The Slayers Next

The second season in the Slayers anime continuity, Slayers Next, is in my eyes a strict improvement over the first season, while simultaneously being a bigger departure from the Slayers OVA's. Hajime Kanzaka has expressed distaste for the direction of the anime series over time, as he seems to prefer the more whimsical and episodic (read: cartoony) nature of the OVA's. I am of exactly the opposite opinion, and welcome the stronger presence of an overarching story as the series progresses. That's not to say we are absent the fun and filler-y episodes that take our party on episodic adventures between plot sections, but they tie into the plot more now than in the past, and we have more characters to go on them with now, as well.

...

Writing: Slayers Next boasts a stronger continuity than the first season, but veers in something of a strange direction that won't be ending anytime soon: Whereas the Big Bad of Slayers was the demon lord Shabranigdo, this season's Big Bad is one of his minions. And, not to spoil too much, but the Big Bad of season 3... is one of HIS minions. Reverse power creep is a strange, strange thing. Nevertheless, the villains are just as threatening this time around, and we even see some stirrings of demon politics going on in the background, suggesting a much larger story going on behind the scenes. This helps to give the Slayers world a great deal more depth, setting it apart from the generic "gather a party and slay the demon lord" plot that, in my opinion, the first season suffered from. Season 2 plays with tropes much more than its predecessor, and even features more revolving party members--including the introduction of who I consider to be just about the best character in the series. But I digress.

Animation: Artwork and animation has made a step up from season 1, but it's subtle. Subtle enough that it's noticeable without being jarring, which is good. It's still a 90's anime series with 90's anime artwork, so don't expect anything too spectacular. That's part of the charm of the series, after all.

Sound: By season 2 the dub cast has settled into their roles and are performing them quite nicely. Gone are the sudden voice cast changes of season 1. The dub is a little corny and a little 90's, but faithful to the original script. No censorship, but one or two awkward translations/adaptations of Japanese puns, which are always a hurdle for any English translation. The Japanese dialogue lives up to the quality of the previous entries in the Slayers franchise. Some voices are too whiny and nasally for my taste, but take your preference. Music is neither exceptionally good or bad, but a little bit bland--the sound of Slayers isn't quite as iconic as other series may be with their soundtracks, but it serves its purpose as background music. An all-around average score for sound.

...

While I do consider Slayers Next an improvement over Slayers classic, there's still room for improvement. It's always hard to rate the individual entries in a large series like Slayers without considering the whole of the franchise, so let me end on a positive note by saying that the franchise only gets better as it progresses. Slayers Try comes next, so if you're making your way through the series from the start, you can look forward to what's coming. If you've never seen anything Slayers-related, though, I wouldn't suggest jumping into the middle with Next or Try.