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[[File:TheSlayersCast_8747.jpg|frame]]
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A series of sword-and-sorcery light novels with equal parts comedy and drama that was adapted into an anime series. Has five TV seasons, six [[OVA|OVAs]], five movies, six video games and a whole lot of manga made. Became extremely popular in the West, in part because of its quirk of having a female as the lead in a [[Shounen]] series.
'''''Slayers''''' ([[Market-Based Title|marketed as]] ''The Slayers'' in the U.S.) started as a serialized novel in the Japanese "Dragon" Magazine (no relation to the American one of the same name). Originally it was supposed to follow the adventures of the Cephied Knight, a champion for good named Luna Inverse. However, when filling out her background the writer found her little sister Lina far more interesting.
Lina is a young and very powerful sorceress. She wanders the world looking for treasure to steal and magic to learn. Unfortunately (from her point of view), she tends to end up in situations where she's got to save the world instead of just make a fast buck. She will attempt to wring money out of most situations, such as once extorting gold from a town that was actively being ravaged by a dragon. She's also got an amazing temper, having destroyed both the dragon and the town she was protecting with one spell because the dragon embarrassed her by ''not'' stepping on her. She still expected to get paid, too. She has earned the titles "Bandit Slayer" (it's not stealing if they've already stolen it!), "[[Cultural Translation|Dragon Spooker]]", and "Enemy Of All That Live" in a few short years.
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Much to Lina's chagrin, she ends up with a [[Nakama|group of people]] following her around, usually because they're all trying not to get killed by something. In the [[OVA|OVAs]], set before the TV show, this is the deranged sorceress Naga, who [[Unknown Rival|believes]] Lina is following ''her'' around as her [[The Rival|rival]]. In the TV series, this is the dumb-as-a-jellyfish swordsman Gourry Gabriev, the justice-obsessed princess Amelia, the taciturn chimera Zelgadis, the self-proclaimed "mysterious priest" Xellos, and occasionally the shrine maiden Sylphiel.
She eventually comes to like them, and is beginning to fall for Gourry by the end of ''Next''. She'll deny it if asked, and insists she's only after Gourry's [[Forgotten Superweapon|sword]].
The series alternates between serious fights and quests to save the world and silly slapstick humor. There is one [[
This show has the first two seasons up legally on [
Not to be confused with the band [[Slayer]] or [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]].
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Has a [[Slayers/Characters|Character Sheet]].
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{{tropelist}}
== A ==
* [[Above Good and Evil]]: The Golden Lord/Lord of Nightmares was the original creator of both the Mazoku and the Gods, but seems to side with neither. When a powerful Mazoku gets the bright idea to use ''her'' power for his particular purpose (destroying the world), she just blasts him into nothingness. After making world-destroyers and world-protectors, she's mostly absent, but sometimes meddles anyway. If she has an agenda besides just sitting back and watching what happens, we never find out what it is.
* [[The Abridged Series]]: projectshadow99's [[The Slayers Abridged]].
* [[Absolute Cleavage]]: Naga, Martina, Eris, Mazenda - in each case leading to [[A-Cup Angst]] for Lina.
* [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male]]: This is exactly how Lina and Gourry's relationship works a lot of the time.▼
* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: In the finale of Next, {{spoiler|when The Lord of Nightmares is floating away in Lina's body, Gourry goes after her in an attempt to get Lina back. Exactly what Gourry intended to do when he caught up with her is a mystery, as he can't exactly stab the creator of all things out of Lina. Fortunately, the Lord of Nightmares decides to give Lina back after witnessing this.}}
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: The Blast Sword, from the second arc of the novels, is so sharp that it can actually cut through astral beings like Mazoku, who can't ordinarily be harmed by physical attacks.
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** Lina is capable of defeating gods, and even {{spoiler|summoning the creator of all things.}} Yet when a servant of the gods comes looking for someone to save the world, they contact Luna first. Think about that for a moment.
