Customer Reviews

Slayers - Premium

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's break out the checklist, shall we?
People quarreling over edibles? Check!
Gratuitous use of the Dragon Slave? Check!
Wisecracks about Lina's chest and her reputation as a "Dragon Spooker"? Check and double-check!
Amelia pontificating about justice? Check!
Xellos saying "Sore wa himitsu desu"? Check!
Naga laughing annoyingly? Check!
Zelgadis being anti-social? Check!

Well, I think we've covered everything. What we've got here is a random mishmash of all the Slayers standbys, thrown together as if it were their goal to try to display them all in as short a time as possible. Sometimes it works, but other times, it comes off as forced. Lina magnanimously agreeing to forgive the loss of a dried sardine in exchange for her blowing up a restaurant is comparatively in-character. Amelia getting all teary-eyed because Zelgadis doesn't feel like walking fast just felt silly. As for Xellos, the dialogue was obviously constructed just so he could say his trademark line, because the only thing he does in the whole movie is HAND OUT INFORMATION. If that's not un-Xellos-like, I don't know what is.

Don't get me wrong - this isn't a bad watch, and rather more entertaining than some of the other OAVs. (For example, it's definitely not as annoying as the one where someone makes ten clones of Naga and lets them laugh for minutes on end.) However, if this had been my first introduction to the Slayers universe, I would have left wondering what all the fuss was about. There were some nice flourishes here and there, but on the whole, it fails to rise up to the standards of the original TV show. Watch it if you're a hardcore Slayers fan and dying to see the whole gang one more time. Watch it if you're in the mood for some silliness and swashbuckling. Just don't expect too much out of it.

I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to this one. The old tv gang meets Naga? Sweet! Unfortunately, the result instead of a full-length epic adventure incorporating everything there is to love about Slayers into one huge production we get one television episodes worth of what amounts to little more than a series of cameos. Shame, shame, shame. It's an entertaining episode, but it feels as though it's missing the 25 other episodes of a great Slayers season. It's nuthin' but a freakin' teaser! A bad way to end an all-time great anime series. I was going to give this DVD 2 stars before I decided to watch it again with commentary by the legendary Crispin Freeman and the delightful Cynthia Martinez. Their commentary was so hilarious (more entertaining than the actual feature, in fact) that I had to bump up the rating a star for the inclusion of such a great special feature. Between voicing Lina Inverse and Puni Puni Poemy, Cynthia Martinez has become a truly great voice actress. Unfortunately, this is her last turn as Lina for now. This DVD is only for the Slayers completist as it features very little of what made it such an enjoyable series to begin with. If you are unfamiliar with Slayers, go get a season of the tv series or one of the OVA's (Slayers Great, Excellent, or the Motion Picture are highly recommended) first.

I had very mixed feelings about the DVD. While the mini-movie was cute and clever, and it was good to see the TV gang back together, it was also far too short in my opinion. Just as we really start to enjoy the story and the characters, it's winding down. The VA work is great, I didn't even mind the fact that some of the voices changed from the series (Although I think I would have if Crispin Freeman had not done Zel, and if they had not used Cynthia Martinez from the OVA's as Lina..I liked her as much as Lisa Ortiez) But because of its length, and the speed the story had to take, normally I would have given it only 3 stars.

However, both the interview with Crispin Freeman and the Actors commentary saved the DVD for me. Mr. Freeman is a fantastic interview subject, and his insight on the series and on Zel's character was thoughtful, interesting, and terribly funny. Also, his commentary with Miss Martinez was hilarious, I dare say even funnier than the movie itself, and had me laughing so hard I was tearing up.

These factors elevate it to four stars.

-Lina being made fun off.
-Gourry and Lina fighting over food.
-Xellose speaking his trade mark line.
-Great use of the Dragon Slave.

