/cel/ - Retro Anime & Manga

OOOHOHOHO

OOOHOHOHO

>>1044
why is she trying to smuggle grapefruits in her bra?

>>1044
>>1045
>>1046
>>1047
so this is the might of kodachi

post Lina eating food

>>1051
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this.

sip

>>1048
Reverse, her grapefruits are smuggling bras

post moar Lina

>>1056
What a stylish witch.

You fucks could have said something earlier about the great comedic pacing.

>>1058
isn't it better to find out for yourself?

>>1059
Probably, it was a nice surprise that's for sure.

I'm about to finish the original series, is slayer next as good?

>>1061
better
next is peak slayers

>>1062
Nice looking forward to it.

as a kid i picked up all my mannerisms from xellos

I used to watch this as a kid! I remember hurrying home not to miss an episode.

>>1044
Finally getting around to watching Slayers. I remember reading a post on /a/ that really brought my attention to the anime (which itself was a quote from an anon on /vr/) who said:

>"I feel The Slayers is in that weird place that casual anime fans don't know it but hardcore fans thinks it casual. At least that's been my experience."

And the thread itself was an interesting look at how this anime (and many others) went from being incredibly popular entry level choices in the 90s to basically being unknown to the average anime watcher, meanwhile things like Eva and Bebop continue to be popular with a lot of people. So I really wanted to watch it to see what the fuss was all about all those years ago and now I'm finally getting around to it.

I decided to go with the dub for the show, mostly because I imagine a lot of western fans did as well and hearing some classic 4kids VA's is pretty fun even if the dub itself is somewhat lackluster (although, it works for how comedic it is). I'm very happy that Slayers isn't episodic and has an overarching story, not that I would've found the episodic nature to be bad, but I was honestly getting tired of episodic shows from the few I've been watching this year.

So far, it's hard to really gauge how much I like it. I enjoyed it at the start, found myself laughing at jokes and enjoying the character dynamics and the journey they were having, but the past few episodes (I'm on Episode 10 right now) have struggled to keep my attention. I'm not sure if I'm just bad at focusing right now or if it's not as good as I first though, but I do hope it improves a bit. Character wise, I enjoy Lina and Gowry, but do sort of wish there were more people in their party. Zell has been a decent addition but it still feels as if everyone isn't really interacting as much as they could. I'm sure it'll get better as I watch it though, hell I've got like 5 seasons and 10 movies left to get into the world.

I'm also quite surprised how the dub has been pretty accurate to the sub, the "Can you make me a Cheeseburger" line came out of nowhere and was NOT in the original script, but it made me laugh so I'll forgive it and so far that's been the only significant change I've heard so far. I'm surprised a lot of the "time of the month" stuff was kept in, guess they didn't have a reason to not dub it.

The quality of the bluray is dreadful though, I'm not sure how this happened but it really does look bad. From what I gather these are based off the Spanish DVD's or something? Hell, I'd take 480p over upscaled 480p but I guess it's not *all* bad.

I'm hoping it does improve a bit, I'm enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would. Perhaps the slow nature of the first season is setting everything up for later on, or perhaps I'll just have to get into the groove for it. Either way, I'll get through the whole thing over the coming months and post my thoughts here whenever possible.

P.S: Checking that thread I discussed at the beginning on the archives, and I found this in there: http://www.angelfire.com/realm/phoenixfire/slayers.html

>>1067
Well, I finished Slayers and after all this time of wondering how good it could be, I'm somewhat surprised at how average it was (on the good side of average though). In the end I liked it, but I thought that it would be better, I'm sure NEXT will be a better part as I've been told it's the peak of Slayers.

I liked how by the end we had a party of five, I felt that was a good number for the show as having just Lina and Gourry was a bit boring even if they played each other off well. I was surprised by the final few episodes since you've basically got a mid 90s JRPG that's been given a Pokémon-esque anime in terms of feeling and structure only for people to fucking die and Lina nearly dying too. It honestly felt a lot more darker and it's a shame Slayers couldn't have been a good mix of this instead of 80% fun and 20% serious.

