Legend tells of an ancient treasure buried by a tribe of
Elves, one of unimaginable wealth. It
also happens to be hidden in a village under siege by an evil
organization. Their only salvation may
end up being their destruction as a young girl recruits the destructive duo of
Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent to save the day. But when a simple job spirals out of control
really fast, The Slayers find themselves in over their heads once more and even
their magic might not be enough to save the day.
One gripe I had with Slayers: The Motion Picture was that
it seemed like a movie split into two distinct halves that didn’t quite fit
together as well as they could. There’s
no such issue with Slayers Return as it features a far more focused and bound
together story that never diverges from its set path. There are pratfalls and hilarity galore but
it never feels like the movie is repeating beats or rushing to get through its
entire tale. Slayers Return is also
noticeably more lighter in tone than it’s predecessor. The sad history of Rowdy and his village and
the rather vicious villain were effective and gave that movie weight, don’t get
me wrong. But Return feels more back to basics
Slayers with a more straight forward action comedy that never draws heartache
or tears from the situation at hand.
It’s all laughs and while not all of them land, it never feels like the
movie is lacking in pure fun.
Naturally, Lina and Naga continue to be a dynamite
duo. Still the best of frenemies, the
two bounce off each other perfectly while also allowing their own selfish
personalities to shine in their own respective lights. Of course Lina would take on a job for
ulterior motives and of course Naga would try to hog spotlight where she can
with her signature horrific laugh. Their
comedic timing is still great too, proving once more Naga needed a bigger role
in the main Slayers than a sort of cameo in Slayers Evolution-R. Backing them up is a wonderfully out of his
depth adversary, Galev. This guys true
colors become more and more undone the more you get to see of him and everytime
a new layer of how incompetent he is gets revealed, it gets even funnier. He’s not a menace by any means. He’s just an idiot who happens to make more
trouble for Lina and Naga in some pretty funny ways, I loved him.
As big of an improvement as Slayers Return is over
Slayers: The Motion Picture, its not without flaws in its spell. New movie character Saleena never makes that
much of an impression despite her cute design and promise with a sword. She mainly exists as a catalyst to get Lina
and Naga’s next adventure going and could really just sit out the rest of the
movie without losing a beat. Heck Galev’s
hapless allies had more of an impact on the story. Then there’s the finale. While I said The Motion Picture kind of
rushed it's own final act, Return lets things run on a bit longer than need
be. There’s great action and well done
animated magical mayhem but there could have been some cuts as the pacing of
the movie feels right until it threatens to overstay its welcome in the last 10
or so minutes.
After years of waiting to check this movie out, Slayers
Return didn’t just meet my expectations, it surpassed them. It not only continues the winning streak of
Lina and Naga’s frenemy-ship, it also basically improves on everything from
Slayers: The Motion Picture with more humor, a lighter hearted action adventure
romp, and a villain who just keeps getting better and better the more pathetic
it’s revealed he is. Cleary, Slayers
Return took notes and delivered an adventure that stands with some of the best
in the Slayers franchise, Dragon Slaves galore and all.
8/10
The Slayers 30th Anniversary event is just
getting started. We’ve got 3 more Movies
and 2 OVAs to get through this month and we continue the new adventures with
Slayers Great, Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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