Well, we’ve come to it at last. Slayers Evolution R kicks off the final
chapter of the Year of the Slayers here at the Gundam Anime Corner. It’s been a wild, fun ride and my fingers are
crossed that since this is the (currently) last season of Slayers, Lina Inverse
and the gang can head out on a high note.
With that said, Slayers Evolution R offers plenty of classic Slayers fun
to kick itself off. But with another
shortened season, is it a good idea to begin things with a series of stand
alone adventures? Yes and no.
The main mission of Evolution R is simple and laid out
faster than in Slayers Revolution: find the Hellmaster’s Jar and restore
Pakota’s kingdom. The Hellmaster’s Jar
inclusion echoes Evolution R’s opening sequence of callbacks to every villain
Lina has faced so far: Rezo, Gaav, Hellmaster Phibrizzo and Valgaav. If this is the last chapter of the Slayers
saga, it’s fun to lookback on a good cast of foes and you can see on Lina’s
face how hard each of them has made her life during each encounter. I just wish the opening theme song was strong
enough to match. I don’t know why I
think it’s the weakest of the openings but the song just isn’t as good as the
one from Slayers Revolution (P.S. for more on my thoughts on the excellent
string of Slayers Theme songs, take a look this past weeks Top 5 Wednesday
right here:).
Speaking of callbacks, guess who’s joining the fun this
season? You’d have to be either not well
versed in Slayers lore or just blind like Lina if you cant see that Nama the
Living Suit of Armor is actually Lina’s old frenemy, Naga the Serpent. In the past, Naga was a character exclusive
to the Slayers Movies and OVAs, all set prior to the first season. It’s an exciting prospect to see one of
Lina’s oldest allies/pain in the ass finally getting to interact with her core
crew of friends. Nama’s intro was
great…however her character progression seems to hit a reset button with each
new episode. After the premiere, each
subsequent episode seems to follow a pattern: Nama thinks she knows where the
Hellmaster’s Jar is; location is reached; Nama cant remember or was just being
dumb; silly adventure ensues. Nama
doesn’t really grow much following her first appearance and it gets a little
gratting.
However, Nama’s frequent amnesia did land the Slayers in
some fun and wacky adventures. An
encounter a club of similar suits of armor with souls in them featured a
surprise Voice Actor appearance by none other than Star Trek: The Next
Generation’s Wil Wheaton (no kidding.
The second I saw his name in the credits I had to go back and rewatch
the episode…I thought the character he voice sounded familiar and cool). Later, Amelia got stuck inside Nama and had
to fend off a Dragon. The two learned to
work together and we got to see flashbacks to young Amelia training with her father,
Prince Phil. Also, Amelia looked kind of
cute in the Nama armor too. Lastly, we
had a trip to a fish village that was the source of every single soap opera
trope known to man. From secret lovers
to surprise offspring to shocking revelations, you’d think each new twist would
be annoying…nope. I was laughing more
and more with each sudden reveal, especially when poor Zel got roped into the
mix, his reactions were freaking priceless when the madness really hit a fever
pitch. Best yet, the Fish Village story
allowed us to revisit the Lina/Gourry relationship that hasn’t really been a
plot point since the kiss they don’t remember from Slayers Next. The prospect of Gourry settling down to raise
a family without Lina scared the mess out of our favorite bad ass sorceress,
even if she didn’t want to show it. I
loved Lina comforting Gourry when he had to say farewell to kids that weren’t
even his that he wanted to help raise.
We’ll never get a full on Lina/Gourry romance, so I cherish little
moments like these.
So yeah, we had some fun adventures in the classic
Slayers hilarity vein. But like I said
above, coming into a new season, and a short one too, was this the right
approach to kick things off? Xellos was
100% absent this opening set and we only saw a brief glimpse of a recovering
Zuuma the assassin…who’s being nursed back to health by the Red Maid Ozzel, who
knows he wants to kill Lina even though she put the Slayers on the quest to
find the Hellmaster’s Jar (weird but I have some theories on Ozzel
myself). This opening set of episodes is
great fun but it comes at a cost of any real sense of urgency to find the
seasons Magoffin and save Pakota’s kingdom from eternal slumber. Also, don’t expect a complex recap of Slayers
Revolution besides the 30 second intro bit.
The stand alones might help ease in some new viewers but if you didn’t
check out Part 1 of this 2 Part saga, you might be a bit lost on what has
happened prior to the present quest.
The premiere of Slayers Evolution R is a mixed bag but
mostly on the positive side. Nama’s
intro to the series has some promise. And
even if her amnesia bit wears thin quick, the adventures Lina and company got
into as a result were classic Slayers.
That said, things need to pick up in the main story of the quest to
restore Pakota’s home pretty quick. I
should be a little upset that we didn’t progress much on that end. But then again im reminded of Lina’s motto:
Eat, Drink and enjoy the journey. I wont
lie, even with some questionable storytelling choices, im certainly enjoying
the start of one last quest with The Slayers.
See ya next Monday for Part 1 of the epic 2 part finale of Slayers
Evolution R…man I know how to run through these reviews fast.
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