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The Slayers Next Collection (Episodes 27-52)

The Slayers Next Collection (Episodes 27-52)

List Price: $49.98
Your Price: $49.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Slayers - The Hilarious Series
Review: Slayers is the first anime that got my heart. It's funny all around and they have a great development in characters. IF you liked the first series, you'll love this one too. There are some episodes where it kind of skips through a little bit, which is unlike the first series, but it's kind of good since those particular episodes are aimed towards pure comedy and it doesn't really matter how they go there, or where they are heading with it. And best of all, after all that laughing in the series, you get to have the moment of tears in the end as you see your characters hit the drammatic side of the series.

I love this series and highly recommend it after you watch the first one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Honestly, the Slayers is a worthwhile series to watch.
Review: Slayers NEXT is a very well written and performed series. It's practically certain that _anyone_ that watches this will laugh. Being the second season of the slayers, I think its only surpassed by TRY. A couple people don't like TRY, but I think that Xellos and Filia alone make it a worthwhile series. So, if your looking for action, comedy, drama, romance, and a super-cute sorceress that eats ungodly ammounts of food and does good deeds (as long as it pays well), then look no farther! It doesn't get any better than this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Slayers are back!
Review: Slayers Next is the second of three Slayers series, and is the best in the eyes of most fans. It has something for nearly everyone: comedy, action, romance, mystery, suspense... the list goes on. I won't go on forever as to why I like the series or what it is about, as most of the other reviewers have also done so. I'm reviewing (for the most part) the DVDs themselves.

Audio:
-Japanese: This time around, Software Sculptors did not make any sound errors, like they did with the first Slayers boxset. The audio is in stereo and it sounds as it's supposed to. The voice acting is magnificent, with some very well known seiyuu such as Megumi Hayashibara and Hikaru Midorikawa lending their voices to main characters.
-English: Slayers has been known for being one of the few anime that actually has a tolerable dub. This holds true for Next, as the voice acting is more polished than in the first series. A lot of fans are turned away by David Moo's interpretation of Xelloss, as well as the voice given to Hellmaster Phibrizzo. In my case, I saw the dub before I saw the original, and as a result I'm used to the strange voices.

Video: The transfer quality is not as good as the remastered first boxset. On many episodes, the animation looks blurry and washed-out. Slayers is not a big-budget series to begin with, but I think Software Sculptors could have done a better job here.

Menus: The menus are simple and easy to navigate. There is no music playing in the background.

Extras: Of all the extras listed, the best feature is the video interview with a few of the dub voice actors (Lisa Ortiz, Crispin Freeman, and Veronica Taylor). It's interesting to hear their interpretations of the series and the characters that they play. The sketch gallery is nothing special, and the graphic novel page is basically an advertisment for the Medieval Mayhem manga. You can't even read the words. I don't have a DVD-ROM, so I don't know about those features.

Content: In my opinion, this is the most well-rounded series of Slayers. It has a good amount of both comedy and drama to satisfy anyone. The relationship between Lina and Gourry progresses and becomes a recurring subplot that kind of has the effect of creeping up on you as the series progresses. The ending is definitely one of the best and most memorable finales in all of anime. Here's how the series goes, plot-wise.

Episodes 1 and 2 introduce the new main characters of Martina and Xelloss. These characters are important and their roles change dramatically as the series progresses.

Episodes 3-5 involve a conspiracy in Atlas City where a deranged man is killing people for immortality research. The ending to this subplot is rather tragic, when we find out what his motive was.

Episodes 6 and 7 are "filler episodes," and they are, of course, hilarious.

Episodes 8-13 involve a plot in Saillune to assasinate Prince Phil and capture the throne. This is the only part in the series that seems to drag on. There are a couple episodes that, while still entertaining, tend to have a little too much battle action (a la Dragonball Z).

Episodes 14-17 are more filler episodes. Again, Slayers continues to see how far it can go with outrageous parodies and stunts. Episode 17 is, of course, a crossdressing episode.

