Slayers

Setting and characters

In the Slayers universe, the ultimate being is the Lord of Nightmares, the creator of at least four parallel worlds. An artifact known as the Claire Bible contains information about the Lord of Nightmares' task to regain its "true form", which is only attainable by destroying these worlds and returning them to the chaos that it itself is. For unexplained reasons, though, the Lord of Nightmares has not acted upon this desire by itself so far. On each of these worlds are gods (shinzoku, lit. "godly race") and monsters (mazoku, lit. "demon race"), fighting without end. Should the gods win the war in a world, that world will be at peace. Should the monsters win, the world will be destroyed and returned to the Sea of Chaos.

In the world where the Slayers takes place, Flare Dragon Ceiphied and the Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo are, respectively, the supreme god and monster. Long ago, their war ended more or less in a stalemate, when Ceiphied was able to split Shabranigdo's existence into seven pieces in order to prevent him from coming back to life, then seal them within human souls. As the souls are reincarnated, the individual fragments would wear down until Shabranigdo himself would be destroyed. However, Ceiphied was so exhausted by this that he himself sank into the Sea of Chaos, leaving behind four parts of himself in the world. A millennium before the events in Slayers, one of Ruby-Eye's fragments (which was sealed in the body of Lei Magnus, a very powerful sorcerer) revived and began the Resurrection War (降魔戦争, Kōma-sensō, alternately "War of Demon Conquering") against one of the parts of Ceiphied, the Water Dragon King, also known as Aqualord Ragradia. Ultimately, the piece of Shabranigdo won, but Aqualord, using the last remnants of her power, sealed him into a block of magical ice within the Kataart Mountains. Nevertheless, Shabranigdo's lieutenants remained at liberty, sealing a part of the world within a magical barrier, through which only mazoku could pass.

There are four types of magic within the Slayers universe: Black, White, Shamanistic, and Holy. Black magic spells, such as the famous Dragon Slave, call directly on the powers of the mazoku and are capable of causing enormous damage. White magic spells are of an obscure origin and are used for healing or protection. Shamanistic magic is focused on manipulation and alteration of the basic elements of the natural world (earth, wind, fire, water and spirit) and contains spells for both offense and convenience, such as Raywing, Fireball, or Elmekia Lance. Holy magic uses the power of the shinzoku, but the aforementioned barrier made its usage impossible before the death of the mazoku Hellmaster Phibrizzo. As a rule, mazoku can only be harmed by spiritual (astral) shamanistic magic, holy magic, or black magic which draws power from another mazoku with greater might than the target.

Above all other magic, however, are the immensely destructive spells drawing power from the Lord of Nightmares. The two spells of this class are the Ragna Blade, capable of cutting through any obstacle or being, and the Giga Slave, which can kill any opponent, but which could also destroy the world itself if the spell is miscast. Some have claimed that these terrible spells, drawing their power directly from the Lord of Nightmares, constitute a fifth form of magic: Chaos magic.

Light novels

Slayers was originally serialized in Dragon Magazine in 1989 as a short story series written by Hajime Kanzaka, and with artwork by Rui Araizumi. The serialized chapters were then published as Slayers light novels across 15 volumes from January 25, 1990 to May 15, 2000. On September 7, 2004, Tokyopop began publishing the light novels in English, ending with the released of Volume 8 on January 2, 2008.

Manga

Between July 26, 2008 and March 2009, a new manga series entitled Slayers Light Magic (スレイヤーズ ライト・マジック) was serialised in Kadokawa Shoten's Kerokero Ace. The series was written by Yoshijirō Muramatsu and illustrated Shin Sasaki, and set in a technological world instead of a fantasy world.

USA editions

In July 1998, Central Park Media announced they had licensed the manga for distribution in North America. On June 15, 1999, Slayers: Medieval Mayhem was released. The four-volume series Slayers Special was published between October 12, 2002, and June 25, 2003. A seven-volume series Super-Explosive Demon Story followed between July 9, 2002 and December 1, 2004. Finally, Slayers Premium was published in North America on July 5, 2005.

Anime television series

The self-titled first season of the anime is a derivative of the light novel's first three volumes. Slayers NEXT was adapted from the events of volumes 4-8, whereas Slayers TRY is an original story. A fourth season, Slayers AGAIN, was rumored following the success of TRY, but early scheduling conflicts caused interest in the project to dissipate.

A fourth anime series, Slayers Revolution, premiered in Japan on July 2, 2008. Megumi Hayashibara performed both the opening and ending theme songs. The new plot is told across two 13-episode arcs and follows an original storyline that has subplots based on events in the novels, with series director Takashi Watanabe and production studio J.C.Staff reprising their duties from the three original TV series. A fifth Slayers series titled Slayers Evolution-R is the second 13-episode arc of Slayers Revolution and was aired on AT-X starting on January 12, 2009 in Japan.

