Slayers Next

Before we start I'd like to have one thing cleared and settled... I'll be reviewing this series WITHOUT comparing it to up-2-date standards. Why? I don't think that the series deserves to be mashed because of some quality flaws, that's one... and secondly... Well, there isn't a single series that could stand up to Slayers, even today. But let's go off from the beginning... NEXT is a direct successor to the first SLAYERS tv series, and a much better series at that. It gives you much less fillers, more action, funny gags and tons of enjoyment almost every episode. The story circles around an old and incredibly powerfulartefact - Claire Bible. As it contains some old-school anti-demonic magic, Lina wants to get it, no matter the cost. The whole season then focuses on finding the *book* and eliciting 'the most powerful spell evar' from it. The plot may seem cliche and quite simple, but as it is 'The Slayers' we're talking about I would not say my last word on it. And neither did the authors. Very quickly the main story goes off track to some more serious business involving the Mazoku race, kingdom of Seyluun and eventually also Sairaag which you probably remember being destroyed by Copy Rezo at the end of Slayers TV. Our fellow company, this time consisting of Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zell goes off to different places to find out, why are the monsters so interested in Lina and her magic. Occasionally we will also have some cameos of old characters and a considerable amount of new ones introduced too... Xellos, Martina, The Demonic Lord Gaav and his henchmen or Philionell, this is just a tip of an iceberg and believe me, by the end of the series the list of antagonists will grow much bigger and someone *important* will appear too. The series still is a classic Slayers successor though. It makes you cry when there is a need to, gives you chills the other time and eventually will make you die while laughing at Zelgadis being used as an anchor. The fantasy elements are omnipotent, yet they do not stand in your way like they did in the original Series. Here, everything is so cleverly designed that you won't even notice that something is actually going on behind the scenes until the scriptwriter allows you to. The same cup of tea goes for the characters. Those are simply splendid. Lina is as vicious, clever and *cute* as always. Gourry is the very same block of brainless muscles as in the original series and Zell... well, this guy gets a lot of screen time in NEXT and it's one of the best parts of the crew. The way the group manages to put him off and joke about his prejudices is simply hilarious ;]. The same can be said about the antagonists. Most of them have their own stories to tell and those stories are neat enough to explain why the given character goes this way and not the other one. The final boss is a masterpiece on it's own. Imagine an overly powerful and demonic Lina combined with unbelievable cunning skills and non-existing self-control... Yes, I know. It's short to impossible to imagine that ;]. Moreover, finally we get to see some people coupling and talking about relationships. It's something new in the series and I gotta say it fits superb. Especially since the final cluster of episodes bases on one of those relationships strongly. Overall, in terms of story and characters this series is second to none and you can look for better fantasy/rpg stories but you won't find them. It beats the first Slayers viciously and leaves no quarter to Slayers TRY! The art and music are both something completely else. Although the animation may sometimes seem a bit awkward and outdated (even for 1996 when it was released) it still fits the tone of the series perfectly and does its job without a flaw. You won't get some picturesque sceneries here though, simply because this series focuses on the people, not backgrounds. Fits me. The music is, on the other hand, flawless. I sincerely admire the person who wrote the ambient sounds and the score for the series - it fits naturally into every scene you see there, does not disturb you and makes you turn up the speakers. I especially liked the one particular OST track - "The person I want to protect the most in the world" - or so it went. It fits particularly into one single scene close to end of the series, and, well, it's unforgettable. Megumi Hayashibara did great job in voice casting Lina, as well as preparing some of the background sounds. The seiyuu work is great in the series. You won't find a single voice that does not fit the character's personality. All in all, a strong point of the series, although like I said in the intro, if I were to compare to the up-2-date series... well, the art would suffer some heavy strikes... :(. The series is enjoyable like hell. You may have seen it several times but you will always want more. The whole picture is accompanied by very good opening and ending sequences which you'll never skip. Summing it all up. Slayers NEXT is a must for all who have watched the original series and enjoyed it as well as anyone and everyone who likes good comedy multiplied with friendship and love factor with some drama elements aaaaaand a flashy finale. Perfect 9 from me and a recommendation!

I never watched the first Slayers series, and yet I was so adamant about buying the Next box set. I had seen more media of it online and therefore became more curious about this season. I am so happy I picked it up too because Slayers Next is THE best of the three seasons. Characters are more fleshed out than in the first series, animation quality went up, and the music is catchy. For fans of the fantasy genre I give you a nudge towards this. Depending on whether or not crack!comedy is your thing. If it is however than you will fall head overheels for this comedy-fantasy series. Believe me when I say a lot of moments will have you clutching your sides laughing. As far as the dubbing goes, I am partial to both Japanese and English. They both have voices that fit and don't fit characters. However that is the beauty of dvds is you can pick and choose your language preference. Aside from that Give a Reason the opening has to be the most popular anime song ever. I hear it everywhere! Also it should be noted later in the series things get slightly more serious, so that is a refreshing change of pace.