I really don't have much to say honestly, I just wanted to post about how I finished the first season for some discussion but overall I just enjoy Slayers and think it's good. Onto Next anyhow, hoping it truly is the peak of Slayers.

>>1067
>went from being incredibly popular entry level choices in the 90s to basically being unknown to the average anime watcher
It's called not being memorable.

It was popular because it was one of the bigger productions in it's time. Not because it was breaking any kind of ground.
Only reason to watch Slayers today is for nostalgia and analyzing it's production values.

A similar think happens to Lodoss War, except that the owners of the IP push it to this day so people have some passing awareness of it.

>The quality of the bluray is dreadful though, I'm not sure how this happened but it really does look bad. From what I gather these are based off the Spanish DVD's or something?
Many anime blurays are rather subpar. For some series like Ghost in the Shell there's HDTV rips, but it's not always the case.

Well, I'm 13 episodes through Next and I feel very similar about it. It's good, quite fun but nothing incredible. The new characters can be fun. Martina has been pretty great so far even if she kinda has three jokes, and Xellos has been an interesting character even if he doesn't really do much but be in the background. I'm also glad we've got a party of four right now, you'd think Zelgadis would hate traveling with Lina and would do whatever he can't to avoid it but he sticks around for the Claire bible and probably because he likes Amelia as well (not gonna get into shipping territory, but interesting to see the anime somewhat show some relationships brewing here between characters).

I'm glad the anime continues to make me laugh. The line with Kira where she was making the potion to fix Lina's magic and had to ask her how to read an item on a list really got to me, and even the small things like Amelia praying to Shabranigdo and using Zelgadis as an anchor during the fishing episode. Zelgadis must fucking hate his life right now when you think about it, guy just wants to cure his condition and has to deal with three idiots and Xellos (who tore up an apparent "useless" piece of paper) appearing out of nowhere to be annoying during multiple episodes, as well having to fight powerful monsters along the way and fix any problem the gang decides is their problem as well. On the flip side, Gourry feels like he's just kinda had nothing to do, just following Line around and helping her out instead of having a goal to work towards, would be nice if he could learn a small spell or two to be a bit different (Levitation would help).

While the anime does sometimes feel boring, I do find it to be fun. I could easily imagine watching and enjoying this tons as a kid (much like Pokémon or Yugioh) and it's a shame this was never really on TV when I was young since I would've loved it as a kid. I guess the plots don't really grab me very much and the few times an interesting aspect occurs (such as Lina losing her spells, or "dying" during the final fights) it only lasts for a short period of time. Speaking of final fights, the fight in episode 13 was actually really cool, having a monster fight through dimensions and having to see our heroes dodge impossibly quick moves was really cool. I'll give it to Slayers, it can have some really unique ideas for how generic it kinda is.

Anyhow, onto the 2nd half of Next. I just checked episode 14 and it has Lina and Amelia in a swimsuit, seems like it'll be fun!

PS: Can't believe how close we were to seeing Pickle Gourry. It truly would've been the funniest shit I ever saw.

>>1069
>It's called not being memorable.
Fair enough, just surprising that people don't seem to talk about it enough to make it be a staple of 90s anime for people who may ask about it.
>Only reason to watch Slayers today is for nostalgia and analyzing it's production values.
Yeah, I feel that. It's nothing incredible and even as I watch more of Next I find it to be "okay". I do hope it somehow becomes really good and interesting by the final few episodes but I'll just have to see.
>Many anime blurays are rather subpar.
This is the first one I've really felt this from, it looks good from afar but when you're basically watching it on a computer screen it's very noticeable. Especially confusing with how great the movies look.

What a cool Aim for the Ace reference, never thought I'd see something like this here.

>>1070
It is the peak of pre digital 90s aesthetics.

