The Slayers Abridged

""Do you work in a pet shop?""

- Amelia

In August of 2008, YouTube user projectshadow99 watched Megami33's Sailor Moon Abridged and realized that people other than Little Kuriboh could be successful making abridged series, so he decided to make one of his own. After finding no other Slayers Abridged series online (save for one which hadn't been updated in a long time and only lasted a few episodes), he wrote, recorded, edited, and released his first episode in six hours. The final result was...less than stellar, with rather bad writing, and at times, terrible editing. He originally quit after the first four episodes, but then released a fifth episode four months later. Then he stopped again and didn't begin producing episodes regularly again until August of 2009, with somewhat better writing and editing. After releasing about six episodes within three months, he began releasing episodes about every two months, something he is desperately trying to avert. He eventually began releasing updated and better versions of his first few episodes in September of 2010, while at the same time making new episodes. Although he originally started the series to get attention, he quickly began to like writing, acting in, and releasing the episodes, even though he doesn't do it as much as he used to.

The Slayers Abridged stars Lina Inverse, a whiny sociopath who's desperate for screen time. She travels with her companion, the at times complaining and at times stupid Gourry Gabriev. Along with the now game-obsessed Zelgadis and over the top and at times trigger happy Amelia, they fight numerous forces like a demonic chairman, two familiar sounding mercenaries, and the dreaded Sony corporation.

It took 3 years and 3 weeks, but Season 1 is now over, and as of April 2012, Season 2 has begun.

The entire series can be viewed on projectshadow99's YouTube Channel here

The Slayers Abridged provides examples of:

 * Action Girl: As in the real series, Lina and Amelia, although sometimes subverted by Lina as in a few episodes, Amelia will cause an explosion that was performed by Lina in the actual show. Also,
 * Actor Allusion: In episode 17, Amelia tells Lina to use thundershock.
 * In episode 15, Zangulus yells out "Prepare for trouble, bitches!" Ted Lewis, who played Zangulus, also played James in the first 9 episodes of Pokemon.
 * In the very first episode, Gourry tells an Onix that doesn't exist to attack the bandits. Lina lampshades about 30 seconds later that he sounds like Brock.
 * There's a lot of Pokemon examples of this, aren't there?
 * It makes it all the more ironic that almost all of the original voice actors were on Pokemon and one of the few that wasn't, Zelgadis, was the one who got the video game gimmick.
 * Actually, Crispin Freeman did do a bit of writing on the earlier episodes of Pokemon.
 * Alternate Character Interpretation: Again, it's an abridged series, what did you expect? Their characters tend to change a lot, but the most recent interpretations are that Lina is even more of a sociopath, Gourry is either a complainer or even dumber at times, Amelia has a thing for pet shops, and Zelgadis is obsessed with video games and his "real" voice.
 * Also, Volun, the character of the day in episode 17, is a lot more open about his desire to chew the scenery.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In episode 1 V2, Lina isn't repulsed by the fact that the Dragon Fangs want to hire her as their personal bitch, make fun of her flat chest, or sexually abuse her. She rejects their offer because they're only offering her 80 percent of their treasure.
 * Rezo returns  in episode 18, and all of the cast is shocked. Lina is particularly shocked that he's actually wearing a different outfit and Zelgadis is angered that Rezo stole the reintroduction spotlight from him.
 * Author Appeal: There's a lot of wrestling references thrown out there in the earlier episodes, even using a wrestling theme song as the opening for episodes 10-16. The references were stopped in episode 11 because projectshadow99 realized not too many people watch wrestling and anime.
 * He may be bringing them back on a smaller scale, as in episode 23, Zelgadis compared Gourry's uselessness to Jenna Morasca in a wrestling ring.
 * Also, the game jokes which have NEVER stopped. Specifically with Zelgadis. Also, more than half of the soundtrack (and sound effects) are from games. It doesn't take much to figure out that ps99 likes games.
 * Except maybe the PlayStation 3.
 * Author Avatar: Zelgadis, at least as far as his gaming obsession is concerned.
 * Gourry formerly, back when he was still a complainer.
 * Bad Bad Acting: Zelgadis in the first 10 episodes. Episode 6 being the most obvious...and grating.
