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Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
Naga is the horniest Slayers character, but also the best, stuck in the worst media about it. It's complicated.

The English dub had a lot of pull and significance for the nascent fandom in its time as I understand it, but this entire franchise as it exists in animated form may as well be a vehicle for Megumi Hayashibara's performance as I've experienced it, even more so than the absolutely everything else she was featured in during her '90s reign. I would not rob it of that context.
 

Super Megaman X

dead eyes
(He/Him)
Every time I've watched it has always been the dub, and it will always be the dub. I'm just way too partial to it for it to ever be otherwise. As for why Revolution recast Xellos, they actually wanted to get David Moo, but had since retired from voice acting and would not return, so they had no choice but to replace him.
 

Purple

(She/Her)
The English dub had a lot of pull and significance for the nascent fandom in its time as I understand it, but this entire franchise as it exists in animated form may as well be a vehicle for Megumi Hayashibara's performance as I've experienced it, even more so than the absolutely everything else she was featured in during her '90s reign. I would not rob it of that context.
If I'm honest, yeah, this is the biggest part of it. Other factors include Gourry sounding a bit sarcastic in the dub, rather than just astoundingly oblivious, and vocal direction generally not clicking with how OK sometimes this is a wacky comedy series, and sometimes it's a straight-up melodrama. But again, I apologize for rekindling the fires of that most ancient war.
 
this entire franchise as it exists in animated form may as well be a vehicle for Megumi Hayashibara's performance as I've experienced it
Oh shit, she's Lina Inverse, isn't she? Hayashibara is actually a Legend, capital L. Those who don't know, she's done:

Pai from 3x3 Eyes
Momiji from Blue Seed
Faye from Cowboy Bebop
Ai Haibara from Detective Conan
Rei/Pen-Pen from Evangelion
Hello Kitty
Christina from Gundam 0080
Jessie from Pokemon
Female Ranma

Among a metric eff-ton of other roles. She's actually a crazy good actress.
 

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
If I'm honest, yeah, this is the biggest part of it. Other factors include Gourry sounding a bit sarcastic in the dub, rather than just astoundingly oblivious, and vocal direction generally not clicking with how OK sometimes this is a wacky comedy series, and sometimes it's a straight-up melodrama. But again, I apologize for rekindling the fires of that most ancient war.

I'd say Slayers was the first anime I watched where the dub didn't feel like it was making fun of the source material or totally rewriting it. Is it perfect? No, but given that it was probably recorded for the cost of a couple of office lunches, that's not really surprising.
 

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
It was naming the specific species (nation?) of demons that make up 90% of the shows villains “The Monster Race” instead of “Mazoku”, incidentally. It was a made-up term! They could have translated it as anything or left it untouched, but they went with the most awkward and confusing choice!
But... that's what Mazoku literally means! There's even a wiki page about it!

I mean, that's way too literal a translation to be good, but it makes perfect sense.
 

Purple

(She/Her)
So uh... how is everyone going to be watching this? I could have sworn whoever it was that had the rights had a super nice set of dedicated youtube channels with full runs of this, Utena, and a few other things up both subbed and dubbed, but either that's gone or it's eluding my searches.

I mean, personally I can just dust off the DVD sets I'm pretty sure I own or the VHS sets I know I do but, if I'm dragging other people in, what's what?
 
So uh... how is everyone going to be watching this?
Season 1-3 DVD boxset on US Amazon seems reasonably priced right now. Also if I'm reading this right, you can watch Slayers on Funimation.com for free (but with ads) both dubbed and subbed. If you live outside the US and can't into VPNs, I can't help ya, but this should work for a good chunk of us.

However I'm gonna be downloading some BD-rips. BDs of Slayers hit Japan in a couple years ago, so rips are out there in the wild if you don't have qualms with sailing the high seas. I'll report back later if the BDs are any good, or if they're just upreses or something.

Edit: Here's a link to the show on Funimation

Edit2: Looks like the BDs of Slayers, Next, and Try are all upscales. Booo. The OVAs, Movie, and the 2000s shows all are native HD on their BDs however.
 
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Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Season 1-3 DVD boxset on US Amazon seems reasonably priced right now. Also if I'm reading this right, you can watch Slayers on Funimation.com for free (but with ads) both dubbed and subbed. If you live outside the US and can't into VPNs, I can't help ya, but this should work for a good chunk of us.

Edit: Here's a link to the show on Funimation
I don't suppose there's any way to hook into the Funi ad-supported streams from a console or smart-TV in a less clunky way that through some terrible web browser? Like, do they have an app? (I suppose I could just search the PS4 store, but I'm curious if someone knows it does/doesn't exist.)
 

John

(he/him)
I don't suppose there's any way to hook into the Funi ad-supported streams from a console or smart-TV in a less clunky way that through some terrible web browser? Like, do they have an app? (I suppose I could just search the PS4 store, but I'm curious if someone knows it does/doesn't exist.)


