Slayers: The Book of Spells

This isn’t like the ones before. In fact, I’m not sure that this is even in the same dimention as the others. Lina is with a strange woman named Naga the Serpent who dresses rather… well… just look at her! (Kurai: “Um… is she a striper?” Angel: “Uggg… could very well be.”) I’m guessing that this is before she ever meets Gourry in fact because she doesn’t talk about him or even mention him. You don’t have to see the first two seasons’s to watch this one, though Naga seems to get a tiny bit of time on screen in them. In fact, the threeepisodes are not really repetitive and you can probably watch them in any order, though the first one does have the ‘first meeting’ (if you can call it that) of the two. It seems in the first episode that they have a small history between the two though the story never talks about what did happen, Naga seems to know Lina but Lina doesn’t really remember her. I hate when they do something like that because though the whole show, they never say what is really going on. They have a love/hate relationship between them, once in a while they will act like friends but more over then not, Naga always tries to out shine Lina and fight her. Naga is pretty much a fan service character, not really adding anything except someone who wants to fight Lina every single time and make her life almost hell. Her skimpy outfit reminds me of a hooker and I don’t think anyone can wear her outfit out on the streets without being called over by the police. I understand fan service and being bi, I can actually say I like a little of it but this does tend to gross me out. I am happy that they do not always pay much attention to her outfit, and they do say out ridicules it really is so I let them slide on that. Lina on the other hand seems to be a bit more down to earth then the episodes before and I’m not sure why that is. She doesn’t feel like ‘our Lina’ but someone playing as her. This tends to throw me off slightly as I fell in love with her character from the TV shows. The Animation is actually nice cell shaded, good for the time at least. It does show its age but again, it fits slightly with the others. It’s only a little bit more blured then the others, as seen in most OVA’s like that. They also end up getting off the character designs at times. You would think for an OVA, they wouldn’t do that. There isn’t much background music except for the slap stick comedy sounds we will normally hear but these never overpower and sometimes are even non-existent throughout the show. When we do get epic music, sometimes its cut off to leave sort of a comical end. Lina sounds much younger then the other shows and so I guess it shows the time frame. I can’t stand Naga’s voice at all, especially her laugh!

Honestly? If you're a die-hard Slayers fan who can't get enough of Lina and Naga('s boobs), go watch it. Otherwise? Meh. It's arguably the weakest incarnation of Slayers I have seen so far, and as a stand-alone, it's pretty mediocre, at least plot-wise. The animation is good, music is good, voice acting is good, but the plot and characters (other than the two main characters) are pretty forgettable. If Lina and Naga were swapped for two other randos, I wouldn't bother giving this anime the time of the day. Then again, the two main characters might as well be two other randos, because the plots ofthese three episodes are completely disconnected not just from each other, but from the Slayers movies they're supposed to be prequels to, and of course, the Slayers anime series (to which the movies are prequels) - they are all completely self-contained, each episode is its own separate entity without any connection to the other two. Out of the three episodes, I'd say the third is the best (but it's still very meh), followed by the first, and the worst is the second. The only saving graces of this otherwise very mediocre anime are the presence of Lina as the protagonist, and Naga the Serpent and her fanservice. Go watch it if you're a die-hard Slayers fan like me, otherwise, skip it. I'm giving it an extremely generous 5/10, because it's still Slayers after all. Yes, I am biased.

