot of detail in the backgrounds and even in some characters that move around. The monsters are a little generic but extremely detailed in how they move and attack. They must have put a decent amount of money into this when it was made.

The English voices are sometimes ok, though a couple of the girls voices sound like they are straining there voice, but it doesn’t get to bad. Lina really sounds whinny, Cynthia Martinez makes her sound like she is on the verge of losing her voice most of the time for how high pitched she is. Phil Ross on the other hand makes a great Rowdy and David Bell does do a really good of Young Rowdy, making them seem like they really could have been the same voice. Again, I wasn’t keen on Naga’s stupid laugh. I can give props to Kelly Manison for doing a pretty good job on the voice though, for playing a rather annoying character to begin with anyway. The script though is sometimes cheesy and sometimes rather cleaver with the jokes. It made the show stand out in that fashion. I do have some problems with the dub in that once in a while they throw a curve ball into the mix like having the demon cry out Sylvester’s saying from Looney Toons or some other parody. It may work in some extent for American watchers but for those that look for a closer dubbing, this is not one. I’m also not into the change that they did to the signature spells that Lina has.

It’s sad whenever I have to review a show that I like and it falls short. Sadly, I can’t give this a 5 star rating but it is worth watching if you like a bit of comedy or the normal TV and OVA shows of slayers. Plus, as said in the description, this does actually link to Gourry Gabriev from the TV show so its kind of funny seeing the link.

This movie, while it does have great visuals and animation, is not that interesting story wise. Lina bumbles around for most of the movie until she stumbles upon plot but by then movie is almost over. I think pacing like this would be fine if it was in TV series, but it doesn't fit standalone movie.
Nevertheless, if you are fan of Slayers, it's a serviceable prequel that is kinda fun. If you are new to the series, please start with TV series, manga or light novels. And even if you are fan, there is better Slayers Movies and OVA's.