Bandits tremble at the mere mention of her name. Her arrival to any village signals the
Apocalypse. That’s right, Lina Inverse,
the most feared young sorceress ever is back.
But this time she’s on the run from a crazy investigator out to arrest
Lina…for the crime of being Lina Inverse.
Though true, what has Lina done to tick off yet another large kingdom
and what does it have to do with a small furry creature who can use the Dragon
Slave? It’s the beginning of a new
adventure for Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis and Amelia…hide your treasure troves and
your pantries.
Kept ya waiting huh? Yeah it’s been a little bit since we
last saw Lina and company here on the Gundam Anime Corner (since May,
yeesh). I thought about doing this much
sooner, post Otakon. But instead ive
opted for more of a special Christmas season finale for the end of The Year of
The Slayers. And since Season 4 and
Season 5 are basically a two part combined season, you’re getting the back to
back treatment. And it kicks off right
here, right now with the beginning of Slayers Revolution.
When Slayers Try originally wrapped up in 1997, there was
a rumor that a fourth season was already planned and ready to go, Slayers
Again. However, things kind of fell
through on that and the Slayers franchise sat in cold stasis for almost a
decade until Slayers Revolution arrived in Japan. Much like Full Metal Panic: Invisible
Victory, time hasn’t dulled the spirit or sense of humor of Slayers. The second you see Lina and Gourry arrive on
the scene, ready to do their thing, the good times are in full swing once
again. And once Amelia and Zel get back
into the picture too, you definitely get the sense that this is a family get
together long overdue.
What makes the debut of Slayers Revolution so special for
me is that the English Dub includes the return of several of the original
Season 1-3 voice cast. This means,
thankfully, that Lisa Ortiz returns to the role she made famous as Lina
Inverse. And really, I don’t think
anyone else can do the role justice.
Lisa captures all the spunk, charm and insatiable rage of the most
powerful, teeny tiny but pretty sorceress in existence. Lina’s selfishness and downright evil way of
thinking things through is hilarious and she’s still the bad ass to root for
anyday. But she’s not alone. We also see the return of Eric Stuart, Crispin
Freeman and Veronica Taylor as Gourry, Zelgadis and Amelia. It’s rare you see such continuity in an Anime
that has such as substantial break in between seasons (though the wait was less
so for the US releases). Still, getting
these core four back together is the smartest move Slayers Revolution could
make from the get go.
Speaking of the get go, Slayers Revolution isn’t out to
reinvent the Slayers formula after such a long hiatus. Nope, Slayers knows what works for it and the
premiere of Revolution is meant to remind us it can still do it’s thing
well…mostly. When the action is focused
on our core four heroes (thought ill admit, the absence of demon turncoat ally
Xellos is felt for sure), the show is great.
Blowing up pirates at sea, facing a Kaiju sized Jellyfish and Lina
trying to use a Bunny Rabbit trap to catch an elusive enemy, it all fits with
the patented Slayers brand of humor and it’s still funny (especially when Lina
despairs that her precious hand made Bunny Tank gets ruined). Gourry’s dimwitdness provides plenty of
punchlines and Zel and Amelia are a fun pair to watch, whether it’s working
together or Amelia wrestling down Zel to stop him from destroying a forest to
capture an enemy (though Zel’s crazed attempts to do so are some of the episode
highlights too). This is Slayers
humor. If you’re not with these guys by
now…go back and watch the previous three seasons and get used to it.
It’s not a totally triumphant return though. While Slayers Revolution does present an
interesting premise with the tiny plushie Pakota and the mystery of where he
came from AND how he can use Lina’s signature Dragon Slave move, there’s some
new elements holding this premiere back from the greatness levels of Slayers
Next. The main problem is Inspector
Wizer. He appears in the first episode
to arrest Lina on the charge of “being Lina Inverse”. Honestly, that tracks with Slayers humor for
sure…but Wizer’s appearances and dialogue over the first three episodes consist
of the same words in different orders in sentences. He continues to blame Lina for everything
despite the truth being in his face and it becomes less and less funny as his
time on screen gets longer. Wizer is
less tolerable than Fillia at the beginning of Slayers Try and nowhere near as
loveable as Martina in all of Slayers Next.
Everytime Lina punched him, I cheered and was so happy when Wizer just
vanished after the dismal third episode (which felt like one of the less great
episode from Slayers Try), though I’m sure he’ll be back to say the same damn
thing again in a couple of episodes without a clue of what’s really going
on. Even Lupin the Third’s Zenigata had
more fun and charm than this old guy.
So yeah, most of my gripping about this premiere is
relegated to one character and one episode.
Otherwise, this week saw Slayers Revolution deliver a rather solid
opening act. The gang is back together
(mostly) and better than ever. There’s
lots of potential in Pakota and his storyline and Lina Inverse continues to
shine as one of the greatest Anime heroines of all time. I didn’t even mention that most of the
classic soundtrack is still around and Megumi Hayashibara is still singing some
of the best Anime intro’s in history (with Slayers Revolution’s intro probably
being my favorite Slayers intro so far).
If Wizer can get toned down (like a lot) and Xellos can finally show up,
Slayers might be back to the true strength we saw it can reach in Slayers
Next. So far though, the wait between
Slayers Try and Slayers Revolution has been worth it. Welcome back to the Gundam Anime Corner, Lina
Inverse.
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