Anime: Slayers Evolution-R

Notice: Consider this review an overall criticism of the entire franchise. Reading this one is like reading a review about all the seasons. And it’s more like a retrospective text; I talk about its overall importance in anime history and less about technicals. You have been warned.

Slayers began in mid 90’s as a slapstick comedy in a Medieval fantasy setting. It was an rpg parody of sorts, as it kept using several trademarks of the genre, ridiculed by various anachronisms and mockery through exaggeration. And yes, it worked fine for its time. The humor was very fitting to the setting and usually numerous gags would appear on the same episode. Plus, although its humor wasn’t really unique or special it was still the only one famous in this sort of setting at the time. There were others but none got this much fame or weren’t that funny to begin with. Also, The Record of Lodoss War was at its prime back then and this series felt as a parody of it, thus gaining even more support.

The anime got 3 full seasons (original, Next, Try) and numerous movies and specials in a span of less than a decade. The producers did their best to milk it as best as possible, without ever trying to offer something new. Eventually, they stopped making more and it appeared like the franchise had ended its course. Yet many fans wanted another season, as the title was originally a light novel series that wasn’t fully covered. After several years in hiatus, they eventually made a fourth season (Revolution), divided into two halves; a typical method these days. The name implied it would revolutionize the market and sell out because of the endless hoards of otakus storming the stores to get a copy of it. I mean, it was yearned for so many years by so many people, so wouldn’t they expect that?

… And yet the sales were rather low and the fandom barely cared for it. So what went wrong? The formula was definitely not at fault; it was kept in the exact same way as it was in the 90’s, its humor wasn’t watered down or altered, the voice actors were the same, the artwork was the same, EVERYTHING was as it should be. So what’s the deal?

Well… that was actually the deal. It was the exact same thing as before. Nothing went forward or backward, besides some visuals improvements. People got one of the same, when all those years of waiting made them think they would get something else. This makes little sense, so I will get into more details.

SCRIPT
First of all it’s the story. There is one; it’s not a storyless comedy (thank God) and does change its objectives every 12 episodes or so. And here is where the first brick wall popped up in the road towards Enjoyville. It is mostly fillers! Yes, it changes the objective every 12 episodes but that practically translates to 1 episode introduction of the new goal, 2 episodes of showdown at the end, and 9 episodic adventures in random areas in-between. Back in the 90’s people were far more tolerant of fillers, or stand-alones or whatever. But not anymore; now the average fan demands one of the following four three:
1) Continuous story telling
2) Gracious amounts of fan service, or
3) Deep immersion to the mood of the setting
4) All of the above in any ludicrous way we feel like it since we are ungrateful and never satisfied little bastards

And in all honesty, Slayers never had much of any of these f… three. The story is pretty simple and straight-forward, filled with random events to the most part. It never had eye-popping visuals and its erotic humor was pretty poor, and never went for bijin looks or whatever. As for the setting itself, it was a generic Medieval world, with a vague map filled with random kingdoms and ancient ruins that never had any relation to one another. Try to imagine what would happen if you pit this formula with 21st century titles, such as Full metal Alchemist Brotherhood (point 1), Queen’s Blade (point 2), or Mushishi (point 3) , or Pokemon (point 4) … just kidding.

The only saving grace the series was left with was the humor, which although it retained the same type and volume as before, it also felt outdated. Humor changes considerably as years go by; just think of all the jokes your parents are laughing with and you feel like they are not funny at all. In a similar way, the comedy of Slayers feels by today’s standards weak and repetitive. Today’s fans prefer something closer to Sayonara Zetsubo, Bakemonogatari or Gintama. Slayers’ volume and density has no chance to beat those. And let’s face it; it kept using the same gags again and again in all 4 seasons and movies and specials. That can eventually tire anyone. I mean, it’s always about Lina getting angry with her small breast, Gourry being totally ignorant, Amelia acting like a spaced-out superhero of justice, etc. Any running joke gets tiresome after awhile, and Slayers went overboard with that.

