Slayers (anime series)

Slayers (スレイヤーズ / スレイヤーズ無印) is the name of the first 26 half-hour episode series of the Slayers anime. It is a rough adaptation of the first and third Slayers novels and the basis of the Slayers: Super-Explosive Demon Story manga volumes 1-5 (4th volume is a adaptation of one of the movies).

Slayers aired Tuesday evenings from April 7, 1995, to September 29, 1995 on TV Tokyo and will air on CoLours TV on weeknights begining September 11, 2006.

Plot Summary
The first season's plot can be divided into two rough story arcs. The first story arc is based on the plot of the first novel and volumes 1-3 of the manga, while the second is adapted from the third novel and volume 5 of the manga.

The first episode begins with Lina Inverse attacking the Dragon Fangs bandit gang at their hideout, stealing the Orihalcon statue in the process. The next day, the remaining Dragon Fangs attack her, seeking revenge. Lina is rescued (though she did not need it) by a traveling swordsman, Gourry Gabriev. Gourry mistakes her for a lost child, and insists on accompanying her on her journey to Atlas City.

Along the way, they encounter a mysterious chimera named Zelgadiss Graywords, and his servant Zolf. Zelgadiss wants one of the items Lina stole from the Dragon Fangs, though he refuses to specify which item it is. When Lina refuses to sell it to him, Zelgadiss informs her that he will take it from her by force.

The next night they are attacked by Rodimus, another of Zelgadiss' henchmen, and some trolls at an inn. In the middle of the fight, Rezo the Red Priest appears and uses a Kugutsu spell to make Rodimus and the trolls leave quietly. Rezo explains that Zelgadiss wants the item that Lina has so he can resurrect the ma-ō Ruby Eye Shabranigdu. Rezo offers to take the item from Lina so she will not be in danger from Zelgadiss, but Lina refuses, partly because she feels that the matter is her concern too, and partly because she is suspicious of whether or not it's the real Rezo that she is talking to. Rezo reluctantly agrees and leaves.

The next day, Gourry and Lina continue traveling. Lina informs Gourry that since she is approaching "that time of the month," she will not be able to use her magic. Shortly thereafter, they are attacked by Zelgadiss, Rodimus, and another henchmen Dilgear. During the battle, Lina and Gourry get separated. Because she does not have her powers, Lina is captured by Zelgadiss and taken prisoner.

Lina wakes up in an abandoned church. Zelgadiss has discovered that Lina does not have the item he wants, which he reveals is the Orihalcon statue. Before she was captured, Lina had given the statue to Gourry, and placed a protection spell on it so that they could not search for it through magical means. When she refuses to tell them where Gourry is, another one of Zelgadiss' henchmen, Noonsa the fishman, comes in and instantly falls in love with Lina, who is creeped out by his appearence. Zolf tells Noonsa to give Lina a kiss, which Noonsa does without hesitation by sucking on her head. She clobbers him for this and is then mercilessly taunted by Zolf by being called a "little runt", "pig-face", "flat-chested", etc.

During the night, when everyone else is asleep, Zelgadiss helps Lina escape. Confused, Lina follows him. After a close fight with Noonsa, they run through the forest. They are then attacked by Rezo. It is revealed that Zelgadiss had been working for Rezo, and that he is now turning traitor. The pair of them escape. Later, while they are resting Zelgadiss explains that the Orihalcon statue contains the Philosopher's Stone. Rezo, who has been blind since birth, wants to use the stone to regain his sight. Zelgadiss wants the stone so he can get revenge on Rezo for turning him into a chimera. Lina realizes that the story Rezo told her about Zelgadiss wanting to resurrect Shabranigdu is false.

Gourry, in the meantime, has been searching for Lina. Since Lina and Zelgadiss both want the statue that Gourry now has, they agree to travel together to Atlas City, where Lina believes Gourry will be waiting for her.

On their way there, they come to an abandoned town. There, the pair is ambushed by Dilgear, an army of Rezo's monsters, and a mazoku named Zorom. Though Lina has regained most of her powers by this point, they are still outnumbered. In the middle of the fight, Gourry shows up and helps defeat Zorom with his Sword of Light. At the same time, Zolf and Rodimus appear and reveal their true allegiance, helping Zelgadiss kill Dilgear. Afterwards, the five of them join forces.

Later, they are challenged by Rezo. Rezo reveals that his real purpose is to use the Philosopher's Stone to resurrect one of the seven pieces of Shabranigdu, in the hopes that the ma-ō will restore his sight. Using a Kugutsu spell on Zelgadiss to force him to fight and distract Lina and co., Rezo steals the Stone from them and runs off to resurrect the ma-ō. Lina and co. manage to break Zelgadiss free of the spell, but not in time to stop Rezo. The Red Priest successfully manages to summon Shabranigdu. What the priest did not expect was that the piece was sealed in his own body, rather than in the area around them.

