Slayers Rewatch Podcast: Spell #01

Lina Inverse: Bandit Killer, Dragon Spooker, and Beautiful Sorceress. That’s right, we decided to revisit the classic 90’s fantasy comedy Slayers.

The show is a mixture of comedy and adventure that is both a parody and homage to the various worlds of fantasy and roleplaying. LinaGourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia are your stereotypical D&D adventuring party (albeit with a rather spell-casting heavy focus) killing monsters, hording treasure, fighting amongst themselves, and causing tremendous amounts of collateral damage which sometimes inadvertently save the world. And in the 90’s Megumi Hayashibara was the queen of anime voice actresses and one of her most iconic roles was Lina.

Back in the day not everyone liked Slayers but almost everyone had watched it and had an opinion about it. Now even with the two recent seasons in 2008 the series is distinctly seen as a product of the 90s.

We are recruiting adventures for our journey to discover if Slayers is still an enjoyable 90s romp or a cursed relic better buried in the stream of time. If you are a high enough level, you should rewatch Slayers with our party!

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Manga of the Month: Giganto Maxia

Giganto Maxia (ギガントマキア)
by Kentaro Miura

hisui_icon_4040 At one point in time most of us have wondered what if one author did a title in a genre they don’t normally work in or did their own take on an established or popular premise. You might wonder what if Kaoru Mori did a science fiction series or what if Mitsuru Adachi did his own version of Princess Nine. I have seen that question asked on various podcasts as well as our own podcast. It is a fascinating what if that that just generates speculation naturally. We have even discussed it here as well. So it is always interesting to see what happens when it actually occurs outside the space of pure theory. It does not always work out for the best. Sometimes artists work in their chosen genre for a reason. A novel concept by one author can seem like nothing more than an also–ran when the same idea is used by another person a little later. But it can also lead to some wonderful variations and unique stories that show you an unexpected side of a mangaka. It does not matter if it is a success or failure. It always is an informative experiment.

I bring this up mostly because Giganto Maxia distinctly feels like what if Kentaro Miura did his own version of Attack on Titan. It is not a 100% copy-paste but it is fairly clearly inspired by the former. (At least I would be shocked if that were not the case.) So the question is can Kentaro Miura outdo Hajime Isayama in writing stories about humans fighting giants in a post-apocalyptic world or should he stick to the adventures of Guts and less than merry band? (Or should he stick to playing THE iDOLM@STER if you want to be SUPER bitter.)

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A Few Anime Sights We’d Like to Visit

Most anime fans dream of heading to Japan one day and most of us have a list of places we’d like to see. We’ve spent countless hours experiencing Japan through our entertainment. What places really feel like and how you will fit into the atmosphere is a much bigger mystery.

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to where we’d like to stop at.

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