Presentation

I’ve only ever seen Slayers Next on English dubbed VHS, so having the joy of seeing it remastered with the option of the original Japanese audio was a real treat. I can definitely tell that the color has been enhanced from the olden days of VHS, as they’re brighter and crisper than the original. None of the audio problems that were present in the older Software Sculptors release of this series on DVD show their ugly heads in Funimation’s 4-disc set. The box itself is also nice, going with the new process of DVD stacking to save space and money in production. The box art is also great with clear box art and good design.

Extras

Like the first Slayers set released, Slayers Next’s extras lie within disc 4. You have the standard-issue textless opening and ending songs and a host of anime trailers presented by Funimation. The trailers are for Ragnarok, Yu Yu Hakusho, The Slayers, Tsubasa, Glass Fleet, Z-store, and, what I enjoyed seeing most of all of them, Robotech. That all seems very commonplace, doesn’t it? But Funimation has dropped a couple of other goodies into the bucket that sweeten the deal just a little more. First, there are the original Japanese tv commercials for the various Slayers soundtracks and drama CDs, and just blurbing the series in general. Now, while that might not seem like much, it’s always amusing (to me, at least) to see just how obnoxious Japanese commercials can attempt to be. Second addition to the standard list of extras, and my favorite of the bunch, was the animated video to the song “Otome no Inori” (“A Maiden’s Prayer”). It’s a cute animated video that was made featuring Lina and Amelia and a whole lot of fish people in the background. What’s nifty about the music videos is that not only do you get one with the audio, but you also get a karaoke version where you just have the text and background singing. There are also two versions after that, one that just gives you Lina’s singing, and the other just gives you Amelia’s singing. A fourth, and final, version gives you the Japanese lyrics rather than an English translation. It does get a little redundant having four different versions of the same song, but it’s still easily the best feature of the extras list.

Overall

This is a great DVD set for anyone to add to his or her collection. The story has a wonderful balance of comedy and drama, and in this one Slayers fans get a small touch of romance in the mix. Slayers is, and likely always will be, a classic among mid-90’s anime for the entertaining story and engaging characters. Not only that but you get this all in a neat bundle package with a few nifty DVD extras as a bonus. To me, I think Next has always been my favorite of the three TV seasons and it’s worth buying again and again whenever it’s re-released.

Overall: 10.0