Slayers Next (1996) Anime Series Review

Slayers was a fantasy series of light novels that achieved a notable popularity and became a manga and a cult anime show in the nineties. Created by Hajime Kanzaka, the series followed temperamental and mischievous sorceress Lina Inverse on several quests and exploits in a medieval fantasy world. We already talked about the first season of the series here, so now we are gonna take a look at the sequel series Slayers Next from 1996. Next is a loose adaptation of the second, fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth novels in the franchise, adapting everything to work as a direct sequel to the original first season. A lot of the crew working on the first Slayers series continued to work on this one, key players being people like director Takashi Watabe, character designer Naomi Miyata, art director Hideto Nakahara or writers Jirô Takayama and Katsumi Hasegawa.

In the series, Lina Inverse and Gaudy reunite with Amelia and Zelgadis to find the Claire Bible, a repository of a great amount of almost secret knowledge (which would be useful to make Zelgadis human again). To that you add the mysterious appearance of a man named Xelloss whose motives and origin seem elusive to all. Most of the series tracks the journey of this campaign across several kingdoms, castles, dungeons and villages up until they reach their destination and the final stretch of episodes focuses on a final battle between a mighty villain and the main crew. Sort of similar to the previous show.

Since the original writers and artists returned to work on Next, the series retains the exact same spirit of lighthearted adventure that made the original show so special. However, it does fall into a more formulaic zone and doesn't truly build anything that is different on top of what was established, having pretty much the same storytelling structure within every episode and in the whole season, at least to a very noticeable degree. I guess you can simply see it as more of that good thing you like, which isn't a negative when the characters and the writing stay top notch and consistent. Next is very good at expanding the universe (a seemingly endless one) with more places, factions, creatures, civilizations, religions and kingdoms than before.

Some people praise Next because characters got more development here, which makes sense since the first show had to establish and introduce the characters and once that's set up there's more opportunity for growth. But none of that changes things to any highly discernable or radical degree. Characters mostly stay the same and the changes are only inferable or suggested than anything else. There's really only brief instances of development, and mostly in the second half of the season, such as in episode 18, which features Lina going into an Empire Strikes Back-like training/revelation sequence (with a Yoda-like wise and crazy old lady included) that puts her abilities to the test and challenges her seemingly static and platonic relationship with Gourry. Something is done in that regard in the finale, but since romance isn't the main focus it doesn't really go anywhere and it relies more on the already mentioned suggestion of a possible attraction rather than a real and concrete feeling one could have for the other.

The new characters are mostly good additions. Before Naga there was Martina, named after renowned tennis player Martina Navratilova, who becomes the main antagonist/comedic rival to Lina and often has several battles or fights with her throughout the season. She is one of those silly/petulant but likable bad guys who you laugh at but sometimes you get surprised at how cunning they can be. Xelloss, the trickster priest, is also introduced this season and he complicates things with his expected trickery and games but often he feels a bit on-the-sidelines of most of the story, only coming out when it's required for certain plot points.

To my surprise, a lot of memorable Slayer moments and episodes come from this season oddly enough, such as the one with the all-female kingdom that features the guys in drag, the one with the magical tennis games, the one with Lina feeling the pain she inflicts on others, the one in the beach, the bath episode and many other funny and memorable misadventures. It's quite insane how nearly every episode feels tight and well structured, effectively mixing comedy, fantasy elements and light drama into every well paced and hilarious episode. Some issues are in trying to fit larger stories from the books into small arcs in multiple episodes but that's not a crucial issue here as it’s decently done at worst.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoyed the first season and wished to continue the franchise, this is probably the epitome of classic Slayers and one of the best sequel series of its decade.

Girlfight (2000) Movie Review

Girlfight is a sports drama film directed/written by Karyn Kusama starring Michelle Rodriguez, Jaime Tirelli, Paul Calderón and Ray Santiago. Made with a very low budget of 1 million dollars, the film was an independent production that was born out of the director's interest in a boxing story with a female lead, propelled by her own experiences learning boxing. Part of the struggle was to get this possibly offensive and daring movie even done in the first place, so she had to accept the very small amount of money and had other filmmakers contribute.

The film follows aggressive and explosive teenager from Brooklyn Diana Guzman (Michelle Rodriguez) as she begins to become captivated by boxing when she visits a gym to pick up her brother, Tiny. Diana lives with her previously abusive father, who pushed her mother to suicide, and his already mentioned brother who becomes a hope for his father as he wants the boy to be a professional boxer, even if the kid doesnt want to. Diana is told she can train but cannot fight by a local hispanic trainer, Hector. However, after spending some time with the girl the man begins to realize her potential. Taboos and baseless preconceptions are broken and Diana begins to fight professionally with both men and women, accomplishing her goals in a strict and sexist system.

