is the second set of three ''

Slayers is a Japanese light novel series written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. The novels have been serialized in ''Dragon Magazine'' since 1989, before being published into individual volumes. They follow t ...

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

episodes featuring

Lina Inverse is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the comic fantasy-themed light novel, manga and anime series ''Slayers''. Lina Inverse is a young yet very powerful sorceress travelling the world in search of adventure and treasure. Lina has b ...

and

Naga the Serpent is a fictional character in the light novel, anime, manga, radio drama and game versions of Hajime Kanzaka's media franchise ''Slayers'', who was introduced in ''Dragon Magazine'' in 1990. She is also often known as Naga the White Serpent, which ...

, following the earlier OVA series '' Slayers Special''. The series was written by Keiko Watanabe basing on the original stories in the light novels by Hajime Kanzaka, directed by Hiroshi Watanabe, and originally released in Japan in 1998–1999. In the first episode, "Labyrinth" (らびりんす ''Rabirinsu''), Lina and Naga first meet and are forced to battle zombies, ghosts, a vampire, and Naga's own tomfoolery. In the second episode, "A Frightening Future" (恐るべき未来 ''Osorubeki mirai''), Lina is hired to escort a bratty and spoiled daughter of an aristocratic family in a job that will turn out much more challenging than she excepted. In the third episode, "Lina-chan's Lovely Makeover Operation" (リナちゃん・おしゃれ大作戦 ''Rina-chan oshare dai-sakusen''), Lina and Naga take opposite sides in an out-of-control dispute between conservative and risque fashion designers.

Plot

"Labyrinth"

The episode begins with a retrospective story of

's and

's original meeting when Naga began her obsession with Lina as her self-proclaimed arch rival. In the present, the two are traveling together when they are directed by residents of a village to the mysterious ruins nearby. After arriving there, however, they are ambushed by zombies and soon realize that this was all just a trap by the villagers as a sacrifice to a vampire dwelling inside an ancient labyrinth.

"A Frightening Future"

Lina has taken a bodyguard job to take a high-born girl named Sirene to her summer villa. However, when Sirene's selfishness and arrogance becomes too much for Lina, she hires some bandits to pretend to kidnap Sirene in order to demand a ransom from her father. But when she learns that Naga had defeated the bandits she had hired, Lina realizes that it was someone other who really kidnapped Sirene, and so she sets out with Naga to find and save her.

"Lina-chan's Lovely Makeover Operation"

Lina and Naga get involved in the rivalry between two fashion designers. Lina takes the side of the more traditionally minded Tatiana, while Naga supports Marty and her revealing costumes. The dispute escalates very quickly, which results in the destruction of the fashion studios. When an agreement no longer seems possible, Marty attacks Tatiana with the help of a mobile studio powered by golem magic. Lina and Tatiana, who too knows magic, take refuge in a secret hiding place which is also a moving building, and so begins an ultimate battle for fashion supremacy between the two huge robot-like studios.

Cast

Release

''Slayers Excellent'' was originally released in Japan in three parts between October 25, 1998 and March 25, 1999 on VHS and

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

licensed the OVAs and released them on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on March 30, 2004. It was included in the collection of digitally remastered ''Slayers'' films and OAV series, released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

in Japan on October 30, 2015. The series' ending song "Never Die" with vocals by

Masami Okui is a Japanese singer and songwriter from Itami, Hyōgo. She began her professional musical career at age 21 as a concert backup singer. From almost the very beginning of her career, Masami has sung themes for anime television and movies. She ...

was released as a four-track single CD (KIDA-174) by

Starchild Records , commonly known as King Records, is a Japanese record company founded in January 1931 as a division of the Japanese publisher Kodansha. It initially began operating as an independent entity in the 1950s. It later became part of the Otowa Group ...

on November 27, 1998. It was also later included Okui's 1999 album '' Best-Est'' and in the CD collection ''The Best of Slayers vol. 2 (From OVA, Movie & Game)''.

Reception

Polish fantasy writer Aleksandra Janusz, writing for the magazine ''Kawaii'', called ''Slayers Excellent'' "not much less brilliant" than ''Slayers Special'', noting the second part to in her opinion be the most funny and the third one to be the weakest.

Dave Halverson Dave Halverson is an American video game journalist who has been the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of ''GameFan'' (where he wrote reviews as E. Storm, Skid and Takahara), ''Gamers' Republic'', ''Play'', and currently the new versions of ...

gave ''Excellent'' a review score of three-and-half stars out of five in ''

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

'', opining that while the first episode is indeed excellent, the other two "don't hold a handle" in comparison to the films ''

Slayers Great is a 1997 anime film written by Hajime Kanzaka and directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Hiroshi Watanabe. It was the third film released in the ''Slayers'' saga and was met with a generally positive reception from Western critics. ''Great'' was foll ...

'' and ''

Slayers Gorgeous is a 1998 comic fantasy anime film written by Hajime Kanzaka and directed by Hiroshi Watanabe. ''Gorgeous'' is the fourth film in the ''Slayers'' saga and the final anime entry in the prequels to the main series. It received mostly favorable re ...

''.''Play'' 29 (May 2004), p. 76.

References

External links

Official website of ''Slayers OVA Collection''
(Madman Entertainment) * {{J.C.Staff OVAs 1998 anime OVAs Adventure anime and manga Comedy anime and manga Fantasy anime and manga J.C.Staff Slayers