Slayers Special

It seems to be a guarantee that no matter where they go, trouble is never far behind for Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent.  Even if said trouble involves mirror doppelgangers, over protective mothers and Lina’s worst nightmare: an army of Naga clones, where there’s money to be made, the Slayers will be there.  Bring on the danger and bring on the adventure.

Having spent most of the last few weeks hanging out with Lina and Naga in more adventures, I think Slayers Special, released stateside as Slayers: The Book of Spells (not sure why), is further evidence there could have been a Slayers Season Zero (SLAYERS ZERO!!!) dedicated to just the two of them.  It looks fantastic, has some great jokes and makes it clear to me that not only am I not tired of Lina and Naga’s escapades…I kind of don’t miss the OG Slayers crew either (yikes that is a scary notion).  However, as I said, Slayers Special presents a good case for a TV Season and that includes the good and the bad. There’s a lot to like but one story in particular gets annoying fast and the other tales are going to depend on your tolerance for the main duo, especially Naga.
 
Slayers Special isn’t an interconnected miniseries building to some grand epic climax.  No, this is just three short stories featuring random adventures from fetch quests to dealing with mad scientists to having to bodyguard a spineless wimp who’s only fan is his deluded mother (we’ll come back to that).  These three tales include Lina and Naga facing off with a Mad Scientist who’s obsessed with turning Lina into a Chimera…only to make something far worse.  Then Lina and Naga are hired by that previously mentioned overbearing mom to help make her son into a man (no not in that way).  And finally, Lina and Naga face their toughest challenge of all when they have to fight mirror duplicates of themselves.  Basically premises for episodes that would fit right in with any normal TV Season of Slayers.
 
Naturally there’s good and bad in all three of these short stories and some are overall better than others.  Throughout it all, Lina and Naga still remain as solid and great a leading pair as you can get.  When they work together, theyre unbeatable.  When they’re using each other as a distraction in the middle of battle, theyre even better.  There’s just been something about their chemistry together that makes these OVAs and the preceeding movies we’ve watched work so well.  It does make me think now that having Naga pop up semi regularly in the TV Series would overshadow the rest of the cast.  Still, I think the Lina/Naga pairing might be my favorite in the whole franchise and I’m never not down for more of their escapades.
 
Onto the episodes themselves, they all have positives and negatives.  Personally, I like the first and last episodes best while the second hinges on one joke that overstays its welcome almost immediately.  And even with the episodes I do prefer, some aspects are going to depend on your millage for certain character traits.  In that specific regard I’m talking about Naga and 10 clones of herself laughing on repeat for almost five minutes straight while running around and destroying everything in their path.  Is the sight of ten sexy Naga’s perfection?  Hell yes.  Is hearing her laugh destroy my ear drums just as terrifying to me as it is to the villagers who run at the sight of it?  Well let’s just say Naga’s laugh is best left to the small doses category.  As for the one joke that overstays its welcome, that would be the overprotective Mother who hires Lina and Naga for no real reason since she does a creepily good job coming to her sons defense whenever someone talks smack about him.  The Mom, Josephine, isnt funny is annoying.  Her son, Jeoffry, is an overgrown twat with no skills other than his Mom can appear when he needs her and can do nothing for himself.  It’s a bad joke for a bad episode that feels the longest of the trio for no reason.
 
Episodes 1 and 3 are much better by comparison cause they have the best jokes, fun premises and some damn good animation.  Actually Episode 2 has some gorgeous darker scenes that look straight out of a dark fantasy Anime like Berserk, just with that Slayers flair.  If you can stomach Naga’s continuous cackling, you’ll enjoy seeing Lina face her greatest nightmare at multiple copies of her sexy rival, as well as the Mad Scientists slowly evolving sense of dread of what he’s unleashed on the world.  Plus the sight of an adorable Lina Inverse Chimera being ridiculed by the town she’s trying to destroy in a dream is hilarious.  Episode 3 meanwhile has a couple of fun segments with Lina and Naga kicking Werewolf ass and the reveal of what their Mirror Duplicates turn out to be, let’s just quote Xellos, “It’s best kept a secret”, cause it, like many other jokes of this period of Slayers had me dying of laughter.
 
Slayers Special has the cinematic adventures of Lina and Naga brought to OVA form and loses almost none of what made those features work.  Like any normal season of television, some episodes just don’t work but thankfully in the case of these three stories, only one mostly falls flat (saved by Lina and Naga’s chemistry and the animation, punchline for the end isnt bad either).  In short, it showcases the best and worst of what a full TV Season of Slayers can offer.  If you don’t mind the lack of Naga (or prefer it after the Chimera episode), this OVA could be a nice test as to whether or not you should tackle the main series.  Personally, I love Lina and Naga together.  Bring on more adventures AND GIVE US A SLAYERS ZERO SEASON!!!
 
7/10
 
Sadly, this just leaves one more set of stories featuring Lina and Naga to run through here at the Gundam Anime Corner…oh man I might cry.  Still, hopefully the best has been saved for last as we look at Slayers Excellent, tomorrow right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.