slayers

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

After the previous volume, which was essentially an anniversary special, Kanzaka seems to have remembered how much fun it was to write Lina and Gourry, and so has returned to Slayers once more to kickstart a new arc. That said, he knows that he’s already used up most of the plots and fight scenes that he can in Lina’s world. There’s only so many times that you can battle a Dynast General and not have it seem dull, you know? Of course, he COULD just give in and write Lina taking Gourry to meet her family, which she’s been trying to do for the last couple of books, but that would involve writing her family, and we already know that characters like Lina’s older sister Luna work better as an unseen threat. As such, this volume DOES start with a battle with a Dynast general… who promptly gives in because Lina’s reputation is Just. That. Bad. Unfortunately, when they emerge from the fight they’re not in Kansas… erm, Zephilia anymore, but in a completely different place.

As it turns out, Lina and Gourry hail from the demon lord side of the continent. There’s also a dragon side of the continent, separated by a strong barrier to keep the two sides from meeting. And now Lina and Gourry, thanks to that annoying Dynast general, are in Ceifeed lands, with no idea how to return home. They spend most of the start of the book trying to decipher the different writing system, figure out the money conversion, and slowly making their way towards a real city. Along the way they run into a spunky young girl, Ran, who may act like a hyperactive tween but also can use wind magic and has an incredibly powerful staff. Unfortunately, as they move along, it becomeds apparent that Lina’s type of sorcery is far more powerful than these foiks are used to… and they want it for themselves.

The main issue I have with this book is that it’s a setup for more books down the line. Ran is a fun character, but we learn next to nothing about her, nor do we know anything about her motivation for traveling with Lina and Gourry. The villains in this book (leaving aside the city guard guys, who are more mooks than anything else) tend to blend together like most minor Slayers villains do, but they certainly show a callous disregard for human life or property… something that becomes more understandable when you realize who they are. Other than that, this is a perfectly decent Slayers book. Lina and Gourry are always fun, and we get to see Lina trying to get past her own reputation even in a place where it doesn’t precede her. The fights are action packed, and if they ever animate Slayers again might be fun to see. It will be interesting to see where this arc goes.

Unfortunately, this book came out in 2019, and there’s no Vol. 18 on the horizon, so we may never see how the arc goes. Which is the most frustrating part of this book, to be honest.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

The Slayers main series ended in 2000, but that does not mean that the Slayers series was abandoned by its author. There are 39 novels (!!) starring a younger Lina Inverse with her traveling partner Naga the Serpent, and these continued until 2011 (that said, don’t expect J-Novel Club to be licensing them anytime soon, I expect). There were also two new anime series, Slayers Revolution and Evolution. And then, in 2018, Fujimi Fantasia Bunko was celebrating the anniversary of Dragon Magazine and wanted Kanzaka to write a new Slayers novel in the main storyline. As such, we’re bringing the band back together, at least for this particular book. Well, the band members who weren’t horribly killed in the 2nd arc of the main series, that is. You’ll be delighted to hear that Amelia and Zelgadis are present and accounted for. And there may be someone else, but I’ll leave that a secret -desu. And the plot? Does Gourry meet Lina’s family? Ha. No. Instead, it’s elf wars!

On their way to Lina’s hometown, Lina and Gourry happen upon a city that if having a problem with bandit attacks. The trouble is, these are very well-trained and adept bandits. In fact, notes Lina, one of them seems very familiar… Meanwhile, the situation has grown so dire that Amelia arrives from Saillune to take charge, and also to fight for justice… mostly in that order, for once. There’s also an elf in town, Alaina, who would be very helpful in resolving things if she did not have severe social anxiety. (She has a terrific cap, though. Really, more characters should wear that cap and NOT be a delinquent.) As for the cause, well, it might come as a surprise to the reader of the old, 20th century Slayers novels, because we’ve had Lina hanging out and being allied with elves before… why are we getting cliched elves now?

Because it’s a Slayers novel, that’s why. This one is definitely in a much lighter vein than the previous couple of books, and the body count, while it is there, is minimal. This allows for some more amusing humor, which can stem from Gourry being dumb or Lina being narratively obtuse (her description of a “light” breakfast was pitch perfect.) As for Amelia, I was pleased to see that she really has matured as a princess and acts it. The novels never really had an Amelia problem the way the anime did, but I get the sense the author was listening to anime fans complaining, as she gets a lot of really cool things to do. Indeed, possibly more things to do than Zelgadis, who feels like he’s there because you need to have everyone there. As for the bulk of the book itself… it’s magic battles. Come on, it’s still a Slayers book. It’s ALWAYS 50% magic battles.

