jpfriction
(He, Him)
I think Lina refers to herself as like 15 at some point too, at least in the sub. Might be misremembering though.
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The Slayers Group Watch Thread
- Thread starter Octopus Prime
- Start date
LUCKY mentions "she's 15 or 16", which is only a scootch younger than I assumed she was previously. I'd assume Amelia is about the same, but less mature.
jpfriction
(He, Him)
Lina grumbles about Amelia being younger than her with bigger tits, because of course the show does that.
Prince Phil grabbing a bunch of rowdy ghosts and sitting them down to hear a lecture on life was the highlight of the second episode.
And then he did it again.
But yeah Lina's age doesn't really match her legend. How long could she have been adventuring for her exploits (and infamy) to have become so widespread?
Also, these eps describe Phil as essentially a Monk, while Amelia is multiclassing Monk/Cleric?
And then he did it again.
But yeah Lina's age doesn't really match her legend. How long could she have been adventuring for her exploits (and infamy) to have become so widespread?
Also, these eps describe Phil as essentially a Monk, while Amelia is multiclassing Monk/Cleric?
Amelia is a Lawful/Stupid Sentai
Lina is a legendary world-terror at 15 because it's part of the gag. It's also part of the gag that she's 15 and obsessed with her own body image, with the rest of the show reflecting that complex. You don't need to find both equally as funny, but I think it's vital to acknowledge in understanding what this series even is and what motivates its writing and sense of humour. Critique the things you like.
In the name of
Purple
(She/Her)
Amelia is definitely one of those characters where someone decides what they want to play (a magical girl) before even hearing what game you're running and awkwardly shoehorns something super wonky to try and fit it. If I recall she ends up with some shaman magic on the side later too.
Egarwaen
(He/Him)
Knockout is a really interesting episode, structurally, as it hews super closely to tabletop adventuring conventions and still does clever stuff with them. The party splits up, so we get Gourry and new PC Amelia, then we cut back to Lina, then the two groups reconnect for the finale. Lina’s story is straight up a dungeon delve, complete with improbably menacing surroundings, absurd encounter selection, an ornate final boss room, and the dramatic reveal that one of the NPCs is actually the bad guy. Apart from the random encounter tables, the scenes are actually well-staged again.
While Lina does describe the summoned Monsters here as “so-so”, it’s still pretty impressive that Phil is able to wipe them out on his own. I think one of the reasons that Amelia is so… Amelia is that her father really is capable of ridiculously impossible things.
Lovely I’d describe as less a filler episode and more a character piece. It’s here to set up the contrast between Lina and Amelia. Lina’s reserved in part because she’s hedonistic and lazy, and in part because her magic is so ridiculously powerful that misuse of it is catastrophic. Of course she’s also got poor impulse control, so we regularly get incidents like the dragon extermination in episode 1, or her abrupt landscaping job here. Amelia is super keen about getting involved in literally everything, usually without knowing what she’s getting into… But despite being a bit of a goof, she’s a lot more deliberate. Her judgment may be shit, but she’s not going to set off a bomb for lulz. She’ll do it because she thinks she needs to and that’s much scarier.
There’s also some interesting worldbuilding with the ghosts in that Amelia, a powerful but largely untrained white mage, is able to banish them with a fragment of their binding and a big spell. Presumably whoever sealed them away opted for that solution because they couldn’t manage the magic to banish them. So our region has these big-time magic users wandering around, but they’re not available on any kind of reliable basis despite problems cropping up that are beyond the abilities of most magicians. It’s a pretty great setup, really.
While Lina does describe the summoned Monsters here as “so-so”, it’s still pretty impressive that Phil is able to wipe them out on his own. I think one of the reasons that Amelia is so… Amelia is that her father really is capable of ridiculously impossible things.
Lovely I’d describe as less a filler episode and more a character piece. It’s here to set up the contrast between Lina and Amelia. Lina’s reserved in part because she’s hedonistic and lazy, and in part because her magic is so ridiculously powerful that misuse of it is catastrophic. Of course she’s also got poor impulse control, so we regularly get incidents like the dragon extermination in episode 1, or her abrupt landscaping job here. Amelia is super keen about getting involved in literally everything, usually without knowing what she’s getting into… But despite being a bit of a goof, she’s a lot more deliberate. Her judgment may be shit, but she’s not going to set off a bomb for lulz. She’ll do it because she thinks she needs to and that’s much scarier.