As an anime to me it's kind of a precursor to early digital fem led comedies. Saber Marionette J, Nadesico, Excel Saga etc. Though those are obviously deteriorated versions of the theme. I wouldn't recommend any of them unless you are into lazy lol random totally-not-harem stuff.

I can recommend a few of it's contemporaries. Lodoss War may not be good but it's really nice to watch if you are into the style.

But in truth, all the good animation in the pre digital era was consigned to OVAs (movies or one season stuff like Bubblegum Crisis. Watch Bubblegum Crisis.) or mainstream shonen/seinen megaproductions ie ranma. You'll be hard pressed to find good series that aren't a cliche fest that hides it through eye candy.

People tend to forget how young modern serialized anime standards are. I mean character dynamics, tropes, comedy. Stuff from 91, 92, 93 looks more in place with 80s trends. And not to diss 80s animated serials, but they were some of the cheapest stuff you could find, their one good thing was the line art, which in my opinion few 90s or modern series can measure to, but 80s OVAs had great line art too and were better in general.

I think the cut off year for most people's tolerance would be 94. Anything before will be hard to watch. And Slayers, having nothing to innovate with, shows it's age.

>This is the first one I've really felt this from
Lesson of the day: Small Japanese companies can be incredibly scummy. Specially when subcontracted as they won't even bother to get their hands on the original masters (or worse, be denied access).

A proper pre digital 720p or 1080p should be looking clean like this, DVD rip quality iirc: https://archive.org/details/zeta-gundam-720p-eng-sub/Z+Gundam/Zeta+Gundam+-+Ep+01+-+The+Black+Gundam.mp4
You can see the dust in the cels and the light reflecting between layers. That's a GOOD thing.

>>1070
Well I finished Next, and you know what. It was quite good. Slayers can have its low points but it really can up the stakes right at the end, especially when you're watching this lighthearted adventure for a majority of it, only to see Lina kill a undead child, Xellos screaming as he loses an arm and Phibrizo killing all of the supporting cast one by one with no effort. It's stuff like this that really makes Slayers feel a bit different since it's always the light hearted comedy for the most part until someone REALLY wants to fuck shit up.

It reminded me slightly of Yu Yu Hakusho near the end, unstoppable forces that the main characters need to defeat with both Phibrizo and Gaav reminding me of Toguro a bit. I liked that about them, they were surprisingly ruthless and seeing character just get brutally hurt or die was actually quite shocking. Especially when you've seen them hit a wall or be knocked out before, only for blood to start spewing from them now. I enjoyed Gaav a lot and wished he stuck around longer, seeing him die to Phibrizo was a little underwhelming (would've preferred if Lina's Gigaslave was "delayed") but they had to introduce the real antagonist so I'm not fussed.

Episode wise, I do very much enjoy the episodes that didn't relate to the main plot much at all. The tennis episode, the episode with the all female city and the doll episode were really cool and some great episodes on the side, but once it started to pick up and fights with the demon lords became more common I began to really enjoy it more.

Character wise, I liked them all pretty much, they continue to be great. Was very fun to see Sylphiel and Zangulus come back, and actually felt a chill down my spine when that guy appeared after Gourry was turned against the party, never thought I'd see him again and working with the heroes. My only complaint was that I would've liked it if the supporting cast didn't feel as useless as they did. Sure, Lina is meant to save the day but I would've preferred everyone being able to go toe-to -toe with the demon lords only for them to really show their true power. I would've liked it if Martina was some sort of wildcard who could turn a situation around once or twice with Zoamelgustar even if it is made up, she did will a curse into actually working so having *some* form to Zoamelgustar would've been interesting through her own psychosis, in particular with how people would have no fucking clue how to react to it. But I guess I'm just a sucker for comic relief characters proving they're more than they are so I always say this about them.