** Well, to be fair, Lina's pretty destructive, so they probably think she's a last resort WMD.
* [[Alternate Continuity]]: Numerous.
** The main series of novels (''Slayers'') serves as the first. It is split into two arcs (1-8, 9-15), with the former storyline also existing in anime and manga form.
** The anime (''Slayers, Next, Try, Revolution, Evolution-R'', as well as the ''Premium'' movie), serves as the second, based on the first arc of the novels. Directly contradicts the novels in places (and itself).
** ''The Knight of the Aqua Lord'' manga is [[Word of God|officially recognized]] as a third continuity (splitting from the novel verse after volume 8), and exists as another alternate second arc, standing alongside novels 9-15 and ''Try'' as an original story directly following the first arc.
** The Lina and Naga adventures (the ''Special'' novels, ''Special'' and ''Excellent'' [[OVA|OVAs]], and first four movies) are canon back story to all three.
** Additionally, manga adaptations exist for the first two anime seasons, ''Revolution'', and ''Evolution-R'', as well as two other manga series, ''Slayers: Light-Magic'' and ''Neo-Slayers: The Hourglass of Falces'', with ''Hourglass of Falces'' as possibly the first entry in a new ongoing fourth continuity.
** Additionally additionally, five video games, two named just ''Slayers'', then ''Royal'', ''Royal 2'' for [[Sega Saturn]]/PlayStation, and ''Wonderful'' for the [[
* [[Affably Evil]]: Rezo is a bishonen who is unsettlingly calm and polite.
** Xellos, particularly the anime incarnation, is generally polite, well-mannered and charming... until he decides to remind the viewers that he's part of a race of [[Chaotic Evil]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal Maniacs]].
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Interviews with the author of the novels are found in the back of every ''Slayers'' novel. They're one of the few sources of info in regards to how the world works, because most of the media do not elaborate about how magic works, character backgrounds, and overarching stories (such as both the war between Shabranigdo and Ciefeed and the Mazoku war that made the Inner World barrier) beyond some basic facts. For example, everything about Gourry's backstory is in interviews only. There are several guidebooks out now as well, but they're hardly elaborate - one of them has profiles for [[Satellite Character]]s Luke and Millina, but they have no established backgrounds given.
** Even then, the established universe can be confusing to interpret because Kanzaka [[Shrug of God|contradicts himself about his canon's own work]] and often makes facts up on the fly.
* [[
{{quote|
* [[Always Save the Girl]]: In this case it's [[Gender Flip|Always Save The ''Boy'']]. Lina uses a spell that might well destroy the world if cast incorrectly, simply because there's no other way to save Gourry. In the anime, she does so more than once.
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Quite a few, all [[Played for Laughs]]. The most prominent would be clothing, ranging from typical fantasy armors and robes, to modern-looking sun dresses and t-shirt/pants combos. Zelgadis wears a hooded sweatshirt of all things in an episode of ''Revolution''.
* [[Ancient Keeper]]: Auntie Aqua in ''Slayers Next.''
* [[And I Must Scream]]: The original fate of Daymia in the novels is... not pretty.
* [[Animated Adaptation]]: Originally a serialized set of novels.
* [[Animated Armor]]: Nama and the Dullahan
* [[Anime Theme Song]], sung by [[Megumi Hayashibara]]. And not just one; all 14 of the anime theme songs have been sung by her.
* [[Anti-Magic]]:
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** It's also worth nothing that, when the covers of the novels were re-drawn, Rui Araizumi drew Zelgadis a bit more in the likeness of his anime design, even making his skin blue (in the novels his skin is greenish).
** And the art of the [[Alternate Continuity|''Super Explosive Demon Story'']] manga starts off similar to the novels (highly detailed, fluid poses, rounded figures) and deteriorates overtime (stiff poses, no conservation of detail, etc.).
