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Review - Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy - Psychotherapy... mentalhelp.net |
For other uses, see Slayer (disambiguation).
Slayers (スレイヤーズ Sureiyāzu) is a series of over 50 light novels written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. It was later developed into several manga titles, five televised anime series, two three-episode original video animations (OVAs), and five movies. It also spanned three console role-playing games for the PlayStation, as well as one for the Super Famicom (known internationally as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Slayers is a Dungeons & Dragons inspired narrative that follows the adventures of the young sorceress Lina Inverse and her companions as they journey through their world.[1][2] Using powerful magic and swordsmanship they battle overreaching wizards, demons seeking to destroy the world, dark lords, and the occasional hapless gang of bandits.
[edit] CharactersMain article: List of Slayers characters [edit] Setting and magicIn the Slayers universe the Lord of Nightmares is the ultimate being. The Claire Bible states that if the worlds are destroyed and returned to chaos, the Lord of Nightmares can return to its true form. On each of these worlds are gods (shinzoku, lit. "godly race") and demons (Mazoku, lit. "evil race"), fighting without end. Should the gods win the war in a world, that world will be at peace. Should the demons win, the world will be destroyed and returned to Chaos. In Lina's world, the supreme god is the Red Dragon God "Flare Dragon" Ceiphied, and the supreme demon is the Dark Lord "Ruby-Eye" Shabranigdo. Long ago, the 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 sealing them within human souls. As the souls are reincarnated, the individual fragments would therefore be worn down until Shabranigdo himself would be destroyed. However, Ceiphied was so exhausted by this that he himself sank into the Sea of Chaos, leaving four parts of himself and his soul 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 (Aqualord). Ultimately, the piece of Shabranigdo won, but Aqualord, using the last remnants of her power, froze and sealed him within the Kataart mountains. Nevertheless, Shabranigdo's lieutenants escaped and remained at liberty, sealing a part of the world within a magical barrier, through which only Mazoku could pass. There are three types of Magic within the Slayers universe. Black Magic spells call directly on the powers of the Mazoku, such as the Dragon Slave (originally "Dragon Slayer", the name was corrupted over time), and are capable of causing enormous damage. White Magic spells are drawn from the caster's own life force and used for healing or protection. Shamanistic Magic is focused on manipulation and alteration of the natural world such as Raywing and Fireball, as well as the Astral Plane including Elmekia Lance. The greatest Astral spell is the Ra-Tilt (La Tilte?), a spell of devastating power when used against a spiritual being, such as a Mazoku, and equal in power to the Dragon Slave(see above). Above all other magic, however, and of its nature used purely for destruction, are spells drawing power from the Lord of Nightmares. Two spells of this class are the Ragna Blade (also known as Laguna Blade), capable of "cutting through anything", and the Giga Slave, capable of killing any opponent, but which could destroy the world if the spell is miscast. [edit] Media[edit] Light Novels
Slayers was originally serialized in Dragon Magazine in 1989 as a Light Novel series written by Hajime Kanzaka, and with artwork by Rui Araizumi.[3] The serialized chapters were then published as Slayers across 15 volumes from January 25, 1990 to May 15, 2000.[4][5] On September 7, 2004, Tokyopop began releasing the light novels in English.[6] On January 2, 2008, they released Volume 8.[7]
[edit] Manga
In July 1998, Central Park Media announced they had licensed the manga for distribution in North America.[8] On June 15, 1999, Slayers: Medieval Mayhem was released.[9] The 4 volume series Slayers Special was published between October 12, 2002, and June 25, 2003 [10][11] Super-Explosive Demon Story, a 7 volume series, followed Between July 9, 2002 and December 1, 2004.[12][13] Finally, On July 5, 2005, Slayers Premium was released.[14] Between July 26, 2008 and March 2009, a new series entitled Slayers Light Magic began serialisation in Kadokawa Shoten's Kerokero Ace. The series is written by Yoshijirō Muramatsu and Shin Sasaki, and set in a technological world instead of a fantasy world.[15][16] [edit] AnimeMain article: List of Slayers episodes The first of the four seasons of the anime bore the franchise's title. The second season was titled Slayers NEXT, and the third season was titled Slayers TRY. A fourth season, Slayers AGAIN, was rumored following the success of TRY, but early scheduling conflicts caused interest in the project to dissipate.