Monday, January 28, 2019

Slayers Next Part 4 Episodes 14-18


With Seyruun safe and Prince Phil’s rule secure, Lina and her friends hit the road again.  There’s a powerful Dragon Lord intent on adding Lina’s powers to his own and only one thing can stop him: The Claire Bible.  Lina had a copy in her hands before but it was lost in battle.  Now The Slayers need to find another one quickly.  You’d think they’d get a break after all their hard work recently.  Well tell that to the legions of bounty hunters, monsters and various roadblocks popping up left and right.  Whether there’s money or food in their future, it’s time for Lina and friends to cut loose and enjoy some lighter fare before things get serious again.

At some point during this set of episodes I had to feel for Zelgadis, or at least agree with him.  While there were plenty of incredibly fun stand alone adventures to be had this week, at some point we needed to get to the freaking Claire Bible already and get this story moving towards its final act.  In a way, I wish we didn’t end on such a dour note of an episode (it wasn’t bad don’t get me wrong), cause Slayers was back to being all about the fun travels and wacky escapades.  Though I suppose we had to get serious again eventually, more on those mixed feelings in a bit.

This weeks set of episodes had something for everyone in the comedy department.  In the span of four episodes we got to see Lina and Amelia perform a cute Jpop number, watch Zelgadis dress up in a cute bunny costume (Zelgabunny as Lina dubbed him) AND as a girl, and witness the evolution of Lina and Maritna’s rivalry through a round of magic tennis.  Like many episodes before, the stories as a whole were hit or miss but there was always one thing to enjoy about all of them.  My pick for favorite of these four episodes goes to the Tennis Match episode.  Not only did Lina and Martina both look cute in their sports uniforms but Martina showcased again why she’s one of Lina’s best adversaries yet.  After all, Lina wasn’t going to partake in the match until Martina made that crack about her small bust.  Lina and Edward Elric should get drinks sometime, considering they both have an image inferiority complex.  For a time, Slayers was back to what made it great to begin with: excellent taste in humor and great chemistry amongst its leads.  Even Martina and Xellos seem to have found a more or less permanent spot on the team now, which is a long time coming, even if theyre not being helpful.

Thankfully, however, we got to the Claire Bible at last…sealed away in a desert dimension containing millions of monoliths guarded by an adorable old woman.  Considering the contents of the Bible counldt simply be recopied, this kind of worked as a reveal for me.  But we got a lot more.  We got some nice bonding between Lina and the Bible guardian, Auntie Aqua, along with an innocent enough declaration from Gourry: that he’d protect Lina for the rest of his life.  Annnnnd then we got to watch Lina have a nightmarish vision of screwing up a Giga Slave and killing everyone in the process.  That is going to make you breathe really hard watching The Slayers die in such terrible fashion (not Berserk levels but still).  It’s effective enough, if a little disturbing, as it highlights the stakes have never been higher.  If Lina uses the Giga Slave, she destroys all of existence and loses the ones she loves most. 

So it’s fitting that we end a week of fun with a dash of gut punch revelations with the arrival of Gaav, the Demon Dragon King.  And he looks ready to rumble.  I really hope he lives up to the hype.  There’s eight more episodes for him to do some damage and try to match Rezo for threat level.  Personally though, whatever happens, please don’t show me Lina and the gang dying again.  My mind might not be able to handle the sleepless night it will bring.  See ya next week.

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