Rating: 
Summary: Give It A Rest Please
Review: * I have picked up most of the SLAYERS anime series, about
petite and hot-tempered sorceress Lina Inverse in some
long-ago-far-away land of magic. I have found most of it
moderately amusing, if not necessarily much to write home
about, and so I decided to pick up the one item that
I hadn't seen: SLAYERS BOOK OF SPELLS (SBOS).This DVD, consisting of three 25-minute episodes, recasts
the SLAYERS concept slightly, eliminating Lina's normal
gang of cronies for a new companion, Naga the Serpent,
a statuesque, overbuilt, scantily-clad female adventuress
along the lines of a Frank Franzetta or Boris Vallejo
character and possessed of a mocking laugh. A survey of this item only leads to the conclusion that
SLAYERS is an idea whose time has passed. I once observed
that the mark of a bad comic book is that even the people
who made it obviously don't think much of it (unless of
course they are operating at an "Ed Wood" level of
self-delusion), and this same principle applies to SBOS. The production values are indifferent at best and the
scripts are painful to watch, not merely because the
scriptwriters seem to have been working in their sleep
but because the humor is all but nonexistent. The
writing is about at the level of an weak Saturday-morning
cartoon, with some "jigglevision" thrown in and not
improving matters in the least. If you want a fun
swords-and-sworcery parody, try Sergio Aragones' GROO
comix instead, which if not absolutely the greatest
thing since icecream are at least usually fun. I am far from against mindless silly entertainment.
However, though SBOS does achieve the "mindless silly"
part of the equation, it doesn't come close to
reaching the "entertainment" element. I suppose
people who have "never seen an anime they didn't like"
would be able to swallow SBOS, but any anime fans who
have mixed feelings about the genre, as I do, are
certain to find SBOS on the bad side of the mix.
Rating: 
Summary: Cute, but a little odd
Review: I enjoyed this DVD, especially the last episode entitled Mirror, Mirror. If you are a Slayers fan, you might be a little put off by this series at first, and if you don't like Naga's laugh, then I warn you NOT to watch the first episode. Still it was amusing, althought I did find Jefferies Knighthood to be comical, it was kind of cliche at times.
Rating:
Summary: Cute, but a little odd
Review: I enjoyed this DVD, especially the last episode entitled Mirror, Mirror. If you are a Slayers fan, you might be a little put off by this series at first, and if you don't like Naga's laugh, then I warn you NOT to watch the first episode. Still it was amusing, althought I did find Jefferies Knighthood to be comical, it was kind of cliche at times.
Rating: 
Summary: o_0.....Great Anime.......0_o
Review: I had seen a preview for the motion picture but when I went to my local sam goody they didn't have it but then after I went to EB and they had "Slayers: Book of Spells" so I bought it and soon as I got home me and my friend watched it. It was great and very funny, I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good laugh.