The Book of Spells is a three episode OVA series taking place either before the television series or in a separate universe (I’m still unclear about this and I’ve found no definitive answer as to the chronology). That means that we’re focusing on Lina and Naga, who pretty much ruined the first movie. I have no understanding why they kept going with Naga and Lina as companions considering how dull and lifeless the series becomes without some of the more developed characters we’ve come to love. Nonetheless, this OVA series has the animation of the first film, which means it looks brilliant, but retains allthe things that the film did wrong. I’m going to do this review a little different, looking at the episodes individually, as there is no overarching story, so we can get a better perspective on what is wrong and what is right. The Scary Chimera Plan Lina nearly takes a deal with a guy who wants to combine her with dragons and winds up blowing him up and destroying his castle after realizing that plan is really dumb. He returns a month later with clones, but not of Lina, of her companion Naga. The greatest weapon that these clones have: Naga’s annoying-ass laugh. But Naga soon joins forces with her clones to create a choir of awful and basically bring the entire world to its knees. Terrible episode overall and mostly because the main joke is not only annoying for the people within the show, but the viewer will seriously be leaving with a migraine. Naga’s laugh was annoying enough by itself but add ten tracks of that laugh being played over each other and the joke isn’t funny, nor are my ruptured ear drums. The plot itself isn’t that great either, nor is there really anything comedic within. It’s an all-around terrible episode that you’d be much happier avoiding. Jeffrey’s Knighthood Lina and Naga are hired by an overprotective mother to help a young knight find his way to manhood. They take the pathetic young man on a quest, battling bandits and a black knight, all while the mother attacks anyone who talks bad about him. This is an overall much more palatable experience than the first OVA, though it’s still not without issues. The humor is much funnier but the plot is still as paper thin as it gets. Naga gets one little piece of development (she’s scared of blood) but is otherwise still boobs. It’s an average episode that isn’t offensive, nor is it worthwhile. Mirror, Mirror Naga and Lina are hired to take down a sorcerer with a mirror that can create an opposite version of the person. Of course, this means that the opposites of the ladies are sweet, loveable, nonviolent creatures. Worse than the last episode but not as bad as the first, this episode doesn’t add much of anything to the series. The cute versions of the two girls are probably the only reason to watch this episode, making me wish we focused on a sweet Naga rather than the annoying, characterless bimbo we’re given. — Three episodes, all pretty weak and pointless makes The Book of Spells a huge mess. Nice animation and some occasionally decent music aside, this OVA series has very little worth caring about and can be happily avoided whether a fan of the series or not.

The Slayers is a franchise I've discussed on multiple occasions, While I'll eventually get to the series proper, I've been looking at the films, OVAs and just generally the stuff that takes place before the series first. Case in point, the Slayers Special OVA follows Lina and Naga on various adventures. Let's take a look. Story: The OVA is episodic in nature with three different stories. The first is about a magician who wants to create a powerful chimera with Lina as a component. Naturally, she is not happy with the idea and this results in shenanigans. In the second episode, a helicopter parent of a motherhires Lina & Naga to help her rather pathetic son gain status and knighthood. The final episode gives us a mage who's looking for a long forgotten magic mirror that can supposedly create copies of people that have all their skills and experience but opposite personalities. The biggest issue is that the second episode doesn't give Lina and Naga that much to do. They kind of take a back seat to the family and their craziness. And, honestly, the family isn't nearly as interesting or funny as Lina & Naga are. A lot of the humour from them comes down to the mum's over-protectiveness and the son's over-inflated view of himself. Which is funny but does get a bit repetitive. The OVA does have the benefit of the classic Slayers humour. Every episode has plenty of strong jokes. They're also well paced and move very smoothly with enough time to set up the jokes and develop what there is for a plot in the episode. The plot lines are very well constructed to offer a lot of comedic potential. Characters: Lina and Naga are both very funny characters with a good amount of complexity. Which leads to some really funny moments when they meet their mirror opposites. The two also have a strong dynamic for comedic interactions. The characters they encounter may not have the same degree of complexity, but they have more than enough character for them to have strong comedic moments. Which has always been one of The Slayers' strengths. Having memorable minor characters who have some really funny moments. About the worst I can say for it is that the family that takes the focus in the second episode doesn't actually interact much with on another. The mother follows the son around and hits people for him, but they don't actually have any kind of conversation. Art: The OVA looks pretty good. The animation is smooth. The artwork is well done. There are some really strong visual gags. About the worst I can say for it is that there are a couple sequences with muted colouring that makes it a little difficult to see the action well. Sound: Hayashibara Megumi & Kawamura Maria are both fantastic in this. We also get some strong performances from the people voicing minor characters including Ishida Akira as Jeffrey. Which is interesting since he's also in the series proper as Xellos. The music is fantastic. Hayashibara Megumi sings the vocal songs including Within Unlimited Desires & Run All the Way. She really has an immaculate singing voice. Ho-yay: As is common with these anime, Lina and Naga have a dynamic that you could see becoming romantic with a small push but that pretty definitively is not there yet. Areas of Improvement: Brighter, more vibrant colours. Let Lina and Naga have a more active role in the second episode. If you're going to give the family such a prominent role in the second episode, at least have them interact. Let the son be there when his mum hires Lina & Naga and then have her pull them aside to give them the full situation. It would do wonders to actually see them exchange more than a couple lines when he doesn't even know it's her. Final Thoughts: This OVA is really solid. If you're a fan of the franchise, you're pretty much guaranteed to enjoy it. If you don't like the franchise, this isn't going to change your mind. Even if you don't like the Slayers, I'd still highly recommend looking up the music. For me, this is a franchise I like quite a lot. I pretty thoroughly enjoyed the gags and story ideas in the OVA. I'm going to give it an 8/10.