Episodes 18-26 are when all the subplots of the series get woven together so that everything begins to make sense. Phibrizzo wants Lina for a certain task, and Gaav wants to destroy her so that the task isn't performed. This is, in my opinion, the best of Slayers. A few old characters from the first series even make cameos. The climax of the story is absolutely magnificent. It can make you go from sad to happy to sad again in a matter of minutes.

I cannot recommend this series enough. This boxset is a must-have for not just anime fans, but anyone who has a sense of humor and likes an epic storyline. This is entertainment that can appeal to people of all ages and cultures. You don't even need to see any of the other Slayers anime to enjoy this wonderful series.

Despite the mediocre DVD quality, I have to give Slayers Next five stars. If I could, I would give it more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's No Secret....^_^
Review: Slayers Next reunites us with favorite characters Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev, as well as justive obsessed Amelia and stoic and stony Zelgadis.
Our heroes are seeking the Claire Bible this time, a mystic artifact that holds the secrets to magic that surpasses even Lina's most powerful spell, the Dragon Slave.
They are not the only ones seeking the ancient tome. A sorceress named Martine is also seeking the sacred text, and she's got a personal score to settle with Lina.
Also on the trail is a mysterious man known as Xellos. I'd love to tell you what it is he's doing there, but I'm afraid that, to quote Xellos, "That is a secret."
Action, mayhem, swords and sorcery gone horribly awry, and a sorceress with a short fuse and an appetite that would put a restaraunt out of business. All the things that made the first season of Slayers great are here in the second.
There is a problem with the translation. In the Japanese version, there are a race of beings known as Mazoku, quite seperate from Monsters. However, in the English translation, and, unfortunately, subtitles, the term Mazoku is translated as Monster as well. It is, however, a small problem, and one that you can compensate for if you watch with the Japanese audio turned on.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The very best of the Slayers. A must-see!
Review: Slayers rules! This 26-episode DVD gift set is the pinacle of the series, and anime fans have to see this series which is pure gold! Even if you haven't seen the first season(like me), the current one is pretty easy to follow. This season also introduces Xellos, mysterious priest(mysterious ally is more like it), who comes in at different times to aid Lina and the group. Martina, an annoying rival for Lina, also shows up. She's a pain, but you can get used to her. This series is mostly episodic with a few fillers in between. It has a great blend of comedy, fantasy, action, romance, drama, and even has a muscial number or two thrown in for good measure. This is a great TV series, and fans have to see it to see the best adventures of Lina, Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Like I Said, Maybe Not Great But Good
Review: The SLAYERS anime series is a swords-and-sorcery epic, involving
hotheaded sorceress Lina Inverse, her drifty hunk swordsman colleague
Gourry, the taciturn half-golem warrior Zelgadis, and the wildly
idealistic junior sorceress Princess Amelia. They travel the
countryside, seeking adventure and loot (not to mention good
restaurants and food), and leaving a fair amount of destruction behind
them.

After having found the first season SLAYERS anime collection worth my
money and time, I decided to try the second season SLAYERS NEXT series
and see how that went.

OK, first thing to say is that, in general, what can be said about the
first season can also be said about the second season. On the
negative side, the artwork / production values are mediocre, the story
concepts not extremely imaginative, and the scripts laced with a
good dose of predictable anime hokum.

On the positive side, SLAYERS NEXT is consistently entertaining, snaps
along nicely, has amusing characters, and doesn't take itself too
seriously. It might not be brilliant and might not much impress even
an open-minded non-anime fan, but it is a conscientious piece of work
put together by sensible people that tries to give the viewers their
money's worth.

They also occasionally throw a few surprising curves at the viewer.
For example, while I groaned when they did *another* "heroes in drag"
episode in SLAYERS NEXT after doing one in SLAYERS, in the end ... ah,
you'll just have to watch it. There is also a satire on Japanese
pop-music idol culture that took me above the usual "hahaha" reaction
to the humor in the series to howling, and those who are fans of the
truly bizarre Argentine fantasist Jorge Luis Borges will find a nice
little link to one of his stories.