Good news! There is another book coming soon, written in 2019. Bad news for fans of “the gang” – it’s a Lina and Gourry solo book. That said, any excuse to reconnect with Lina is a good one, and this was a decent volume that didn’t show any rust after an 18-year break.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

And so, we come at last to the end of the Slayers novels. Well, not really. This volume came out in May 2000, and after 18 years, a new volume appeared in 2018, and another the year after that. But this book has a feel of “final” to it nevertheless, wrapping up the plot points from the second arc, bringing back a few familiar faces, and even throwing in a hint of romance that doesn’t really go anywhere (which is a step up from the series’ usual no romance at all). It has the usual strengths of the series – the fights are snappy and well-paced, Lina’s narration is fun – and the usual weaknesses – emotional depth from this author feels like he’s reading aloud from a piece of paper. Actually, the most interesting part may be one of the familiar faces. Slayers rarely goes back to look at its survivors, so seeing Rubia again was something of a surprise. Even if it feels like she’s just there to contrast with someone else. Which is true.

Lina and Gourry are finding that demons are popping up more and more often, and their attack patterns are very weird. Indeed, one of the demons seems to be … stopping the other demons from killing the two of them? Then Lina discovers that there’s a doppelganger of herself walking around, and all signs point to (for the third time) the doomed city of Sairaag as being the place to go. They’re helped here by… no, not Amelia and Zelgadis, they’re still absent, but Xellos does show up, and he is his usual self. Milgazia and Mephy are there as well. But the final battle between Lina, Gourry, and whatever it is that’s causing all this will have to be a lone one… if only as they’ve been transported to another dimension!

If you’ve been reading these books, the identity of the villain should not surprise you, and some decent effort is made to remind you of the hints from previous volumes. That said… this is a book which ends with an assisted suicide, with Lina seemingly devastated by having to be the one to do it, but again, it feels very emotionally weak. Rubia, as I noted above, was a surprise, but she’s meant to be there to show what happens when you’re able to let go and move on… even if the answer is “I’m still sad and there’s no one in my life, but I have a greenhouse now”. Possibly the biggest surprise in the book is at the end, where Gourry says he wants to go and meet Lina’s family, which is very much the equivalent of a proposal in this world. That said, it has to be undercut with him talking about wanting to taste the grapes her town is famous for, and sad trombone noises ensue.

Slayers is a series that is very much of the 1990s, and judging it by 2020 standards can seem harsh at times. It’s a classic 90s series in that it was exciting and funny and also made for a much better anime, when the emotional heft could be fleshed out and left to other writers. I wonder what the newer books feel like, with 18 years’ more experience between them? Perhaps we’ll see one day.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

At last, I have something to talk about. That is not a good thing. The Slayers novels are fast-paced, action-packed, have some interesting fantasy plotting, and Lina and Gourry are fun, but let’s face it, the reason this series is beloved is that the anime took the characters and fleshed them out, made them human. Character development and deep emotional pain is not something that Kanzaka specializes in or is good at. And that’s going to be a problem with this book, whose second half relies entirely on the death of a beloved character and said death driving another character to an extended murder spree, one that I suspect may continue in the next book. There’s just one problem. The emotional impact is taken as read. The author assumes we will be devastated when this character dies, but mostly we’re merely surprised at how fast and pointlessly it happened. And the roaring rampage of revenge is more of a mildly simmering rampage of revenge. Slayers runs on snark and fighting. When there isn’t either of those, it gets into trouble.

Lina and Gourry come to Selentia, a city where religion is the biggest mover and shaker. There’s a high priest as well as four other slightly lower priests. Unfortunately, the high priest has just burned to death in an “accident” that no one thinks is an accident. Lina and Gourry are hired by the Sorcerer’s Guild to investigate, and find that there’s a lot of motive but not a lot of evidence. That is until we get more killings happening. What’s more, Luke and Mileena are here again, being hired bodyguards for one of the priests. Can Lina and Gourry figure out what’s happening and stop it before the entire city turns into a blood-soaked canvas? Answer: no.

Kanzaka apologizes to readers in the afterword for Amelia and Zelgadis not being in this, but for the wrong reason. He states that if they’d been there, they could have healed the fatal wound and thus avoided everything that came after. That said, I think the bigger problem is: this should have been Zel and Amelia, not Luke and Mileena. After being introduced in Book 9, the two of them have had “replacement scrappy” written all over then, despite occasional attempts at depth. Frankly, if Kanzaka had simply used Amelia and Zel in Book 9-14, and had Amelia killed off and Zel go on a rampage, the impact would have been much greater because we actually care about them. And, see, I say that, but I can’t bring myself to believe that either. Because Mileena’s death is so fast, so lame, and so emotionally void that it took me a while to realize it had happened. Kanzaka cannot write depth. And that means this book winds up suffering terribly, because it’s where depth is needed the most.