It is all there and combiles to be a great thirty minute feature, but that is just the problem, it being so short.
This is a problem, this movie is supposed to tie up and be the ending of a great series, but all it does is just set up for what could be another great season of Slayers.
Don't get me wrong, the movie still has some of those scenes where you cant help but burst out laughing, but there is just so many down sides along with the movie:
-Zelgodis is the only original voice, everyone else is different.
They at least got the actress from the Naga/Lina movies to play Lina, but what the heck is with Xellose, they destroied him.
The main thing that saved this movie was the comentary with Lisa Ortis and Crispen Freeman. Those two had me laughing so histarickly that I couldn't breathe.
All and all this movie is fun to watch if your a Slayers fan and just want to see the gang togher agin, but if you really want to see true Slayer action, get the three seasons, now that is stuff that goes above and beyond a five out of five.

I was really disappointed with Premium: I loved the three seasons, and bought this DVD because it featured the orginal characters. However, most of the English voice actors were not the same. The stylistic change in the art wasn't that big a deal, good or bad for me. The additional interview with the original voice of Zel, Crispin Freeman, was actually more entertaining than the feature itself.

First, a summery of the plot: In a story that I belive takes place between Slayers NEXT and Slayers TRY, Lina and Gourry stop by a seaside village where they soon discover there's a curse; anyone who eats octopus becomes cursed to speak nothing but the mystical octopi language. (Giberish, basically.) They don't find this out until after Gourry has eaten it and become cursed. Zelgadis and Amelia stop by and soon they too fall under the curse. So Lina and her friends must go to the octopi's undersea lair to defeat the evil octopi and save the town. Xelloss also stops by to check up on them.

This was a lot of fun to watch, with all the Slayers humor intact. The giberish is really funny to hear and there is even some C.G.I. as well. Because of the presence of Gourry, Zelgadis, Amelia and Xelloss, (and the absence of Nahga,) this feels more like a Slayers T.V. episode than an O.A.V. The extras are fantasic. We have an interview with Cripen Freeman (voice of Zelgadis) and commentary with Crispen and Cynthia Martinez (the ADV voice-actor for Lina Inverse).

O.K., now for some minor complaints. What keeps this from getting five stars is, first and foremost, most of the returning characters have new voice actors in the English version. I've gotten used to Ms. Martinez as Lina by now and I kind of figured she'd be doing the character here again, and thankfully they were able to get Mr. Freeman to return as Zelgadis, but as for the rest of the cast, you wonder why they couldn't get Eric Stuart, Veronica Taylor and David Moo to return as Gourry, Amelia, and Xelloss. I mean, ADV was able to get the origonal voice actors to return for the YOU'RE UNDER ARREST mini-specials and the movie, why not here? Well, O.K., Chris Patton and Luci Christian actually did pretty good jobs sounding like the earlier (English versions) of Gourry and Amelia, but as for Kurt Stoll as Xelloss, well...Let's just say it's pretty obvious he's not David Moo.

A few other complaints: This video is too short. Only half an hour long. One half hour episode seems a little too brief for a whole D.V.D., though thankfully the extras help make up for it. Also, as some of you may have heard or suspected, Nahga does indeed appear in this show, however she only makes two brief cameos at the end, and she never actually interacts with any of Lina's friends from the T.V. series. So anyone who's been waiting to see how she'd interact with Gourry and the others (and perhaps find out for certain if the rumor about Nahga being Amelia's older sister is really true or not,) will be really disapointed. Finally, there's a few plot holes. One is that the characters can't cast spells when they can speak only giberish. However, at one point we see Gourry using his Sword Of Light. As veiwers of the T.V. series know, Gourry can only activate his sword by saying,"Light come forth!" If he can't speak normally, he shouldn't be able to use his sword.

Still, this is a wonderful D.V.D. and one that any true Slayers fan should own. Definetly one not to be missed.

I love and am a big fan of Slayers, don't get me wrong. But I couldn't get myself to finish this one. The voice actors very mismatched to the point that they're annoying. Or maybe I'm too use and come to love the voice actors in the Slayers series too much (original, next, tri, etc). Phew, thank goodness Zelgadas voice is still the same (he's my fav). The drawing is also different in a weird one. The characters looked like they're anorexic and midget. Goury supposed to be a built swordsman, but in this one he's like a 15 years old emo kid. On top of that, they overplayed Amelia's dramatic behavior too much. When they first introduced her and Zelgadas and where she was all emotional and huff-puff about the octopus, that was over killed and out of character for her. The dubbing killed the "octupses" language, which I was disappointed. But I guess that's what I get for watching dubbed. Bottom line, I'm disappointed with this one. I still love Slayers though, maybe I should just stick to the TV series...

