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「Drifter どっちが追うか追われるか！」 (Drifter Docchi ga Ou ka Owareru ka!)
“Drifter. Who’s Chasing and Being Chased!”
Episode at a Glance:
In her search for Pokota, Lina is frustrated about not being able to find him and disregards all concerns for wild animals. After hinting at the possibility that Pokota might know a way to revert Zelgadis’ body back to normal though, Lina manages to trick him into helping her. However, Zelgadis tries some pretty brash and stupid things to capture Pokoto, which causes the princess of justice, Amelia, to abuse him for his efforts. Surprisingly though, one of his overly simplistic traps actually manages to capture Pokota, who naturally has no idea about returning his body back to normal. After stopping Zelgadis’ attempt to kill Pokota, Amelia convinces herself that the mischievous critter is on the side of justice, so the three of them go in search of mage-tanks. Before long, they run into one, unaware that Lina and Gourry are inside it, trying to lure Pokota out. After the two sides almost kill one another, Lina is furious about Amelia siding with Pokota, who runs off yet again after finding out this was just an imitation mage-tank.
Next Episode:
「Eternal 悠久に眠れし森」 (Eternal. Yuukyuu ni Nemureshi Mori)
“Eternal. Forest of Eternal Slumber”
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Impressions:
So Omni has decided to drop Slayers out of lack of interest and is considering covering Xam’d Lost Memories instead, provided that he can get his hands on episodes, so I’m filling in for this week’s episode. Whether or not I’ll be able to pick up coverage of this series from here on in is questionable though, seeing as I’m covering eight shows already, but I have been following it. Given the lack of background information on each of the characters so far, I can understand Omni’s reason for dropping this show though, as I often wonder if people would find Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia’s antics even funny if they don’t know much about their personalities. REVOLUTION isn’t hard to understand if you haven’t seen all the previous Slayers series, but I imagine it might be a bit hard to enjoy if you haven’t seen any of them.
With that said, I was first introduced to Slayers back in the mid to late 90s, so it’s very nostalgic to me and quite a riot. I have to admit, I haven’t seen all the TV sequels (i.e. Next, Try) in their entirety though (mostly due to lack of availability at the time, and lack of incentive/time to watch them since then), but I’ve seen enough of the first series plus the movies to have a good grasp on the franchise as a whole. Also, Hayashibara Megumi is still one of the seiyuus I really liked from way back when (long before I even knew the word “seiyuu”), so having her reprise her role as Lina Inverse and singing more anime songs is just a win-win combination for me.
In this particular episode, Lina’s usual uncontrollable nature in her search for Pokota led to some pretty hilarious animal abuse, but the highlight had to be Lina coaxing Zelgadis into helping her by saying Pokota might know a way to return his body back to normal. This subsequently led to a very determined, but idiotic Zelgadis, whose stupid traps actually managed to catch Pokota. In the process though, he got abused nicely by Amelia, which included a bunch of scenes I just couldn’t help but laugh out loud at. The laughs didn’t end there though, as our insensible Lina started destroying a town with their imitation mage-tank (Powered by Gourry). In short though, not a lot of meaningful plot progressed, but it was a classic display of Lina Inverse that was funny enough to make me not even care.
P.S. Don’t make Gourry think or unexpected things might happen. Also, the OP/ED single, “Plenty of grit / Revolution” recently came out. I really liked both songs after listening to them for the very first time, so needless to say, I’ve been looking forward to this single. Such is the power of Megumi’s anime songs.