[17] The series was released in North America by Software Sculptors, who released the first series on VHS and Laserdisc in 1996, with a choice of dub or subtitles.[18] Four volumes were made, covering the first thirteen episodes. Episodes 14-26 weren't released until 1998. Slayers NEXT was released on VHS from April 1999 in subtitled and English dubbed options. A boxset of the first four volumes was released in July 1999, and a boxset of the second four volumes was released in October of the same year.[19] Slayers TRY was released later the next year. Central Park Media also released the first three seasons on DVD (in season box sets) in early 2000. They were also re-released a few years later. In May 2005, at Anime Central in Rosemont, FUNimation Entertainment announced they obtained the license for the TV series, since the previous owner's license expired in Fall 2005.[20] It aired as part of the FUNimation programming block on CoLours TV.[21] and the first bilingual DVD box set was released on August 27, 2007 containing the Central Park Media dub.[22] A boxset of Slayers, Slayers NEXT and Slayers TRY will be released by Funimation on August 4, 2009.[23] 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.[24] Episodes have also been made available on the streaming video site Hulu and Funimation's website.[25] A fourth anime series, Slayers Revolution, premiered in Japan on July 2, 2008.[26] Megumi Hayashibara performed both the opening and ending theme songs.[27] The new plot to be 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.[28] 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.[29] FUNimation has licensed both Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R for American release; digital releases are currently scheduled for 2009, with the first of the DVDs set to be released in 2010.[30] Funimation was able to reunite most of the original Central Park Media main character cast for the dubbing of the new season. However, Michael Sinterniklaas will replace David Moo as Xellos.[31] In December 2009, Funimation announced that the first "Slayers Revolution" boxset will be released on March 16, 2010. [32] [edit] OVAsTwo OVA series followed the anime series. Slayers Special (スレイヤーズスペシャル) consisted of 3 individual episodes directed by Hiroshi Watanabe and released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten and J.C. Staff. The first episode was released in Japan on July 25, 1996 on Laserdisc and VHS.[33] In North America, Slayers Special was initially released on as two separate titles, Slayers: Dragon Slave and Slayers: Explosion Array.[3] On January 12, 1999, ADV Films released Slayers: Explosion Array! on VHS in a choice of subtitled and dubbed options.[34] On November 21, 2000, ADV Films released Slayers: Book of Spells, containing all 3 Slayers Special episodes.[35] A second three series OVA, Slayers Excellent (スレイヤーズエクセレント) followed in 1998. It was also directed by Watanabe and produced by J.C. Staff. ADV Films released all the OVAs to VHS and DVD. [edit] Films
All films were produced by the J.C. Staff, and released to VHS and DVD in North America by ADV Films. [edit] Anime Comics
[edit] Radio drama
[edit] Games[edit] RPGsThe series was adapted into an ad on for the Magius RPG.[3] In August 2003, Guardians of Order published a licensed Slayers RPG that used the d20 System,[36] and three guidebooks that included pages of game stats in Guardians of Order's BESM game system for major characters, spells and weapons.[37] [edit] Video gamesSeveral Slayers role playing games have been released in Japan. Slayers was released by Banpresto on Super Famicom on June 24, 1994.[38] Another game entitled Slayers was released for NEC PC-9801. Slayers Royal was released by Kadokawa Shoten for Sega Saturn on July 25, 1997. and by ESP Software for PlayStation on June 25, 1998.[39][40] A sequel, Slayers Royal 2 was released on Sega Saturn by ESP Software on September 3, 1998 and on PlayStation on July 11, 1999.[41][42] Slayers Wonderful was published by Banpresto for PlayStation on October 22, 1998.[43] Lina Inverse is also a featured Hero in the popular Warcraft III map Defense of the Ancients (DotA). [edit] MusicMain article: List of Slayers songs [edit] Reception
In Anime Essentials: Every Thing a Fan Needs to Know, Giles Poitras wrote "More humorous and less serious looking than the characters in the Lodoss War series, the stars of Slayers provide action and laughs".[44] [edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: Light novels | Manga (year of release missing) | Manga series | Anime series | Action anime and manga | ADV Films | Adventure anime and manga | Anime of 1995 | Anime of 1996 | Anime of 1997 | Anime of 2008 | CPM Press | Comedy anime and manga | Fantasy novels | Fantasy anime and manga | Fujimi Fantasia Bunko | Funimation Entertainment | Anime distributed by Madman Entertainment | Manga distributed by Madman Entertainment | Manga of 1995 | Seinen | Slayers | Tokyopop titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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