Slayers is one of the few anime series that can actually make one laugh each episode without over the top toilet humor. It rarely, if ever attempts to appeal to the sleazy part of the mind, and this simply wouldn't have been possible if not for the characters. Honestly, the characters aren't completely developed; it's their personalities that will win over viewers and I personally find it near impossible to come away disliking any of them.
The series follows a young sorceress named Lina Inverse, the bandit killer, whom is known for stealing from others and giving to herself. She doesn't follow the usual shonen hero stereotype. In fact, she considers dying for the sake of honor completely stupid and would rather look for any other option which includes spells capable of mass destruction. Plus she needs to be paid to help people no matter their situation. She later meets a dim-witted swordsman whose stupidity is simply classic, and the two take off to another town. The plot begins to take form when she learns that one of the treasures she had stolen is quite important to another party, and this begins a series of encounters where she makes new friends and new, relentless enemies.
Slayers is a barrel of fun through out its duration with Lina encountering other magic wielders and powerful enemies. The plot isn't completely straight forward since new objectives come into play to keep the characters busy. I can't stress enough how important the characters are because they're clearly the glue holding this thing together, and the stellar voice acting for the English dub has that "it" factor going for it. The dialog is witty and overall entertaining, it's definitely a highlight worth mentioning.
Unfortunately, Slayers is far from perfect as certain jokes become quite redundant and it clearly takes its time making it to the end. On top of this, there are several encounters that lead no where and after awhile any type of interest for a certain rival battle is all but gone. The animation is a mixed bag by today's standards, and even for its time it wasn't among the best either. There really isn't much for choreography during the battles, but what is present can be very good as they battle with huge, epic attacks. The character designs work into the comedy at times as well and everything is fairly good to look at. I especially like various backgrounds as some castles and dungeons differ from one another. This series also has some great music that works properly for each segment, and they give battles that extra bit of life.
Slayers is definitely an old series to check out and it's a breath of fresh air from the overly bloody type packed with pure sexual humor and overtones. The laugh out loud moments definitely overshadows the boring ones. I highly recommend it to the fantasy, magical girl, comedy, and action fan bases.
Highs: Memorable characters, great soundtrack, funny comedy, and plot twist
Lows: Decent animation, mild redundancy
