Slayers

Tape 1

Slayers has a really cute opening, revealing a heroine whose ego is matched only by her ability to eat! She will fight any evil, and help herself to any treasure at the same time. She's Lina Inverse, sorceress extraordinaire.

She attacks a bandit camp and manages to defeat the bandits and help herself to some of their loot. They follow her, however, and attack her in a forest. Gourry, a somewhat-less-than-brilliant swordsmen, intervenes and attacks the bandits, driving them off. After driving them off there is an absolutely hilarious scene involving Gourry and Lina meeting. Lina thinks Gourry is astonished by her beauty, but he ends up thinking she is a flat-chested kid. One of the best lines Lina uses in response to Gourry's dumb lines is "get a mitt and catch a clue."

Another incredibly funny scene occurs in a tavern where Gourry and Lina are eating. The amount of food they put away would make Loki proud!

Unfortunately, a dragon that the bandits were keeping breaks loose and attacks the city. Lina and Gourry need to stop the dragon, without destroying the city at the same time.

They succeed in one of the two.

Episode 2

The episode opens with two strange men viewing the scene of the town's destruction. One man is wrapped mummy-style while the other is in a long cloak. Seems the mummy-man was one of the bandits and was rather badly hurt when Lina attacked, and he wants his revenge. He also wants back the stolen loot, one piece in particular.

Lina and Gourry, meanwhile, visit a magic shop with Lina trying to sell some of the pieces she has managed to "acquire." Unfortunately an enchanted knife causes some problems with the store's owner. Their troubles aren't over, though, as they move into an inn for the night where they are attacked by a group of huge trolls and the mummy-man. Lina manages to defeat the trolls and the few survivors run away.

Later, there is a knock at the door and it is the other man who now wishes to talk to them. Should they open the door and take the chance on being attacked again?

In the next two volumes the story continues with more battles, a strange red priest, and a hideous monster from the darkest side of evil! Plus more eating binges! And a brief glimpse into the past of Lina Inverse!

Rating: I would rate this series as a 4 out of a possible 5. There is a lot of humor here with some of the best asides I have ever seen in any anime. The stories are pretty hokey, but the action is wild and quick-moving. The episodes I have seen so far have virtually no nudity in them and no gore of any kind; this is just the good old-fashioned "beat-up-the-bad-guys" type of violence.

One problem you might have, though, is finding subtitled copies of the tapes. At the places I shop dubbed copies are the rule, unfortunately. Of course, if you like dubs, then go ahead and buy them! From what I have heard the laser discs, in this case, are not necessarily preferable to the videocassettes as they contain only two episodes per disc, whereas the tapes contain three or four episodes, thus making the discs proportionally much more expensive.