The Slayers

The Slayers! is a world of fantasy. Where magic rules and swords are noble and monsters lurk around every bend. A world of dragons, knights, and wizards. Good vs. Evil, light vs. dark, your everyday world populated with the good, the bad, and the endentured servants!

If you're like me (God forbid) you are interested in swords, magic, and D&D. And if you are really into your characters, you always want to know what they'd be like if they were to be animated. Well here you go! The Slayers could be described as if the plans for Dungeons & Dragons were stolen right off of Gary Gygax's desk.

The Slayers! Immerses it's viewers into the life of it's main character, Lina Inverse, a master sorceress who specializes in explosive magic and thievery. In the first episode it starts off with her hurling a fireball into the center of a well-known camp of vicious bandits. Amidst all the confusion, the master swords-woman Lina sneaks in a takes the most precious items she wants. While on the road she encounters that same band of thieves who want their stuff back. Lina probably could have handled it, but Gourry, the light-hearted swordsman insists on helping a hot babe in distress. Noticing that Lina is not as developed as Gourry would have hoped, they form a haphazard relationship, wherein you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Lina would rather be solo but Gourry, bound by his chivalrous ways is obligated to escort Lina to the next town, which often times makes for very funny encounters and sociological phenomena.

The most amusing aspects of this series occurs between quests, when they're in villages and pubs. Having a cocky sorceress who can back up her talk and a mellow, good-hearted, dimwit swordsman in a party isn't exactly the best when it comes to negotiating. If Lina is in a fight with an innkeeper, Gourry offers up some stupid advice which gets Lina more pissed at Gourry, starting fights, and ultimately having them thrown out. Although there are a handful of other characters that join the party along the way, Lina and Gourry are usually the prime focus for comic relief.

The character relations in this series are also whimsical. Seeing as how Lina is basically the youngest, but the most powerful party member, the men in the group have a hard time taking orders from her.

As the series progresses and they encounter more monsters, they learn to understand one another and form soldier-like bonds. Lina and Gourry are now more than just dead weight to each other; they start looking out for each other.

While The Slayers! contains warmhearted and humanitarian love and peace among it's members, it isn't without it's kinky quirks. Multiple person baths in hot springs are popping up almost as often as battles, and we're not talking censored. Embarassing personal jokes about Lina and her cup size, which are always instigated by Gourry lead to feminine bonding and relations between female party members, and also severe beatings of the perpetrator. Crazy sexual angles are sometimes noticable whenever Gourry or Zelgodis 'accidently' stumble behind the bushes and land in the hot spring.

Ultimately, teamwork is the focus. No matter what the odds seem to be, no matter how big a monster is, they always find a way to come together and defeat all odds. But if only Gourry and Lina could find enough to eat!!

Lina Inverse: The sexy red-headed fireball slinging sorceress (girl power!) who robs from the rich and gives to herself. And really self-consious about her underdeveloped chest.

Gourry: A handsome mercenary swordsman who is as loyal as they come, and as absent-minded and clumsy as a blind kickboxer. But he's still a wonderful person.

Zelgadis: A mysterious chimera who's part human and part rock golem. He's after Lina in the first few episodes in order to recover an item that she has that can destroy the world.

Amelia: A younger sorceress-apprentice who follows Lina eventually and is taken under Lina's wing to be taught the arcane art. She also has a knack for gymnastics, but always ends up getting hurt.

Those are the main characters, others include such as Sylphiel, a cleric from the kingdom that Gourry is from. Who secretly is in love with Gourry, duh.

These people aren't without their blood-locked fueds either. Gourry is being hunted by another mercenary swordsman, Zangilus, which lets for great fight scenes.

The animation in this series is actually nice. The animators still keep the trademark large eyes, but add flair and nice colorings to the character's hair. They also have distinguishable body language that helps accentuate their fluid body motions in social situations and combat.

I haven't yet had a chance to hear the Japanese voices, but the English ones are great. Emotion-filled, they even reflect fatigue after fighting and lots of marching. Perhaps they have the voice actors duke it out and run around the recording studio?