This second “arc” in the S;layers series will end in the next volume, and I suspect will wrap up Luke’s plot as well. I hope it’s filled with cool action sequences and magical battles. Because really, why else would you read this?

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

One thing that I don’t think I’ve talked about in these reviews of very short, action filled Slayers light novels is the way that, if you aren’t a major character in the book, your life expec–

“We’ve done that.”

Really?

“Yes.”

Erm… OK, well, I can mention the way that, despite being very short books, these still manage to have over half their content filled with battle seq–

“We’ve covered that as well.”

Ah. Erm… passionfruit?

“We’ve done the passionfruit.”

Sigh. Once again, I want to note that these are good books. I enjoy them, I want to read more of them, but… what the hell is there to review? Maybe if I was reading the omnibuses, OK, but I–

“You’ve actually whined about this before as well.”

SHUT UP! Look, let’s just go to the recap summary, OK?

After the events of the last book, our heroes join up with Milgazia, the ancient dragon, and Memphys, the arrogant elf, to discuss the events of the last few books, and how they’re all pointing to one thing: another Incarnation War is coming. Then, as with many, many other books in this series, some demons show up, try to kill Lina, and blow up the inn she’s staying at, leaving her to take the blame. Because let’s face it, while the books are more serious than the anime, that’s only by a bit. What’s worse is that they immediately have to return to the city they just left. Remember when I said that things ended a bit too well? Well, I was right. Turns out there’s a new Demon along the lines of Xellos in town, and Xellos is Mr. Not-Appearing-In-This-Book so can’t help out. Can Lina and Gourry join forces with the rest of their allies and find a way to survive this?

I think I may have talked about THIS as well in past reviews, but the Slayers books ran concurrently in Japan with a series called Slayers Special, which featured the adventures of Lina before she met Gourry, which is to say with Naga the Serpent. These also got made into several anime. They are highly unlikely to be licensed over here, and seem far more episodic than the main series. I mention this because it was nice to see Lina actually remember Naga, even though her name is very deliberately not said. The reason she comes up is that Memphys’ attitude is very familiar, as is Lina’s contempt for it. Turns out that our arrogant elf is actually covering up some shyness, adn the one who told her to act like a cut-rate Naga the Serpent was… well, was Naga the Serpent. Honestly, the best joke here is that anyone would take Naga’s advice at all.

So we’ve got two books left in this second arc, and I assume they will tie very closely together. As for this one, it feels like a prologue more than anything else. And oh, look, I’ve hit 500 words. Bye.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

After the review of the last volume, I said that I hoped this one would be a bit lighter in tone. It is, but only a little bit. This is still a series where not being Lina or Gourry gives you a high chance of dying horribly or being turned into a horrible monster. Indeed, one of the surprises towards the end of this book is when some of the cast we’ve met along the way *isn’t* killed off. And we also have Luke and Mileena, who are back for this book but, let’s face it, are there to be off-brand Amelia and Zelgadis – indeed, a joke in the final pages has someone mention how much Lina’s companions have changed. But honestly… I don’t think Luke and Mileena have the plot armor that Lina and Gourry do. Still, the end of the arc is still three books away, so in the meantime we have “let’s look into bad things happening” on a more mild level.

After giving her report on the previous book’s events to a very disbelieving sorcerer’s council, Lina and Gourry are forced… erm, asked to investigate a bunch of lesser demon sightings. Much to their surprise, these turn out to have been taken care of by a “white giant” on the mountainside. then, as often happens with Lina and Gourry, they run into a corpse and the murderer of said corpse, who is rather doggedly trying to eliminate witnesses. The they run into Luke and Mileena, who are with a young man, Jade, trying to save his kingdom from a very familiar person who seems to be putting poison into the king’s ear. Can our heroes manage to solve things with a lower body count than usual? Who’s destroying lesser demons up on the mountain? And doesn’t the resolution of this book seem a bit too easy to be true?

I’ve talked before about the author’s total lack of romance in the series, which seems to stem more from an inability to write it well than anything else. This comes up near the middle of the book when Lina, in a rare moment that’s just her and Mileena, asks why Mileena is always traveling with Luke. Mileena’s response is “because I’m very awkward”, which may be the most romantic thing we’ve heard in the series to date. And that’s not saying much, as you can see. As for Lina and Gourry, all I can say is that when Mileena asks about their relationship, Lina likens her and Gourry to a sex worker and her “gigolo”, which made my jaw drop but I can see her thought process. Lina’s making all the money and Gourry is the “guardian”. It makes sense if you completely remove sex or romance from the equation, and it’s clear Lina has done that.

