Ahh, this is more like it. This is not just about Lost Universe, though the poor series didn't have much of a chance with everything going against it, but Slayers Try as well. Already these first two episodes feel more return to form than even the best stuff in Try. I never saw the entire season though, it came out back when I pretty much stopped getting my animes through... illicit means but still too poor to buy DVD sets. Looking forward to finally finishing my Slayers education!
First off, as always. Opening theme song by Megumi Hayashibara. Absolute banger once more:
AMAZING: Really good first episode, hits all the same notes first episodes usually do but doesn't waste time lingering on characters we all already know. Lina tries to have a crossover with One Piece, but winds up getting dragged back to her own story. Amelia and Zel unwittingly bring an inspector who wants to arrest her, and the crime is... being herself. Well, can't argue with that ironclad logic. Lina tries to Dragon Slave her problems away like all first episodes but her thunder is stolen by the seasons new annoying mascot character, which were all the rage back then.
BECAUSE: This episode feels like it's treading some water a bit, covering some of the same beats as episode 1, but that's mostly to establish that A) Wizer is REALLY persistent, and B) He probably doesn't actually believe in the charges he's bringing to Lina but is up to something else. Lina and annoying animal mascot, named Pokota, have a fight and when Pokota pushes Lina too far (sadly, the show hasn't given up on the 'hur hur Lina is a flatty' jokes) he frantically pulls out the goshdanged SWORD OF LIGHT to absorb her powered up Dragon Slave. He casually mentions it's just a replica, but the sword seems to feature prominently in the end of the opening so maybe not?
I returned to the dub here to see if the time away improved the original dub cast anyway. Ortiz, of course, didn't need improvement but she seems more Lina-y than ever here, way more hyper and rabid. Gourry is probably the most improved, no longer sounding like a 4kids dub production, Amelia is quite a lot better as well. Zel is still Crispin Freeman and thus still really good, but still less rough around the edges like he was previously. Good stuff. Especially looking forward to hearing the new Xellos (spoilers Xellos gets a new english voice actor, who technically premiered in Slayers Premium, the OAV/movie/slightly longer than usual episode starring the TV cast that is apparently impossible to find legitimately now). But even better, the incidental characters are now good, which was one of the biggest weaknesses of the original dub. The one-off characters had the worst performances, but so far they're faring much better.
Oh and I'm not sure how major or minor he'll wind up being but Wizer is apparently voiced by Dan Green, Yami Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh among others, in case you couldn't quite place him.