Zelgadiss attempts to use Ra Tilt (the most powerful spell in shamanistic magic) against the ma-ō, but fails to harm him. Zolf then attempts to use the Dragon Slave (the most powerful spell in black magic) on Shabranigdu, forgetting that that the spell draws its power from Ruby Eye himself and therefore cannot be used to harm him. When the spell fails, Shabranigdu kills Zolf and Rodimus. Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadiss promptly flee. After some deliberation, the three of them agree to fight Shabranigdu, though they know that none of Lina or Zelgadiss' spells will have any effect on the ma-o, and that only Gourry's Sword of Light has a chance of doing any real damage.

Shabranigdu returns to fight them. Over the course of the battle, they learn that the Sword of Light cannot hurt Shabranigdu as they hoped it would. Eventually, Lina decides to use the only option left to her: the Giga Slave, a spell which supposedly draws its power from a mazoku even more powerful than Shabranigdu, called the Lord of Nightmares (Note: the Lord of Nightmares is not a mazoku, nor is she a shinzoku. Lina made this assumption because she knew very little about the Lord of Nightmares at the time.) By channeling the Giga Slave into the Sword of Light, and with help from the remains of Rezo's soul, Lina is able to destroy Shabranigdu.

After the battle, Zelgadiss leaves the group and goes his own separate way. Gourry decides to continue traveling with Lina to Atlas city. This ends the first story arc.

The second story arc does not begin with Lina and Gourry in Atlas City; it is not explained why they are not there. The first episode of the story arc describes Lina and Gourry's first meeting with Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune and her father, Prince Philionel El Di Saillune. This episode is based on the plot of the first Slayers Special story. After helping Phil escape an assassination plot by his younger brother Randionel Saillune, Lina and Gourry learn that Phil and Amelia do not have money to reward them for their efforts. Lina decides to accompany them to Saillune until they get their payment.

When they arrive in Saillune, the foursome discovers that Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadiss have a price on their heads. Initially, Phil and Amelia think that Lina and Gourry are bad guys. Amelia teams up with bounty hunters Zangulus and Vrumugun to try and capture them. Eventually, Lina manages to persuade Amelia that they are not bad guys. In the resulting skirmish, Amelia accidentally blows up a tower. She decides to leave Saillune with Lina and Gourry so she can escape her father's wrath.

Since the person who put the price on their heads is in Sairaag, the trio decides to go there to clear the matter up. They spend several comedic filler episodes traveling to Sairaag, all the while trying to avoid Zangulus, Vrumugun, and other various bounty hunters.

When they arrive in Sairaag, they find Sylphiel Nels Lahda, an old friend of Gourry's, who brings them to her house. Sylphiel and her father explain that the person responsible is a sorceress named Eris, and to Lina's surprise, Rezo the Red Priest. No one else is aware that Rezo is supposed to be dead, since they did not know about Lina's encounter with the priest earlier in the season (in Gourry's case, he had simply forgotten about it).

Lina, Gourry, and Amelia decide to visit the place where Eris is staying. Eris, along with Zangulus and Vrumugun, appear, and they get into a fight. In the middle of the battle, Zelgadiss shows up and helps them defeat Vrumugun, who had been making numerous copies of himself. Eris and Zelgadiss apparently know each other, since they both worked for Rezo; Eris refers to Zelgadiss as a traitor.

Then, to Lina and Zelgadiss' shock, Rezo appears. After a brief argument over whether it's the real Rezo or not, Rezo attacks them. Lina, Zelgadiss, and Amelia manage to hold him off, but have difficulty doing so. Then Sylphiel appears to help them fend off the attack. The five of them flee the building.

After a brief rest, the group wonders about Rezo's apparent return from the dead, wondering if he may be a copy (clone) of the original. Lina, Gourry, Sylphiel, and Amelia go to a nearby branch of the Sorcerer's Guild that specializes in copies to do research, while Zelgadiss goes elsewhere to make inquiries of his own. Their visit to the guild proves inconclusive; they learn only that it's possible to make a copy with all the same abilities as the original. Zelgadiss has more success; he informs them that there is a research laboratory once used by Rezo in the ruins of old Sairaag. They agree to go there later that night.

On their way, however, they are attacked by Eris, Rezo, and Zangulus. Suddenly, Rezo begins casting a spell that is unfamiliar to them. Sensing that it will be big and powerful, Lina and co. flee using a combination of Levitation and Windy Shield. Eris and Zangulus do the same. Rezo's spell, an amplified Mega Brand, destroys almost all of Sairaag.

The group takes a rest nearby, planning their next move and allowing Sylphiel time to grieve for her father. As they discuss ways of defeating Rezo, Sylphiel warns Lina that she cannot, under any circumstances, use the Giga Slave, because miscasting or losing control of that spell would mean the destruction of the world. The group decides to go ahead with their plans to investigate Rezo's lab.

After a skirmish with some of Rezo and Eris' minions, they make it to the lab and enter. After wandering around, getting separated, a duel between Gourry and Zangulus, reuniting, and then another fight with a mazoku named Tiiba in Rezo's lab, they find Rezo's legacy: a tablet contain excerpts from a Clair Bible manuscript. When Rezo was planning to resurrect Shabranigdu, he had created the tablet as a weapon to destroy the ma-ō once he had regained his sight (Why Rezo never ended up using it is unexplained). The tablet can be used to deflect almost any spell, and can also be used to amplify a spell's power.