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Technically Amelia and Zelgadis, considering the fact that they do not appear in the second arc of the novels at ''all'', whereas they are major characters in the anime and most of the manga and games.
** By contrast, Luke and Milina, Lina and Gourry's two other party members from the second arc, only appear outside the novels in the ''Hourglass of Falces'' manga, where they are part of a six-man band instead.
** Xellos only appears in five of the novels (cameoing in the last one), so technically he could be this, especially considering his role and given relationship with Filia in ''TRY.''
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* [[Avenging the Villain]]: Eris, Valgaav, {{spoiler|Jillas}}.
* [[Ax Crazy]]: Many characters have occasions of this, but Lina tops them all by a long shot.
== B ==
* [[Badass Adorable]]: Amelia and Pokota.
* [[Badass Cape]]: All the main characters have these, along with most other fighters and magicians.
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* [[Berserk Button]]: Lina has ''lots'' of these. Particularly involving interrupting (or stealing) her meals, her appearance, her [[I Have Many Names|1,001 nicknames]], or her status as a [[Pettanko]].
** Filia herself has a Xellos-shaped berserk button. Well justified since Xellos {{spoiler|has murdered thousands of other dragons}}.
** Zelgadis has a much more subtle one and it's ''not'' played for laughs most of the time: his chimeric body. The only times he ever loses his cool is when he thinks he's found a way to be human again, then finds out he's wrong.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Amelia's normally a sweet girl, but if you endanger someone she cares about, ''watch out!''
* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: The magic of the series is theurgic magic (meaning it draws from faith in Gods or Demons). Martina uses a curse, on raw willpower, drawing from the energy of a spirit that doesn't actually exist, since ''she made it up''. Granted, it isn't nearly as impressive as ''nearly anyone's'' magic, but that she can use this at all, even for minor curses or dowsing, is, well... a bit insane.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: {{spoiler|Prince Phil}} does this at the end of the first season to help Lina and the others. [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]], as it only leads to the rest of them having to save ''him''.
* [[Big Eater]]: Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis at least. Amelia is just politer about it. This is actually justified in Lina's case due to her use of high level spells like Dragon Slave taking a lot of energy and burning a lot of calories in the process, which raises her hunger substantially.
* [[Big Little Man]]: The first episode doesn't give any way of determining Lina's height until she meets up with Gourry.
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: [[Word of God]] states that Gourry came from one, and this is why he [[Wandering the Earth|became a lone mercenary in the first place]]. His entire family screwed itself over in who would possess the Sword of Light, and it's implied that most of his immediate family is dead because of it.
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]/[[Meaningful Name]]: In Spanish, Rezo's name means "prayer." In the Latin American dub, Lina is known as Rina. Her name is similar to riña, which means "quarrel."
* [[Bishounen]]: This show may actually beat out Yu-Gi-Oh for the sheer amount of girly-looking men in it. Gourry, Xellos, Zangulus, Rezo, Gaav, the list goes on.
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* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: The villains are more villainous than the heroes are heroic.
* [[Black Comedy Rape]]:
** Only in the Japanese version of the first light novel, in regards to Noonsa and the "mating joke" (See [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] above); Zolf suggested raping Lina when Zelgadis captures her in that version. When it was translated by Tokyopop, the kiss joke was inserted instead; the Japanese version of the anime carried the "kiss" notion as well.
** In the third volume of ''Super Explosive Demon Story Slayers'', when Zelgadis' pack captures Lina. Even though she's in trouble, she mocks Zolf ("Mr Mummy"), and the guy gets so pissed he tries to convince his comrades to rape her.
* [[Blinding Bangs]]: Luna.
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* [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu]]: Literally, with {{spoiler|Amelia}} in ''Evolution-R'' breaking her arm trying to ''hold back one of the [[Big Bad]]'s attacks [[Badass|with her bare fists.]]''