Since much the same sort of thing could also be said about the first
SLAYERS season, then the question is how SLAYERS NEXT compares. The
answer is that while it's basically the same business as the first
season, it demonstrates a number of improvements.

The theme music seems a bit snappier, for example, and the various
characters are developed a little more, though that's partly because
they don't have to be introduced in this series as they had in the
first. They also throw in new characters, including the sly and
devious "Xellos, the Mysterious Priest" and Martina, a scantily clad
villainous sorceress who combines extreme clumsiness with having a few
screws loose upstairs.

SLAYERS NEXT is also, I would say, paced better, though it does
become somewhat melodramatic in the final episodes. I did buy it,
and in fact some of the visuals had some pizzazz, but it was pushing
the limits of what a lightweight concoction like this might
reasonably expect to achieve.

However, overall, SLAYERS NEXT, though maybe not worth raving
about, was worth my money. I just shelled out the pennies for the
third season, SLAYERS TRY, and I'll see how that goes. I'm really
wondering what happens with Lina and Gourry -- dang, they've got me
hooked!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It Just gets better and better
Review: The Slayers are Back in Dvd It's even better, Here you get both Dub and Sub for Twice the Fun. This NEXT Set in the Slayers Sirers is GREAT. and I dare you To TRY and Find a Better Magic Suires than is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Top of the Line Swords & Sorcery
Review: The whole of the Slayers series is built to be more fun and funny than any other anime series that actually involves a plot. Slayers Next (season 2) is the fulfillment of that goal, with infinitely more character development than the original series (season 1) and a far more even storytelling keel than Slayers Try (season 3). The end of the Next storyline is powerful and beautiful without disrupting the flow of the world-building. Their silly "we need to take a break from the drama" episodes in the middle of the series are, as mentioned, fairly even-keeled and continue to flesh out the characters (unlike those in Slayers Try, which were fun and silly, but little else).

This isn't to say that the rest of the Slayers stock is bad -- it's not, they're a whole lot of fun -- it's just that Slayers Next is the best what the Slayers universe has to offer.

Of course, I'm also of the opinion that Slayers Next is the overall single best season of anime available on DVD, perfectly blending character consistency, Camus-style existentialism (which is quite intense in Slayers Try), comedy and action -- even beating out the also-fantastic but not-quite-as-satisfying Trigun. (I also enjoyed Cowboy Bebop and Love Hina; Lain defies comparisons to any type of comprehensible anime, but it's still quite respectable.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Top of the Line Swords & Sorcery
Review: The whole of the Slayers series is built to be more fun and funny than any other anime series that actually involves a plot. Slayers Next (season 2) is the fulfillment of that goal, with infinitely more character development than the original series (season 1) and a far more even storytelling keel than Slayers Try (season 3). The end of the Next storyline is powerful and beautiful without disrupting the flow of the world-building. Their silly "we need to take a break from the drama" episodes in the middle of the series are, as mentioned, fairly even-keeled and continue to flesh out the characters (unlike those in Slayers Try, which were fun and silly, but little else).

This isn't to say that the rest of the Slayers stock is bad -- it's not, they're a whole lot of fun -- it's just that Slayers Next is the best what the Slayers universe has to offer.

Of course, I'm also of the opinion that Slayers Next is the overall single best season of anime available on DVD, perfectly blending character consistency, Camus-style existentialism (which is quite intense in Slayers Try), comedy and action -- even beating out the also-fantastic but not-quite-as-satisfying Trigun. (I also enjoyed Cowboy Bebop and Love Hina; Lain defies comparisons to any type of comprehensible anime, but it's still quite respectable.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Slayers Next
Review: This is pretty good; unfortunately, since it is DVD, I haven't managed to watch much of it because I am stuck at school, when my home computer has a DVD player


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