Much as I've loved Slayers in the past, I found myself somewhat underwhelmed by Slayer TRY's closing act. Death and mayhem? We've got plenty of that, but somehow it all just doesn't feel quite right.
What They Say
It's the end of the world as they know it! The final spell is cast, opening a gateway to another dimension. From this world is born the Dark Star, a godlike being who takes the shape of a bitter enemy! Can Lina prevent him from destroying the world?
Episodes Comprise
73 - Savage and Unexplored! History Sealed Away!
74 - Eternal Death, Final Farewells! A Cry to the Fallen!
75 - No Time for Arguing! Head for the Showdown!
76 - The Forbidden Gateway is Open!
77 - He Who Emerges From Dark Star!
78 - Try Again! When All Returns to White!
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 Lina and Filia 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)
The search for the final Darkstar weapon has taken the gang to a remote mountain range - on the plus side, the views from the peaks are fantastic, but on the downside Lina really isn't liking the cold. They're relying on Filia's magical sense of direction to guide them, too, which perhaps isn't the most reliable guide in the world - but when the ruins of a huge temple looms into view, it seems that they're on the right track. Filia seems to know the place, though, and doesn't appear pleased to see it. The golden dragons have placed a seal around the temple - but why? After Filia breaks the seal, the gang soon find out. Erulogos and Sirius, meanwhile, are keeping an eye on their progress, though, and when it seems Lina and the others are in reach of their goal, they step in to claim it for themselves...
The golden dragons play more of a role in the earlier part of the disc than you might expect them to - having hired Lina to fulfil their prophecy for them, sitting back and letting her do her thing would have appeared to be part of the bargain, but with Lina now doing her own thing and the past misdeeds of the golden dragons coming to light - something that leaves Filia with divided loyalties that in turn have repercussions down the line. The actions of the golden dragons, both in the past and now, are painted as being of epic importance, as on both occasions death on a massive scale was involved. The story is clearly trying to get you to feel a suitable sense of horror at those events, but while the on-screen characters react in the appropriate manner, they completely failed to draw that response from me - there just wasn't enough reason give for me to feel the way the series wanted me to feel, and that broke whatever connection I had with the storyline and left me in 'passive observer' mode - things were happening on-screen, but all I could do was pick holes in them and see flaws in the ways that the characters were reacting to events, and that removed any impact that the end of the series was trying to achieve.
These 'epic' events happen in the second episode of the release, and from there it was all downhill. Darkstar's release turns out to be less threatening or impressive than it was built up to be; Filia's actions throughout the rest of the series, driven by a sense of guilt that she aqcuires during the opening episodes of the volume, play a key role in guiding how things turn out but left me scratching my head as to why she'd reached the conclusions she had. The contrived return of a character who should have been dead was another nail in the coffin of the series. Slayers NEXT made its finale something special by playing on the relationship between Lina and Gourry, and using the audience's hopes of seeing something blossom between them to really hook you into the storyline - there's none of that here, and so even when things do get hairy for the gang, you just find yourself not caring.
It's strange, as these are all thoughts that I don't remember having while watching the series the first time, back when it first got its DVD release in the US. You expect a certain amount of 'diminishing return' from a series that you've seen before, but this volume of Slayers TRY fell so far below expectations that it was a surprise in itself - especially as the other volumes in the series were decently enjoyable, and I went into the disc expecting to enjoy it as much as before. Definitely not the best feeling to end a series on, though.
In summary:
Slayers TRY's ending makes a few critical mis-steps along the way, leaving any promise in the show's premise to go to waste, in the process leaving me very disappointed at the way it all turned out and generally not caring about what happened to the characters onscreen. Being the final volume in the set does make it a sort-of essential purchase if you've already picked up the other three, but be prepared for it to not live up to expectations.
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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