As noted above, our heroes win, but… they win pretty easily. Even Lina suspects something else is going on here. I’m sure we’ll find out more next time. Till then, hooray for me, who managed to write 500+ more words about some very short fantasy books that are mostly fights.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

It can be somewhat annoying to come at the Slayers novels from someone who grew up with the anime and realize how a huge chunk of them are Lina, Gourry, and one-off characters. Zelgadis and Amelia stuck around for a bit, as did Xellos, but they’re gone now. We’ve had Luke and Mileena come in with an attempt to add a new supporting duo to the cast, but they’re more of the ‘we keep running into each other’ sort than actual party members. They’re also not in this particular book either. We do get a villain from two books ago… but she doesn’t appear, she’s just an offscreen catalyst. It can be rather disheartening. Where’s the wacky fun times? Where’s Lina accidentally destroying things? Where’s Gourry being rock stupid? But this isn’t the anime, these are the light novels. And because of that we get something here which the anime almost never tried to do unless it was a huge world-shattering crisis: we get a straight up tragedy.

Lina and Gourry arrive at a city that is telling any and all sorcerers to report to the local sorcerer’s council at once. Doesn’t say why, and does not appear to be from the government. Lina, who has just been through sorcerers trying to take over a city a book or so ago, thinks we’re seeing much the same thing here, and she’s mostly correct. She teams up with Aria, a young woman who is trying to rescue her sister from the lord who killed her fiancee and forcibly married her, and Dilarr, a passing adventurer who just seems to like Aria, though he does find Lina somewhat terrifying, to her displeasure – her reputation is now that death and disaster show up whenever she arrives. Sadly, this book does not really change that reputation. Once they arrive at the city where Aria and her sister Bell live, we get a Chthulhian nightmare featuring lots of monstrosities and lots of death.

Despite the fact that these books frequently seem as if they’re written without an outline by the author simply going to the typewriter and typing till he stops, there is some decent character work here, particularly in regards to Aria’s sister Bell. Set up as the unwilling victim through most of the book, the reality is far darker than we’d expect. The second ‘series’ of light novels were never adapted to the anime, and this one shows why – the sister who is forcibly married after her fiancee is killed sends her little sister off to safety because she loves her, but also has hatred in her heart, as her sister is safe and can be happy while Bell is trapped. It’s a very real look at family dynamics that can stem from a family member being abused. Unfortunately, Slayers is still a fantasy, not a realistic look at power dynamics and coping mechanisms, so we get a massive bloodbath.

As Lina and Gourry walk away at the end, both are subdued and disturbed, and the reader has to agree. This is on the darker side of the Slayers novels, a series which is already much darker than its anime equivalent. I hope the next book has a bit more jollity.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Another day, another short, mostly action-filled volume of Slayers to try to expand into a review. Lina and Gourry are still searching for a replacement for the Sword of Light, and swords that can cut through ghosts are not really on the same level. Then they hear a rumor (well, beat up a goon to obtain a rumor) that the regent in Solaria is collecting magical swords and other such weapons. Heading there, Lina and Gourry find a city that has lots of armed guards, lots of buildings they can’t enter, and a supposedly friendly regent who… is being guarded by Luke and Mileena, who are also in the city. Needless to say, not everyone is telling the truth, there’s some really creepy demon shit going on behind the scenes, and it’s going to have to come down to a lot of sword fighting and magic battles to get out of this one. Fortunately, this is a volume of Slayers, so we have just the right sort of protagonists to carry this off.

In general, Slayers doesn’t really do flashbacks or prequels – at least not in the main series. There’s a separate novel series that has not been licensed that features Lina and Naga the White Serpent having adventures before she first meets Gourry, and those also got their own anime, but for the most part the two never actually connect to each other. So it’s always interesting to hear Lina talk about these sorts of things. Here one of her minor allies is someone she’s worked with before when a city was about to be destroyed, and she allied herself with several others to stop it. Which admittedly does not sound like Lina, but then this is the novel’s Lina. We also get another mention of her mysterious older sister, and her apparent love-that-borders-on-abuse of her younger sibling. Gourry, sensibly, does not pry further into what is clearly a big trauma for Lina, but we as an audience are very curious.

