Anime reviews: Super Slayers edition

Slayers has been around for a long time and I’ve always been something of a fan of it. Now I’ve seen the main TV series, and that was easy to get, but the OVAs have always eluded me for various reasons. Usually I’d only get to see them if at a convention. Over the last few years, I managed to finally find all of them, and get them all in one pile of anime to watch. Some of these I have seen, some I have not.

This is less of an actual review, and more of a treat for myself, as well as possibly a guide for anyone who wants to watch the OVA/movie side of the Slayers franchise. Or at least tune in for Naga’s top-tier ojou-sama laugh. We all know she’s the master of it. What’s better than Naga laughing? Eleven Nagas laughing.

Lina may have small boobs and no cleavage but she’s clearly not tsurupettan. She has at least enough for a handful going on. I’d play with ‘em. By anime standards, or when standing next to Naga or Amelia, I guess they’re small. In terms of direct comparison to actual people, Lina’s boobs are realistic. Meanwhile, we have characters like Konata from Lucky Star. Now that girl is flat, but she doesn’t get worked up over it. She wears that flatness like a badge of honor.

The theme songs of the OVAs, movies, and the main TV series have stood the test of time. Perhaps nostalgia has something to do with it, but I’ve found that nostalgia can’t save everything. It usually doesn’t. And yet, I can listen to songs like “Midnight Blue”, “Nemurenai Yoru Wa” and “Run All the Way” and still feel somewhat pumped up.

Maybe there’s a proper order to watch these in. I don’t think it really matters. These have always been about the Lina/Naga dynamic with no over-arching plots connecting them. As for where these take place in the larger Slayers continuity, most of these (except for Premium) take place before the TV series.

Slayers Excellent
Slayers Special
Slayers Perfect
Slayers Return
Slayers Great
Slayers Gorgeous
Slayers Premium

Anime reviews of 2022

What makes an anime good or bad? Is it the story? The writing? The art? The content? Maybe it’s something you just don’t agree with. Maybe it triggers a bad memory, in which case you’re excused. I’ve certainly been there.

The context of when, where, and how an anime is viewed is important. A good movie or show that’s shoved down your throat will tend to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Or if watching it requires unbearable conditions, you’ll be reminded of that stain every time said show gets mentioned.

On the other hand, if a truly awful anime is presented in the right circumstances, it’ll be remembered that much more fondly. If you’re going to watch bad anime, or bad anything, watch it with good friends. I mean, if you think about it, that’s the whole point of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and the theater showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show. You’re not there to enjoy something good, you’re there to celebrate how bad it was by making fun of it.

Anime in general requires a healthy suspension of disbelief in the first place. Bad anime, however you might define it, requires a really strong suspension of disbelief, and for many people, they just can’t. I, however, have a suspension of disbelief beyond that of most people.

But sometimes, the shows you remember the most, are the ones that get to you somehow. They say something you didn’t know you needed to hear.

Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko
Don’t Lose, Makendo!
Trouble Chocolate
Sentimental Journey
Ghost Talker’s Daydream
Lunar Legend Tsukihime
Samurai: Hunt for the Sword
Magical Play

Ain’t gonna lie, I’ve been busy the past bunch of months. Getting one car fixed, then the other one, getting my vaccines done, and all kinds of fucking around. Sometimes it’s more important than watching anime, and that’s just what being an adult is about. Eventually I gotta stop, decompress, get my Vitamin Anime, and chill out so I don’t go crazy. Everything in moderation including moderation.

Shit happens, and you gotta keep up with it. Therein lies the secret to making adulthood tolerable: Leveling up faster than life. And adults face a lot of work, and most of it is unnecessary. You have to figure out which work is actually important and stick with that. Gotta pick your battles.

This list might be shorter than in previous articles, but this also doesn’t include the current anime I’ve been keeping up with. Oh yeah, I should also add this bit of information: The .avi files encoded in XVID from 15-20 years ago? Those do not do well on a 4K display. Just sayin’.

