Slayers Premium

Lina Inverse and her partner, Gourry Gabriev have come to the town of Acassi to sample it’s famous Octopus dishes.  Sadly, much like with any adventure, they’ve arrived at the worst time.  The townspeople are falling victim to a curse where they can only speak the language of the Octopus, and Gourry has just been cursed too.  Together with Zelgadis, Amelia and Xellos, it’s up to Lina to find a cure and stop the oncoming invasion of Octupus seeking revenge against the people of Acassi.  But they picked the wrong time.  No one disturbs Lina Inverse’s meal and lives to tell the tale.

Slayers Premium marks a major milestone for the Slayers Film Series as it’s the only entry not a prequel to the TV Series like the others.  And yet the notion that Lina is heading into chaos with her usual group of misfits doesn’t make the experience any more meaningful because Slayers Premium isnt so much a movie as it is a run of the mill episode of the TV Series and even then, it’s just an ok one at best.  It’s not long enough to be boring like the Slayers Excellent OVA but too short to be anything special.  In fact, that’s probably the best word to describe Slayers Premium, it’s a TV Special and if this was meant to relaunch interest in the franchise after Slayers Try ended in 1997 (Premium came out in 2001), well I can see why they waited a few more years to give us Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R.
 
The fact that Lina and the TV Crew are together in a big screen adventure should be a pretty big deal.  Too bad that only Lina and Gourry are given anything major to do…and even then it’s just another usual day in their lives if we’re being honest.  Yeah even the plot of Slayers Premium feels unbefitting of a theatrical feature.  There’s nothing grand about it and nothing you wouldn’t find in any random episode of any of the TV Seasons save for the absence of a core cast member or two.  Speaking of core cast members, Zelgadis, Amelia and Xellos are all here too but it really feels like they contribute nothing besides checking off a box on a list saying they need to be there.  This really could have just been another Lina and Naga story, aka a tale meant for just two main cast members, but needlessly forces in more characters than the movie knows what to do with.  Is it good to see the gang together again?  Sure.  But not like this.
 
Speaking of Naga, yes, she is actually in the movie…for maybe less than 30 seconds of total screentime.  Premium teases the Octopi requesting Naga’s services without ever mentioning her name. But not only does Naga show up too late to do anything, we never get to see her interact with Present Day Lina or any of the other Slayers cast.  It doesn’t get any more missed opportunity than this.  One of the best characters in the franchise, one we know has a pretty lengthy history with Lina and has been part of some of the best tales and features in the franchise, reduced to such a barely noticeable cameo, it’s criminal.  How crazy would it be for Lina to freak out seeing Naga again after however long it’s been since they last saw each other?  More to the point, why the hell wasn’t this just another Lina & Naga movie in the first place?  The Film Series has seen these two front and center and those movies benefited greatly from their chemistry and comedic timing.  Honestly, you wouldn’t even have to rewrite much to get Naga included, just extend the story a bit and cut out everyone else and boom, Slayers Premium could have been a decent addition to the Prequel Saga.
 
Aside from that, the rest of Slayers Premium is, as I said, kind of average.  The humor isnt terrible but it isnt great.  The villains are nothing special and nor is Ruma the Mage, the guest supporting character of the film.  There’s a lot of early 2000’s needless CG shots and sequences thrown in to make the Anime look more “modern” but it looks as out of place as you’d expect.  Actually, the rest of the animation didn’t really bother me.  This really does give off vibes of a proto launch before Seasons 4 & 5 would arrive a few years later.  Suffice to say though, a lot of other Slayers offerings look a lot better, it definitely is the weakest looking film of the bunch we’ve looked at this month alone.
 
Suffice to say, Slayers Premium is not great.  It not only wastes having the TV crew on the big screen, it also forgets what makes the other Slayers Movies such fun watches: larger stories not fit for a TV Screen, stunning animation, laugh out loud humor and, the most essential ingredient, the chemistry between Lina and Naga.  Here, Naga is barely a footnote along with other pointless additions.  The humor doesn’t hurt but didn’t make me laugh.  The animation is passable but not spectacular.  And the film is wayyyy to short to merit being called a movie at all.  If you really wanna see a Slayers Movie with Lina, Gourry, Zel, Amelia and Xellos…sadly this is all you’ve got, sorry.  You’re better off just watching the other Slayers Movies instead, at least those felt more than worthy of being called movies.
 
2/10
 
And with that, our 30^th Anniversary Celebration of Slayers comes to a close.  Hope everyone has an amazing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Actually, keep an eye out on the Gundam Anime Corner tomorrow…there might be surprise waiting for you all.  Til then, Merry Christmas from the Gundam Anime Corner.