Slayers/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • In the last episode of Slayers' first season they defeat the Big Bad not with the ultimate spiritual attack spell, nor with the power of the greatest demon in existance or even the one who made the world. Even though all three were invoked, it was a simple healing spell cast on a tree that won the day. Oddly enough, It Makes Sense in Context.
  • The show was originally licensed and dubbed by Central Park Media under its Software Sculptors label, and was considered to be one of their most popular licenses. FUNimation rescued the license after it expired, and it also picked up the belated fourth and fifth seasons when they were released. ADV Films licensed the movies and OVA's.
  • Bad Export for You: Subverted with Central Park Media's DVD box set releases; their downgrade in quality was their own doing. In the first season box set, the Japanese audio is phase-inverted, meaning that no sound would play if one was viewing an episode with a mono speaker setup. In the second season box set, the picture quality was exceptionally blurred, but this is due to a bad video transfer (off of a laserdisc) rather than imported low-quality masters. At the time, one would be better off buying the individual DVDs or even old videocassette tapes. Funimation fixed all of these problems in their re-releases, but for some reason, the masters in the first season are darker than CPM's.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: A ton, given that the English dub was produced by TAJ Productions. In both this case and in the Japanese version, most of the actors were either new or still fresh in the industry (which was the case for the seiyuus of the four leads). In fact, the actors that didn't fall off the map here eventually would work for 4KidsEntertainment:
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Central Park Media's original DVD releases of each season are, surprisingly, not too difficult to find. In this case, they are coveted for their extras, which are lacking on the re-releases. The same can be said for the movies and OVA series, which are now harder to come by in stores.
  • No Export for You: The anime is the only form of media that was released in its entirety in the states. As for everything else:
    • Light Novels: The first six were released in 2004; Tokyo Pop stopped translating them after that due to poor sales. With a little pursuasion, they released a limited amount of the 7th and 8th novels four years later, completing the first arc. The remaining seven novels (and none of the prequel novels for that matter) have not been exported, and all of the translated novels have gone out of print since then.
    • Manga: Central Park Media's manga department translated the Slayers' Medieval Mayhem manga, the Slayers: Super Explosive Demon Story manga, and the manga adaptation of Slayers Premium. All of these are out of print, and the manga that began to diverge into more alternate continuities (such as The Hourglass of Falces) were never translated.
    • Video Games: Since they bombed in Japan, they had no hopes of being exported.
  • Screwed by the Network: Screwed by Tokyopop, which secured the rights to English translations of the original novels. The first six were released with minimal promotion and advertising, sold relatively poorly as a result, and Tokyopop canceled further translations, with two books left to go in the Hellmaster Fibrizo plot arc. Overwhelming fan-demand actually caused them to reverse their decision and release the last two in 2007, although with almost no announcement or promotion, once again. As of now, Tokyopop has no intention of releasing the other half of the novels, although bits and pieces of fan translations can be found floating around on the Internet.
  • The Wiki Rule: The Kanzaka Dex
  • Word of God: the creator has stated in official interviews that Gourry Gabriev is not half-elven, despite the implications of The Movie, going on to suggest that Rowdy Gabriev left Mellyroon and found himself a human girl to marry, as he aged faster then she did. He has also stated that Gourry actually has the potential to be a sorcerer of power equal to Lina's; it's just his lack of interest and memory problems effectively cripple him, as he'd never be able to remember the incantations. Finally, he confirmed that Naga really is Amelia's elder sister Gracia Ul Naga Saillune, who went adventuring under a nom de guerre after the death of their mother.