USA adaptations

Central Park Media licensed and distributed the anime in North America under the Software Sculptors label on VHS and Laserdisc between 1996 and 1998, collected in eight volumes. It was a commercial success for Central Park, which led them to license Slayers NEXT and Slayers TRY; NEXT was first shipped from April 1999 in a similar format. A box set of the first four volumes was released in July 1999, and a box set of the second four volumes in October. Slayers TRY was released later in 2000. The first three seasons were subsequently re-released on DVD (in season box sets). Months before Central Park's license for the anime properties expired, FUNimation Entertainment was able to obtain the license and it aired as part of the new owner's programming block on CoLours TV, as well as the FUNimation Channel. The first bilingual DVD box set after FUNimation's rescue of the license was released on August 27, 2007 retaining the Software Sculptors-produced English dub. A boxset of Slayers, NEXT and TRY was released by Funimation on August 4, 2009.

Fox Kids won the rights to broadcast Slayers but eventually did not air the anime since it would be too heavy to edit it for content. The first North American television broadcast of The Slayers was February 17, 2002 on the International Channel. In 2009, MVM Films began releasing the series in the United Kingdom on a monthly basis. The first series was released on four DVDs between January 5, and April 6, 2009. The first volume of Slayers NEXT was released on May 11, 2009.

Episodes have also been made available on the streaming video sites Hulu, YouTube, Crackle, Anime News Network, Netflix, and Funimation's website.

FUNimation licensed both Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R for American release; the episodes in Japanese with English subtitles were uploaded to YouTube, as well as Funimation's website in July 2009. Funimation contracted NYAV Post to produce the English version of the series, with dialogue being recorded in both New York City and Los Angeles. NYAV Post was able to reunite most of the original Central Park Media main character cast for the new season. However, Michael Sinterniklaas replaced David Moo as Xellos. Other notable characters, such as Sylphiel, Prince Phil, and Naga the Serpent were also recast with new voice actors.

In December 2009, Funimation announced that the first Slayers Revolution boxset would be released on March 16, 2010. Funimation released the first four English-dubbed episodes of Slayers Revolution to YouTube on January 19, 2010. They have also uploaded the first two English-dubbed episodes of Evolution-R to YouTube and released Evolution-R to the DVD in June 2010. Funimation released both Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R to Blu-ray on September 21, 2010 Both seasons were later re-released together in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack. Both Revolution and Evolution-R made their North American television debut when they began airing on the FUNimation Channel on September 6, 2010.

Anime OVAs

USA adaptations

In North America, Slayers Special was initially sold as two separate titles, Slayers: Dragon Slave and Slayers: Explosion Array on VHS by licensee ADV Films. All three episodes were later compiled into Slayers: The Book of Spells, shipped on November 21, 2000. ADV Films released all the OVAs to VHS and DVD in both North America and the UK.

Anime films

All films were produced by J.C.Staff and licensed for home video release in North America by ADV Films. Slayers Return was adapted into a manga version.

Radio dramas

Traditional games

The series was adapted into an add-on for the Japanese role-playing game MAGIUS (Slayers MAGIUS RPG). In 2003, Guardians of Order published a licensed role-playing game The Slayers d20 using the d20 System, as well as three guidebooks including pages of game statistics in their "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" game system for the TV series' major characters, spells and weapons. A collectible card game Slayers Fight (スレイヤーズふぁいと) was developed by ORG and published by Kadokawa Shoten between 1999-2001.

Video games

A series of five Slayers role-playing video games were released exclusively in Japan between 1994 and 1998 for different platforms. There are two different 16-bit games released in 1994 and titled simply Slayers (including one for the Super Famicom), followed by three 32-bit console games: 1997's Slayers Royal, and 1998's Slayers Royal 2 and Slayers Wonderful. In addition, some Slayers characters are featured in 2012's Heroes Fantasia and in the doujin game Magical Battle Arena.

Reception

Of the various media which make up the Slayers franchise, the anime has by far reached the largest audience and is considered to be one of the most popular series of the 1990s. As it is a parody of the high fantasy genre, the series's driving force lies in comic scenarios alluding to other specific anime, or more general genre tropes and clichés. Due to the series' comedic nature, less development is given to plot and characters, which some consider predictable. Nevertheless, the series' focus on humor and entertainment and "old school" anime feel make it a nostalgic classic to many.

In Anime Essentials: Every Thing a Fan Needs to Know, Gilles Poitras wrote: "More humorous and less serious looking than the characters in the Lodoss War series, the stars of Slayers provide action and laughs." In The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, Helen McCarthy similarly called it "the antidote to the deadly serious Record of Lodoss War, with a cynical cast modeled on argumentative role-players. (...) Ridiculing its own shortcomings, Slayers has successfully kept a strong following that watches for what some might call biting satire, and others bad workmen blaming their tools."

Joseph Luster of Otaku USA called it "the very definition of an all-encompassing media franchise. (...) Slayers certainly has that in its memorable lineup, and they'll likely cast some sort of spell on you, regardless of age." Paul Thomas Chapman from the same magazine opined it is a "franchise whose remarkable longevity and popularity is matched only by its remarkable averageness," especially regarding the various aspects of the TV series, but still appealing to him and making him return to it when he looks for a light entertainment.