I love the music in the anime as well, it sounded very similar to Pokémon in a lot of the tracks, but I guess listening to the dub also doesn't help separate the two much for me. Hearing the heroically comedic "Only To Go Ahead Believing Myself" track as the heroes walk around discussing mundane things, or "The Door Of The Battle" as fights are about to begin to really pump you up or hell just hearing the Dragon Slave music is just great. I can tell a lot of effort went into the music so I'm glad for that.

Overall, Next was definitely better than the previous season and can see why people call it the peak, it does suffer from a few boring parts and overall "generic-ness" of the show can't be denied, but it has charm and is enjoyable if you're up for it. Next up is Try (or possibly the movie, I haven't decided) but at that point I'm not sure if it'd be cool to talk about them since they go beyond the pre-2000s defined era, might just make one final post in a month or so when I'm done with the whole series about my thoughts.

>>1072
>I can recommend a few of it's contemporaries. Lodoss War may not be good but it's really nice to watch if you are into the style.
It's on the PTW, I'll get around to it one day. I imagine it's a lot more serious though.
>all the good animation in the pre digital era was consigned to OVAs (movies or one season stuff like Bubblegum Crisis. Watch Bubblegum Crisis.)
True! I've seen BGC and it's really good. OVA's really were amazing back in the 80s, so much animation was put into them and it's a shame you don't see it much anymore.
>I think the cut off year for most people's tolerance would be 94. Anything before will be hard to watch.
What do you mean animation wise or general quality wise? People wouldn't find the animation appealing enough to watch or the general tone/characters/plots?
>Lesson of the day: Small Japanese companies can be incredibly scummy. Specially when subcontracted as they won't even bother to get their hands on the original masters (or worse, be denied access).
I just assumed they were lost or something, a shame it was just scummy companies handling the Blu-rays.

>>1074
> I imagine it's a lot more serious though.
It's pretty much a straightforward D&D campaign. Suffers from a the same "nothing new" problem Slayers have, but it can be peak comfy.

>and it's a shame you don't see it much anymore.
The digital revolution destroyed animation in all countries sadly. That's not to say -nobody- tries. I'm sorta a pretentious ITS CALLED SEQUENTIAL ART fag but even I recognize Kimetsu No Yaiba looks quite good. But in general be it USA, France or Japan, 2d animation has gone under. Japan is famous for cutting corners while still making their animation look good. But in recent years it's been less "cutting corners" and more "removing the foundation". I'm still mad the Jinjo Ito's Souichi anime looked so bad

>What do you mean animation wise or general quality wise?
Content wise, unless you are watching really cheap children's series or sleazy stuff, the animation's tolerable.
It escapes my knowledge of old japanese pop culture, so I'm only speculating here. But I think 80s anime tries to emulate japanese TV in some ways. Angles, dialogue, humor, etc. Which makes it look as dated as the actual TV shows are, and it's a 80s only phenomenon, because even 70s anime could get quite experimental at times. But again I'm just speculating

here's an example of what I'm talking about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebs4FuzlOSM
Not a bad concept, not bad art. But boy designs and script are braindead.

>I just assumed they were lost or somethin
It's analog media so they'd rarely be lost. The "production masters are 480p" problem is an early digital thing.

Well, I finished Try a few days ago and I really have nothing more to add to my Slayers opinions. I thought Try was fine honestly, a step down from Next but it's to be expected, at this point Lina is pretty powerful so nothing can stop her.

I liked Filia's character for being someone who felt like she was out of her league when dealing with Lina and co, as well as Xellos who seemed to be putting on a much more evil personality which I enjoyed. I also enjoyed Jillas but wish he was given a bit more time with the good guys and wasn't just pushed aside as another joke character. The new world they were in being based around gunpowder over magic, I sort of wish we saw more of it and it was a bit more lethal to the protags.

Beyond that I really don't know what to say, Try feels the same as Next and the original Slayers, maybe it's just fatigue from watching 60~ episodes of the same kind of premise. There doesn't seem to be anything new or that interesting in Try.

