Hmmm. Slayers TRY's latest outing just goes to show that you can't teach an old dog new tricks – the last volume may have made an effort to try and do some things a little differently from usual, but with this volume, were back to the usual script. Ho hum.
What They Say
The Slayers are back and this time they are in search of fame, fortune and foreign food, so Lina Inverse sets sail for the new world! Can't they all just get along? To defeat a threat from another world, Lina must gather talismans from two stubbornly squabbling kingdoms. Will a pair of star-crossed lovers help or hinder her search? And does Lina have the patience (or the guts) to play matchmaker?
Episodes Comprise
59 - A Peace Conference? This is the Dragon Shrine?
60 - Be Careful! The Plan Has Begun!
61 - Continuous Fire! The Wind-Swept Shore of Battle!
62 - Ready for Exile! Isn't Two People's Love Eternal?
63 - The Hurdle's Cleared? Jillas's Hidden Power!
64 - Selfless and Senseless! Pursuit Through the Labyrinth!
65 - An Explosive Situation! The One Who Holds the Key!
The Review!
Audio:
Audio for both the Japanese and English language tracks is presented in 2.0 stereo. I listened to the Japanese track for most of the disc – there's fairly limited use made of the soundstage. Dialogue is clear and easy to pick out, and there were no apparent dropouts or other problems.
Video:
There were two versions of Slayers released in the US – the original release by Central Park Media, and a remastered version released more recently by FUNimation. Most people would have been expecting MVM to release the remastered version, but it appears that's not the case as there are no FUNimation credits on the disc, only CPM ones. The video itself is reasonable for its age – presented in 1.33:1 full-frame aspect, it's a little on the soft side but otherwise in reasonably good condition, with little in the way of obvious nicks or scratches. However, the opening and closing credits include hardsubbed song lyrics in both English and Romaji, and the overlaid episode titles used on the original CPM release (which I have here for comparison) are also present.
Packaging:
No packaging was provided with our review copy.
Menu:
Menus are a mostly-static affair, with this volume featuring Gourry in a small image off to the left of the menu, with options for Play Feature, Episode Selection and Setup on the right, The opening theme for this season plays alongside. There are no transition animations between the various screens, making it all quick and easy to use.
Extras:
Nothing to see here, move along…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review will contain spoilers)
Lina and the others have finally arrived at the Fire Dragon Shrine, Filia's home - which is in somewhat worse shape than she left it, thanks to Lina and the small matter of a Dragon Slave and a runaway train the size of a mountain. Not exactly the circumstances that ensure a warm welcome - and sure enough, the resident dragons soon show up to air their disapproval of Filia's choice of allies. Over dinner. Valgaav, meanwhile, is voicing diapproval of his own at Almayce's decision to withdraw from their last battle - he wants his revenge, and doesn't want to wait for it. The problem is, Almayce's aims no longer align with Valgaav's own, leading him to turn his back on his new master and put into play his own plans – plans that could, naturally, destroy the world…
So. Last volume, I was quite impressed with how TRY was doing something slightly different with its setting, while still sticking to the usual elements that make Slayers, well, Slayers. It was more of the same, only different. Unfortunately, this volume is just more of the same. After introducing the outher world, with its limited exposure to magic and some interesting possibilities about how they'd handle our magic-using heroes, those possibilities are simply ignored as the series realises that it's at the mid-season point and needs a bit mid-season challenge for the gang to face. Chalk up one mark in the "negatives" column.
I'm going to add a few more there now, too. Let's start with Lina and the gang being stripped of any real control over what's been going on around them – from the moment they arrive at the Fire Dragon temple, they become pawns in a greater game between Gods and Demons, and that's not quite how I'm used to seeing them. In the normal flow of events, Lina doesn't react to events, she goes out and seizes them by the throat – but she never really gets the chance to do that here.
There's also Valgaav, who I'm finding to be one of the most annoying villains of all time. I'm not sure that I can really put my finger on why he's as annoying as he is – perhaps his unhealthy fixation on revenge is responsible, but he's hardly the first anime villain to suffer from that - but he winds me completely up the wrong way every time he appears. And with him turning out to be the main villain of the piece at the moment, that's a fairly big issue to deal with.
Fortunately, there's good stuff, too, led by the ever-amusing Filia, who brightens up every scene she appears in – doubly so if that scene also includes Xellos. There's also the two episodes set in the duelling cities of Alto and Baritone, which is some classic Slayers silliness, and the efforts of Jillas to actually win a confrontation with someone. All this falls into the comedy side of the show, which has always worked better for me than the drama, but there are parts of the main story that work quite well, too – primarily Almayce, and the way that his true intentions are slowly revealed, showing him to be really a deeper, more interesting character than Slayers villains are usually painted to be. In the end, the good pretty much balances out the bad.
As for the story progression, it's the typical Slayers formula. We start with filling in what's happening, courtesy of the "peace talks" between Almayce and the Golden Dragons, work through a few filler episodes, and then get into the build-up to the big mid-season battle as Valgaav's patience runs out and he puts his own plans for vengeance into action. Some people find predictability a good thing, and that's certainly what you get with Slayers – possibly I was in that camp when I first watched the series, about ten years ago. Nowadays, though, I'd much rather be surprised, watch a series that throws me a curveball every now and then, and sadly Slayers doesn't provide that.
In summary:
Slayers overall has strong points and failings, and this volume is the series in miniature – it has good and bad, and the two cancel each other out to provide a volume that’s simply average. For fans, it's a stepping-stone to the rest of the season, but little more than that.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Review Equipment
Toshiba 37X3030DB 37" widescreen HDTV; Sony PS3 Blu-ray player (via HDMI, upscaled to 1080p); Acoustic Solutions DS-222 5.1 speaker system.
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