 * Jimmy in episode 15 and the restaurant guy in episode 17.
 * And of course, Sylphiel.
 * Berserk Button: Don't insult or come on to Amelia. If you hear the words "Excuse me?" or the screen darkens around her, a huge explosion will usually follow.
 * Also, Rezo gives Zelgadis a PlayStation 3 when he wanted a Nintendo 64. Zel is not pleased.
 * Don't ask Gourry whether he's a guy or a girl. Also, don't accuse him of not washing his hands.
 * Lina doesn't seem to mind a lot of the insults she gets in the show, including remarks about her small chest. She does get particularly miffed when Eris calls her a whore though.
 * Big Eater: Played straight with Lina and Gourry early on. But then it kept being done so many times in a row. Due to the fact that sammisomara would actually stuff her face for posterity during the eating scenes, she got tired of it pretty fast.
 * Brain Bleach: Zelgadis and Amelia use it in episode 25 during Phil's discussion with Gourry.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: The characters are all fully aware that they're in an abridged series and will at times try to offer excuses for its at times lackluster quality.
 * Brick Joke: Mr. Rossburg mentions that the play they're performing in episode 16 is the first episode of Slayers Abridged. The episode released afterward is an updated version of episode 1, and Rossburg is responsible for making it.
 * Butt Monkey: Hallas, the Character of the Day in episode 15, appears to be hated by everyone, especially Amelia.
 * Also, the blue-haired guy in episode 16, referred to as both a toy and a bondage slave.
 * Zangulus views himself as this, it depends on your viewpoint whether he is or not...though after the end of episode 21...
 * Tiiba shows up at the end of episode 23 complaining about episode 22 and his action scene getting cut. He is promptly blown up.
 * Catch Phrase: Amelia asks quite a few people whether or not they work in a pet shop. As of this writing, none of them do.
 * Also in episode 15, "I really hate this person!" is shouted a few times by Amelia and Lina, always directed at Hallas.
 * Vrumugun's "Gentlemen" might apply if he wasn't deliberately ripping it off.
 * In episodes 8 through 13, Gourry seemed to be calling Lina a bitch at least once per episode. He's since dropped it though.
 * Speaking of bitch, when the series began, "Hey bitch, you blew up X!" was going to be a catchphrase passed around to several different characters, but projectshadow99 forgot about it after episode 2. He brings back the line in Version 2 of episode 1.
 * Chaotic Neutral: All four of the main characters can be this. Gourry talks about ditching the Slayers universe when Shabranigdo is unleashed, Amelia once blew up a mansion just because she thought it was cool, Zelgadis will do good or evil to get his hands on a Wii, and Lina...well, she's not different from her actual counterpart.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: A lot of the characters, but Gourry is probably the most notable.
 * In episode 17, the other characters are talking about the situation at hand, while Amelia is busy wondering what her actual hair color is.
 * Sylphiel, perhaps due to her being an android of some sort.
 * Cross Dresser: Gourry in episode 17. Unfortunately for him, Lina chose to make his voice sound authentic in the worst way.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Maybe if you replace moron with whiner in episode 10, you have Gourry.
 * Since getting his new voice, he's pretty much a moron again though.
 * Also, there's Amelia whenever she gets ticked off, although she gets smarter as the series goes on.
 * When they're not snarking, Lina and Zelgadis are either being stupid or being badass.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: In Episode 1 V2, Lina and the Dragon Fangs can't figure out whether Gourry is a guy or a girl until he opens his mouth.
 * Expy: The most obvious one being Vincent Ruby-Eye Mc Shabranigdo.
 * Zangulus and Vrumugun start out this way, as expies of The Scout and The Spy, but soon grow out of that, Zangulus because of Character Development making him somewhat more interesting, and Vrumugun because he has little to no personality.
 * When Phil showed up again in episode 25, he was The Heavy.
 * Flanderization: Gourry was at first a lampshader and complainer. He has since become somewhat stupider. Lina even uses this word in episode 18 when Gourry has become a complete dumbass.
 * Actually, almost everyone qualifies for this trope.
 * Foe Yay: There's a bit from Zangulus and Gourry, mostly on Zang's part.