* [[But Your Wings Are Beautiful]]: Not even stone-studded green-blue skin can deter Amelia's (nor the fangirls') interest in Zelgadis.
== C ==
* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Every magic spell. Justified in [[All There in the Manual|non-anime material]] -- mastery of magic in the ''Slayers'' setting is accomplished by skill with "Chaos Words", the incantations. The more powerful a sorcerer is, the less words they need; simply invoking the name is all the good wizards actually need to cast a spell. And if they use more Chaos Words than they actually need, the power of the spell is amplified further. This also means that only the very best wizards in the world can actually cast a spell without even speaking its name.
** Also subverted: Lina once called Fireball, causing her opponents to flee in terror, but cast only a simple Light spell.
** Amelia's dad Phil also likes doing this ("Pacifist Crush!", "Kindness to All Creatures Kick!", "Good Will Towards Men Smash!", "Joyful Reunion Bearhug!", "Benevolent Giant Swing!", "Brothers Unite Hand Slap!").
* [[Canon Foreigner]]: Any of the original characters from the video games, which are officially non-canon.
* [[Care Bear Stare]]: In one episode of ''Try'', Amelia, Gourry and Zelgadis incapacitated Xellos by singing songs of love and joy.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Xellos's "Sore wa himitsu desu" or "That... is a secret".
* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: By roughly the eighteenth episode of ''all'' of the anime seasons, the battles suddenly get more violent, with the plot reaching its height and bloodier battles creating a rather scary twist. The most jarring example may be by the 20th episode and beyond of ''NEXT,'' when, after nearly three episodes of hilarious slapstick, {{spoiler|a mazoku nearly kills Amelia, Zelgadis is severely wounded (for the first time) protecting Amelia from the Mazoku Lord Gaav, and Gourry is kidnapped and [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed]] to kill Lina and the others}}.
* [[Chaos Entity]]: The Lord of Nightmares, creator of the four worlds. She is also the Sea of Chaos that makes up the universe, meaning she's omnipotent. There are even spells that use her power but are so powerful that a misfire can destroy the world.
* [[Chef of Iron]]: There's such thing as ''Dragon Cuisine''.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|Hureika}} from ''Knight of the Aqua Lord'' fancies herself one of these, even treating the entire thing as her "game."
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* [[The Chosen One]]: Lina's sister Luna is the Knight of Ciefeed and is able to wield his strength; alledgedly it can rival that of high-level Mazoku such as Xellos. Lei Magnus, Rezo, and {{spoiler|Luke}} are the known holders of the [[Pieces of God|seven split pieces]] of Shabranigdo (the other four are unknown). And in the third season of the anime, Lina is chosen by Filia to take on Dark Star Dugradigdu; it is revealed by the final episode that she was an ideal choice over Luna because {{spoiler|of her ability to wield the Lord of Nightmares' power, and, unlike Luna, who is affiliated with the gods,(mainly specializing in White/Holy power), Lina has affiliation with neither side, and could easily combine Black and Holy magic to create the magical power needed to defeat Dugradigdu}}.
* [[Cloning Blues]]: Vrumugun, Copy Rezo.
* [[Close-Call Haircut]]: Lina gets a magic suppressing circlet latched onto her head. Gourry throws a surprised Lina up into the air and slashes at her face with his sword. A small piece of hair falls off, but the circlet is successfully sliced off her head. She repays him by bashing him over the head [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|with her own SWEATDROP]] for doing something so dangerous.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Gourry, Amelia, and Nama.
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Lampshaded; Amelia thinks things really works this way.
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* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: One of Lina's major traits.
* [[Comically Serious]]: Zelgadis, poor guy.
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** Also averted with {{spoiler|Naga, who is actually Amelia's sister}}; her time with the group as "Nama" proves it so. Also, when they ''did'' actually meet (in a radio drama taking place after ''[[Non-Serial Movie|Slayers Premium]]'', {{spoiler|Naga}} disguised herself in front of Amelia and claimed she was a friend of Lina's.
