Slayers Premium

Slayers has always been a great series to follow, with plenty of loyal fans. Its spanned three series, five movies, and two different three episode OVA series. Following, as always, the great sorceress Lina Inverse.

Premium is unique in that it is the only movie that has Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis; who are Lina's companions during the three series; as opposed to Naga, a friend/rival of Lina's from the OVA's. Naga does make a breif cameo, marking one of the few (if only) times Naga and the rest of Lina's friends are in the same series.

The story is a bit silly, with some town famous for ... its seafood having the octopus that live in the acompanying bay decide they have had enough. All in all, its not as epic as the series tend to be (with the world hanging in the balance), and not as humorous and character developing as the OVA's tend to be, but seems on Par with the other movies in the slayers franchise.

Art and Sound are typical of the Slayers media, so if you have seen other parts of the series you should generally know what to expect. A bit outdated by todays standards, but still generally clean and well animated.

As far as character goes, this movie dosn't offer much in the way of development. However you do get to see all of the characters you know and love (even if Naga's appearance is... very breif), but if this is your first piece of Slayers media you may be a bit lost.

This movie was quite enjoyable for fans, and fits in nicely between the second and final series. Overall, this is a good diversion from the series, with some quality bits of humor for a fan. If you are a first time Slayers watcher, its probably best to start with 'Slayers' the first series.

Slayers Premium is a huge step back in quality from Slayers and Slayers Next, I'm obviously glad it's no longer than 32 minutes, but it was 32 minutes that were quite painful. First, let me say that I watch Slayers in english dub (yes, yes, I know, heretic.) It's one of the few series I prefer the dub over sub. And Slayers Premium changed the voice actors...

It's dreadful, the Lina in Prenium sucks, it doesn't fit the character at all and even then most of the cast seem to be acting out of character for no apparent reason. The art is also stepped down, as ... well as the music. The story is uninspired and dull and, like I said, thank god it's only 1 episode; because I would have dropped a season that starts like that.

So yeah, overall Slayers Premium is simply a bad OVA, but that happens all the time in anime doesn't it. It is not necessary to watch it to understand the rest of the series, skipping it would be recommended, unless you have time to kill. It also doesn't bring any relevant backstory or anything like that, so it's really just a basket of stale bread in between the main dishes.

If you want to see Slayers at its worst then Slayers Premium is for you. With two films, five OVAs, three seasons of its original run and two of the newest run, this specific....OVA? stands out like a sore thumb. And its a bad sore thumb. Like a sore thumb that someone slammed on with a hammer. Calling it an OVA is honestly a little too generous--while the majority of Slayers OVAs clock in around about an hour and a half at least, Premium can barely labor its way to the 30 minute mark. Its a single episode that can barely carry its own ... weight.

Okay, so what's the story? Well, the story is about octopus. Lina and Gourry want to eat octopus. Amelia and Zelgadis waltz in somewhere along the line because they want to eat octopus too. But the octopus is cursed and makes them speak octopus. And while our one time filler character bumbles around in the background trying to find the cure, everyone is getting cursed and also a bunch of octopus are waging war on the town. And...that's about it, really.

Now, to clear things up, I'm aware that the Slayers franchise is perchance to silly. There's a giant squishy golem in Slayers Great that looks like Lina. In Book of Spells they made an army of Naga the Serpant clones. Hell, all of the Motion Picture is put into motion because Lina wants bigger titties from a magical spring. But there's a line of believability, and boy does Premium absolutely take that line and rip it apart. This OVA is like a really bad filler episode that you would usually skip in a show--except here, its the main attraction for some reason. Did they just have some discarded episode that they wrote out and REALLY wanted to make?

The art is actually quite good. Before Slayers Revolution, this was the first time that we ever saw the main cast of the series in a more polished animation style since all other OVAs focused on Lina and Naga. It's pretty smooth with nice lines and nice colors. There's no real complaint here, I suppose--it's just a step up from what we're used to seeing and that's nice to see. Gourry's design here looks a little odd, though, since they cutified his face and make it more standard to the style. Which looks a little weird if you're used to Gourry having a longer face.

But aside from that, there's really nothing to bother with when it comes to Premium. It's a 30 minute waste of your time that really had no place existing.