Slayers Revolution Episode 1 Review

I am an old old Slayers fan, as anyone who has been watching anime for over a dozen years might be. The Slayers franchise is not particularly spectacular per se, but I believe for many it is a fond return to their childhood. Slayers Revolution is the continuing fourth season that was rumored well over ten years ago and Slayers fans everywhere are rejoicing.

Slayers Revolution episode 1 was something of a disappointment, to be honest. It did not quite deliver the same gut punching comedy that I loved Slayers for, and some of the changes are simply so different from what fans might be accustomed to that it’s a tad disconcerting. I still liked it, but I’m questioning whether or not it still has the same ridiculous comical soul that it used to. Despite my lukewarm feelings on Slayers Revolution episode 1, nothing in hell or earth is going to prevent me from watching the rest of the season.

The art was significantly cleaned and touched up and the spell animation seems to have gotten some work done on it. That being said the rest of the animation was not that much improved from what it was ten years ago, although I wasn’t really expecting otherwise.

So in typical Slayers manner Lina is running around robbing evildoers by sticking fireballs up there asses. She’s moved on to pirates because she’s thinned out the bandit population. Classic spells like Fireball, Flare Arrow, and Mega Brand are back as are the fishy people, apparently. Lina’s reputation still precedes her and much of it is utterly unaffected by her self propaganda.

Apparently Gourry really freaking needs a new sword. Whether or not they’ll follow the manga on that one or somehow bring back his signature Sword of Light is the question. I don’t know why they bothered showing the Sword of Light at the end of the opening. It seems to be suggesting something. You would think that with all of Lina’s skill as a sorceress she could make him a magical sword or something.

The old crew, Amelia and Zelgadis, show up in Slayers Revolution episode 1 with Amelia still touting the ideals of justice and Zelgadis still bent on looking cold and cool. Xellos will also probably be making a return (fuck yeah) though other characters like Filia and Sylphiel are not likely to join the roster. That’s kind of a pity because I was a huge Filia fan.

So some idiot named Wizer from Luvinagard tries to apprehend Lina and fails miserably with the city wiped off the map as a result. That was expected. Some little green thing casting the Dragon Slave was not. This was the next major thing I didn’t really like about Slayers Revolution. They changed the Dragon Slave animation. I always thought the animation they used in Slayers Next and Slayers Try was perfectly fine; to have the signature spell altered into some reddish ball with black lightning crackling on the outside really killed the visual impact. The previous version had oomph to it. This one felt…slow in comparison.

Slayers Revolution episode 1 has a particular grain of humor to it and it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Their mumbling about Lina’s defense was amusing, but it stops short of outright hilarity, at least for me. I hope to find Slayers Revolution funnier in the future though I think I’ll enjoy this series just because of what it represents.