First Impressions / Slayers

「Eternal 悠久に眠れし森」 (Eternal Yuukyuu ni Nemureshi Mori)
“Eternal. Forest of Eternal Slumber”

Episode at a Glance:
Still in pursuit of Pokota, Lina and the others manage to catch up to him thanks to the sudden appearance of Xellos. Subsequently, they stumble upon Pokota’s hidden home, the country of Taforashia, whose town is said to have suddenly disappeared. According to Xellos, the townspeople fell ill to the Duram epidemic, and a mage had made the town disappear along with all of its inhabitants. Traveling into a sealed room though, Pokota reveals all of the villagers asleep in a frozen state, claiming that this was done to keep them alive until a cure was found. While a cure for Duram has already been found, the villagers can only be released from their frozen state by the mage who originally casted the spell, Rezo the Red Priest. Hearing Rezo’s name, Lina and Zelgadis are reminded of how he resurrected Ruby Eye Shabranigdo using his own body and how they eventually defeated him, but Pokota claims he can’t be dead because the spell on the villagers would’ve faded if he was. Upon being questioned if he knows anything, Xellos takes his leave.

After hearing a thunderous explosion, everyone heads off to a burning palace, where they run into Ducuris, who addresses Pokota by his real name and status as a prince. Realizing who it is, Pokota accuses Ducuris of stealing his mage-tanks, just before Gioconda, a Ruvinagald dutchess, and her servant Ozel arrive. After the others conclude that Gioconda plans to sell the mage-tanks, Pokota attacks Ducuris, who comes out unscathed from a direct hit. Realizing that he has Zanaffar armor, Pokota questions what he’s doing and if he’s forsaken his country for power, but Ducuris claims that isn’t quite the case. With Ducuris’ armor slightly cracked from Pokota’s imitation Sword of Light, both sides are about to engage in an all out fight, but Xellos suddenly appears to put a stop to everything. Xellos reveals that he’s working with Ducuris this time, but refuses to kill Lina and the others as part of Gioconda’s orders.

Off in a palace somewhere, Xellos shows Ducuris a Claire Bible manuscript to help complete his Zanaffar armor, but burns it soon after. He then warns Gioconda to be careful around Lina and the others, but she says they’ll kill them if they interfere again and tells Ozel to bring Zuuma the assassin here.

 

Next Episode:
「Fall on 奇祭！珍祭？あの玉押しあげろ！」 (Fall on. Kisai! Chinsai? Ano Tama wo Oshiagero!)
“Fall on. Strange Festival! Rare Festival? Push that Ball Up!”

Impressions:
A town kept asleep waiting for a cure to an epidemic to be found and Rezo the Red Priest was responsible for preserving their lives? An unexpected turn of events I’ll admit, but what was more surprising is that fact that Rezo might still be alive, since the spell on the townspeople would’ve dispersed if he were dead (according to Pokota). Needless to say, Lina and Zelgadis weren’t thrilled about that idea. As for Pokota himself, they did reveal that he’s a prince, but haven’t explained why he’s in that form yet. Given how we now have real antagonists in the form of the duchess Gioconda and her followers, Ozel and Ducuris though, it seems like we’re moving onto the more plot-driven portion of the series. (A trend of the Slayers franchise is to start with a lot of comedy, before getting to the good stuff.) There’s evidently some history between Pokota and Ducuris too, so we’ll undoubtedly learn more about them along the way. Ducuris also wears Zanaffar armor, which is supposedly impervious to magic if it’s complete, so it’ll be interesting to see how Lina and the others deal with him. Maybe this will speed up Gourry’s quest for a new weapon, seeing as Pokota’s imitation Sword of Light was able to damage Ducuris’ incomplete armor. Finally, Xellos’ appearance is shrouded in mystery as usual. While he’s working with Gioconda right now, he hardly seems like he’s devoted to her, so I’m curious to know what he’s up to this time around.

 

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)
– Xellos (ゼロス) / Ishida Akira (石田 彰)
– Ducuris (デュクリス) / Matsuyama Takashi (松山 鷹志)
– Gioconda (ジョコンダ) / Takashima Gara (高島 雅羅)
– Ozel (オゼル) / Oomura Haruka (大村 はるか)

20 Comments

  2. Xellos kitaaa! xD

    Great set-up episode. The only reason I can find that Xellos is even slightly cooperating with Dukuris & co. is because the Zanaffa armor = Claire Bible manuscripts which has always been Xellos’ job to find and destroy (which he does this ep as well). Not to mention when it goes “berserk,” Show Spoiler ▼

    which I’m sure Xellos will find entertaining and chaotic if it does happen. lol. Zuuma will appear really soon…but not yet since next episode appears to be comedy driven again.

    Always nice to hear “Sore wa himitsu desu.” 😀

    tau-tau
    Reply

  3. Yeah, I liked the Zuuma sections of the novels so I’m looking forward to fun fight scenes and such with him. They changed the way that Xelloss’s exits look and I’m not sure if I like it as much as the old way. It is pretty and all, but the blackness of the previous method goes with his evil nature better.

    Ally
    Reply

  8. I can never understand Xellos thou, can any person describe him as good or bad? Is he just selffish that he tend to stick to the side that he feels right or just following orders? I always find it hard to describe his personality, how would one describe his character?

    Mike
    Reply

  9. @Mike

    Well, since he is a Mazoku, he is innately evil – although he has a tendency to be playful (or merely “playing along”) and avoids anything that will usually not help him or help the Mazoku/his master in the long run. That said, he is very obedient to any Mazoku that are higher in rank than him. I would say he is playfully malicious, if that makes any sense at all. In the end of the day though, he is a Mazoku, and Lina is well aware of that fact.

    tau-tau
    Reply

  13. My own guess for Xellos’ motivations is to simply cause mass havoc, first by helping subversive elements in Luvinagard amass power, and then deliberately leaking information to inspector Weiser, predicting that he would bring in Lina as an excuse to investigate nobles. And as we all know, when Lina and her friends are opposed by great power, extreme destruction ensues, something that should delight Xellos.

    (Also thought Lina was going to use the Ragna Blade …)

    Yoo
    Reply

  15. hahaa cool, xelos rules, but right now gourry its like a rock in the floor… he does nothing right now, i hope somehow they get the sword of light back… there is a say that states…. slayers exist Lina and Gourry with the sword of light exist, and viceversa xD

    Trejon
    Reply

  16. I have an impression that Xellos refused to kill Lina, because he definately will need her later on (in other case, why would he reveal himself to the team?). In my opinion, he helps Gioconda because he may need the Zanafar armor to be completed and I bet Lina would eventually need it (like the talismen she needed to cast the Giga Slave). I wonder if I’m rigth ;P

    livia
    Reply

  18. omg! OZER is REZO inversed…what about Ozer being another clone of Rezo…or the femenine version of Rezo..or his sister…or the grandmother of ZelgadiS?

    she is so quiet…maybe she will reveal herself later…the authentic baddie…anyway the posibility of Rezo still living would be an excellent chance to Zelgadis to return to his true form…and for Pokota and the other people of Taforashia…

    and there is Zanaffar too…obvious references to Slayers First. Rezo and Zanaffar will be back ^^

    narik
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *