Slayers Revolution Season 4 - Part 1   Starring (voice): Akira Ishida, Megumi Hayashibara and Yasunori Matsumoto MVM RRP: £24.99 MVD2310 Certificate: PG Available 08 November 2010

Ah, Lina Inverse, that live wired ball of flat-chested, warrior sorceress, who with her sidekick Gourry likes nothing else better than relieving bad guys from their ill gotten gains. Her adventures have taken her not only around, but also beyond her world, always in an effort to help others...

Slayers Revolution: Season 4 - Part 1 (2007-2008) continues the successful series, indeed it was arguably the most successful of the late nineties/early two thousands. Originally created as fifty-two light novels, the concept spawned a manga, five anime series, a selection of OVA’s, games and five movies. The concept remained a simple dungeon & dragons one throughout, with lots of humour thrown in. This meant that many of the episodes were similar in their content, but usually linked together in an overall series arc.

This series was written by Jiro Takayama and directed by Takashi Watanabe for the J.C. Staff studio. The quality of the initial show's animation remained colourfully high for the period it was created, but technology and stylistic tastes means that the show has not aged well. Revolution, however, gains the show a new lease of life and the use of computers means that the animation is sharper and more colourful, plus the ratio has expanded to a clear 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen picture.

Part one is presented on a two disc DVD set which contains episodes one to thirteen. The discs have audio options for either an English 5.1 dub or the original Japanese 2.0 stereo track; both are pretty frenetic affairs, which accentuate the humour in the show.

To kick the new series off Lina and her companions have turned their attention away from bandits to pirates and the first episode opens with Lina aboard ship taking on said pirates. With Lina heavily involved in combat, Zelgadis and Amelia arrive with Inspector Wizer Freion, whose mission is to arrest Lina Inverse for being Lina Inverse.

The confusion is soon clarified when Lina realises that there is another Lina out there causing havoc. I feel a story arc coming on which will involve travel, lots of fights and the, more than occasional, crack at the size of Lina’s breasts. And so the thirteen episodes pans out with the action flipping between Wizer’s attempts to capture Lina and her pursuit of Pokota, who has been mistaken for Lina.

What extras there are, reside on the second DVD and are limited to the textless and opening sequences, plus trailers for other shows.

Let’s not pretend that Slayers has ever tried to be a deep and meaningful show, but what it does, it does well. So if you have liked the previous series, then the increased quality of the animation will be a pleasant addition. The humour may end up grating on adults but kids should love the slapstick nature of the show.

7

Charles Packer