Slayers Premium

Slayers Premium
By: Kimberly Godwin – Monday, May 31st, 2004 (04:14:02 AM)

This review was originally posted on Planet Exile.com

The setting of Slayers Premium takes place in the seaside town of Ikkusu, which has been plagued with a curse that causes any one who eats the local delicacy of octopus with the inability to speak anything but the gibberish language of “octopeese”. When the episode begins Gourry eats an Ikkusu octopus and then immediately afterwards is informed of the curse by the local white magic apprentice, Ruuma, before he falls victim to it. Lina then learns that in order to cure Gourry of the curse, she must seal away the demon that has been released from its watery prison in the town’s harbor.

Before Lina can begin her quest, Zelgadis and Amelia appear and volunteer to help her fight the demon. Unfortunately, the curse renders Zelgadis and Amelia unable to cast their magic and stresses that they must act quickly before Lina is affected by the curse as well. The group then goes with Lina to help seal away the demon and they encounter giant killer octopi under the harbor.

The dubbing of this episode was good adaptation and the transition of the octopeese language to English is rather comical with random word combinations instead of the original Japanese gibberish. Some of the DVD’s special features include a commentary by Cynthia Martinez (voice of Lina Inverse) and Crispin Freeman (voice of Zelgadis); as well as a behind the scenes interview with Crispin Freeman on the OVA.

Overall, Slayers Premium has a fairly fast paced storyline with a good action sequence featuring Gourry and the Sword of Light that is reminiscent to the Matrix’s bullet time thanks to the upgrades in animation since the original Slayers’ series, movies and OVAs. With the upgrades, the slight CG effects used for the water and magic blend quite well with the traditional animation techniques and helps Slayers Premium stand out from the originals. It’s your typical fun-filled Slayers episode with magic, silliness, action and sarcasm. Since it is only a half hour and is basically a stand-alone side story in the Slayers chronicle, it’d be a great way to introduce a new series to a newcomer to anime who is not quite ready for a deep series or a drawn out storyline. Of course, old Slayers fans will get a treat over reliving the campy humor and lovable cast of characters that made this franchise an entertaining jem.