* [[Cool Helmet]]: Filia wears a helmet with gigantic Christmas ornaments stuck to the sides.
* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Auntie Aqua.
* [[Creepy Child]]: Hellmaster Fibrizzo in ''Slayers Next'', and {{spoiler|Rezo-Shabranigdu in Pokota's human body}} in ''Evolution-R''. Technically, neither of them are really children at all, but the fact that they take the forms of same makes everything they do that much creepier.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Gourry. Normally he comes across as dimwitted and scatterbrained, sometimes to the point of seeming completely incompetent (although he was more competent in the novels, to be fair, and underwent more [[Flanderization]] in the anime than any other character did), and his memory is so bad that he frequently can't remember past enemies they've fought or even what happened a few days ago. However, when he senses a threat, his fighting skills push [[Badass Normal]] about as far as it can go in this series.
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** Lina has red eyes and red hair.
* [[Cute Little Fang]]: Lina sometimes has one. It was pretty much permanent by ''Revolution''.
== D ==
* [[Daddy's Girl]]: Amelia practically defines this trope.
* [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]]: The Giga Slave, if miscast, destroys the entire universe. Several episodes are devoted solely to Lina attempting to find ways to NOT cast the Giga Slave, because it's basically the worst solution to any problem. Unlike many series, however, the Giga Slave is successfully avoided on a number of occasions. In the third season, for example, it's use is repeatedly mentioned as a last resort, but it is never actually used.
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* [[Destructive Saviour]]: Lina
* [[Devil in Plain Sight]]: Xellos, and it was [[Idiot Hero|designated-idiot]] Gourry [[The Cuckoolander Was Right|who noticed]]; he didn't say anything because he thought it was so obvious.
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Lina is slowly murdering her way up the Mazoku hierarchy.
* [[Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?|Did you just form an adventuring party with Cthulu]]: Xellos, as a monster, wants to destroy all things, and has in the past, committed several acts of genocide. This doesn't stop him from adventuring with Lina. To be fair, it's just as much Lina accepting that she can't get rid of him (As Xellos is for most intents and purposes a god), than her actually wanting him around.
* [[Disc One Final Boss]]: Rezo and Shabranigdo, Gaav.
** {{spoiler|Also, if you count ''Revolution'' and ''Evolution-R'' as the same season due to each only having 13 episodes, Zanaffar.}}
* [[Disposable Bandits]]: A running gag in ''Slayers'' is Lina easily disposing of such, but being a [[Destructive Savior]] to the point many actually fear her ''more'' than the bandits.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Lina is a ''queen'' of this trope. Her most famous example may be in the first episode, where she blows up a town she was trying to save while attempting to kill a dragon... because it had deliberately stepped over her rather then crushing her.
** Over sausages, of all things.
{{quote|
'''Lina:''' Well, I did! So if you can take my food, I can take yours! (Eats about five) And I hope that taught you a lesson.
'''Gourry:''' Yeah, that you eat more than me. }}
* [[Dissonant Serenity]]: Rezo (but [[Beta Baddie|not his replica]]) and most Mazoku are quite calm or even mildly amused when fighting. Shabranigdo even [[Hannibal Lecture|explained]] to the party why and how much [[Resistance Is Futile]] and almost rolled his eyes seeing how they just don't get it.
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** Amelia in earlier seasons of the anime.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Rather obscure, but in episode 4 of the first season, Zelgadis attacks and knocks out Lina with a Mono Bolt spell by forcefully grabbing her shoulder and shocking her while she's on the ground. If you have a perverse mind and observe the frames during the sequence, note that Zel is smiling rather sinisterly as Lina is shouting in pain...[[Rape as Drama|hmmm...]]
▲* [[
* [[Dope Slap]]: It's pretty common in this series.
