The world was THIS CLOSE to the end of days. But the door to Darkstars realm was closed by
two mysterious beings and Valgaav was seemingly vanquished. Should be cause for celebration…except the
aftermath of the battle has scattered The Slayers. Spread out in a world most of them don’t
recognize, Lina, Zelgadis and Filia must reunite with Gourry, Amelia and Xellos
in order to figure out what to do next.
If Valgaav is gone, what about the other Darkstar weapons?
I know I said I wanted some random adventures in the new
land this season but I never expected to get such a mixed bag out of that
wish. One the one hand, yeah, we got
four unconnected tales with the team split up and getting into trouble while
trying to find their way back to each other.
On the other hand, as much as this was a return to basics for Slayers
Try, some quests weren’t as wacky and over the top as they could’ve been.
Splitting up the team wasn’t a bad call and the team ups
were a testament to how well everyone can play off each other after two and a
half seasons. While I still think Filia
is still annoying, she and Lina were fun to watch while Zelgadis chilled out on
the ghost ship playing a guitar…cause he’s just cool like that. Meanwhile, Gourry found himself at Amelia’s
mercy and im sure he’s somehow debating which partner can run him more ragged:
Lina by just being herself, or Amelia with her justice obsession. I was hoping Xellos would end up with Gourry
and Amelia but Lina’s right, he comes and goes as he pleases and I doubt he
could bring anything more to these episodes…though he could have tried in some
regards.
As for the adventures themselves, like I said, a mixed
bag. Lina and Zel trapped in Wonderland
went on a bit longer than it needed too and im surprised Lina didn’t just
Dragon Slave the whole place sooner than the end. That and the “pig” who turned out to be a
park patron of the popular attraction Lina and Zel were trapped in kind of overstayed
his welcome. On the upside, seeing Lina
in an Alice in Wonderland style dress was nice.
Lina really is pretty (though her apparent lack of beauty is still
always played for laughs). Then there
was Amelia’s first adventure with Gourry (each set of characters got two
episodes to play with). While ill admit,
the forbidden love between a fish girl and a human was better than the boring
Warring Kingdoms story a couple weeks back, it still lacked the same kind of
manic energy that Slayers is best known for.
Granted we still got to see Amelia and Gourry get in over their heads
battling a cool looking Water Dragon.
Still, the love story was a straight up love story without a lot of
chuckles, a little unlike Slayers really.
However, there were two rebounds in the waiting. The Ghost Ship episode was classic
Slayers. Ghosts, creepy interiors and
fog, plus the aforementioned Zel on a guitar being chill. This episode also holds a special place in my
heart as it was the first episode of Slayers I think I ever saw when I was
younger. The ending where Lina and Filia
realized they ate false maggot ridden food was icing on the cake. Then there was Amelia and Gourry teaming up
with an aged would be Super Sentai team.
Not only did this poke fun at all the usual Power Rangers like tropes
(especially dramatic posing with smoke explosions) but it also made me
wonder…could this be a vision of Amelia when she gets to this elderly age? Her obsession with the power of justice made
her easy to side with the old folks (even if they were just playing and weren’t
really heroes in the end). It’s both an
amusing and worrisome thought. Amelia
has gotten better as a character for me since Season One but id hope she’d know
when to hang up the cape and poses when she reaches old age…nah that’s wishful
thinking.
There really isn’t a whole lot more to say about this
weeks set. It was very much straight to
business with the randomness and when it came time to reunite the gang, Gourry
and Zel both remarked on how it might be time to get back to work and the main
plot. I know there wasn’t an immediate
answer to where things are going following that explosive mid point
finale. Part of me didn’t care cause I
was enjoying the journey and silly sidequests.
Part of me wanted more from them but also is curious about what the
status quo will be when the main quest resumes.
Either way, break times over for The Slayers and it’s back to saving the
world next week.
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