Shortly after finding the tablet, they encounter Rezo and Eris, who have been following them. Eris manages to catch them off guard and steal the tablet from them. It is then revealed that Rezo is in fact a Copy of the original Rezo, known as Copy Rezo, who is being controlled by Eris' Kugutsu spell. Eris distracts the group by casting a similar Kugutsu spell on Gourry and making him, along with Copy Rezo, fight Lina, Sylphiel, Amelia, and Zelgadiss. Lina eventually eventually manages to break the spell on Gourry, but not in time. Eris takes the Clair Bible tablet and uses it to resurrect Zanaffar, a demon beast that had destroyed Sairaag more then a hundred years ago.

Copy Rezo absorbs Zannafar's power and then unexpectedly kills Eris. He explains to Lina and co. that he is obsessed with surpassing the original Rezo, but that he could not do that as long as Eris was alive. Initially, he had planned on doing surpassing his original by killing the original Rezo. However, he was prevented from doing this when Rezo died while trying to summon Shabranigdu. The only way for copy Rezo to accomplish his goal is to defeat the people who had killed the original; namely Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadiss. That was why he had helped Eris put the price on their heads, to lure them to Sairaag (Eris' motive had been to take revenge, since she had been in love with the real Rezo).

A big battle on the ruins of the destroyed Sairaag ensues, between Copy Rezo and Lina, Gourry, Zelgadiss, Amelia, and Sylphiel. However, because he now has Zanafar's power, spells and the Sword of Light have little effect on him. As a last ditch resort, in spite of Sylphiel's warnings, Lina uses the Giga Slave, channeling it through the Sword of Light like she had done when she fought Shabranigdu. This makes Copy Rezo happy, since in his eyes, surviving the Giga Slave will prove that he has surpassed Rezo. Before Lina can complete the spell however, Sylphiel stops her. Angry, Rezo shoots a spell at Sylphiel. Lina pushes Sylphiel out of the way and takes the blast herself, and receives a critical injury.

Sylphiel escapes with the unconscious Lina in a Raywing bubble to a safe place where she can cast a proper healing spell. In the meantime, Gourry, Zelgadiss and Amelia hold off Copy Rezo. After finding a suitable cave beneath the giant tree Flagoon, Sylphiel casts Resurrection on Lina. When she is certain that Lina is out of danger, Sylphiel carries the still unconscious Lina to another cave where the Blessed Blade is hidden. While Sylphiel is retrieving the Blade from its hiding place, Lina wakes up. Sylphiel explains that when she was a child, she stole the Sword from the temple in Sairaag and hid it in the cave as a childhood prank. The city was in an uproar over the sword's disappearance, and Sylphiel had been so terrified of getting in trouble that she never told anyone about it, and she never went back to retrieve it. Since the citizens of Sairaag seldom visited the caves, the Blessed Blade had remained there ever since. Sylphiel explains that Flagohn takes the negative energy that mazoku feed on and purifies it for nourishment. She has noticed that Copy Rezo has been trying not to get to close to the tree, and seems almost fearful of it. The Blessed Blade is some how connected to the power of the tree, and Sylphiel thinks they may be able to use it to defeat Copy Rezo.

In the meantime, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadiss have been fighting Copy Rezo. Unexpectedly, Prince Phil reappears to help them fight, creating an anticlimax. His reappearance mostly serves for comic relief. The group decides to retreat and regroup, and come up with a new strategy. While they do so, Copy Rezo starts destroying Flagohn, reducing it to little more than a giant stump in the ground.

Meanwhile, a comment from Gourry gives Zelgadiss and Amelia an idea of how to fight Rezo; the three of them go back to fight again, while Phil stays behind. By channeling astral shamanistic spells into Gourry's Sword, the trio find that they can vastly increase the Sword's power and deal more damage to Copy Rezo. While they are doing this, Sylphiel and Lina reappear with the Blessed Blade.

Lina explains her plan to the others, and they put it into action. Zelgadiss and Amelia simultaneously cast Blam Blazer and channel the spells into the Sword of Light. They use this to slowly drive Rezo up against Flagohn. When he is close enough, Lina drives the Blessed Blade through his chest and pins him to the tree trunk. Then Sylphiel casts a Recovery spell on the tree, restoring it to full health. The tree requires negative energy to heal itself, so it draws power from the nearest source: Zanafar. This effectively strips Copy Rezo of Zanafar's power, mortally wounding him. His last request is that, instead of a tombstone, he would like Flagohn to be his monument.

After the battle is over, the group discuss their plans. Lina and Gourry have not yet decided what they are going to do next. Sylphiel decides to stay in Sairaag and help rebuild the city. Zelgadiss wants to continue searching for a cure, and Amelia offers to let him come with her to Saillune to look there, though he does not answer her. Then a messenger arrives with a message that there is "trouble" in Saillune; the season ends with the group running off to investigate. (Note: The message about the "trouble" in Saillune is never mentioned or expanded upon in Slayers NEXT).