Rating:
Summary: Naga.....Tone it down a bit
Review: I love this series. And I have a strange affinity for Naga....Hmmm.. I wonder what it could be. I love how Lina calls Naga the "Bondage Queen of Darkness". Also that outfit of hers....My god... The only thing I can't stand is that ridiculous laugh of hers. It drives me mad.. But still, it's a very funny anime. You really should see it if you enjoy animes, or comedy...or both
Rating:
Summary: Naga.....Tone it down a bit
Review: I love this series. And I have a strange affinity for Naga....Hmmm.. I wonder what it could be. I love how Lina calls Naga the "Bondage Queen of Darkness". Also that outfit of hers....My god... The only thing I can't stand is that ridiculous laugh of hers. It drives me mad.. But still, it's a very funny anime. You really should see it if you enjoy animes, or comedy...or both
Rating:
Summary: 5-Minute Laugh! UAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Review: Okay, I have to say as a die-hard Slayers fan I was a little disturbed when I saw this... but there are so many great inside jokes I couldn't stop laughing! The three-episode flashback series has a slightly different feel to it than Slayers, NEXT, and TRY but it comes through. Though I don't like the alternative to Lisa Ortiz for Lina's voice, it's okay. Scary Chimera Plan is hilarious and we get to see 11 Naghas laugh for 10 mins straight, so plug your ears! There are so many slap-stick jokes I could've died. Jeffrey's Knighthood was the scariest thing I've ever seen. Nothing like an overprotective mother who will smash you with a mallot from hammarspace if you so much as say a word against her "talented, handsome" boy. Mirror, Mirror was hilarious. If you've ever wanted to know what a "sniveling humanitarian" Lina or a demure, blushing Nagha, here's your chance. I garuntee you won't be sorry! Any Slayers fans, e-mail me, gangnes@attglobal.net
Rating:
Summary: All 3 Slayers Special episodes on one DVD
Review: The three Slayers Special episodes found on Book of Spells are the first of several OVA series based on Slayers, taking place before the TV series.The story is what you'd come to expect from Slayers. Lots of extremely funny slapstick humour mixed in with a somewhat serious plot. The three episodes take you on the nonsensical journeys of Lina and Naga as they seek money and food. If you've seen the Slayers TV series, you'll know just how nonsensical these journeys are. As for the DVD itself, ADV gives us a LOT to gawk at. This DVD is packed with goodies, from previews and trailers to almost 100 character and background sketches from the three episodes. The DVD quality is excellent as well. I noticed basically no artifacting during the episodes. As for languages, ADV gives us Japanese and English. The English dub is really nothing special. Cynthia Martinez doesn't hold a candle to Megumi Hayashibara. It's really a shame ADV was too cheap to hire Lisa Ortiz to do Lina in the OVA episodes. Lisa Ortiz does a truly great Lina worthy of Megumi Hayashibara herself, and ADV's cheapness created a really subpar dub. And while Kelly Manison may have mastered the laugh, she just isn't Naga like Maria Kawamura is. My opinion? Stick with the Japanese audio track. The acting is 10 times better. One thing that angered me about this DVD, however, was ADV's translations. ADV just loves to translate things their own special way. One of the major parts of Slayers is the spells. Heck, there is an entire indepth book that takes about all of Lina's spells, but ADV took it upon themselves to mess up the translations of these spells. Anyone who has seen a few episodes of the Slayers TV series will know there's no such spell as "Explosion Array," for example. Despite a few small flaws, the three whole episodes and a ton of extras make Book of Spells one to keep.
Rating:
Summary: Slayers Special
Review: These three episodes were from the novel Slayers Special, and were originally named Slayers Special 1,2,3. The plots is not related to the Slayers, Slayers Next and Slayers Try TV series (TV series were from the original Slayers novel, not the Slayers SP novel). Compared to the TV series, episodes in this disk (and the movies) are more funny, short and have less of conspiracies. You'll see their funny acts all the time in this disk, and the castings are wonderful. It show you the full potential of what Lina and Naga are capable in their day-to-day works (what a life!) If there is anything disatisfy me in these episodes, it's the length. If will certainly make you want to see more episodes like these, but this is all what have with Slayers Special (Books of Spells) now and they're short episodes - but they're good. One more thing, they share the same ED song - but this song, by Hayashibara Megumi / Lina Inverse - is exceptionally good.
Rating:
Summary: Lina and Naga are an explosive pair
Review: This DVD contains three OAV episodes from Slayers. The episodes take place before the original Slayers TV series, so Lina is a bit younger in these episodes (although it does not appear to be so). I am a huge fan of Slayers, but not so big on Naga. She has the most annoying laugh known to man and the first episode "The Scary Chimera Plan" exploits that laugh beyond it's limits. Other than that laugh, the DVD deserves five stars. The company that put out this DVD, ADV, is notorius for their awful dubs (Evangelion is a prime example). Unfortunately, ADV subjected the awesome Slayers to the reputation as well. I highly suggest the original Japanese voices (Megumi Hayashibara does the best job, and personally, she is my favorite). Overall, this DVD is highly recommended if you are a Slayers fan. If not, you will be one very soon.
| 