** Lina gives Gourry these on a normal basis.
** Zelgadis gave one to Amelia after she said that all villains have to wear black.
** Gourry gave one to Zelgadis after he mentioned Amelia's lost sister and upset her.
** Lina once slapped Zelgadis, but immediately regretted it.
* [[Dragged Into Drag]]/[[
** Only NEXT shows Zelgadis and Xellos doing it, but poor Gourry is always involved when it happens. Xelloss has the time of his life.
* [[Dumbass No More]]: In ''Evolution-R'', Gourry is still an idiot, but he's much more alert, intuitive, and all around competent than he is in previous seasons when it comes to non-combat situations. He even manages to correctly assert most situations, much to Lina's surprise and praise.
== E ==
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Darkstar has the look and feel of one, as does Shabranigdo in the flashback story in the first season where Lina explains his origins, but the best example is the Lord of Nightmares, who is extremely alien, even by mazoku standards.
* [[Emotion Eater]]: All Mazoku are said to be this, feeding off the negative emotions of other beings.
** Shinzoku/Gods feed off positive emotions.
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: Chaos Dragon vs. Hellmaster is the most obvious example. It's not like Gaav just allied with mortals, while Fibrizo plainly wants [[The End of the World as We Know It]]. It also seems to be the main reason behind the actions of Xellos.
** The minor one happens at the end of the second arc of the novels. {{spoiler|Luke-Shabranigdo}} wants to face Lina and Gourry (the two people who can possibly kill him) while {{spoiler|another part of Shabranigdo who is imprisoned does not wish to see that (and would have Luke-Shabranigdo free him)}}. This causes the Mazoku to divide into two factions.
* [[Evil Counterpart]]: Zangulus and Vrumugun. They even have elementally opposing magics and weapons, witness The Sword of Darkness vs the Sword of Light, both legendary weapons wielded by mercenary swordsman with [[Peek-a-Bangs]] to drive the point home.
* [[Evil Minions]]: Subverted. Zelgadis's henchmen Zolf and Rodimus are actually good guys, as is Zel himself. [[Villain with Good Publicity]] Rezo misleads Lina into thinking they're evil.
* [[Evil Plan]]: The entirety of the ''Knight of the Aqua Lord'' manga is an extremely intricate (but not [[Xanatos Roulette|unreasonable]]) scenario planned by {{spoiler|Hureika}}.
** Put as simply as possible: {{spoiler|getting Deep Sea Dolphin to lead an army against the gods specifically for the purpose of driving Lina to obtain the Wind Lord's power to use against it, thus destabilizing Lyos's power allowing her to take control, in effect [[A God Am I|becoming a Mazoku with the power of the gods]].}} And it worked. [[Chessmaster]], indeed.
* [[Evil Redhead]]: Gaav.
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* [[Excalibur in the Rust]]: Gourry wields a normal-looking sword that suits him just fine. However, the blade on the sword is actually just attached to the hilt of the Sword of Light.
* [[Executive Meddling]]:
** The fourth season rumored to follow ''TRY'' in 1998 was canned due to [[Megumi Hayashibara]] having scheduling conflicts.
** During the later 90's in the U.S. when anime was becoming more popular on the networks, [[Fox Kids]] won a bid over [[Cartoon Network]] to air the first season of the show, but ultimately decided not to due to the more mature content that would be nigh-impossible to gloss over.
* [[Expy]]: Amelia for Naga in the novels (only at first), according to [[Word of God]].
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** Rezo, the blind priest, who ''can't'' open his eyes {{spoiler|due to the shard of the greatest evil in the world sealed in them}}.
* [[Eyecatch]]: The second and third seasons feature these with the characters in pairs, and there are also a few special ones for the final episodes. The fourth and fifth seasons had a different eye catch for each episode, and it often correlated with whatever was happening in the episode. Strangely, the first season had no eyecatches at all.
== F ==
* [[Face Fault]]
* [[Fairytale Wedding Dress]]: {{spoiler|Martina's}} dress at the end of ''Next''.
