The Slayers 

The adventures of a teenage sorceress and her companions as they quest for gold and glory (especially gold).

Creators:

Rui Araizumi, Hajime Kanzaka

Stars:

Megumi Hayashibara, Yasunori Matsumoto, Lisa Ortiz

Cast

Series cast summary:
Megumi Hayashibara	...	Lina Inverse 104 episodes, 1995-2009
Yasunori Matsumoto	...	Gourry Gabriev 104 episodes, 1995-2009
Lisa Ortiz	...	Lina Inverse / ... 104 episodes, 1995-2009
Eric Stuart	...	Gourry Gabriev / ... 98 episodes, 1995-2009
Hikaru Midorikawa	...	Zelgadis Greywords 96 episodes, 1995-2009
Masami Suzuki	...	Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun 94 episodes, 1995-2009
Veronica Taylor	...	Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun / ... 86 episodes, 1995-2009
Crispin Freeman	...	Zelgadis Graywords / ... 85 episodes, 1995-2009
Akira Ishida	...	Xellos / ... 66 episodes, 1996-2009
David Moo	...	Xellos / ... 48 episodes, 1995-1997

Storyline

In a medieval sword and sorcery world, there is one mage who is notorious for her power and grace (at least that's how she likes to put it), Lina Inverse. In reality, she is a teenage mage with a penchant for collateral damage, obnoxiousness and gluttony. This series chronicles her adventures with companions, such as the powerful but dumb swordsman Gourry Gabriev as she quests for gold and finds a heck of a lot trouble along the way.

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Plot Keywords:

sword and sorcery | punctuation in title | anime | contraction in title | wizard | 

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Taglines:

She's lethally lovely. He's gallantly vain. Together they're The Slayers!

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last series of voice actor Eric Stuart who retired and moved from New York to Tennessee to focus on his music career and family until Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions (2011).

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Quotes

Gourry Gabriev: [after being freed from posession and attacking Lina] Huh, whats going on? Oh hi Lina, what are you doing?
Lina Inverse: [Imitating Gourry] Hi Lina,
[Charging for a blow]
Lina Inverse: MY ASS!
[Hits Gourry Very Hard]

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Alternate Versions

The Hungarian dub reinterpreted Lina Inverse's name as Lina "In Verse", and therefor all her magic spells and her episode recaps/previews have been written in rhymes.

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Connections

Spin-off Slayers Return (1996)

User Reviews

"Lina... could you consider MY feelings a little next time?"

Probably the best of the three "Slayers" TV seasons, this one has Lina Inverse, the short, scrawny, bad tempered, feisty red haired sorceress with an unquenchable appetite, Gourry Gabriev, her big blond idiot swordsman friend, Zelgadis the cranky man of stone, and bouncy, justice loving princess Amelia going out on a quest to find a legendary book called the Claire Bible, hoping that it can save the world from a threat from the demonic monsters who wish to destroy our lovely little world. Along the way they are dogged by the mysterious (and obnoxious) Xellos, the obsessive Princess Martina who wants to destroy Lina because Lina blew up her home town, and once again they are eventually joined by Sylphiel, Gourry's fan-girl like admirer.

Better animation than the first season and far less obnoxious and self-righteous than the ensuing "TRY", "NEXT" comes closest to balancing the nuances of the characters with lots of slapstick humor and drama. The English dub track is actually pretty decent (and keeps closer to the original Japanese dialogue than most English dubs) with Lisa Ortiz (Lina), Eric Stuart (Gourry), Crispin Freeman (Zelgadis) and Veronica Taylor (Amelia) giving their all, but what would essentially be one of the better English dubs is ruined by the crucial casting error of David Moo as Xellos. I don't know what the casting people were thinking, but David Moo is badly miscast as Xellos, making the character sound most annoying, borderline stereotypical nerd, when he should sound smooth and slick; unless the original and proper Japanese interpretation of Xellos IS an annoying little nerd.

But for those of you who don't listen to the English dub, it's all good. Favorite moments include the oxy-moronic attacks of Amelia's dad Prince Philionel of Seyruun and Gourry being turned evil and unleashed against the other characters. Lina's unexpected attraction to Gourry is also funny along with nice opening and closing theme songs.

LINA: "Just how long do you plan on protecting me?"

GOURRY: "I dunno... the rest of my life?"

LINA hing & incredulous]: "The rest of your...?"

Details

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

17 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Slayers

Company Credits

Production Co:

J.C. Staff, SoftX, TV Tokyo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min 25 min (26 episodes) 30 min (26 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1