Speaking of minor allies, we also have Luke and Mileena, which makes me ask… what exactly is their purpose in the story? They’re not really filling the ‘replacements for Zelgadis and Amelia’ role, and for that matter it’s puzzling as to why Zelgadis and Amelia were written out in the first place. You get the sense that the author has something in mind for them, but… given that the first arc took 8 books, and was a fairly loose arc to begin with, I suspect it may be a while. We see more of Luke’s self-declared love for Mileena, and her total disinterest in same. Luke’s sort of a muscle-bound hothead, which contrasts nicely with Gourry’s muscle-bound airhead. This especially comes up when we come across the results of another horrific experiment, one which involves a lot of dead children. It would be interesting to see this developed.

And so, having managed to save the day without destroying the city for once, our heroes are free to wander once more… well, after clearing their names and doing the paperwork. Still good, but this felt like a slighter volume than usual in the Slayers series.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

At long last, we are reading Slayers novels that are new to North America… though honestly, sales for the Tokyopop version of later novels in the series were pretty tiny, so I suspect it was new stuff for a lot of readers. This arc also was not adapted into an anime, as they did their own anime-original arc with Slayers Try, a decision not loved by the author, who hated the relationship between Xeloss and golden dragon Filia in particular. Instead, here we see Lina and Gourry, now a twosome again, trying to find a replacement for the late Sword of Light. Sadly, swords like that cannot be found just lying around, and so they’re reduced to chasing after rumors. This leads them to the titular sword, and also to a young girl being menaced by two mercs, two assassins, and seemingly the narrative. Will the sword turn out to be real? Will the sword turn out to be a trap? Will Sean once again spin out 500 words on super short novels that are fun to read but hard to review?

As noted, Lina and Gourry are by themselves at the start of this arc. That said, somehow Amelia and Zelgadis manage to get the biggest laugh in the book, as Gourry’s seeming inability to remember them leads to the illustrator drawing a spectral version of the duo stomping on his head. Instead we’re introduced to two mercenaries who, while they part ways with our heroes at the end of this book, one suspects we’ll be seeing them again soon, if only as they take up far more space on the cover than the supposed victim being attacked. Luke is, to put it bluntly, an asshole, but his heart seems to be in the right place, and honestly, snarking at Lina, the Queen of snark, is something that she could probably use. Mileena is a mage who seems somewhat stoic and mostly is there to be the sensible one and to shoot down Luke’s romantic overtures, though there’s implication that it’s not a complete lost cause.

As for the plot itself, boy, the average life expectancy of anyone in Slayers who is not a main character must be insanely low, and even if you live, you usually end up being homeless, villageless, or cityless. There’s a lot of wholesale destruction here, with villages set on fire, innocent assassins (erm, well, semi-innocent) getting possessed by mystic swords, and a monstrous demon with insane regenerative ability and also the ability to kill folks and keep them in a sort of perpetual zombie state. Good thing Lina has Dragon Slave… which is not good enough this time. And there’s also Gaav Flare, which… no longer works without Gaav, who was killed off in the last volume. Whoops. That said, the way that they do get rid of the big bad at the end is the second funniest part of the book, and also oh so very Lina Inverse.

So yeah, the usual Slayers novel. Good fights, good laughs, lotsa death, super short. Can’t wait for the next one.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

So the title of the last book was Gaav’s Challenge, and as it turns out the challenge for Gaav was living past the first six pages of this book. Instead we get a new big bad, Hellmaster Fibrizio, last seen as the dead little boy Lina and Xellos came across. (You remember, the one where I praised Slayers for showing off how humans are irrelevant in a demon war? My bad.) Because this series has a main heroine rather than a hero, Fibrizio proceeds to kidnap *Gourry* and hold him hostage, forcing Lina and company to journey all the way back to Sairaag to rescue him. But wait, wasn’t Sairaag completely blown up, with everyone in it, in the third book? Yup. But it’s back, and so are all its dead residents. That said, the tree in its center has been replaced with a rather ominous temple. Can Lina save Gourry and defeat Fibrizio without using yet another universe-breaking spell? Eh, probably not.

This novel was adapted into the last chunk of Slayers Next, though readers will note quite a few changes. There is *some* romance here – Sylphiel is in love with Gourry, which is why she returns in this book to try to save him, and she spends much of her time trying to force Lina to admit she loves Gourry so that Sylphiel can move on with her life. Lina does not really do this, occasionally unconsciously realizing she wants Gourry around her, and making up an excuse at the end to keep adventuring with him (even as the rest of the cast break off and goes home), but there is nothing remotely resembling the kiss we got in the anime. Indeed, Gourry, much like the rest of the cast, is irrelevant for the final battle – this has always been Lina’s series, with the others as minor supporting characters, and that’s true here as well – she takes on Fibrizio on her own, though she gets a little possessive help at the end.

