Lina Inverse is at last back here at the Gundam Anime
Corner for the Slayers 30th Anniversary Celebration Event. It’s a long overdue reunion for sure and we’ll
be spending much of it in Lina’s pre TV Series adventures running around with
her best frenemy Naga the Serpent. But don’t
worry, I haven’t fully forgotten about Lina’s other Slayers companions: Gourry,
Zelgadis, Amelia and Xellos. We’ll be
seeing them again later this month but for todays Top 5 Wednesday, we’re revisiting
their previous adventures from my 2018-2019 reviews of the Slayers TV Series. That’s right, we’re ranking the entire TV run
with the Top 5 Seasons of Slayers.
#5-Slayers Try (Season 3) Season Three of the Slayers Saga holds a special place in
my heart as it was my first introduction to the series way back when.
That being said, as a whole, Slayers Try
attempts to shoot for greater heights than it’s first two outings and never
comes close to hitting the mark.
Attempts to change an already successful formula with some darker
storytelling don’t pan out and one of the newest key players, Filia, brings
nothing to the table besides headaches and annoyance.
Luckily, even when Slayers storytelling isnt
at its finest, the core group of heroes still knows how to kick ass and bring
the laughs through it all.
#4-The Slayers (Season 1)
The season that started it all is a seminal classic that
basically wrote the book on how to do fantasy comedy and Anime like Konosuba definitely
owe thanks to The Slayers.
The introduction
of Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis and Amelia sets the prime standard for a special group
of magical mercenaries who are in it for the food and the money (not
necessarily in that order).
Best of all,
it gives us Lina, one of the coolest (and hottest), most impulsive, fun and
overall just awesome main characters to headline an Anime.
And while it wrote the book for the Slayers
formula, future seasons would improve upon it in big ways.
#3-Slayers Revolution (Season 4)
It was a long 9 years after Slayers Try but once we saw
Lina and Gourry riding into action again, damn it’s like they never left.
Slayers Revolution brought the franchise
roaring into the new millenium with shiny new animation, improved action and
some fun new allies and villains.
Best
of all, everyone is back and I mean that in more ways than one.
Despite the near decade long hiatus, much of
the English Dubs voice cast returned to reprise their roles for Season Four
once again, including Lisa Ortiz in her best role as Lina Inverse (apologies to
Deedlit fans).
Revolution was also a
first for the franchise, marking the first (and so far only time) an overarching
story would be divided into two parts.
And speaking of which…
#2-Slayers Evolution-R (Season 5)
Slayers Revolution was a strong opener for this two part
act, rectifying all the mishaps of Slayers Try and then some.
Evolution-R took the lead and ran with it
right to the end.
All of the lingering
plot threads were tied up, the show even came full circle with some familiar
looking baddies making long awaited returns to wreck havoc on Lina and the crew.
Oh and there’s that not so subtle slipping in
of a familiar voiced suit of armor whose laugh makes Lina’s spine tingle.
It’s a shame that we haven’t gotten more Slayers
since this Fifth Season cause it feels like there’s still plenty of life left
in it.
#1-Slayers Next (Season 2)
From the moment you hear the first notes of its theme
song, you know you’re in for one helluva sequel and the second season of
Slayers is just that.
Everything is
taken up a notch with improved humor and group dynamics, a terrifying pair of
villains that haven’t really been topped, and the introduction of fan favorite
Secret Man Xellos.
Lina even gets a fun
rival with Martine and the latters attempts to one up her rival make for some
of Next’s best jokes.
Things do get pretty
serious towards the end but Slayers Next never loses sight of the indomitable
spirits of its core crew or the much needed humor they bring to end of the
world scenarios.
Like I said before,
Slayers Season One gave us the formula, Slayers Next arguably perfected it.
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