I've moved onto the movies and OVAs now, Naga is a very fun character and it's a shame she's only in these movies and I'm assuming OVA's.

>>1075
>Suffers from a the same "nothing new" problem Slayers have, but it can be peak comfy.
Yeah that's how I feel about them, if I was watching this as a kid I'm sure I'd love it a lot but as an adult I've kinda seen it all before but I still enjoy it for the comfy adventure it gives off.

>The digital revolution destroyed animation in all countries sadly.
Yeah, it's a real shame. Seeing some of the animation and art in the movies (in 1080p) is amazing, it's a real shame this isn't attempted anymore. I'm not even sure if there are Japanese autists out there giving us one off animation in a hand drawn style. You just don't see it anymore since digital is so much easier.

>But I think 80s anime tries to emulate japanese TV in some ways. Angles, dialogue, humor, etc.
I never really saw that until you pointed it out, but you're right. Perhaps by the time the 80s rolled around a lot of directors/animators were spending their time watching TV and copying it, as opposed to the 70s where I imagine a lot of the animators/directors were spending their time doing other things that didn't involve TV (perhaps watching western movies or something), but again that's also just me speculating.

>The "production masters are 480p" problem is an early digital thing.
A shame, I think Akagi was a digital production in 480p so we'll never get a higher resolution for that show.

Is there a reason why Naga wasn't allowed to exist in Next or at least introduced in Try?
I know I'm going out of this sites boundaries by mentioning Revolution and Evolution-R, since those are past the year 2000 but she at least is referenced and introduced as a new character in those.
Was there some mandate or rule that Naga couldn't be directly referenced in the main television series during the 90's?

Next > Try > Slayers > Evolution-R = Revolution

Slayers was the very first anime I got to watch in Japanese as well as Lina being my first waifu. I remember trying to sing the opening and ending all the time in my room. My family didn't realize the VHS tape they bought me was in Japanese and even tried to get rid of it which I didn't allow to happen. I fought them and said I loved that tape and enjoyed every last bit of it. I still have that exact first vol. VHS of Slayers in Japanese to this very day.

>>1062
Lina is in on the smuggling grapefruits racket

>>1076
I feel like saying there's a "nothing new" feeling about Slayers in 2022 is like saying there's a "nothing new" feeling about Seinfeld in 2022.

It's not really Slayers' fault it set the tone for light-hearted fantasy anime up to and past the Narou boom but isn't yet old enough to feel novel, like 70s stuff or the 80s bubble OVA scene.

>>1080
4 months late, but I might as well respond for some activity (since I just saw this reply now).

>I feel like saying there's a "nothing new" feeling about Slayers in 2022 is like saying there's a "nothing new" feeling about Seinfeld in 2022.
I didn't say that about Slayers in general, I said that about Try specifically. I enjoyed Slayers but found Try to be lackluster because Next pretty much created a scenario where the stakes were so high and Lina was incredibly close to breaking point that it was actually very satisfying to watch and see how it would end up.

Try on the other-hand felt like something that should've happened *before* Next. Lina is even more stupidly powerful than before and with an apparent God inside her that she supposedly call when she is close to complete defeat just means that nothing can defeat her.

I enjoyed Slayers and Next a lot. It was Try that I thought wasn't as good.

>>1078
Did the tape even come with subtitles or were you literally just watching Slayers in moonspeak?

>>1083
How similar is this to Slayers anyhow? It's another one of those 90s anime I wanted to give a watch.

>>1084 Couldn't tell you, haven't watched more than 10 minutes into the first episode for Slayers. Been meaning to get around to actually starting the series.

If you ever do give Tenchi Muyo a watch though, definitely start with the first two Ryo-Ohki OVAs, and if you end up liking those check out the TV series.

Character backgrounds and overarching plot are different for the two OVAs and the show but if you're just interested in great character interactions there's plenty of that to go around.