Other interesting things: Sairaag being populated by its dead residents, including Sylphiel’s father, is eerie, especially as Lina and Sylphiel can tell they’re fakes, and even THEY know deep down they’re fakes. I’d have liked to have seen a more emotional reaction to this from Sylphiel, but, like Lina, the author shies away from that sort of thing. The Sword of Light takes its leave here, as it turns out to be demonic in origin, so Gourry’s gonna need a new sword (expect this to be the start of the next book). And, as mentioned, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Sylphiel all split at the end, with Amelia returning to Saillune to report to her father (Lina watches the justice-happy Amelia and wishes her older sister is more sensible, a great in joke for those who know the alternate Slayers continuity with Naga the Serpent). Fans of the anime know they’ll all be back for Slayers Try. Fans of Slayers also know that Try was widely despised by the author of the books. Let’s just say, don’t expect them back for a while. (Indeed, I don’t think we ever see Sylphiel again.)

And so we’re now all caught up with the Tokyopop paperbacks from eons ago, the first arc of the series is complete, and we can move on to brand new (in English) content! As for this book, it was a good, solid ending, with a few good gags but mostly relying on battles and suspenseful writing to keep a reader engaged.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Slayers is Lina Inverse’s series, and that goes doubly for the original novels. The story is told from her first-person perspective, and while we’ve had a supporting cast around her for most of the books, I’d argue only Gourry is the one that can’t be replaced… as we’ll find out in a couple book’s time. Thus, it should not particularly be a surprise to find that this one sorcerer is actually on the mind of almost all the demons in the world, being it wanting to kill her as part of some as yet unknown plan, wanting to kill her because the plan is unknown, wanting to kill her because she killed some of their friends earlier, etc., Lina’s got a lot on her plate right now, to the point where “find out why everyone is trying to kill me” is number one on her bucket list. And yet, I’ve got to say, it’s STILL a shocking moment when an elder dragon casually asks Lina if she’s a fragment of the Biggest of Bads in the series, even Lina is shocked. (Note we never find out if this is the truth.)

This may be the most hilariously inappropriate cover art ever. First of all, Slayers does not have a lot of romance in it. Second, almost all the romance it DOES have, including any crushes Amelia might have on Zelgadis, stem from the anime – the author has stated he avoids romance as he’s bad at it. Thirdly, Amelia is actually pretty badass in this book, punching a demon till it explodes, so I’m not sure why we get the “fair maiden” shot here. (Any Amelia fans who were always grumpy about how she was overused for comedy in the anime should definitely check out the novels.) Likewise, Zelgadis does occasionally get angry in this book, particularly when he discovers Xellos’ actual identity and the fact that Lina knew about it, but I can’t see him making this face in the novels ever – like Amelia, he’s simply far more sedate and put together.

The Slayers novels are not exactly what I would call fluffy, but this one in particular is pretty grim, with the city Lina and company are in getting devastated. Early on Lina is hunting down rumors and meets a little thief kid, who lays out some bits of plot for her. He even gets interior art, and I was wondering how he’d show up later on. Then, while fleeing the burning city, she comes across the boy’s body – he’s dead. It’s the sort of thing you rarely see this blatantly in Slayers, but it helps to show off one of the book’s main points – in a battle between demons, humans are irrelevant. When an elder dragon protects Lina from being killed, the demons trying to do it are stunned that he would bother, as humans are there to be meat shields, allies or no. This is a very dangerous world to live in – particularly if you’re Lina.

The next volume wraps up the first major arc in this series, and should be a lot of fun, as our crew tries to defeat Gaav – who I didn’t even mention in my review, despite his being in the title. Plus we’re almost at the books that never came out in English before!

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

We are slowly starting to edge towards an ongoing narrative, even though for the most part these books still try their best to be books that can be read entirely on their own. That’s harder here, as we get the villains from the 2nd and 4th books seemingly teaming up to try to take out Lina… and the others, but mostly Lina. This should not be surprising – as Lina has been going around the countryside wiping out more and more people, even leaving out the Dragon Slave and Giga Slave, she’s attracted a name for herself, and there are a few folks who want her to stop doing that – particularly demons. Unfortunately for them, Lina feels no real need to change any of her habits – she still gleefully goes out bandit hunting at night, and while she can justify it to Amelia as needing traveling funds, there’s no denying that she also does it as she loves beating the shit out of people. Good news for her, then, this book is full of fights.

