Bonus Translator/Editor Chat!
[Meg/ED]
Well, Liz, I think we left off last time talking about demons and Lantz—both of which are pretty major players in this volume! But I have a bit of a confession to make, and I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t come up before now...
Sometimes while I’m working on Slayers, I literally hear Lina’s voice as Hayashibara Megumi in my head.
[Liz/TL]
The legend! Yeah, I definitely do that with Midorikawa Hikaru and Zelgadis, if I’m ever feeling unsure how he should sound.
[Meg/ED]
I have to admit that I didn’t remember Zelgadis was Midorikawa Hikaru! I think that was lost on me the first time I watched the series, but when I came back to it years later, I was like, “Wait, is that... Yeah, it totally is!” That was a fun surprise.
[Liz/TL]
The first two anime series I got really into were Slayers and Fushigi Yugi, so realizing that Tamahome and Zelgadis were the same person was kind of a mind blown moment for li’l teenage me. Ditto Hotohori and Rezo. That took me down the rabbit hole of seiyuu obsession, which I never fully climbed out of.
[Meg/ED]
Hard same. Speaking of, I had a magical little moment working on this volume. I believe I left a note on an initial draft asking if copy-Rezo talks with the same sort of polite-yet-intimidating inflection that Rezo did. You replied something to the effect of, “Yup, still Koyasu-ing it up.” And I knew exactly what you meant.
[Liz/TL]
It’s true! The Koyasu-ness is important.
The voice actors in Slayers are so iconic. I recall there being a bunch of image songs and such, which I listened to (and sang along with!) pretty much constantly. And having that core group of actors—with Matsumoto Yasunori and Suzuki Masami, of course—really reinforces the idea of this “core four” cast of characters in the series, even though... well, it’s not that way in the novels, is it?
[Meg/ED]
Oh my gosh, the music... But, yeah, some of the fun of the Slayers novels is our semi-rotating cast of characters. It’s been a whole volume since we’ve seen Zelgadis, and we won’t even meet Amelia until next time. [We’ll also pick up you-know-who in volume 5, who just so happens to be voiced by the Ishida Akira!]
[Liz/TL]
Shh! That’s a secret. But yeah, we’re all excited for Amelia in volume 4, so who can blame the anime for introducing her early? Sadly, as in volume 2, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for Lantz.
[Meg/ED]
Lantz is an interesting character for me, partly because he gets scrubbed from the anime entirely even though he has a few big moments in this arc.
[Liz/TL]
Yeah, you can understand why they’d remove him, from the perspective of conservation of characters and themes. They wanted to focus on the core four and craft a season-long arc around their main villain, Rezo. But it’s kind of a shame, because I really like the story Lantz gets. It’s like this group of the world’s biggest badasses being forced by circumstance to put their faith in this completely unremarkable guy, and hey, he actually rises to the occasion.
[Meg/ED]
It’s really heartening!
I also think he and Eris play off of each other well, but her role is notably different in the anime considering she ditches the whole “inept bounty hunter” gag and rolls onscreen a villain from frame one.
[Liz/TL]
Yeah, that was VERY different from how I remembered it... to the degree that when I got to her appearance in the novel, I thought maybe they’d actually changed the character completely for the anime (since Talim and Daymia had a pretty big reworking), and that she wasn’t going to be a villain at all. I was, um... very wrong about that! But at the same time, it meant I got the proper mystery experience on my read-through, which was nice.
[Meg/ED]
It’s kind of fun to be led along and watch Lina sleuth her out on the sly. But while Eris’s main concern is vengeance in both the novel and the anime, her exact motivations and machinations differ.
In the books, copy-Rezo spells out for us in no uncertain terms that he was created by Rezo for experimentation, whereas the anime strongly implies (if not states outright) that Eris created copy-Rezo.
Moreover, that she tried repeatedly to make a perfect copy of Rezo after his death, which draws an interesting (and perhaps unintentional) parallel between Eris/Rezo and Halciform/Rubia.
[Liz/TL]
Wow, I never even thought about that. I wonder if that was their way of subtly folding in the content of volume 2.
[Meg/ED]
It does make me curious. The story ultimately unfolds much the same way in the end, but I can’t help chewing over those nuances.
[Liz/TL]
And Erisiel Vrumugun isn’t a thing in the anime at all, as I recall. In fact, it’s implied that the head Vrumugun is a guy who looks just like the other Vrumuguns.
[Meg/ED]
That’s right; she never gets that name drop. Vrumugun pops up a few times (similar to his antics in the novel), but ends up disappearing without much fanfare. There’s also an anime-only bounty hunter character named Zangulus. I initially thought he was supposed to be a stand-in for Lantz, but he behaves much more like Rod—another possible nod to volume 2.
[Liz/TL]
Yeah, though Zangulus has a happier end in NEXT, and the “real” Vrumugun shows up in an Easter egg. It’s a good time!
[Meg/ED]
That’s a great tie-in!
[Liz/TL]
Our other “side character” this novel is Sylphiel, who despite appearing in the opening theme for the series from episode 1, doesn’t actually show up until episode... 18? I remember being very put out as a young’un, wondering when the pretty lady was gonna show up (sorry Lina). Of course if you were coming to the show from the novels, that would’ve been more like a promise that, “Yes, we’re getting to Sylphiel, don’t worry!”
[Meg/ED]
Yeah, sadly, I think Sylphiel’s role is a little diminished in the anime since she doesn’t get to show up and save the day with Zelgadis or squirrel the party away in a tree for safekeeping (pretty literally).
The abject horror of her witnessing the destruction of Sairaag is a little glossed over as well, but I can understand that since the anime tends to shy away from “abject horrors” in general.
[Liz/TL]
And when Lina almost dies it’s because she’s protecting Sylphiel, rather than because she got blindsided, which adds to a feeling that she gets the short end of the stick. Really, it’s interesting how this segment of the story is so similar in the broad strokes and tone, but all these little changes result in a very different experience.
[Meg/ED]
Too true. The anime also tosses a couple of really important plot points into the final episodes of the first season that I’d really love to talk about, but alas, those are going to have to wait until volume 5 for us.
[Liz/TL]
Yep, and we’ll be getting our “core four” reunited then!
[Meg/ED]
After a quick stop in Saillune where there won’t be any trouble at all, right?
[Liz/TL]
Not at all. A peaceful place, I hear. A bastion of white magic and order.
[Meg/ED]
It’s time for some JUSTICE and PEACE, all right.
[Liz/TL]
And not a single interdimensional monster!
[Meg/ED]
Oh, and the soup’s to die for!
[Liz/TL]
The chicken, too! Ah, but we’ll leave that for next time. See you then!
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