 * Full-Name Basis: A villain points out himself that he's marking his status as a villain by saying Lina's full name.
 * Funny Background Event: After no one can give Amelia a straight answer about Rezo in episode 19, she starts muttering under her breath while the others talk over her.
 * Gone Horribly Right: Lina's voice is changed in episode 14 from projectshadow99 to sammisomara after Amelia accidentally hits her in the head. Her response? She gets mad because they can't make fun of the falsetto voice ps99 was using anymore.
 * Good Is Dumb: Rezo actually says this in episode 8.
 * Hilarious Outtakes: Volun's first line about eating the camera was originally going to be said more caveman like in a louder voice. It was changed to a more normal sentence because projectshadow99 could not stop laughing while recording it...and remember, he wrote the line.
 * sammisomara tries to do a James impression in one outtake, but she starts to sound more like Midboss in the middle of it. Cue a Midboss impression followed by a laughing fit.
 * Ho Yay: This can come across from Zangulus and Vrumugun, especially in episode 16, when Zangulus states that they need to create sexual tension.
 * What?
 * It goes even further at the end of episode 21 when Zangulus accidentally throws out a hint that he may have loved him.
 * It Got Worse: Gourry is kicked below the belt in episode 17 so he'll sound like a girl. At the end of the episode when Lina gets tired of Gourry's complaining, she just blasts his nads off with a fireball.
 * Jerkass: Lina, especially in later episodes.
 * Gourry back when he complained all the time.
 * Amelia blew up Hallas's house at the end of episode 15 for no reason other than to have an explosion.
 * Zelgadis reminds Sylphiel of her recently deceased father in episode 20, which makes her run out of the room crying. He states that he could feel bad about that...but he didn't.
 * Lina agrees.
 * Lampshade: Done a lot, even for an abridged series. They will even lampshade when they could've made better and more obvious jokes, like in episode 15, when Lina points out that she could've made an obvious Sailor Moon Abridged reference since Lina was currently playing a valley girl named Mina, but she didn't want to get sued by them.
 * Large Ham: Lina makes a case in episode 3 V2 that most of projectshadow99's characters are like this, and to be fair, she's right. Gourry, Zelgadis, Rezo (particularly in later episodes for those three, especially Rezo), Shabranigdo, Mr. Rossburg, you name it.
 * By far, the biggest offenders of this trope are Zangulus (especially in episode 16, where he's just screaming the whole time), and Volun, whose mission in life is to eat the camera.
 * Even though he only plays her for about two episodes, his short performance as Eris also falls into this category.
 * Just about the only character he plays that DOESN'T fall into this territory is Vrumugun (ironically, his least favorite character to voice)
 * Lina can certainly hold her own in this department.
 * Amelia, particularly in episode 16 while rehearsing for the play.
 * Ko Vox 00 seems to having a lot of fun during his two minutes of playing Bandit A.
 * Leitmotif: The Rival Encounter theme from Pokemon HeartGold And SoulSilver plays quite often when Zangulus is around.
 * Eris uses Karla no Youjutsu from Record of Lodoss War once in every episode that she's in.
 * Copy Rezo, since uniting with Zanaffar and Sony, has begun using Perfect Cell's theme from Dragonball Z
 * MacGuffin:
 * "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: If a character says a bad line or is acting horribly, it's usually noted that this was done in the original dub.
 * Obviously Evil: Rezo in episode 3 V2. Lina doesn't fall for it.
 * Subverted with Zelgadis in the same episode, as he seems to fall under this trope, but since we all know he's actually not evil...
 * Oh My Gods: Done twice in episode 17, both by Gourry, who uses both Ciephied and the Lord of Nightmares as his examples.
 * Old Shame: A lot of the earlier episodes, whether it's because of the bad writing, editing or overall quality, are things ps99 would love his viewers to forget, which is why he's making newer better versions of them.
 * And to try and make sure they forget, he's made episodes 1 through 10 private, and can only be seen by a few people that he allows to see them.
 * Of all the references he's made, the Jon and Kate reference he made in episode 15 is his least favorite by far, even though he Lampshaded it immediately after.