Petite Princess Yucie
Saint October
Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn
Natsuki Crisis!
Mamotte Shugogetten
Ground Defense Force Mao-chan
High Guardian Spice (dropped)
World of Narue
Yamibou: Darkness, the Hat, and the Travelers of the Books

In case you haven’t figured it out, I’ve been an anime fan for a long time, since the mid 1990s. I still watch anime. I’m the adult now and I get to decide what that means and that means I’m going to watch whatever anime I feel like. Sure, it’s great to be caught up on the latest shows as they air each week, but have you ever stumbled across an old and semi-obscure show and really got into it? Similarly, an old show that you’ve been meaning to get around to watching, and you wondered why you waited all this time? I like finding hidden gems like that.

There’s lots of old anime out there. Some of it is more popular. For example, everyone knows about Studio Ghibli for one simple reason: They make good anime. They know what they’re doing. Nausicaa? Totoro? Kiki’s Delivery Service? Castle in the Sky? Good stuff, anyone can watch it. That kind of popularity means that almost every anime fan across the the world has seen something from them, many became fans of Studio Ghibli specifically, and in turn that means some will become bigger fans than others. That comes with a cost in the form of a few who take it too far, the self-proclaimed snobs and gatekeepers. You know, That Guy. We’ve all encountered That Guy in some way or another. The names, faces, times, and locales change, but you know who I’m talking about: That Guy, that self-appointed expert.

I ain’t gonna lie, I used to be the snob, I used to be the gatekeeper. I used to be That Guy. I quit that because it helped nobody, got me nothing, and took me nowhere. I decided that hill was not mine to die on. Nobody will get anywhere if all they do is stand around being the gatekeeper. When I stopped trying to decide for others what anime was good, and came to terms with my own tastes and inclinations, my own enjoyment of anime soared.

What I’m saying is, if some folks would take the five goddamn minutes to calm down and stop offering to toss Hayao Miyazaki’s salad, FIVE FUCKING MINUTES, they would see that there’s a lot of anime out there that doesn’t need the Studio Ghibli name plastered all over it to be good. Sure, there’s a lot of crappy anime out there too, but finding good anime also means watching crap, because for some people (such as myself), a lot of shows that get dismissed by others as crap, is what I like to watch. I’d rather watch dumb crappy anime than stand guard at a gate that nobody gives half a ratfuck about, and I’m certainly not going to heed the orders of a snob with less authority than a fired mall cop. Anime is meant to be enjoyed, not fought over.

Five minutes, for fuck’s sake.

Galaxy Fraulein Yuna
SoulTaker
Nurse Witch Komugi (DVD re-watch)
My Bride is a Mermaid (Seto no Hanayome)
Eiken (BD re-watch)
Ayane’s High Kick
Battle Skipper
Magical Kanan/Canan
Jungle De Ikou!
Photon: Idiot Adventures

I like anime. I like it for all the goofy weirdness it’s capable of that wouldn’t be possible in any other medium. Anime has a lot of freedom as a result. One of those freedoms is that it doesn’t have to make sense all the time. It doesn’t have to be perfect all the time either. Some shows are going to be better than others and I learned it’s better to not worry about that.

Y’see, I look at it this way: My bill-paying job has me working with stuff that could kill me or make me wish it did. The kind of stuff that if a couple ounces splashes on someone’s hands or feet, their only chance of survival involves quick use of a tourniquet and a Sawzall. Or the kind of stuff that if breathed in, it basically deep-fries the lungs almost instantly. Or chemicals that don’t get to me right away but will make sure I don’t make it to retirement. Bad fucking shit with no chill. The only way to work with those kinds of chemicals is to NOT lose one’s shit over it. I handle it by being careful and paying attention to what I’m doing so I don’t suffer a miserable death. That’s worked perfectly so far. If I don’t lose my shit over that, then I’m certainly not going to lose my shit over whether an anime turns out to be good or not. To be sure, when I first got into anime, I had a much different mindset and stronger opinions about anime. But that was a long time ago and back then I was also working at a different job, one that wasn’t actively trying to kill me.

Priorities and perspectives, yo.

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