Speaking of change, the story is by far too weak, both in storytelling and actual premise. At first it looked like a great concept, as the universe of the series is actually four worlds held by pillars that were created by the Mother of Destruction, aka the Lord of Nightmares. Dragon Gods and Demons keep fighting in each one, for their dominance or destruction and there are some twists along the way. Yes, it looks mighty interesting but at the same time it happens in a totally random way and has no consistency whatsoever. I mean, in the first season they fight an arch-demon, while in the second his sub-leaders, who for some reason are harder to beat even when the heroes have acquired far more powerful spells and weapons. And as if that wasn’t enough, Revolution pretty much reuses the same story as in the first season, with only difference the addition of Lina’s never-seen-so-far sister and an irritating mascot animal. That hardly made any difference.

CAST
The characters are likable but never mature or change in any way. Lina can pretty much use her signature attack, the city-leveling Dragon Slave, every 5 minutes without any setback. A thing she does in any chance she gets, no matter how unimportant the reason may be. Yup, she overall causes more damage than the villains and that was a great joke … the first hundred times. Now it simply is tiresome. So is her small breast. Lina dear, there are many people who like them small, so get a grip. There were many chances where she could develop past those stereotypes. One case was after using her secret ultimate attack on the arch-demon that turned her hair white. A few minutes later, they turned to normal and the whole thing was scrubbed off as a joke. There was another chance in the finale of the second season, when she actually gets possessed by the Lord of Nightmares and Gourry… well, I won’t spoil it but it had me thinking the series finally got on a new track. But no, the goddamn scriptwriters decided to press the reset button and make everything appear like they never happened. And again now, her sister pops up all of a sudden and you think something will change or you will finally get to know more about her training years … and you get almost nothing. Same thing for all characters, they are there and don’t do anything character-wise. Heck, they hardly do anything story-wise and in 99% of the cases all problems are solved with a nice, cozy, warm, fluffy DRAGON SLAVE UP YOUR ASS! I like them, they are funny, but they never change and do feel rather boring by today’s gigolo-mastermind Lelouch-like standards.

PRODUCTION VALUES
Animation and sound are likable to the most part, although they never get to masterwork levels in any way. The use of colors and caricatures remains “cartoony” and that will feel cheap for most, while the backgrounds are usually typical medieval cities or ruins with occasionally some anachronisms thrown in just as an extra joke. Major battles are very well made and are full of explosions and tension-built up, although the heroes have infinite hit points and Lina can always spam spells more powerful than the arch-demons, so that makes it kinda anti-climactic. The music score is likable and Hayashibara Megumi does as usually a great job as Lina’s voice actor. They are all nice to see and hear but don’t expect any heavy work or symbolism given to any of them.

LEGACY
The historical value of the Slayers franchise is definitely high, as it was one of the most famous works of the 90’s and probably affected many following titles in its style of humor and character achetypes. At the same time, it lacks real development and depth, while none of its characters are anything special. It is simply a not-so-bold and almost-storyless comedy around an ever hungry, even frustrated, ever Dragon Slave spamming teenage girl with small breasts. It is good but it could have been far better.

SUGGESTION LIST
Mahoujin Guruguru
Dragon Half
Tower of Druaga
Ruin Explorers
Ixion Saga DT

After the somewhat disappointing first season (Revolution) I fired this up in Zoomplayer expecting just another bit of old, heated up soup... well, am I surprised: this second installment revealed itself to be actually fairly good.

Revolution had several shortcomings, first and foremost stagnancy: from an old cliche to another, it just jumped between old time Slayers gags (though quite uninspired in this case) and same old formula interactions between our good guys (well, as much as you can define Lina good...) and the bad ones. There was very little real content under the roof, and it really was enjoyable only by fans of the old series (and still only to a certain extent).
This time around, instead, while the real plot finally unfolds, we are given something more tasty, more entertaining, up to the point that I could say that there's something good enough to keep even a newcomer of the Slayers universe slightly interested, even if the show still is clearly not meant for such an audience.

All in all, the real mistake here was to plan this return into two 13 eps. seasons: a single one would have been better with the rather low amount of plot conceived for it, sparing the intended target (old fans, and as such picky bitches :P) a lot of fillers, and leaving 'em much more satisfied.


Animation

Well, being this a pure fanservice product dedicated to fans of series aired more than 10 years ago, changing the animation style to a large extent would have stirred up a little revolution. Still, while it looks old school, and for the most part it is, it's done diligently and the result is pleasant enough. The chara designs are left untouched (of course) but they look "enhanced" by that bit more of fluidity, detail and color depth. Something a bit bolder could have been done in the effects department, but again nothing really wrong in remaining faithful to the original.