 * He also regrets whenever he bungles a reference, especially in episode 4 when Zelgadis mentions that they're stealing the joke from Sailor Moon Abridged, and Lina goes into an explanation why they're not. It's pretty easy to tell that ps99 only mentioned it as an excuse to namedrop SMA, and he regretted the joke immediately after the episode was put up.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Ko Vox as Bandit A in V2 of episode 1, he's onscreen for about two minutes and he completely steals all the attention. You can easily tell he's putting a lot of effort into all of his lines, which he did multiple interpretations of for all of them.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Pick a time when ps99 is using an accent, it WILL slip. Zangulus is supposed to have some sort of New England Accent which will slip occasionally, but the biggest offender is Vrumugun. ps99 cannot do a French (actually supposed to be Basque) accent to save his life.
 * He actually had a number of different voices he was going to use for Zelgadis, but he ditched most of them because he couldn't keep up the accent he was trying to use, particularly noticeable on his Irish voice.
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: Yeah, this is one of the lesser known abridged series out there. Particularly noticeable when you realize that projectshadow99's most viewed video isn't even an episode of The Slayers Abridged, it's a Top 10 video of Sonic Game Over themes.
 * Precision F-Strike: According to Gourry, the apocalypse won't happen until the kids finally let the rabbit have some FUCKING TRIX!
 * Copy Rezo wants Lina to use the F word in episode 24 as opposed to the Giga Slave.
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: Kirbopher15 politely turned down the one episode role of Mr. Rossburg. At the end of said episode, Lina remarked that it's no wonder he turned down the role.
 * Who's Kirbopher?
 * Hey, I've never hit a girl in my life until episode 23. I mean that's like asking who Little Kuriboh is.
 * Who's LittleKuriboh?
 * Robot Girl: Sylphiel, who speaks and acts like a robot.
 * And may be one.
 * Except for whenever she chooses to go over the top in delivery.
 * Rule of Cool: When Gourry's voice shifts to a James-like voice while doing their take on the Team Rocket motto in episode 26, no explanation is given. It just sounds better that way. Besides, they were voiced by the same person.
 * This is Copy Rezo's mentality for why he talks like Imperfect Cell following his merger with Sony. We're reminded a fair few times that it's NOT his real voice, which he continuously slips back into when caught off guard or alone.
 * Running Gag: Amelia wants to know if you work in a pet shop.
 * Lina apparently sleeping with Zangulus' mother was originally going to become this.
 * In episodes 14 through 16, Amelia caused explosions that were actually caused in the anime by Lina.
 * She seems to be getting a bit explosion happy again in recent episodes.
 * Eris and a revolving door of bad guys (first Zangulus and Vrumugun, then Zangulus and Rezo, and finally just Rezo) have performed their versions of the Team Rocket motto in three different episodes.
 * She won't be doing the fourth one though...
 * But it's ok, Lina and the others did that one instead.
 * Self-Deprecation: projectshadow99 will be the first one to tell you that he's ashamed of a lot of the sound effects, jokes, editing, and overall quality of certain episodes, especially the earlier ones. He will frequently Lampshade this.
 * In episode 16, the play they're doing is episode 1 of The Slayers Abridged, mocking it every chance they get.
 * Lina does this to herself in episode 15 and episode 1 V2, but when Gourry finally agrees with her, she gets angry.
 * Shout-Out: In spades, this is an abridged series after all. One of the most notable in episode 16 when Gourry and Amelia are talking about a character who should technically be older than his two friends due to failing an exam multiple times but sounds and looks younger. Lina runs in and asks them to make fun of their own anime.
 * "I had dreams!" "Yeah and I had a kidney stone, everything passes eventually."
 * As of episode 16, just look at the intro before the episode starts: WAVES AND ROOOOOOCKS!
 * In episode 23, they do the outro typically used for the same series.
 * Vrumugun is ultimately revealed to be a homunculus and the crystal in his forehead is a Philosopher's Stone.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: At least once an episode. Justified in that this happened a lot in the actual show.
 * Amelia seems to enjoy it, once blowing up an innocent man's house simply because "Everything's better with explosions!"
 * She flat out admits that she likes explosions in episode 21.
 * Take That: At the PlayStation 3 and Sony in general. Sony has apparently formed a deal with the monster race and Rezo that will somehow help the PlayStation 3 eclipse the Wii's sales.
