Led by the amnesiac armor Nama, Lina and the Slayers
finally locate the resting place of the Hellmaster’s Jar, which bears the
slumbering soul of Rezo the Red Priest.
Waiting for them are Xellos, who’s always got a secret up his sleeve;
and Zuuma the Assassin, itching for some payback against Lina. The battle for the Hellmaster’s Jar
intensifies as Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, Amelia and Pakota are drawn into a
dangerous game involving a chaotic family, powerful monsters, an enigmatic
servant and their most terrifying adversary yet. And some of those factions will stop at
nothing to get the Hellmaster’s Jar for themselves.
During last weeks premiere of Slayers Evolution R, I
noted that despite enjoying the hilarious stand alone adventures, I was
wondering if it was smart to begin the last chapter of the Slayers saga in such
a manner. After this weeks set of
episodes, I should be careful what I critique sometimes. We dove hard into the Hellmaster’s Jar quest
and the end result was some of the most intense and sometimes vicious moments
in Slayers to date. But to get there, we
had to endure some truly trying storytelling in the process.
Well, we had to say goodbye to Nama eventually. As much as I enjoyed Lina’s reunion with an
old frenemy, Nama’s amnesia bit on repeat got old the longer it went on. Sure Nama got a decent exit, getting into a
duel with Zuuma. But I get the feeling
that with Nama’s exit, we’ll never get to see Naga the Serpent back in her old
body running around with the rest of the Slayers. Wont lie, that sucks. I guess to offset, Xellos finally arrived in
Evolution R, up to his old tricks but hardly staying off the sidelines like he
did during Slayers Revolution’s finale.
In fact, the ever smiling monster played a pivotal role in the finale of
the Zuuma storyline, but we’ll get there in a second.
I was amped for the return of Zuuma, the full
return. Armed with new demon arms, he
was even more deadly than ever and got in some great action with Lina and
Gourry. Then we had the appearance to
two mysterious monsters looking to take on Amelia and Zel specifically. This also resulted in some explosive
action…but poor Amelia got placed into some rather risqué Hentai esque scenes
battling a monster who looked like the demon from Ju On (aka The Grudge in
North America). I’m glad she got some
good hits in, but three times the tentacles in three battles was rough on the
youngest member of the Slayers team.
In and around the action in Vezendi, the Slayers were
caught in the middle of a complex plot which involved a father and son at odds
with each other and the return of Ozzel the Maid. This is where Evolution R quickly became a
test of patience, while looking for key details at the same time. Raddock and Abel’s family squabbling brought
the heavy drama, especially the origin’s of Raddock’s overprotective side
towards his son. Abel, however, never
stopped being a whinny snob, never missing a chance to berate Lina and judge
her bodyguarding skills. It was all the
gang could do to crack a joke to cut through the dark clouds that were always
around Raddock and Abel whenever either were on screen, nevermind on screen
together. As for Ozzel, it’s still hard
to pin down exactly what her deal is. If
she’s supposed to protect the jar containing Rezo’s soul, why help Zuuma
briefly try to kill the people she sent to destroy it? Why did Ozzel freak out when she saw a table
full of jars? Personally, my money is on
Ozzel containing something within herself that will be essential in
resurrecting the Red Priest Rezo during next weeks finale, but we’ll have to
see.
In hindsight, I was pretty close in my assumptions about
the roles Raddock and Abel were playing in this weeks set. My biggest assumption was that Abel was the
one summoning the monsters but then I saw his father was bleeding from a wound
we never saw him receive…but we did see Zuuma get hit in the same spot during a
battle with Lina earlier. For all the
groan inducing melodrama of the father and son scenes, the revelation of
Raddock being Zuuma just before he punched a hole through his son, Abel, was
the harshest and most brutal scene in all of Slayers (might tie with Raddock
watching his dead wife slowly rot away in prison just before this). It’s a truly shocking moment. My problem though: we wont get to see any
fallout on Zuuma’s side from this turn of events. As I said earlier, Xellos came in and
literally drilled a hole through the Monsterized Assassin to take him off of
the board. One of the reasons I think
Valgaav from Slayers Try is the strongest villain of the franchise is because
Try did a deep dive into the sacrifices and hurt Valgaav endured throughout his
history, leading to the villainous role he takes on. Zuuma killing his own son is a heartbreaking
moment that warrants further exploration into how it would shape Zuuma’s
character. But now we wont get that
chance and I assume it’s because with Rezo’s potential inevitable return, the
finale wants its focus on the old big bad rather than the latest one who’s run
through a season and a half. Still
Zuuma’s demise helped redeem an otherwise frustrating trilogy of episodes big
time and I wonder if Abel’s death will have any effect on Lina and Pakota
especially, I hope it does if only to not just brush off this helluva shocking
turn of events…though Lina immediately summoned the Ragna Blade, ready to kill
Zuuma in a rage we’ve never seen from her before…yikes.
Well, the good news is: Lina and the gang finally have
the Hellmaster’s Jar. The bad news: the
quest to get there had some bloody consequences. The humor was in short supply for this set of
episodes and I hope that some of it does return in next weeks finale. After all, even at it’s grimmest, Slayers
Next still managed to keep things optimistic.
This part of Slayers Evolution R is the darkest material in Slayers
yet. Here’s hoping the grand final
shines far brighter. See you next Monday
for the series finale of Slayers Evolution R…and the conclusion of the Year of
the Slayers here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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