Zelgadis is on the cover, and those of you know know light novel cover art know what that means. Right – he does very little in this book. The plot involves Zuma, the hired killer from the 4th book, suddenly reappearing saying that he never finished the job he was hired for, mysteriously having two whole arms again, and demanding that Lina travel to Vezendi or innocents will die. Despite the fact that their party is one larger than expected (Xellos is back, and Amelia and Zelgadis are furi… well, actually, no, they take it quite well), they arrive and are hired as guards to a local merchant who Zuma says he’s going to kill. Oh yes, and Seigram, the villain from the SECOND novel, is also back… somewhat randomly… and trying to kill Lina. Do all of these things have a common element? Can Lina avoid getting killed? And can Lina avoided getting savagely roasted by her “friends”?

It is somewhat interesting still to see the differences between the novels and their far better known anime adaptation. I’ve talked before about Lina’s narration, and how she frequently skews things to make herself look better, but it’s actually a bit more than that: her inner thoughts are very cool, logical, and collected, even during a fight. The girl who will explode if you look at her wrong shows up sometimes, but it’s far rare than the anime. Amelia, as well, also feels “cooler”. While she does go on about justice, she is also not above beating the crap out of bandits, and literally says to Lina that if she dies Amelia will loot her corpse. WOW. She’s also far more competent in these books. And Gourry… OK, you’ve got me there, Gourry has been getting dumber by the book, and now appears to have reached anime levels, though he still sometimes steps in as the voice of common sense when needed.

The epilogue is not so much of a cliffhanger as an “ah, there it is”, and it comes as a surprise to no one, least of all Lina. I’m interested to see what happens in the next book, which is the final one in this loose “arc”. That said… these are still books that function more as a tasty snack than as a full meal.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

This book really is starting to feel like the anime series by now, and not just because this is the first book to feature the “main cast” all together. The characterization is getting a bit broader – Gourry is dumber, Amelia is more justice-oriented, etc. I’d say the exception would be Lina, but as we see towards the end of the book, her own narration skews some things to make herself look smarter and savvier than she sometimes is. Zelgadis is back as well, though he’s still sort of the kinder, mellower Zelgadis at this point, at least when a cure for his chimera form is not being discussed. And, of course, as the cover shows, this is the book where we first meet up with a certain mysterious priest – though the volume alternates between “priest” and “monk” – who likes to tell everyone that things are a secret. With Xellos now joining us as well, it feels like the books may be headed for a climax… except they’re still pretty much stand alone.

While beating the crap out of random bandits, Lina, Gourry and Amelia run into a mysterious woman who ends up sealing Lina’s magic, then tells them to follow her to a nearby city, where it turns out there is a satanic cult! OK, it’s the Slayers equivalent of Satan, Shabranigdu, but still. Unfortunately, after another altercation, Amelia is captured and Gourry vanishes, leaving Lina on her own trying to meet back up with them again – and to kill the woman who sealed her magic, as that’s what will break the seal. She gets help on this end from Xellos, who is looking for a rumored copy of the legendary Claire Bible. As is Zelgadis, who’s also wandering around. Everything converges on the cult, who, as it turns out, are resurrecting the legendary Zanaffar, which turns out to be both a monster… and also not.

These books are still very short, so there’s not much room for characterization or plot development. Indeed, one grumble I had is that, after being set up as the Big Bad of the book, the woman who sealed Lina’s magic is killed casually, offscreen, by Xellos and never mentioned again. You get the sense that these books were very much written on the fly, without going back and checking on things. They’re still fun, though, with lots of big battles and dangerous moments for our heroes. Zel/Amelia shippers won’t get much from this book, as they barely interact, though they do seem to get along better than their anime selves. Lina/Gourry shippers don’t get much more, but after getting into an argument (and Lina hitting Gourry with a bedroom slipper she stuck into her backpack just so she could hit Gourry with it) Amelia tells them to stop it with the Couples Therapy. Which is cute.

Oddly, by the end of the book Xellos remains merely “a mysterious priest”, albeit a very powerful and suspicious one. I’m sure that will change. In any case, an9ime fans will be happy to see a lot of what drove slayers Next popping up here, and light novels fans will enjoy a relatively snack-sized action series.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

The first three volumes of Slayers are filled with humor and wackiness, but they are also very, very dark, with the third one ending in the destruction of an entire city and everyone in it. It often feels like a fantasy version of Dirty Pair, with Lina and Gourry accidentally spreading chaos as they go from town to town. This volume, which introduces another one of our “regulars” (I use the word in quotes because everyone in the novels except Lina and Gourry tends to be mostly absent half the time.) also features a lot of dead bodies, and has Lina almost die at least three times, to the point where her waking up in a hospital bed is almost a running gag. Despite that… this feels like an attempt at a lighter, fluffier volume of Slayers. Sure, there’s assassination attempts on royalty, assassination attempts on Lina, betrayal, and lots of death… but any book with Prince Phil and Amelia in it is by definition lighter. Even if Amelia feels a bit odd at first.

