Slayers: Book of Spells

Original Title: スレイヤーズすぺしゃる
Romanized: Slayers Special
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

Taking place a couple years before the first TV series, these three OAVs each tell a story of the diminutive Lina and her top-heavy but brain-light not-really-partner Naga as they battle evil, try to earn money, eat everything in sight, and blow lots of stuff up. In part one a crazed mage wants to use Lina as part of his "perfect" monster, and Naga doesn't think this is such a bad idea... at first. In part two, they get baby-sitting duty protecting an incompetent young man to become a respected knight... from himself. And in part three, a hunt for an artifact that can produce local opposite duplicates of your enemy teaches us what, exactly, the opposite of Lina and Naga would be like.

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-08-20

More good old fashioned Slayers madness. Book of Spells (AKA the Slayers Special OAV series) is basically three short one-shots following Lina and the ever-scantily clad and over-proportioned Naga in their antagonistic partnership on a variety of money-hunting adventures. With three classic fantasy plots gone horribly wrong, these stories are silly, pointless, and as with all things Slayers, hilarious. Don't even think about it if you're not willing to laugh at some darned stupid jokes and as much of Naga's high-pitched laugh as anybody could possibly tolerate (seriously... she gets cloned). The highlight is a few moments of inspired madness (in particular the climax of the first part which ends in a crescendo of visual and aural insanity--listen to the music that plays). The third OAV also has a couple of nice musical interludes with more ever-snappy Slayers music.

It won't be nearly as much fun if you don't already know the characters at least a bit, but for some good Slayers laughs, it's well worth the time.

Notes and Trivia

Availability

Available in the US from AD Vision as "Book of Spells" on a single bilingual DVD. Was originally available on subtitled or dubbed VHS under the titles Dragon Slave (first two episodes) and Explosion Array (the third).

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