Their site says with a paid subscription, there is a PS4 app available, and on a few of the major smart tv platforms.

For free viewing, if you have a tablet or phone, and your Smart TV or STB supports it, you may be able to use Chromecast or Airplay to mirror the screen. Roku recently added Airplay 2 support in many of their devices/TVs, but I don't think officially supports Chromecast. There's probably other ways to do that on Android, but I'm not knowledgeable with those at all.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Hmm, was hoping to be able to use the app in ad-supported mode, but it's an option.

Good point on the phone-casting option though, it at least probably has a more stable web browser.
 

John

(he/him)
I just downloaded the Funimation app on my PS4, and there's no ad-supported mode, just free trial or login to a paid account.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I was kind of surprised that Sylphiel shows up so much in the intro, considering both how late in the season she shows up and also how small an impact she makes on the series as a whole.

Otherwise, the first episode is mainly there to give a quick intro to the two main leads; Lina is fully aware that she’s one of the strongest mages on the planet, is eager to show that fact off, is heedless of collateral damage she can cause, is completely self-serving and has crippling body image problems, and Gourry is a himbo with a sword.

Lina gradually gets more development as the series wears on... Gourry does not. He sometimes he gets a new sword, but remains charmingly oblivious so as to act as an audience surrogate.
 
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Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
I was kind of surprised that Sylphiel shows up so much in the intro, considering both how late in the season she shows up and also how small an impact she makes on the series as a whole.

Otherwise, the first episode is mainly there to give a quick intro to the two main leads; Lina is fully aware that she’s one of the strongest mages on the planet, is eager to show that fact off, is heedless of collateral damage she can cause, is completely self-serving and has crippling body image problems, and Gourry is a himbo with a sword.

Lina gradually gets more development as the series wears on... Gourry does not. He sometimes he gets a new sword, but remains charmingly oblivious so as to act as an audience surrogate.
A minor trend that dated from the 80's had anime intros, those based off manga and such, show off as many characters as possible, regardless of how much actual screen time they got. See also the Oh My Goddess original OVA intro, which featured Mara prominently, but she never appears in that series outside of that.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I was also kind of surprised that the intro spoiled the fact that Rezo is a badguy. But the title of the episode that introduces him also tells you that.

And while "Episode titles that spoil the ending of the episode" is also very much an anime thing, IIRC, they also make a joke about how obvious it is.

In conclusion; Anime Openings are a land of contrasts
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I haven't watched this series in quite some time and going back to it now was a trip. Seeing that cell animation and 90s anime styles again was nice, and I think I still prefer it to the modern stuff, weird subtle movements and all (seriously just watch the english credits, keep your eye on the text, and you'll see the background image moving about ever so slightly).

After watching the sub exclusively until now I decided to go ahead and watch at least these first two episodes dubbed, and I gotta say.... not as terrible as I remember? Maybe that's unfair, but I do remember disliking the dub on an almost visceral level, but this time I found a lot to like. Just about ALL of it was Lisa Oritz's performance, she might not be Megumi Hayashibara but she does make a great Lina. The other voices though, they didn't fare as well. Gourry's alright, but not particularly standout, and he doesn't come off like the lovable moron he is compared to his JP voice. Zelgadis just sounds kinda bored, but he's only had a few lines so far so we'll see.

Every other voice though? Competent to awful. From what I remember the dub really had issues with minor characters that only show up briefly, and there are a few stinkers here. The worst might be the shop owner's wife in the second episode (I'm not even sure if that was a woman voicing her or a man doing an annoying wife bit), and the other incidental characters might not be as bad but none of em are particularly good. Though the absolute worst dubbed voice I remember comes from a minor character in the second season, I guess we'll get there when we get there.

(oh and a weird bit with the intro, the dubbed track has Lina's opening monologue before the song starts dubbed, but the music accompanying that part is totally different, it's not like any other music is replaced and they clearly got those BGMs to mix into their dub track so why was that one part different?)

One thing that honestly felt like coming home was the stock footage. Oh Slayers and its stock footage. You'll see Lina throw that Fireball dozens of times, Gourry will draw his sword in that manner so often, and don't even mention the Dragon Slave. I remember the stock footage use being most egregious in the first season, though Next and Try still fall back on it from time to time. Honestly I find it kind of charming?

One thing I STILL can't find a good explanation for, though, is what 'Dragon Spooker' really means? 'Step Past Out Of Clear Revulsion' is a clever acronym, I guess. The Japanese term is 'doramata', sometimes called dra-mata online, but I can't find an explanation.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I never put together that it was an acronym.

my head canon is that somehow the entire dragon species heard about her reputation for solving her problems with Dragon Slaves
 
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