Slayers, Vol. 2: Book of Spells

Description

Join Lina an Naga as they thwart a plan to create the ultimate chimera. Watch as they attempt to turn the effeminate son of a noble family into a man deserving appointment to the Royal Guard. And double the trouble when our heroines take on a rogue magic user with a mirror that duplicates his enemies in reverse.

Customer Reviews:

funny and well fun.......2007-06-10

These are very funny episodes, The Scary Chimera plan is my favorite. The other episodes are great as well, but the jokes are kind of old like you have seen them from aomewhere else. Like always, the music is great, but then again, I LOVE Slayers music.

Belly stuffing, bandit killing, and a smartass.......2006-09-01

Lina Inverse you could say is one of the characters specifically made to poke fun of the fantasy anime genre. She and her usual cast of characters often downsize and destroy the often cliche` characters and plotlines and pour salt on the wound by laughing in their faces. The sense of humor often associated with Slayers is a definately unique kind. While it does use a lot of the similar tools of the trade, it has a less annoying approach verbally. While you have the occasional sweat drop, Lina actually takes the sweat drop and will beat someone over the head with it. I'm sure you could find this anime very entertaining.

For those of you who are fairly well caught up with the Slayers universe and have yet to see this, this is a series of OVA episodes specifically made to illustrate the relationship between Lina and Naga. The adventures of Lina and Naga take place before the adventures in the original Slayers TV series. The animation is definately above grade quality as well as the well paced directing and more than fitting voice acting. I am sure everyone will find this an amusing work of fantasy/comedy.

A collection of Lina and Nahga's earlier adventures........2005-02-28

Five years before SLAYERS RETURN, GREAT, GORGEOUS, EXCELLENT and PREMIUM, the folks at ADV released the origonal SLAYERS motion picture and these three OAVs.

In THE SCARY CHIMERA PLAN, Lina is approached by a mad wizard/ alchemist, who wants to create the ultimate chimera (beast made from different parts of other animals,) using Lina herself in combination with a few other creatures. Of course, Lina will have nothing to do with it. Nahga shows up and after finding out about the plan, thinks it's a great idea. Lina leaves. The wizard takes the hairs left by Nahga and creats ten Nahga clones (in a plot device that was also used in the first SLAYERS T.V. series) and after tracking Lina down uses the power of the Nahga's laughter to subdue her. After finding the origonal Nahga, she gets the clones on her side, then they become Lina's unlikely rescuers. This episode is as funny as a SLAYERS episode should be, but be warned, the part where Nahga and her clones go rampaging through the castle where Lina is being held is REALLY hard to sit through, as the Nahga's spend about five minutes straight laughing non-stop. You may be tempted to mute or fast-forward through this scene. Of course, other characters in SLAYERS comment on how terrifying her laugh is, so this chapter seems made to demonstrate how true that is.

The next episode, JEFFERY'S KNIGHTHOOD, is better, mainly because we Nahga's bursts of laughter are much shorter here. Lina and Nahga are hired by a woman (who may well be one of the most hideous crones in all of anime,) to help her son Jeffery become a man. Jeffery, as it turns out, is weak, wimpy, and pretty inept at just about everything. However, anytime anyone says anything bad about him, his mom (who, ugly as she is, turns out to be a pretty powerful sorceress,) shows up out of nowhere wearing a mask and pounds the offender. She then says she's just a stranger passing through. Lina and Nahga both figure out right away it's his mom, but Jeffery never recognizes her and thinks it's always been complete strangers who show up to clobber any one who's ever insulted him. Lina and Nahga's job are to lead Jeffery to a group of actors disguised as bandits so Jeffery can beat them as a way of boosting his self-confidence, as he doesn't know about this plan. However, a group of real bandits show up and kidnap the actors! Again, lots of funny moments, particularly when we meet Jeffery (voiced in the dub by Brett Weaver, who also did Migel in RUIN EXPLORES and Damu Ramu in DRAGON HALF).

The third episode, MIRROR MIRROR, is without question the best of the three. Lina and Nahga are hired by a sorcerors guild to recover an ancient artifact stolen by one of their own members, Laugden. The mirror was created by one of the old, powerful wizards, and is rumored to be able to create a shadow copy of whoever it reflects, with all the same abilities of the origonal but with the exact opposite personality, and who serve whoever weilds the mirror. Lina and Nahga have been hired to bring both the mirror and Laugden back to the sorceror's guild, but they'll also have to contend with an army of wherewolves Laugden has allied himself with. The best part of the episode comes when they find Laugden and he uses the mirror on them! Of course, it does create shadow copies of Lina and Nahga, but something eles unexpected happens...

All in all, a must-have for SLAYERS fans, one to own.