Cast:
– Lina Inverse (リナ・インバース) / Hayashibara Megumi (林原 めぐみ)
– Gourry (ガウリイ) / Matsumoto Yasunori (松本 保典)
– Amelia (アメリア) / Suzuki Masami (鈴木 真仁)
– Zelgadis (ゼルガディス) / Midorikawa Hikaru (緑川 光)
– Pokota (ポコタ) / Kobayashi Yumiko (小林 由美子)
– Girl A (少女A) / Nabatame Hitomi (生天目 仁美)
– Girl B (少女B) / Itou Asuka (伊藤 あすか)
– Girl C (少女C) / Hadzuki Rie (羽月 理恵)
– Village chief (村の村長) / Matsuoka Fumio (松岡 文雄)
– Villager A (村人A) / Sugisaki Ryou (杉崎 亮)
– Villager B (村人B) / Maeno Tomoaki (前野 智昭)
– Villager C (村人C) / Suzuki Yuuto (鈴木 裕斗)
‘Zelgadiss’ lol
Looks like next ep is where story stuff starts to really develop. I mean as soon as Xellos shows himself something big is up. Some of the characters from the OP as well.
I’ve seen plenty of people getting into the new slayers series without knowing anything at all about the older ones. At least the first episodes are really easy to get into and you don’t really need any additional information. Might change with later episodes, but yes – there are quite a lot of people that “find Lina, Gourry, Zelgadiss, and Amelia’s antics funny if they don’t know much about their personalities”.
It’s probably simply a matter of having the same sense of humour or not.
Looks like in the next episode, we will see Xelloss(sore wa himitsu desu) and what I think( and hope) to be Show Spoiler ▼
, but that clown makes me doubt myself.
Telling Zel it’s a way to get his old body back is something she did before(in Next). Zel is normally smart, but he fell for it again with funny results(according to the blog). Cant wait to see this ep.
And of course I’ll say, OH SHIT, XELLOS XDXDXD!!!
I’m enjoying it and I’ve only watched the first 6 episodes of season 1 (so far).
And what’s up with neither of you blogging Natsume Yuujinchou?
@frubam:
Thanks for the info about Next. Yeah, Zelgadiss was pretty damn funny to watch this time and I’m surprised Amelia didn’t break her hand punching him in the face.
@Mark:
Mainly lack of time I’d say, and trying to be selective in what we watch and cover. To be honest, I was hoping to reduce the number of shows I cover this season, but I’ve already ended up with more.
As for Natsume Yuujin-Chou in particular, the premise sounded really reminiscent of Mokke, which I did finish watching; however, I’m not sure if my relatively small understanding of Japanese folklore is adequate enough for covering those type of shows. This, in conjunction with the reason above is why I’m not covering it (nor watching it).
Divine-san, I know you must have reason if you drop Slayers too
…oh god, I lost my point…. >__>
er, thanks for being able to blog 8 shows for us. ^^
it really nice always gets a “heads up” on the upcoming shows.
Divine & Omni wa saikooooou!
ya I wouldnt drop this anime yet, the story is just about to start. Everytime Xelloss shows up things pick up and the hidden background story begans to be revealed with the same slayers classic humor ^^.
@anonymous:
“Zelgadiss” is an accepted spelling for his name in English as well, but I’ve changed it to “Zelgadis” for consistency sake.
@AznCoffee:
You’re welcome. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying our coverage here.
@chaosdemon06:
Personally, I plan on continuing to watch this series, given how Slayers generally starts off very comedic and works towards a significant plot until it ends, but I’m just not sure if I have the time to continue blogging it.
Also, initial speculations predicted REVOLUTION to be 13 episode long, but I’m still inclined to believe it’s 26 like all the other series (much like it’s written on the English wiki page now), meaning it would be a (remaining) five month commitment.
(Another reason I suspect it will be 26 episodes is because the episode titles are going through every letter of the alphabet. i.e. Amazing, Because, Chase, Drifter, Endless, etc.)
@divine:
Was also surprised Amelia didn’t break her hand or something when hitting Zel. But guess for the comedic moment decided to ignore that possibility. Can remember a few times when Lina got herself hurt trying to smack him in the head.
Well I do hope that you can find a way to keep covering Slayers. Though with that many shows could see why it wouldn’t be possible. Do think it will end up being 26 or so episodes in total. So its a pretty big commitment though do think it would be a series good enough to be worth it. In the end things will just happen. Series is still getting watched and that’s the important thing.
