finally had a chance to pick up the first of the Slayers movies. I was pretty let down by it. See, to me, the Slayers never really had much of a plot. It was all about the interaction with the quirky characters, Lina Gourry and Amelia in particular. Now without them, and Naga (Who you know nothing about, the way she just appears) trying to take their place, an almost impossible feat at which she abysmally fails, there’s nothing left other than the dry bare bones plot. All the things that makes the Slayers series so special is gone from the movie.
But hey, there’s at least 3 others, and two OVAs right? They’ve gotta be better, right? RIGHT? I sure hope so.
Most of the movies and OVAs are mediocre. But I really liked Slayers Return and Slayers Gorgeous. Also, Slayers Premium actually has the TV cast, so that’s also a lot of fun, if an hour too short.
Actually, what you never know about Naga is how she dissapears, since she was Lina’s partner/enemy way before Gourry and all the other freaks showed up.
Naga’s introduction is in one of the OAVs, although I can’t remember the name at the moment, and as SE said, Naga was actually there first. I actually find it kind of interesting to see Lina interact with someone who’s personality is in many ways similiar to her own. They have a lot of good moments.
Also, there’s speculation that Naga is Amelia’s older sister, which I heard was confirmed by the creators, although never in the series.
The OAVs/movies give people a chance to enjoy the wackiness of Slayers, even if they don’t have time to watch an entire season, as they’re pretty self-contained.
I find both sets of companions have their charms, but that’s just a personal opinion. There’s also the contrast of how Naga actually thinks of herself as a rival, rather than an ally, like in the series. However, if you disliked Naga that much, you probably won’t like the other movies/OAVs, as she’s in them all, except for Premium, which as Cidolfas said, has the series cast, and just a quick cameo from Naga.
Really quick. Like, she’s onscreen for about five seconds.
The two movies I mentioned (Returns and Gorgeous) give Naga much shorter shrift as opposed to the supporting characters for those particular stories; and when she is featured, the whole rivalry aspect is played up a lot, which is quite fun for a one-hour movie. Part of the reason why the other movies were so mediocre is because they gave Naga too much screen time.
The Motion Picture’s the one with the hot springs right? I agree that it’s not one of my favourites… And you’re right about them being better when the rivalry is played up…
Return is the one with the Orihalcon Turtle-Golem, and Gorgeous with the Lina/Naga golems? There’s another one where their rivalry is really obvious, but I can’t remember off-hand… the one with the kingdom split between princess and king with the dragons because the princess wants a higher allowance? Hmmm… I need to start remembering my movie titles better… ::doh::
And the OAV with the Naga clones is great, just because it’s hilarious to watch Naga teach her doubles how to laugh properly. :mwahaha:
Thinking on it though, I prefer the series’ over the OAVs/movies because I find that they have more plot, while I find that the movies/OAVs tend to rely more on character interaction… Funny how different people see things different ways, isn’t it?
Gorgeous was the one with the Irish princess-dragon which I liked a lot. Great was the one with the golems, which was so bad I actually took the CD I’d burnt it onto and threw it out. I will agree about the clone OAV.
True, the series have more plot, but that’s just because there’s more time for the plot to happen. I certainly don’t think that the entertainment value is based on the plot.
Ah! That’s where my confusion stemmed from! I knew it started with a ‘g’ though.
I’ll agree Great wasn’t the best, but I still enjoyed it. The noises that Lina’s golem made when it walked made me giggle…
The scary thing about the clone OAV is that they’re still out there somewhere, just waiting for an innocent victim! Plus there’s the shadow-clone… Plus the original, totaling to 12 Nagas wandering the world… :runaway:
The plot doesn’t affect the entertainment level, but I find that it affects how high I rate something when it’s all over. If the overall story was lacking, I’m less likely to want to go back and watch it, even if it made me laugh a lot. But that’s just me. Different people like different things.
Which is the 1 involving time travel, a zombie town [oresent, something to do with it’s destruction in the past], and some lizard bad guy [in both the present and past]?
Part of the reason why the other movies were so mediocre is because they gave Naga too much screen time.