While female sports movies have been more common in recent times, back then they were very rare or relegated to small projects or brief mentions, but this movie was quite a breakthrough for challenging and shattering some ideological fallacies and inspecting the life of its characters in a more raw and down to earth manner. Even outside of the sports and athletic aspects of the film, which are prominent, the film is, at its core, a very well directed and contained family drama that extrapolates the hidden rage and anger of such a troublesome environment into the protagonists desire for fighting, at first in school and then in the ring, and unleashing her previously repressed feelings. This is a very well handled coming of age story.

I was surprised by the great job the director did at stripping down the film to its bare essentials, emphasizing the performances, particularly the one by a great Michelle Rodriguez in her debut, and perfectly shooting and choreographing both the actors and the sportsmen in the fight sequences. The direction and camera work is so slick that it really becomes transparent and the drama gains power and prominence, ending up becoming deeply immersive. The many technical pitfalls of very low budget films are overcomed by a strong and pulsating vision that tries to be clear and simple every time.

There are flaws, like some strange ideological misconceptions and even some tropes that feel a bit too tiresome, like lovers having to fight or some cheap lines of dialogue that were a bit too on-the-nose. However, I will say that these are far more tolerable here than in mediocre movies of this kind, the actors and the naturalistic writing make those dialogues and scenes play out quite nicely.

A pivotal film in the subgenre, it kickstarted the career of action girl star Michelle Rodriguez into the mainstream and the career of feminist filmmaker Karyn Kusama (Aeon Flux, Jennifer's Body) as well.

Recommended for sports movie fans and those who like some urban dramas with an edge and that are well executed.

Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 8: Scoop Chase

Scoop Chase is the eighth and final episode of the original Bubblegum Crisis series. It's directed by Katsuhito Akiyama, Hiroaki Gôda, Hiroki Hayashi, Masami Ôbari and Fumihiko Takayama; and written by Toshimichi Suzuki, Katsuhito Akiyama, Shinji Aramaki, Emu Arii, Hideki Kakinuma and Ken'ichi Matsuzaki; with the voices of Yoshiko Sakakibara, Kinuko Ômori, Michie Tomizawa and Akiko Hiramatsu.

During one of their typical Boomer hunts, the Knight Sabers spot a mysterious girl taking pictures of the team, Priss closes in on her and destroys her camera. The girl turns out to be Lisa Vanette, the niece of the chief of the A.D Police, and she just so happens to be put under the care of Nene as the girl tries to get close to the Knight Sabers and uses the A.D Police to that end. Nene finds out about Lisa's true intentions and attempts to conceal her secret life as a Saber while keeping a distance from Lisa. The tiny redhead also has to deal with her newly gained weight and bad training performance! Things go even worse when a Boomer attacks the A.D Police headquarters, trapping Nene and Lisa inside with a brand new and improved Boomer chasing them.

We have seen different episodes centering on individual members of the Knight Sabers, this final outing centers on Nene and it's one of the high points of the series. The show has been far from bad but these character driven episodes are more involving, they set the stakes higher and they amount to more resonating resolutions since we are presented with a familiarity with the characters that digs deeper into their intimacy and relatability as they struggle with some intense conflicts. This episode makes Nene deal with her insecurities and the usual heavy load that's often put on her at both of her jobs but these are things that she is able to overcome by trusting herself and counting with the support of her friends. Her virtues and troubles are very well presented and portrayed, incisively setting up and solving these issues while blending the subplots and the overall arc of the characters together seamlessly.

The episode unfolds with more or less the same formula: a new person is introduced who attempts to interfere with the Knight Sabers' fight against the Boomers, while a certain villain puts a secret plan in motion. However, things are more fast paced, comedic, pleasant and lively, fitting nicely considering this is a story focused on Nene. So tone-wise it's pretty perfect and features a more solid use of the typical plot beats in the formula by injecting them with more enjoyable interactions and more complex relationships between the protagonists and the antagonistic force in the story that eventually is changed into an ally, delivering solid moments like when Sylvia has a little speech about the Sabers and the Boomers or expanding the world by showing how the Saber Knights play round and train.

For a lot of the series you almost forget certain aspects like how Sylvia owns a lingerie store or even the character of Mackie, but this one at least has the decency to mention some of this stuff and bring it all back. When the Sabers show up for Nene in one of the concluding scenes, it really encapsulates how this team works and the strong bond that has been seen on occasion and that is present implicitly but that shines brightly in moments like these from time to time, kind of making it a very good ending overall. You can tell they sort of knew that this could be the very last one as evidenced by the opening credits sequence and its devotion of time to every single important character in the show.

Featuring the obligatory bombastic and excellently crafted battle/mechanical action animation and investing more time on its characters with such a well handled self-contained plot that at the same time closes the story appropriately and gracefully, this final episode encapsulates everything anyone can find to love and take delight in when it comes to Bubblegum Crisis. Possibly one of the best if not the best.