 * He brings it up again in episode 23, but now Lina and Zelgadis state that it's not that bad. Sylphiel on the other hand...
 * An abridged series wouldn't be complete without a number of shots at the original dub, including intentionally bad acting and ridiculing of certain actual lines.
 * There's also a take that at Vince Russo, a wrestling booker who almost never allows tag teams (especially heel tag teams) to get along.
 * Talking to Himself: Inevitable, in the first 11 episodes, projectshadow99 played EVERYBODY.
 * In episode 15, Demon Darastrix played both Cally and Paula, a nod to the actual dub where Rachael Lillis played both of them.
 * Lately, sammisomara has been doing this, as she plays Lina, Gourry, and Sylphiel.
 * Tempting Fate: Lina claims in episode 3 V2 that if another bad guy comes for the statue and leaves without doing anything, she'll sleep on the floor. Cue Rodimus.
 * Terrible Trio: Eris, Zangulus, and Vrumugun start to come across this way when Eris first appears in episode 18. They even perform the Team Rocket motto. Of course, Vrumugun is Killed Off for Real shortly afterwards, so it remains to be seen if they'll continue to act like this with  taking Vrumugun's place.
 * He kind of does and kind of doesn't.
 * The Other Darrin: Oh, where to begin? EVERYONE in the original 11 episodes was voiced by Project Shadow 99. In Episodes 14 and 15, Lunar Aiko voices Amelia. In all other appearances, she's played by Demon Darastrix.
 * As of Episode 14, sammisomara is now the voice of Lina. Then in episode 17, she began playing Gourry.
 * As of Episode 21, projectshadow99 took over for the role of Eris.
 * Strangely, Zelgadis is the only main character who hasn't gone under this trope, although the type of voice ps99 was using has changed a few times. Rezo is also like this, as he originally sounded like he did in the anime, and then in the revised episodes, he sounds like Dr. Facilier.
 * And now he sounds like Imperfect Cell, with no other explanation except that it's COOL.
 * Troll: Gourry for episodes 6 through 10. He stops doing it so much after that.
 * Unusual Euphemism: For some reason, sometimes a sound clip of Mario saying "Luigi, I'm home!" is used for a character coming into the scene or for a door opening.
 * Vocal Dissonance: Lina in Episodes 1-13 and Amelia in episode 11. Justified because projectshadow99 is...well...a guy.
 * As of episode 17, Gourry. Justified because he was kicked in the nads
 * As of episode 21, add Eris to the list. Thankfully, projectshadow99 pitched his voice up considerably while playing her.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: Copy Rezo's weakness is
 * What Could Have Been: When the rereleased episodes came out, Zelgadis was going to have an Irish accent because projectshadow99 is a fan of WWE superstar Sheamus, but he dropped the idea because he can't do an Irish accent.
 * Lunar Aiko was originally going to play Amelia full-time and Demon Darastrix was the understudy. This had to be changed as Aiko was almost always very busy with other multiple roles, high school, and at one point, a suspension on YouTube. Demon Darastrix was made the official voice of Amelia shortly before episode 1 V2 was released.
 * projectshadow99's sister, who is very involved in musical theatre, was originally going to play Lina. She backed out due to her lack of interest in Slayers and anime in general.
 * She will be playing some sort of role in Season 2, however.
 * projectshadow99 asked Kirbopher15 if he wanted to play Mr. Rossburg. He politely declined.
 * What Happened to the Mouse??: Hallas just kind of disappears after Zangulus shows up in episode 15. But he was probably killed when Amelia blew his house up at the end, because, you know, she really hated that person.
 * It was being built up that Rezo was working with Sony to get the Philosopher's Stone. Once Shabranigdo is revealed to be trapped inside Rezo's eyes, this idea is dropped and is never mentioned again.
 * The Woobie: Zangulus tries to paint himself as this at one point.
 * It was being built up that Rezo was working with Sony to get the Philosopher's Stone. Once Shabranigdo is revealed to be trapped inside Rezo's eyes, this idea is dropped and is never mentioned again.
 * The Woobie: Zangulus tries to paint himself as this at one point.