Sureiyâzu

"Slayers" was the funniest anime series I'd ever watched...then I saw "Slayers Next". The series just kept getting better, especially with the introduction of Xellos, a character whose motives, means and intentions are always in doubt until the last minute. He makes an excellent addition to the funny, familiar team of Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis.

Anime fans who have enjoyed the first series of Slayers will not be disappointed with it's hilarious sequel! It is the best in which I give it a 10. For those who have not seen the first series, the story stands on it's own so don't worry. I highly recommend people who are new to Anime to go and pick this title up as a must see!

The Slayers: The simply HILARIOUS adventures of 4 typical fantasy (almost right out of Dungeons & Dragons) characters, but each has some frightening physical/personality "difference." Of course, this equals fun and laughter.

Lina Inverse, the main character, is a fiery red-head sorceress whose one goal in life is to run around the world destroying just about everything in her way so she can have LOTS of money, and get cool stuff.

Gourry Gabriev, her sidekick, is a blond-haired "warrior" type guy who just happens to have no intelligence at all. He means well, but he's just plain stupid.

Zelgadis, the "serious type," is a sorcerer that happens to have his body gnarled into that of a golem. His skin, hair, etc...all made of bluish-green metal and stone.

Amelia begs her own category: a dark-haired "Justice Freak" whose obsession with Heroes and Justice is...well...disturbing.

The four journey about, and nothing but the most bizarre, clever obstacles stand in their way: Being forced to act in a bad play, Lina's forced making-out with a fish, Gourry always changing the subject to the flatness of Lina's chest, or even fighting the Devil himself, the four have it rough.

For the best viewing, it's recommended to watch the show in Japanese, because the voice actors have professional training (it's like actual on-screen acting there), and thus portray their characters PERFECTLY. The English dubbing is O.K., but it's just a good idea to watch it in the original language, because it's meant to be that way.

While I enjoyed this series, I found it to be a little anti-climatic when seen after "next" and still having that series fresh in mind. In "Try", the plot is more complicated (I got totally lost at times), the filler-episodes are somewhat less good than the previous fillers, and I was very disappointed in that Lina cast the Giga-Slave after what happened last time. There was no chemistry between Lina and Gourry this time =( , but on the other hand, Amelia is starting to get hooked on someone (hehe...). Also, I totally adored the interaction between Filia and Xellos. And I loved Valgaav! He had that sad, pained air about him that just makes me want to be on his side instead...

But what's up with no Drag-queen episode? ;-) I missed that. Would have loved to see Zelgadis in drag again... ;-) The closest they got in "try" was dressing Gourry up as a mermaid to make a virgin sacrifice out of him for a dragon.

See it!

/Anna

Slayers Next is a follow-up to the popular Slayers series. It follows the loud and brass sorceress Lina Inverse and her not-so-smart but muscular sidekick Gourry on another adventure. Lina and Gourry meet back up with familiar characters, Amelia and Zelgadis, and the newly introduced Martina. Our heroes also encounter the new villains Gavv and Hellmaster, giving them new challenges to overcome - and giving Lina a chance to learn spells not yet seen in the first series. The voices are great as usual. Most of the original cast from the English version of Slayers has returned. Or if you prefer the subtitled version, you'll most likely be familiar with popular Japanese voice actress Megumi Hayashibara lending her talents to Lina Inverse once more. I highly enjoyed this series, even more so than the original or the follow-up to this one, Slayers Try. Slayers Next is a hilarious adventure with a great deal of heart.