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** [[Fluffy the Terrible|Deep Sea Dolphin]] -- [[The Dark Chick]]
*** And their bosses, local [[Cosmic Horror]] Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu, and even Cosmic'er Horror, The Lord of Nightmares (aka {{spoiler|[[All There in the Manual|Lucifer]]}}/L-sama).
* [[Five-Man Band]]:
** Lina -- [[The Hero]] (sort of)
** Zelgadis -- [[The Lancer]]
** Gourry -- [[The Big Guy]]
** Amelia -- [[Action Girl]] and [[The Chick]] (to a degree)
** Xellos -- [[The Smart Guy]] (although Xellos isn't weak, he just doesn't bother to help -- Also doubles as a [[Token Evil Teammate]])
** [[Guest Star Party Member|Guest Star Party Members]]:
*** Sylphiel and later Filia -- [[The Medic]] / [[Sixth Ranger]] and [[The Chick]]
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*** Pokota -- [[Tagalong Kid]]
*** Naga -- [[The Rival]]
* [[Flanderization]]: All the characters have suffered from a little of it over the years but it's gotten pretty bad for Lina and Gourry, especially in ''Slayers Revolution''.
** Lina's vindictiveness and temper have been played up to the point that she's on a hair trigger (although {{spoiler|it has to be granted that Pokota really does push all the wrong buttons with her}}) whereas in the first ever episode a comment about her bust only elicited a scowl.
** Nowadays, Gourry tends to act like such an [[Idiot Savant]] that you wonder how on earth he puts his armor on in the morning or remembers who Lina is (as opposed to the fairly competent, if rather ''tactless'', swordsman we see in the first episode). This is ''finally'' somewhat reversed come Evolution-R, where he appears to have been given back shades of his former competency.
** Amelia was flanderized from the novels to the anime in general; her justice-loving ways were more of a quirk in the novels, but in the anime, they became a defining trait. By the end of ''Revolution'', her flaunting is toned down.
** Zelgadis is far more of a [[Jerkass]] in the novels than in the anime. The same can be said for Xellos, who is far more malevolent in the books.
*** Xellos is just as malevolent in either media (He DOES want to destroy the world, remember), it's just that in the anime he comes off as goofier and mildly annoying when not actively engaging in atrocities.
* [[Flashback Nightmare]]: Zelgadis has one about being turned into a demon/golem chimera. Which helped {{spoiler|his [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.
* [[Flat Chest Complex]]: Lina's not exactly flat as a board, but spending so much time with Naga and Amelia has made her rather sensitive about the fact that she lacks large breasts.
* [[Flip-Flop of God]] / [[Shrug of God]]: Hajime Kanzaka is aggrivatingly vague and indecisive about how his own work works.
* [[Flying Brick]]: Zelgadis. Not his only powers.
* [[Foe Yay]]: A flashback in season four of the anime shows Rezo putting a hand on human!Zel's cheek, making him do a [[Luminescent Blush]].
* [[Forgets to Eat]]: In ''Slayers Try'', Lina and the group decide to immediately set sail for adventure... only to remember later, after they're stranded at sea, that they forgot to bring food. Cue them pretending to be dead so they can [[Dog Food Diet|catch seagulls]].
* [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]]: The Lord of Nightmares usually appears as a slender woman with golden blond hair and a long black dress. When she's not possessing other bodies, this is.
* [[Four
* [[Four-Temperament Ensemble]]: Zelgadis is Melancholic, Amelia is Sanguine, Gourry is Phlegmatic, and Lina is most certainly Choleric. Xellos, meanwhile, is Supine.
* [[Freaky Is Cool]]: The reaction of Amelia, and most of his fans, to Zelgadis's appearance. That it comes with [[Super Strength]], [[Super Speed]], and being [[Nigh Invulnerable]] just adds to the coolness.
