Slayers

Publisher
ADV
Director
Hiroshi Watanabe
Production
Bandai, Kadokawa Shoten, King Records
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
60 minutes
Year
1996

Slayers Premium

By John Huxley
12th Apr 05

What? Since when did this happen? There I was, making myself comfortable ready for another daft slapstick-heavy Slayers adventure with Lina and Naga when Slayers Premium pops up on my TV screen. Not only is there literally NO sign of Naga whatsoever (OK, she does make a brief appearance towards the end, but I wouldn’t want to spoil that...oops!), there’s also a whole bunch of characters running around I’ve never even seen before! Can someone please tell me what on earth is going on here? What exactly is Slayers?

In hindsight I realise this OVA (maybe it’s a movie, I’m not entirely sure anymore!) is based upon the original TV series whereas previous OVAs (Great, Gorgeous etc) deviated from the formula slightly and can be considered separate entities. But I hope you can understand my initial confusion!

Well, for fans of the Slayers TV series, Slayers Premium marks a return to the successful formula you all know and love. Gone is Naga, replaced with several familiar faces, all of whom make an appearance during this 30 minute OVA; Amelia, Zelgadis and Xellos and last but not least, Gourry, Lina’s partner in crime. Each gets a decent amount of screen time, enough to fit in a silly gag or two, but not nearly enough for newcomers to the TV series like myself. Whilst they’re obviously all friends and allies, their relationship beyond this goes largely unexplained, something which leaves these cameo appearances feeling disappointingly hollow. Considering the chronically short length of Slayers Premium perhaps this time would have been better spent focussing on the central characters rather than this vain attempt to appease fans of the TV series.

Still, if you are already familiar with the characters you’ll probably be able to enjoy this a whole lot more than I did. There are certainly many things to admire in Slayers Premium; the animation is attractive and the artwork is well rendered with some neatly implemented CGI, there’s a couple of decent action scenes and, perhaps most importantly, a good majority of the gags are actually laugh out loud funny. With Naga gone AWOL, the writers are free to turn their attentions towards more diverse subject matter than breast size and greed (although a few remnants still remain), leaving Slayers Premium feeling much more fresh faced than previous OVAs.

It’s telling that much of the best material should stem not from the central characters, but from Naga’s replacements - a disgruntled race of talking octopuses who aim to take revenge upon the humans for treating them as food stuffs. Their ineptitude combined with their sincerity and comically mismatched language provides some of the wittiest script writing the Slayers OVAs have had to offer thus far. Maybe the nonstop pace and short running time of the OVA spare these jokes from becoming too repetitive, but since I’ve little other experience with the TV version of Slayers that’s really just conjuncture on my part. Taken as an individual experience, Slayers Premium is one of the funnier anime comedies around.

For this reason alone I can recommend Slayers Premium as the best of the OVAs despite its short running time. You might want to try and get your hands on one of the TV series first (or run the risk of being almost as confused as myself!), but if you’re after nothing more than a quick fix Slayers Premium should do the job nicely.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English 5.1 and Japanese 5.1 audio, English subtitles, commentary, behind the scenes

Release information: UK: 2005, ADV

Notes: The cover design uses a similar format to previous OVAs so it won’t look out of place on your shelf, yet the Naga-free artwork actually does a decent job of conveying this slight change in direction for the series. There’s also a single sheet leaflet inside the box with a chapter listing and a more colourful variation of the cover artwork. Perhaps with an eye to compensating for the short running time, ADV have included a couple of substantial extras. The US actor commentary is well worth a quick run through, even if they do tend to deviate from the subject matter quite a few times. The behind the scenes featurette is, unsurprisingly, a series of interviews with the US cast and crew of Slayers Premium. A decent distraction but not entirely essential. ADV have gone on to improve the Slayers OVA releases since the almost extra-free Slayers Great/Gorgeous, something which is particularly appreciated here.

-- John Huxley 12th Apr 05

Slayers Images