The entire purpose of "Slayers - Premium" is to reunite the bickering, food-mad, highly-destructive little fantasy team, and send them on another bizarre quest du jour. There's not much more substance to this frothy little tale of octopus rebellion and mixed-up language (and Xellos is there just to... be there), but overall it's a fun little diversion with plenty of "Slayers" charm.

Lina and Gourry are dining at a village famed for its octopus... only to learn that the octopus is tainted by evil demonic power, which makes Gourry spout gibberish Octopese. And when Amelia and a very reluctant Zelgadis arrive, they are quickly infected by the disease -- and though there's a spell that can cure them, the local sorcerer can't say the words!

So Lina and her incoherent pals venture down into the depths, and discover a hyperintelligent octopus who plans to resurrect their sea god, and take horrible revenge on all of humankind. And unfortunately, Lina has also become infected with the Octopese-disease... just in time for her Dragonslave to putter out. Will the octopus god destroy the afflicted town? And just what is Gourry saying when he says, "I love you!"?

"Slayers Premium" is basically like watching a slightly long, rather fluffy episode of the anime series (despite a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Naga during the climax). And it's basically packed with all the required gags that "Slayers" has always had -- Lina's savage beatings and flat chest, squabbles over food, Amelia's dramatic speeches, and the occasional Dragon Slave.

Beyond that, the plot is a pretty fluffy affair -- the whole idea is that octopi are enraged by humans hunting them, and their foppish hyperintelligent leader is planning to unleash a terrible threat on land-based life. So it has plenty of sword fights, magical attacks, Gourry fighting with "bullet time," and plenty of humor derived from the Octopese language (including all Lina's friends moaning, "FLAT CHESTED!" in unison, to express their dismay).

And the handling of the characters is mixed -- Lina is wonderfully bombastic and short-fused, while the hapless Gourry babbles when he isn't swinging the Sword of Light, and the much-abused Zelgadis is dragged on a culinary adventure he wants no part in ("Octopus is NASTY!"). Unfortunately, Amelia is portrayed as rather too oblivious and hypersensitive (she bursts into tears because Zel tells her to walk ahead?), and Xellos is basically there to tell Zel what's going on. Really, that's all.

It's worth noting that the voice actors in this movie are not the same as in the TV series, save for the excellent Crispin Freeman. The other range from good (Lina and Gourry's voice actors) to bad (Xellos sounds like a ten-year-old boy, and the "That is a secret!" lacks mockery).

"Slayers Premium" is not premium by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a cutesy little adventure story that entertains for a half hour. Amusing, if rather stretched out of shape.

I was hoping that this movie would have the great action/adventure/comedy that was present in the original Slayers TV show and Slayers Next.

This is somewhere between one of the Naga shows and Slayers Try. In other words its silly slapstick comedy with none of the real heroic adventure aspects of Slayers. In my opinion Slayers Try wasn't as good as Next or the original and the Naga episodes are way below it.

And it doesn't have Lisa Ortiz as Lina. The other voice actress just does carry off Lina's psychotic joie de vivre.

It does have a mildly interesting interview with the guy who voice acts Zelgadis.

There is a total of about 30 mins of animation in this anime, but it featured Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Xellos with a cameo from Naga. A logical consequence of this is that there is really no story.

Animation wise, this anime is decent. CGI is used but not well integrated. (If you can tell CGI is used, then it is not well integrated.) Character designs are pleasant, but different from earlier Slayers animes. For example, in the less than 2 minutes of Naga footage, her two talents are greater than ever.

This is the last Slayers anime made. The cast of Slayers bid a fond farewell to their fans. Of course, unless you are a Slayers fan, the farewell means nothing. So, 5 stars if you are a Slayers fan, 1 star if you are not.