Slayers Excellent
Ross •
Slayers Excellent is the 6th of ADV’s Slayer OVA releases, and consists of three half-hour episodes dealing with the time when Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent first met.
In the first episode, Labyrinth, Lina is introduced to Naga when Naga burns down the inn she was staying at, along with all her possessions, by way of challenging her (Lina) for the title of top sorceress. In a similar situation Lina and Naga are forced to repay for burning down the only tavern in a village by rescuing some people from an ancient, ruined labyrinth, coming up against ghosts, zombies and a vampire. A wry episode with plenty of laughs.
The second episode, A Frightening Future, finds Lina taking up a job as a bodyguard for a spoilt young woman every bit as arrogant, self-centred and obnoxious as Naga, and she has a laugh almost as bad. By the end of the episode it goes somewhere frankly bizarre, and is hilarious!
Lina-Chan’s Lovely Makeover Operation is the final episode where we find Lina getting mixed up in the ridiculously psychotic rivalry between two fashion designers in the town of Richard. There is a mecha-boutique involved. Great stuff.
All these episodes are packed with gags, and setting it around the time Lina and Naga first meet provides a brilliant introduction to how they (don’t) get along.
Along with the episodes and the usual ADV previews, we are treated to five minute interviews with each of Cynthia Martinez and Kelly Manison, the voice actresses for Lina and Naga respectively. They’re not that enlightening, mainly featuring the actresses discussing what it’s like ‘being’ their characters, but it’s not surprising at only five minutes and any extras are better than none.
In Summary
Slayers Excellent is genuinely funny and enjoyable throughout, and serves as a decent introduction to the Slayers OVAs set as it is at the start of Lina and Naga’s adventures. After watching this I’m highly tempted to check out all the other DVDs as this is easily good enough in both value and content to counter the more disappointing Slayers Gorgeous.
