Slayers Gorgeous
Ross •
Slayers is firmly set in a world of swords and sorcery replete with castles, dragons and magic.
In Slayers our two heroines are the sorceresses Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent, and Slayers Gorgeous opens with the pair grabbing a snack in a pleasant little town.
Out of the blue, all the townsfolk shut up shop and hurry home in the middle of the day, leaving Lina and Naga perplexed until a godzilla-sized dragon lumbers into town. The local guards warn them to leave but they prove more than capable of defending themselves, and after seeing off the beast have to be persuaded by the guards to not finish off the strange girl who seems to be controlling the dragons.
This leads to the crux of the story – it seems the strange girl is the local princess who has taken up residence in a nearby fortress, using her skill for communicating with dragons to build an army and protest against her father, the king, for not raising her pocket money.
This situation caused some laughs but honestly, it’s not that funny for an outright comedy show and by the end of the hour a lot had happened but I just felt diverted rather than gripped. Of course, there are a number of amusing scenes, such as the dragon army and the King’s men marching to meet in battle but missing each other on the way, but it never seems to match the heights of some of the other comedy shows currently available. The visuals are great though, with all the characters well defined and a number of exciting magic battles.
The English dub version is good, with the hammy acting suiting the style of the show. There are some funny Scottish accents used for the Royal family members; immediately setting this apart from the usual standard of mid-Atlantic accents.
Extras light, the disc features trailers for other ADV releases and for the other Slayers titles available.
In Summary
For a one hour show that just about hits above average, the full asking price is very steep. Slayers Gorgeous is worth a watch, but it’s not really a good introduction to the Slayers universe. With 3 series (unavailable in the UK at present) and a number of OVAs and specials, I’d say this was one for the fans only.