There’s also some interesting worldbuilding with the ghosts in that Amelia, a powerful but largely untrained white mage, is able to banish them with a fragment of their binding and a big spell. Presumably whoever sealed them away opted for that solution because they couldn’t manage the magic to banish them. So our region has these big-time magic users wandering around, but they’re not available on any kind of reliable basis despite problems cropping up that are beyond the abilities of most magicians. It’s a pretty great setup, really.
Purple
(She/Her)
I do appreciate that it's not just Lina who's in a constant "no kill like overkill" state. Especially in sillier episodes, things very much idle in a state mirroring "the party is leveled into the high teens and the GM just absolutely does not know how to provide a credible enough threat to them for an action scene to go past one round and just keeps scrambling and failing.
Egarwaen
(He/Him)
Yeah IIRC there’s not much in the way of power progression. It’s just a question of whether the characters care enough about the problem and can find a way to apply their absurd abilities to solve it.
Like Bon Jovi almost said “Woah-oh, we’re halfway through Season 1”
MONEY! Knock Out Those Bounty Hunters
NAVIGATION! An Invitation to Sairaaag
MONEY! Knock Out Those Bounty Hunters
NAVIGATION! An Invitation to Sairaaag
John
(he/him)
You're jumping the gun there Octo, I still have a day left to finish the last half of LOVELY. Which I did this morning!
For a sorcerer, Lina's pretty ignorant to the actual effects of her actions. She's casted Dragon Slave a half dozen times in the show, and each time it's caused a significant amount of collateral damage. Why does she keep doing it, even when there's no actual threat? And if she would've just gone to the city council meeting to discuss her planned construction, she would've found out she needed a Ghost Relocation permit to dig in that not at all suspicious mound with ancient burial stones on top.
For a sorcerer, Lina's pretty ignorant to the actual effects of her actions. She's casted Dragon Slave a half dozen times in the show, and each time it's caused a significant amount of collateral damage. Why does she keep doing it, even when there's no actual threat? And if she would've just gone to the city council meeting to discuss her planned construction, she would've found out she needed a Ghost Relocation permit to dig in that not at all suspicious mound with ancient burial stones on top.
What I found most puzzling is that part of Amelias fake training is that she has to do a thousand Hindu Squats;
Setting aside the fact that I don’t know if that’s the name of that exercise, it does suggest that Hinduism is a recognized religion in the Red World
Setting aside the fact that I don’t know if that’s the name of that exercise, it does suggest that Hinduism is a recognized religion in the Red World
Purple
(She/Her)
This is some quality quality goofy-mode stuff. Random highlights: Amelia doing the Lawful Stupid thing, and chuckling along. Phil totally getting what's up, but hey, politics right? Piling up little hero parties. Totally feral captive-Lina. Just taking the damage. Gourry digging a hole in a prison cell with just his bare hands. Weaponized big anime sweat drop. The Colonel. Random eel out of nowhere.
Also hey, first mention of Lina's terrifying terrifying sister.
Also hey, first mention of Lina's terrifying terrifying sister.
Say what you will about Amelias impulse control (she has none), but when she makes a decision she is all in with it.
I did think that there was a longer period of goofing around filler episodes before Zangulus and Vrumigan showed up, but apparently not.
They also have perhaps the single fastest turnaround of “credible threat” to “Team Rocket” I think I’ve ever seen.
I did think that there was a longer period of goofing around filler episodes before Zangulus and Vrumigan showed up, but apparently not.
They also have perhaps the single fastest turnaround of “credible threat” to “Team Rocket” I think I’ve ever seen.