When this book was first published, both in Japan and North America, it had a much more serious cover, featuring Lina and Gourry. But J-NC has licensed the updated reissues, and they know what readers want, and so we get Amelia pointing at us for justice. As for the plot, Lina, Gourry and Sylphiel arrive in Saillune and are caught up in a royal struggle, as someone is trying to kill Prince Phil. Lina, who has met the prince before, is underwhelmed, but she and Gourry quickly agree to help him try to resolve things, despite the fact that his brother seemingly has a mage on his side who can do all sorts of lethal things to our heroine. But how many “sides” are there in this battle? And why would the villain be trying to kill Lina personally as well?

As stated, Amelia shows up here for the first time, and seems… surprisingly savvy and clever. Honestly, it feels like her characterization takes a step back as the book goes on, with the author realizing on the fly that she’s funnier when she’s goofier, hence the additional cries of justice and the pratfall towards the end. The book is funny, though sometimes it’s not as funny as it would like to be – the way Sylphiel is written out of the book is simply dumb, no two ways about it. I was also very impressed at the traps that are created for Lina in the book, with the endless corridor you can’t get out of (which Lina promptly does), the evil bug that nearly succeeds in annihilating Lina and puts her in the hospital, and an assassin that really, really wants to kill her. We do get some reasons as to why this is happening towards the end, but a lot of it is still vague, and no doubt will be examined in the next book.

This book is very 1990s at times, and “ha ha, it’s funny because he’s not handsome!” is not the laff riot it’s meant to be, but this was a very solid Slayers, and introduces one of my favorite regulars, even if she’s not quite cooked characterization-wise. Next time we’ll meet another regular, a certain “priest”, and things should get even more chaotic.

By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Like virtually every English-speaking fan, I was exposed to Slayers via the anime long before Tokyopop put out the novels way back when, and also long long before J-Novel Club rescued them. This means that more than anything else, I am surprised at how short and plot-heavy these books are, having absolutely no time for anything that would count as a breather. The author’s afterword in this book talks about the fact that he frequently sketches out hints of backstory that he then never gets into, because doing so would “make the world smaller”. Which is a very fantasy author way of thinking, I suppose, but it also means that character development and depth take a backseat. No one suffers more from that here than Sylphiel, the newly introduced priestess, who gets to be nice, have a seeming crush on Gourry, and that’s about it. Now, to be fair, that’s all she was in the anime too, but at least it took 8-9 episodes to show us that.

The book starts badly, in misogynist fantasy “of Gor” territory, with Lina and Gourry captured by some goons who decide to rape her, and Gourry convincing them not to by implying Lina has syphilis. It’s meant to be funny, but isn’t. It turns out that EVERYONE is after them lately, as there’s a wanted poster with their faces, as well as Zelgadis, on it… and the bounty for their capture is being paid by Rezo the Red Priest. Which is a surprise to Lina, who killed him in the first book. Getting of the bottom of things takes them to the woods outside Sairaag, a city that was destroyed in the legendary past but has now recovered and is a bustling metropolis. They meet up with Lantz (remember Lantz? From Book 2?) and a bounty hunter named Eris, as well as Sylphiel, who Gourry had met previously in an adventure that is frustratingly never explained to us. Can they escape the Red Priest again? And is this really him?

There are some strengths here. Sometimes the humor does work – there’s a wonderful part where Lina and Gourry fend off a fishman by simply changing their clothes, as Lina says they can’t tell humans apart… then she fails to recognize Lantz because he now has a beard. Rezo – if that is who this really is – makes a suitably creepy villain, especially at the end, and the artwork showing him off is horrifying. And the reveal of another villain is pretty well handled and surprising. Unfortunately, the book’s shortness as well as its deliberate avoidance of depth means that other things meant to be tragic and horrifying just aren’t. Our heroes never enter Sairaag or see anyone in it, so its destruction – again – lacks any impact, especially as Sylphiel recovers pretty fast from the loss of everything she’s ever known. It desperately needs fleshing out, something that anime actually did… well, not much, but at least they actually go to the city!

Basically, more modern fantasies have spoiled me for character depth, and Slayers can sometimes seem lacking as a result. This is the danger of iconic series who have been imitated a bit too much. In the meantime, for those anime viewers wondering where Amelia was during all this, well, the anime swapped book 4 and 3. Which means next time we get to see both Amelia AND Phil, something that makes me happy no matter how short and outline-ish the book ends up being.