Slayers: Dragon Slave

—by Jeremy Johnson

I'd certainly been hearing a lot about SLAYERS as the result of Anime Expo 1998 (where character designer Yoshimatsu Takahiro was a guest), so when my Editor in Chief tossed me tape, I thought "why not?" After watching the show I understand its popularity.
SLAYERS: DRAGON SLAVE is an OVA collection about two mercenary women, Lina Inverse and Naga, who travel around looking for ways to pay the bills and fill their stomachs. Lina is the smarter, less cocky one and Naga is the amply endowed one. There were two episodes on this tape; one entitled "The Scary Chimera Plan" and "Jeffrey's Knighthood." In "The Scary Chimera Plan" a crazy alchemist named Deol tries to create a strange hybrid monster from a dragon, serpent, demon, and the head of our heroine, Lina. Preferring hunger to the potential embarrassment of her face running around on the head of a giant monster, Lina declines. Of course, Deol isn't willing to take no for an answer, and that's when his cloning techniques take an unusual turn.
"Jeffrey's Knighthood" involves the pair with a mother's wish for her son to join the royal guard. Reluctantly Lina and Naga agree to encourage Jeffrey, only to find he's a total wimp and his mother is a powerful overprotective psychopath. Mix in an ogre army and a dark knight, and this mission keeps getting worse.
SLAYERS: DRAG SLAVE is straightforward fantasy comedy, and pretty good at what it does. The premises are funny, the punch-lines surprise often, and the animation is above average. I enjoyed the sight gags and the relationship between Lina and Naga. Naga comes across as incredibly annoying—I was happy to see Lina didn't lose any sleep over accidentally blasting her partner periodically (I know I wouldn't). Naga's now infamous breasts are a sight to behold. I had assumed the show was hentai from its character designs, but I was pleasantly surprised (although you may not be) this was the limit of its sexual bent.
ADV's dub was, as usual, more than palatable, though I'm curious if Naga's laugh was just as bad in the original Japanese. The rest of the voice actors were reasonably expressive and comfortable in their roles. One thing I found odd was all the characters usually pronounced Lina's full name every time they talked to her, as if she was born "Linainverse". Perhaps they're afraid she'll cast a fireball if they're less than proper. Slayers OVA music is nothing special, fading into the background as BGM should. I did like the closing song's instrumentals.
The second episode was funnier than the first, but both were entertaining. While I'm not a fan of the genre, this show made me laugh enough that I can honestly recommend it to those who like comedy teams of this sort. Now if only I could get a job as Naga's chiropractor.

Slayers
Released in America by A.D.V. Films
VSSL/002D $19.95 (dubbed)
VSSL/002S $24.95 (subtitled)
60 minutes
Available Now