John
(he/him)
Money - They "finally" made it to Saillune, and at least sampled the local delicacies. Phil's "pacifist" nature apparently includes a lack of all logic, but Amelia's logic is unshakeable, even when it's wrong. The conspicuous name drops of Zelgadis (btw viewers, he's still around) and Lina's sister means they'll come back/be introduced in one, maybe two episodes at the most. Phil's dropping the party, so there's room for one more! Foreshadowing multiple episodes in advance isn't what this show's about.
I really liked Lina freezing/petrifying her anime sweat drop into a club to smack Gourry, something it would take Sub-Zero years to copy. The fights were eh, Lina and the other sorcerer were just Ryu and Ken's hadokens cancelling each other for minutes.
I really liked Lina freezing/petrifying her anime sweat drop into a club to smack Gourry, something it would take Sub-Zero years to copy. The fights were eh, Lina and the other sorcerer were just Ryu and Ken's hadokens cancelling each other for minutes.
I love how completely one-note Vrumigan (Vroomagun? Zoom-zoom?) is as a villain; he looks like an evil wizard and… that’s it. That is all the guy has going for him through the entire series; he Looks Like An Evil Wizard.
That’s all he ever gets.
That’s all he ever gets.
jpfriction
(He, Him)
Gotta say that Vrumigan is not my favorite of the rogue's gallery. Be nice if he did literally anything other than float there. Gotta save those animation frames for the sword fights, I suppose.
I’d give him a nod over Rodimus, since Vroomboom at least winds up being the butt of a joke a few times.
Egarwaen
(He/Him)
I'd say Amelia has poor judgment. She'll see a situation, evaluate it, and somehow consistently decide to intervene in the worst possible way.
Lina has poor impulse control. She'll be in the middle of a frustrating but civil conversation and decide "You know what? Fuck it I'm going to Dragon Slave that mountain."
Please... We all know strength is a dump stat for most mages.
Egarwaen
(He/Him)
For Lina it’s Wisdom and Charisma.
Gourry has somehow managed to land himself a Strength of 20 in AD&D.
You can have more than one dump stat.
John
(he/him)
Navigation - That title card was pretty hacked up compared to other ones, wonder if the localizing team misspelled the town name and had to re-do it.
This was a fun one, with the crew going Huck Finn down the river foiling all the bandit's traps. They sidestepped Lina's previous "issue" with casting magic by tying it to hunger, which is a much better call. Somehow she can still cast her most powerful spells when the plot demands.
I was wrong about the next episode being where they introduce Lina's sister and/or reintroduce Zelgadis. Will be on the lookout next week!
This was a fun one, with the crew going Huck Finn down the river foiling all the bandit's traps. They sidestepped Lina's previous "issue" with casting magic by tying it to hunger, which is a much better call. Somehow she can still cast her most powerful spells when the plot demands.
I was wrong about the next episode being where they introduce Lina's sister and/or reintroduce Zelgadis. Will be on the lookout next week!
You’re going to need some keen peepers for one of them.
It’s later established (retconned?) that magic burns a lot of calories, especially on the scale that Lina uses it; she basically uses entire meals as MP.
I loved the gag that Amelia is so used to flubbing a dramatic landing that she can instinctively tell when someone else is about to screw one up
It’s later established (retconned?) that magic burns a lot of calories, especially on the scale that Lina uses it; she basically uses entire meals as MP.
I loved the gag that Amelia is so used to flubbing a dramatic landing that she can instinctively tell when someone else is about to screw one up
Well he gets a lot of exercise
A bit late for me, I've been busy past couple days. So real quick:
MONEY: Huh, for some reason I remembered Zangulus and Vrumugan coming in later, I guess I was thinking this episode just had some random mook standing in for the baddies, with the heavy hitters coming later. But I'm glad to be wrong. At least half of this villainous pair is super entertaining.
Zang and Vroom-vroom are kind of an inverse (haha) of Zolf and Rodimus, in that they're a magic and melee pair with one being high strung and entertaining and the other just... being there. Vrummles is kind of the perfect opponent for Lina in a way, he can almost match her for magic and he is absolutely immune to being played. And Zangarmarsh desperately wants to be the Vegeta to Gourry's Goku, but Gourry never takes the bait, only fighting when he needs to.
