Slayers: Book of Spells Anime Review
Slayers: Book of Spells
/ OVA / Comedy / 13-up
Bottom Line
Good, stupid, low-brow Slayers fun.
It’s Like...
...Linna and Naga Gone Wild.
Vital Stats
Original Title
スレイヤーズすぺしゃる
Romanized Title
Slayers Special
Animation Studio
JC Staff
US Release By
Genre
Fantasy Comedy
Series Type
OVA
Length
3 25-minute episodes
Production Date
1996-07-25, 1997-01-25, 1997-05-25
What's In It
Categories
Look For
- Mini Mages
- Maxi Cleavage
- Naga's Laugh Run Rampant
- Attack of the Clones
- Music
- Slapstick
Objectionable Content
- Violence: 2 (moderate)
- Nudity: 2 (moderate)
- Sex: 1 (mild)
- Language: 1 (mild)
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
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 always-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 North America 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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