Average customer rating:

Check out the series before this if your interested in Slayers
Naga.....Tone it down a bit
Cute, but a little odd
Slayers Special
Slayers at its best

Slayers - Book of Spells
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara , Yasunori Matsumoto , Hikaru Midorikawa , Bin Shimada , and Masami Suzuki
Director: Osamu Yokota , Makoto Noriza , and Masato Sato
Manufacturer: Adv Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005221A
Release Date: 2001-01-09

Amazon.com

Lina Inverse, the red-haired heroine of this slapstick jiggle series, roams a strange Never-Never Land performing deeds of derring-do. Her partner, Naga, looks like an anime version of a Frank Frazetta heroine, her voluptuous figure barely contained in a minuscule costume. The only things they share are a need for money and a love of food. In "The Scary Chimera Plan," Lina matches half-wits with Diol, a sorcerer who wants to incorporate her into the three-headed monster he's making. He's not much of an opponent until he produces 10 doppelgängers of Naga, complete with her grating laugh. Naga and Lina are hired to help a nerdish boy win his spurs in "Jeffrey's Knighthood." Their tutoring turns out to be completely unnecessary as Jeffrey's mother, Ms. Josephine, is a one-woman war machine capable of flattening any foe. In "Mirror, Mirror," the enchanted looking glass of a fabled sorcerer backfires on a would-be thief: it produces versions of Lina and Naga that are mirror images of them psychologically--cute, cowering, and helpful. These misadventures are very silly, but some parents may object to the scenes of Naga's breasts bouncing within a micro-bra and the jokes about Lina's noticeably smaller bust. Episodes: 1. "The Scary Chimera Plan," 2. "Jeffrey's Knighthood," 3. "Mirror, Mirror." Suggested for ages 12 and up for violence, profanity, and sexual humor. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews:

Check out the series before this if your interested in Slayers.......2007-04-16

Slayers has become one of my favorite series. However the movies and these episodes aren't all that great to me. Naga is a cool character a little bit but she's good in small doses. That damn laugh gets annoying very fast. Right off the back I dont like the fact the characters from the series doesn't even make an appearance. This short collection has 3 decent episodes. Mostly comedy, some action and the stories are alright at best.

Episode 1) The scary Chimera plan. This just so happens to be my least favorite episode of Slayers altogether including the movies. Some sorcerer wants to use Lina for an experiment which she wants no part of. Later on for some reason he clones Naga 10x. The Naga clan to include the original laughs together almost the entire episode. If you do not like Naga's laugh, then this episode can be a short nightmare. This is a 2.5/5 to me.

Episode 2) Jeffrey's Knighthood. Lina and Naga are hired to train some bumbling idiot kid into a knight. This episode is mostly comedy and just when it starts to get serious the silliness returns. Which is ok but it soon gets repetitive. Still the dialogue and the development will have you laughing a bit. This is a 3/5 to me.

Episode 3) Mirror, Mirror. This episode Lina and Naga are hired by a society to bring back a sorcerer who stole information about a magical mirror. It has a pretty good plot but if you pay close attention you can figure out what may happen at some point. This is the best of the 3 to me. I give this a 3.5/5.

This collection isn't all that great to me. After watching all the movies and the complete series. This was a huge step in another direction to me. I'm not saying this collection is bad. Its just that, next to the overall development and memorable characters of the series. This is just a step down and I expected the same level of greatness or at least close to it.

The DVD itself has a few adv trailers, language change, and some of the original trailers for Slayers. Like I said before, if your interested in Slayers, checkout the series first. That is a great place to start. I recommend checking this out last.

Naga.....Tone it down a bit.......2004-01-12

I love this series. And I have a strange affinity for Naga....Hmmm.. I wonder what it could be. I love how Lina calls Naga the "Bondage Queen of Darkness". Also that outfit of hers....My god... The only thing I can't stand is that ridiculous laugh of hers. It drives me mad.. But still, it's a very funny anime. You really should see it if you enjoy animes, or comedy...or both

Cute, but a little odd.......2001-07-29

I enjoyed this DVD, especially the last episode entitled Mirror, Mirror.

If you are a Slayers fan, you might be a little put off by this series at first, and if you don't like Naga's laugh, then I warn you NOT to watch the first episode.

Still it was amusing, althought I did find Jefferies Knighthood to be comical, it was kind of cliche at times.

Slayers Special.......2001-05-05

These three episodes were from the novel Slayers Special, and were originally named Slayers Special 1,2,3. The plots is not related to the Slayers, Slayers Next and Slayers Try TV series (TV series were from the original Slayers novel, not the Slayers SP novel).

Compared to the TV series, episodes in this disk (and the movies) are more funny, short and have less of conspiracies. You'll see their funny acts all the time in this disk, and the castings are wonderful. It show you the full potential of what Lina and Naga are capable in their day-to-day works (what a life!)

If there is anything disatisfy me in these episodes, it's the length. If will certainly make you want to see more episodes like these, but this is all what have with Slayers Special (Books of Spells) now and they're short episodes - but they're good.

One more thing, they share the same ED song - but this song, by Hayashibara Megumi / Lina Inverse - is exceptionally good.

Slayers at its best.......2001-04-08

This is truly Slayers at its best. This DVD contains all 3 episodes of the the Slayers Special OAV. Full of homour and action, this DVD is a must have for all Slayers fans everywhere. The original and unique slap-stick humour found in everything Slayers is pulled to it's full extent in this truly hilarious piece of anime art. This 3-part OAV takes place before the original slayers series. As opposed to the usual Slayers group, Lina's only companion is Naga- quite possibly the funniest (and at times the most annoying) anime character ever. With Naga's annoying laugh and Lina's un-stopable hunger, This dynamic duo gets into many adventures! Take my advise and buy this DVD, you wont regret it.

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