Sound

Surprisingly good. While the music wasn't an issue even in Revolution (here in EV-R a special mention goes to the bgm in the last episode, too bad it wasn't at an higher volume to build up the climax as it should have done), the voice acting was. Lousy scripts, unreasonable dialogue lines, and the hardship the seiyuus must have had in taking back the same roles 10 years later all summed up into a rather forced, unnatural, uninspired acting.
Now, while the scripts got better themselves, it seems the seiyuus too had enough time to regain control on their alter-egos, something which helps a lot in making the gags actually work.


Story

Well, once again, we have a two half formula: first half fillers, second half actual plot. But this time around the fillers are working as intended and when the plot finally kicks in... well, it's nothing breathtaking of course, but it's able to keep you interested enough.

The first half's merits are quickly explained: since everything finally blends better, while still being in the same style the gags actually manage to make you laugh. From Nama's appearance which manages to make you grin (mostly 'cause you know who she really is), to certain episodes - especially the fourth - which are simply exhilarating while machine-gunning you with parodies.

The actual plot took me quite by surprise. It's still cheesy, light hearted and everything but pretentious as you could expect from Slayers (a show intended, don't forget, for 14 years old kids... well, even if now we are a decade older, sigh...), but it has some interesting quirks and morals in the mix.
The dualism in Rezo's intents, both newer ones and old ones from the old story, and the one in some of the main cast charas (especially Zel) is nicely depicted. Again, don't expect too much, it's still Slayers, but this bucket of grey tones in the annoying black&white good vs evil recipe is welcome, as welcome is how it manages to give a whole new level of depth to the main villain of the old series.
Nothing unpredictable indeed, nothing outstanding, but at least good enough to justify the plot apart from pure fanservice.


It has to be said, however, that everything is far from being without faults. Nama's cameo for istance: first and foremost, it's entertaining only for the fanbase able to recognize her (well, the whole series is meant for 'em so you can't really complain), but still it's then left there, without a much expected glorious comeback drowned in pestering evil-laughters and latex S&M outfits. Actually I even had the impression they couldn't explicitly show her - or mention her correct name - because of copyright issues. It's a guess, but being her a chara exclusively from the ovas and not the actual series, it could well be the case (while J.C. Staff produced them too, it was together with other companies, so who knows).
The same auto-referential issue applies to Zuuma: there's a reference to why he hates Lina to such an extent, and a knowing fan will be able to guess his reasons and make sense out of his actions. For everyone else, it will just seem another unexplained chara suddenly abandoned despite the climax he built up.


Character

Well, by it's structure, Slayers always relied on his charas as the main point of the whole product. And for all the aforementioned reasons, in this second season the charas work definitely better. They make you laugh, and they finally have something else to show apart from the same old gags.
Things go much more smoothly this time also for an obvious reason: apart from a couple of cameos, we are spared from even more charas threw into an already overcrowded pool, and finally the main ones have enough screen time to actually do and convey something.

Naturally, there's still little to none character development. Everything which had to develop for the main cast, did it 10 years ago. We are left with the development for Pokota (pretty classic) but, interestingly enough, with Rezo and Zel. Those two are really the most interesting characters here: Rezo is finally given some well deserved depth, and really, thanks to Watanabe for not just introducing some new dull villain straight from some D&D book. In the meantime, Zel has an interesting development in how he feels about Rezo and his own crusade to regain his human body. Zel's part is conveyed in a rather subtle way, with just some lines, and glances, representing much more. Again, it's something that doesn't express itself with some explicit, final climax, but it's "left as it is", since it's more than enough to work well enough for everyone who knows his chara from the past.


Value and Enjoyment

Well, as repeatedly emerged here, there's no doubt that this show has some real value only for the already established fanbase. Which is not a fault per se, being "as intended", but it could have done better at taking a friendlier shape to newcomers, to the point of encouraging 'em to watch the original series and movies (which would be wise regardless).
All in all, however, while the previous season was a bit of a letdown for us old fans, this one succeeds where the other one couldn't, and it's a refreshing enough experience. Still way better, in all its cheesyness and showing all its years, than most of today's mediocre clones (Druaga comes to mind...).