Definitely with Xellos showing up the show should start picking up on the serious side. Though the comedy is always part of things to a degree. All I know is when Xellos arrives on the scene it means nothing but trouble for the main characters. Know somehow the issues with the magic tanks and that Pokota will lead to a very big problem.
Should be fun to see how things turn out.
You gotta be a Slayers fan to like Slayer REVOLUTION. It isn’t as funny if you don’t know the characters, and that the series actually gets pretty dramatic during the 2nd half. Especially when Xellos comes, he’ll probably just be annoying and creepy if you don’t know his character already.
Thanks divine for at least substituting to blog this episode ^^. Eight shows are alot…so it’s really up to you or not to continue covering this, although I really hope you do.
I find the analysis of requiring prior knowledge of Slayers to find the characters humorous as interesting…granted, I do think having an idea of their behavior and characteristics will make things funnier (e.g., Zel), but I never thought it is that vital to find the comedic scenes hilarious (even more so Slayers Special/OVA). But since what is considered “funny” is up to the individual I’ll not argue any further.
I’m pretty sure it’s going to be 26 episodes. QP&Diane’s webpage has a kept a pretty detailed log of anything Slayers-related in the last few months (including interviews with the author of the novels, Hajime Kanzaka), with indications that the 2nd part will be at least partially based on the 2nd arc of the novels involving Dynast Grauscherra and others (and I don’t think any source of information considering Slayers can be more accurate than QP&Diane). Xellos will appear next episode! Along with the trio from the OP, and hopefully some information leading to the Zenaffa Armor, and things will definitely get interesting.
@divine:
It can be for comedic effect, but physically Amelia has always been given the golden treatment by the writers so I’m not surprised at all (e.g., getting shot out of a cannon in TRY with barely any scratches)…not to mention her father…
https://randomc.net/image/Slayers/Slayers%20REVOLUTION%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
Reminds me of Sue from Grandia…
…I meant @flareknight, I apologize.
As an afterthought…there was a pretty large earthquake in the Chiba/Ibaraki area when I watched this live, so for the entirety of the episode I had to deal with banners relaying the latest earthquake information on the bottom of the screen. Good to know this wasn’t the case with the RAW and the other areas where this aired (just a small news update caption in the beginning like in the caps here).
Even if you can’t blog it, you really should watch it – it’s a good show. I’ve seen no reason why knowledge of Japanese folklore would be required to enjoy it and as Omni’s preview post said, it’s by the Baccano! staff. I often let obscure titles stop me from watching an anime but you shouldn’t miss it.
@tau-tau:
Thanks for the extra info. As for the comment about Amelia’s hand, I’m guessing flareknight realized it was for comedic effect that she didn’t get hurt, but like me, thought it would’ve been funny if she did. All in good fun. =)
@Mark:
I’ll keep that in mind, but it wasn’t the obscure title that turned me away, as titles such as “Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto” doesn’t one bit (especially when I understand it).
Gotta say one thing for this series~
its funny!! lol
if you think lina’s sister will show up then i am so sorry for you
I hope you guys continue, I’m watching this myself but I really enjoy the messages that are usually left up here. But, coinciding with the majority’s sentiment I’d completely understand if you discontinued.
WHO is the voice actress for miss lina INVERSE?!?! I LOVE HER!!!!!! oHH man when she starts screaming or ranting, i swear to yall, i can help but chuckle. its a nice show
now WHERES MY BLACK LAGOOOOOOOON!!!!!
So, as I feared, the one shown in the OP and the next ep. preview is not Lina’s sister, is it? I really wished to see her, you know, from the time I saw Lina’s reaction in Try 😀
I love the Slayers series.
It’s a shame you’re dropping this show, considering you blogged horrible crap such as Moetan, Inukami or the mean, vile and despicable Kan… uhm, whatever it was ^_^”
Slayers is nice and entertaining, and flows well even if you didn’t have a clue of the past seasons. Believe me: you’re doing a big mistake now