Slayers


Reviewer:	Iryl
Email:		Private.
Website:	http://www.hugglebunny.com

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The Anime


Episodes:	78
Seasons:	3
Movies:		5
Specials:	The movies may also be considered specials.

Price:		Right now on Amazon, I can only find used copies.
		DVDs are a little more expensive, around $30 for a
		set.  VHS is from $1-$5 for a single tape to $12 
		for a box.  When I bought these, the VHS were $75
		for a box set (which is half a season).

Rated:		PG13

Catagories:	Comedy
		Fantasy
		Action

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Review


Synopsis:	Lina, the most powerful sorceress in existance, is
		a vain, greedy, temperamental girl.  On her adventures,
		she collects a motley crew of misfits who provide the
		viewer with endless humor and some pretty cool action
		sequences.

Age Rating:	Jokes about Lina's chest size and foul lanugage in major
		fight scenes (major fights happen at the midpoint and
		end of a season).

Adult Content:	No worse than your typical American sitcom and actually
		less offensive than most -- no sex or questionable
		sexual orientation.  Only two cases of crossdressing 
		for disguise purposes (when running from the law) and
		for purposes of humor.  Costumes on all main characters
		are decent and modest.  There are occasional hot
		spring scenes, but characters are always either wrapped
		in towels or shielded by bubbles/arms.

Magic:		Being a fantasy, yes.  There's constant witchcraft, as
		the main character is a powerful sorceress.  There are
		two kinds of magic in Slayers -- dark and light.
		Neither have inherent "good" or "evil" properties:
		dark is offensive (attack) and light is more defensive 
		(protect and heal).  The language of the Dragon
		Slave spell may offend some: "Darkness beyond twilight, 
		crimson beyond blood that flows.  Buried in the flow of time, 
		in Thy great name I pledge myself to darkness. Those who 
		oppose us shall be destroyed by the power you and I 
		possess! DRAGON SLAVE!"  I thought the "pledge myself to
		darkness" might get some people.  Anyway, I find the way
		she says it kind of poetic, and the dark lord she's getting
		her power from is part of the demon heirarchy of her world.
		Basically, if you use offensive magic, you have to get
		your power from certain demon lords.  (Although Lina derives
		her power from demon sources, even she doesn't want to 
		have to deal with the demon race.  They're pretty nasty.)
		White Magic is offensive only against demons, and has 
		healing spells for non-demons.  I'm not positive about
		where it comes from.

Overall -- What You Really Want to Know:
		Slayers is a comedy first and foremost.  The fantasy and
		the violence work to that one end.  That said, Slayers is
		one of the better animes out there.  The humor is universal,
		the art is quality, and the fantasy is fun.

		I own the Japanese subtitled version and will watch it with
		my kids when they're teenagers.  If you get the English,
		they could probably take it a little younger than that -- 
		though the boob jokes are still there, a number of them (as
		well as other jokes) are changed.  This, however, is one of
		the reasons I recommend the subtitled instead of the 
		English dub.  When jokes are changed, they just aren't 
		as funny.  Also, changing voice actors severely reduces
		the impact of joke delivery, which is at least 70% of what
		makes Slayers jokes funny.  I watched the movies in the dubbed
		and didn't laugh out loud once.  When I watch the series
		with subtitles, I laugh all of the time.  So unless you
		just don't know how to read (which would mean that you 
		probably aren't reading this), I strongly encourage you to
		watch the subtitled instead of the English voice dubs.
		Because, frankly, Slayers is worth watching mostly just
		for the humor.  And dubbing damages the humor.

		That said, I'd like to say that the characterizations are
		wonderful.  The "motley crew of misfits" develops into
		lovable characters with different dreams, interests, and
		ways of relating to each other and the world around them.
		This anime isn't just good and well-loved because it's 
		funny, though that's the first thing anyone will notice
		about it.  The characters and the plots and the fight scenes
		are all beautiful, rich, and exciting.  The more you get
		to know the characters, the more the plot makes sense.  And
		the characters are easy to love.

		This anime is more than just slapstick, boob jokes, and Lina
		blowing things up.  It's full clever humor, exciting 
		adventures, deep characters, fascinating storylines, and will
		be loved in my family, at the very least, for years down the
		line.  I can honestly say that Slayers is one of my favorite
		animes, if not my very favorite.  Yes, even Sailor Moon isn't
		quite so clever.  Even Card Captor Sakura doesn't work its
		themes and strengths quite so well and so ingeniously as Slayers
		does.  And that's why I recommend it as one of the best anime
		shows a Christian can find.



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