Slayers

[sley]

is a series of over 50 light novels written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. It was later developed into several manga titles, four televised anime series, two three-episode original video animations (OVAs), and five movies. It also spanned three console role-playing games for the Sony PlayStation, as well as one for the Nintendo Super Famicom (known internationally as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Slayers is a Dungeons & Dragons inspired narrative that follows the adventures of the young sorceress Lina Inverse and her companions as they journey through their world. Using powerful magic and swordsmanship they battle overreaching wizards, demons seeking to destroy the world, dark lords, and the occasional hapless gang of bandits.

Characters

Setting and magic

In the universe of Slayers, the supreme being is neither good nor evil, but is called the Lord of Nightmares, who created everything, and who is said to "shine like gold on the Sea of Chaos." Later, it is revealed that the Lord of Nightmares is in fact the Sea of Chaos itself. Four pillars rise out of the Sea of Chaos, and each supports its own world. Since the Sea of Chaos comprises the Lord of Nightmares' body, the worlds likewise spring from her. In Slayers Next, the Claire Bible confides that if the worlds are destroyed and returned to chaos, the Lord of Nightmares can return to her true form (although why she created the four worlds in the first place has not been revealed, either by the novels or the author himself).

On each of these worlds are gods (shinzoku, lit. "godly race") and demons (Mazoku, lit. "evil race"), fighting without end. Should the gods win the war in a world, that world will be at peace. Should the demons win, the world will be destroyed and returned to Chaos. In Lina's world, the supreme god is the Red Dragon God "Flare Dragon" Ceiphied, and the supreme demon is the Dark Lord "Ruby-Eye" Shabranigdo. Long ago, the war ended more or less in a stalemate, when Ceiphied was able to split Shabranigdo's existence into seven pieces in order to prevent him from coming back to life, then sealing them within human souls. As the souls are reincarnated, the individual fragments would therefore be worn down until Shabranigdo himself would be destroyed. However, Ceiphied was so exhausted by this that he himself sank into the Sea of Chaos, leaving four parts of himself and his soul in the world.

A millennium before the events in Slayers, one of Ruby-Eye's fragments (which was sealed in the body of Lei Magnus, a very powerful sorcerer) revived and began the against one of the parts of Ceiphied, the Water Dragon King (Aqualord). Ultimately, the piece of Shabranigdo won, but Aqualord, using the last remnants of her power, froze and sealed him within the Kataart mountains. Nevertheless, Shabranigdo's lieutenants escaped and remained at liberty, sealing a part of the world within a magical barrier, through which only Mazoku could pass (most of the series takes place within this barrier, shown in the beginning of season three as the limits of the map shown in the first two season). These leaders and their servants are among the principal antagonists throughout the three Slayers TV seasons. They are intelligent, cunning creatures, often indulging in intrigue amongst themselves, and they feed upon negative human emotion, especially fear and pain.

To increase the amount of pain and terror they cause, the most powerful Mazoku lend their power to humans in the form of Black Magic spells that call directly on their powers. Such spells include the Gaav Flare (no longer functional after the events of Slayers Next) and Dragon Slave, and are capable of causing enormous damage and suffering to all things and beings, except the Mazoku whose power is invoked for that spell and higher-ranking Mazoku who can protect themselves.

In contrast to the destructive power of Black Magic are the healing abilities of White Magic, drawn from the caster's own life force. Striking a balance between healing and attack is the rare Divine Magic, which only the dragon servants of the Shinzoku have been shown to channel; it is suggested that the barrier erected by the generals of Shabranigdo blocked the power of Ceiphied and his fragments, and thus those people within the barrier had no access to the power to develop spells based around it. Whether people outside the barrier could channel Divine Magic is suspect, as in Slayers Try people outside the barrier are in awe at a simple light spell--confided by the author to be accessible to anyone regardless of magical potential, with rote study.

Shamanistic Magic is focused on manipulation and alteration of the natural world such as Raywing and Fireball, as well as the Astral Plane including Elmekia Lance. The greatest Astral spell is the Ra-Tilt, a spell of devastating power when used against a spiritual being, such as a Mazoku, and equal in power to the Dragon Slave (explained by Lina to Gourry in season one).

Above all other magic, however, and of its nature used purely for destruction, are spells drawing power from the Lord of Nightmares. Two spells of this class are the Ragna Blade, capable of "cutting through anything", and the Giga Slave, capable of felling any opponent, but which could destroy the world if the spell is miscast (as explained in great detail in Slayers Next).

Media

Anime

The first of the four seasons of the anime bore the franchise's title. The second season was titled Slayers NEXT, and the third season was titled Slayers TRY. A fourth season, Slayers AGAIN, was rumored following the success of TRY, but early scheduling conflicts caused interest in the project to dissipate. The series aired on TV Tokyo from April 7, 1995 through September 26, 1997, totaling 78 episodes.

It was released on VHS and DVD in North America by Software Sculptors. In May 2005, at Anime Central in Chicago, FUNimation Entertainment announced they obtained the license for the TV series, since the previous owner's license expired in Fall 2005. It currently airs as part of the FUNimation programming block on CoLours TV, and the first DVD box set was released on August 27 2007.

A fourth anime series, Slayers Revolution, premiered in Japan on July 2, 2008 and Megumi Hayashibara performed both the opening and ending theme songs. Revolution is a 13-episode series that follows an original storyline, with series director Takashi Watanabe and production studio J.C. Staff, reprising their duties from the three original TV series.

OVAs

Two OVA series followed the anime series. , also known as Slayers: The Book of Spells, is a collection of three OVA episodes fdirected by Hiroshi Watanabe and released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten and J.C. Staff in 1996.

A second three series OVA, followed in 1998. It was also directed by Watanabe and produced by J.C. Staff.

Both OVAs were licensed for English language release in North America by ADV Films.

Films

Slayers The Motion Picture (Movie, 1995) (also known as Slayers Perfect, although this is just a fan-made name)
Slayers Return (Movie, 1996)
Slayers Great (Movie, 1997)
Slayers Gorgeous (Movie, 1998)
Slayers Premium (Short movie, 2001)