I kind of love how Amelia turns on Lina immediately. On the one hand she's right to be suspicious, and it is funny that she jumps right to "What did you do?". Phil is more apologetic in that he can't really interfere because somethingsomething royalty, even if he might not believe Lina is innocent he's not going to make life any harder for her. That's for his daughter to do!
Amelia not realizing she's evil-laughing along with Z and V is probably my highlight of the episode. Well, just after Lina working through the pain of electrocution to cast magic. The performances of both Oritz and Hayashibara there were great.
And my third-favorite moment is Amelia's logic when it comes to figuring out who is most just: blow em both up and whoever lives is more righteous! Thank god Lina didn't teach her the Dragon Slave.
NAVIGATION: Huh, it IS weird that this one episode has a totally different title card. This episode has a number of weird visual quirks, like poorly repeating backgrounds (keep an eye on some of the trees when Gourry is speaking early on) or a number of the bandit mooks obviously being characters who appeared previously that Lina (probably) blew up.
Anyway this episode REALLY feels like filler (and we have about three more of those before the plot kicks back in) but it's otherwise not a bad 'on the road' episode. We get a sort of mini-boss in that one bandit leader with the poor dental hygiene, and he himself has a few chuckle-worthy moments (showing up as the Colonel, waving back at the party as they sail by on the raft) but ultimately he's there to wear the party down so Zangugan and Vrumulus can move in for the kill.
Or, can try to. Zork leaping off the bridge kind of betrays how much of a putz he is, even if he Totally Meant To Do That, and despite getting a hostage and having Lina basically where he wanted her, Vern just floats there and takes a Dragon Slave to the face and is incinerated. So we'll never see him again!
Anyway next week is more filler. Look forward to it!
MONEY: Huh, for some reason I remembered Zangulus and Vrumugan coming in later, I guess I was thinking this episode just had some random mook standing in for the baddies, with the heavy hitters coming later. But I'm glad to be wrong. At least half of this villainous pair is super entertaining.
Zang and Vroom-vroom are kind of an inverse (haha) of Zolf and Rodimus, in that they're a magic and melee pair with one being high strung and entertaining and the other just... being there. Vrummles is kind of the perfect opponent for Lina in a way, he can almost match her for magic and he is absolutely immune to being played. And Zangarmarsh desperately wants to be the Vegeta to Gourry's Goku, but Gourry never takes the bait, only fighting when he needs to.
I kind of love how Amelia turns on Lina immediately. On the one hand she's right to be suspicious, and it is funny that she jumps right to "What did you do?". Phil is more apologetic in that he can't really interfere because somethingsomething royalty, even if he might not believe Lina is innocent he's not going to make life any harder for her. That's for his daughter to do!
Amelia not realizing she's evil-laughing along with Z and V is probably my highlight of the episode. Well, just after Lina working through the pain of electrocution to cast magic. The performances of both Oritz and Hayashibara there were great.
And my third-favorite moment is Amelia's logic when it comes to figuring out who is most just: blow em both up and whoever lives is more righteous! Thank god Lina didn't teach her the Dragon Slave.
NAVIGATION: Huh, it IS weird that this one episode has a totally different title card. This episode has a number of weird visual quirks, like poorly repeating backgrounds (keep an eye on some of the trees when Gourry is speaking early on) or a number of the bandit mooks obviously being characters who appeared previously that Lina (probably) blew up.
Anyway this episode REALLY feels like filler (and we have about three more of those before the plot kicks back in) but it's otherwise not a bad 'on the road' episode. We get a sort of mini-boss in that one bandit leader with the poor dental hygiene, and he himself has a few chuckle-worthy moments (showing up as the Colonel, waving back at the party as they sail by on the raft) but ultimately he's there to wear the party down so Zangugan and Vrumulus can move in for the kill.
Or, can try to. Zork leaping off the bridge kind of betrays how much of a putz he is, even if he Totally Meant To Do That, and despite getting a hostage and having Lina basically where he wanted her, Vern just floats there and takes a Dragon Slave to the face and is incinerated. So we'll never see him again!
Anyway next week is more filler. Look forward to it!