Have you ever played a RPG or Dungeons & Dragons? You know where a group of adventurers gathers in a tavern to plan an attack on a nearby bandits hideout to retrieve a stolen treasure, treasure that may perhaps be desired by many influential - not necessary - people. Or maybe to rescue the damsel in distress that was kidnapped. Or to free a small, oppressed village from the clutches of an evil monster. Or would it be perhaps slaying a dragon that terrorizes the kingdom. Yes, that would be the world of Slayers. A perfect, balanced group of adventurers, a team consisting of a mightywarrior unrivaled in swordsmanship, supported by a noble, righteous priestess to cast healing and protection spells, with a skillful rogue hiding in the shadows ready to backstab any potential troublemaker and a beautiful in both body and mind sorceress to throw a fireball or two if needed. Yes, that would be the characters, our heroes... ...but only for those who have just heard of this series without actually seeing it. Anyone who have seen the first season of Slayers would add: - our mighty warrior is indeed mighty and smart like a retarded ogre - our noble, righteous priestess is indeed noble and righteous to the extent that her "love and justice praising" speeches would make a devil vomit a rainbow - our skillful rogue is indeed skillful and is skillfully hiding in the shadows just beacuse he is afraid that someone would think he looks like some kind of chimera or a guinea pig of an incompetent alchemist - our beautiful in both body and mind sorceress is short-tempered, flat-chested, greed-possessed... I mean indeed powerful. With the basics covered lets move further. Slayers Next is a fantasy comedy. A second season of Slayers. It is better in every aspect in comparison to its predecessor. I am not only talking about a technical issues which is natural but also: story, characters and atmosphere. It is better thought out and balanced. Balance - that's the keyword here. The amount of funny moments, action, serious stuff, character development, suspense, plot twists even romance is perfectly dosed. All this happening in a beautiful medieval fantasy world. Story: The story of Slayers Next is revealed step by step as the events happen. It's not a sort of thing when you know at the start that "he is a bad guy, we have to kill him, end of story". It is well thought out, but not very complicated. There are a few lesser stories which in most cases are tied to the main plot. Sometimes our group of heroes may: lose the track / have a short break / be misleaded which - taking into consideration characteristics of our heroes with special emphasis on our sorceress - guarantees a lot fun. Don't worry there are plot twists, surprising turns of events, and epic moments. Art and animation: It is significantly better than in first season. Animations, spell casting, backgrounds, characters and locations look good. Maybe not very detailed but just enough. Everything is rather bright and colorful but not to extend to make your eyes or head hurt, of course that doesn't apply whenever the action takes place: at night, in a dungeon, dark room, under the ground, etc. It may seem a little rusty-dusty now but I think it suits the series better this way. Even if there are some very minor faults it is nothing disturbing. Music and seiyuus: Music and sounds are overall relevant to the events happening. We won't experience any sensations or eargasms but a very solid craftsmanship. In case of voice acting it's great, it really is. If someone prefers the English dub I would say it's quite good too. Japanese version is better, but generally English isn't bad. Characters: Besides our epic main four we have quite a few others most of them which we haven't seen in the first season. Some of them are friends, some are foes, some are episodic, some will live long enough to tell the tale. Although we should focus the attention on main heroes for obvious reasons, I would like to point out that secondary characters are also very intriguing. Characters are likable, original and have their own personalities. Enjoyment: Criterion which - in case of a great work - is not affected by time, while in the same time, the time being a criterion of a great work. In my opinion Slayers Next is an example of such a work. Overall: It is a well balanced fantasy comedy set in a typical RPG world with characters that are not your usual superheroes and a nice story that isn't very complicated nor simplistic. I think it even was supposed to be a parody of fantasy series like Record of Lodoss War. Give it a chance although I guess it doesn't look very appealing in the world of blu-rays and super high definitions... ...but there are some things in life that you simply like to get back to. They don't have to be perfect, they may have flaws that you are aware of, but when you get back to it you know that all of them will disappear.

Slayers Next. I had heard good reviews and I enjoyed season 1 (Slayers) so I could not wait to dive into Slayers Next and my oh my what a improvement from a pretty decent season 1. Story- Season 1 had bad pacing, season 2 paced itself so fluently and everything flowed. It's only 26 episodes just like season 1 and everything works, there's even more comedy in this season which I thought impossible but this season was hilarious. There was better battles and more of them. It was an upgrade I have nothing bad to say about it. If I have nothing bad to say youmay be wondering why I didn't rate it a 10. That's because I do not like to rate anything a 9 or 10 unless it has a WOW factor that will last on me forever and frankly only a couple anime, movies, and OVA has given me that WOW factor. It was a really good anime without any WOW factor to put it up there with the FMA Brotherhoods or the DBZ's but it did a hell of a job and came so close to convincing me but not quite there yet; still a solid story and enjoyable one. Art- You can see the improvement from season 1. The fights and spells are so much more colorful and pop out at you it's really good and once again a nice upgrade. Sound- Well this was interesting. Slayers repeated a lot of their soundtracks and Slayers Next kept the same soundtracks and added more to them so it wasn't a constant repeat of scores so that was nice. The Dub cast was phenomenal once again and I really think having most of the cast from Pokemon helped a lot. My one problem is some effects are the exact same effects from other anime I have seen. I sat there to myself thinking "wow did someone go super saiyan?" but no such luck they were just powering up. But in the end it got to me to a point where I couldn't go higher than a 8. Character- Well what can I say, the returning cast from season 1 was great along with their development. The new characters were amazing mostly the "mysterious priest" Xellos, he was bad ass. The villains though were the key to making season 2 awesome. There were two major villains and they were so ruthless and powerful that it had me on the edge of my seat. Overall there's not much to hate about Slayers Next. There was no WOW factor that stood out but it was such a fun ride to watch. The battles were amazing, the characters were funny and Slayers Next had outdone Slayers in every single category and this is such an easy binge watch show. Once your hooked you can finish it in a day or two. I literally cannot wait to watch season 3 but if you enjoyed Slayers to a point watch Slayers Next because it is that much better and I promise you will have a great time watching it...

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