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** Also averted with Zelgadis, as outside of one mention by Filia in episode one of ''TRY'', Zel's last name (Graywords) is NEVER said at any point in the anime.
* [[Functional Magic]]
== G ==
* [[Gag Boobs]]: Naga, queen of Gainaxing! Literally in one of the movies; as she and Lina are edging along a narrow ledge halfway up a cliff, faces (and other things) to the rock, they go 'bwoing' and toss her off.
** And Amelia is catching up rather quickly in Hourglass of Falces
* [[Game Master]]: The Lord of Nightmares, to the point where Fibrizo actually tries ''arguing'' with her and she bitchslaps him out of existence.
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** Although he was a bad guy in the first season, Zangulus would technically count in NEXT.
* [[The Gunslinger]]: Parodied with Jillas.
== H ==
* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: As stated above, Lina has so many [[Berserk Button|Berserk Buttons]], it's hard to keep track of them all. Pokota practically presses all of them by the time EVOLUTION-R is over with.
* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: Various humanoid animals, officially lumped together under the name "Beastmen" (or "Manbeasts", if one wants to insult them), are common enemies. The main villain of TRY is a hybrid of Ancient Dragon and Mazoku. Zelgadis is a human being who has been mystically merged with a brow demon and a rock golem.
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* [[Hermetic Magic]]: Actually a hybrid between Hermetic and a typical [[Mana]]-based RPG models of magic, with summonings, enchantments and protections done with Hermetic-style magic circles, while fireballs and arrows thrown via almost [[Vancian Magic|vancian]]-style spells.
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Gourry for Lina.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Several.
** ''Slayers NEXT'': Lina's begins when she {{spoiler|learns the true nature of the Giga Slave: drawing power from [[Guardian of the Multiverse|The Lord of Nightmares]] is the exact same thing as summoning Her directly, and miscasting it can cause the ''entire universe'' to be consumed, making her friends die horrible deaths}}. Cue her being in a conundrum on how to defeat [[The Brute|Chaos Dragon Gaav]]. It gets ''worse'' when [[Big Bad|Hellmaster Fibrizo]] reveals himself and kidnaps {{spoiler|[[Brainwashed and Crazy|and brainwashes]] Gourry, [[Bodyguard Crush|just as she was falling for him as he did for her]]. She is able to snap out of her funk, but [[The Stinger]] culminates when she casts the Giga Slave during the finale anyway.}}
** Same season above: Amelia has a brief one when Gaav gives her a [[Hannibal Lecture]] about her feeble notions of justice; he then proceeds to brutally wound her. Milgazia is able to heal her, but the screen of death comes back when Gaav tries to attack her again and the normally [[Nigh Invulnerable]] Zelgadis is severely wounded for the first time protecting her from his blade. [[Nightmare Fuel|Pure horror for her and the viewers.]]
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** On the gods' side of things, between Ciefeed's four guardians, Earthlord Rangort has made absolutely ''no'' appearances in ''any'' part of the franchise. Aqualord Ragradia and Firelord Vrabrazard have been mentioned in passing and share importance in the anime and novels (Ragradia made the [[Great Big Book of Everything|Claire Bible]], and Filia served Vrabrazard), but otherwise do not appear, and Airlord Valwin only appears in the ''Knight of the Aqualord'' manga.
** {{spoiler|It is implied (if not flat-out stated) that "Auntie Aqua" is actually Aqualord Ragardia, or at least what's left of the god. Therefore being the only one of the gods that makes any sort of actual "appearance" in the anime.}}
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: The Hellmaster's plan goes exactly as he wishes, except for the fact that he does not fully understand the nature of Lina's magic spell that is supposed to destroy the world. {{spoiler|So when Lina is taken over by the Lord of Nightmares, the Hellmaster fails to recognize the Lord of Nightmare in Lina and attacks her. The Lord of Nightmare responds by destroying Hellmaster utterly, saving the world in process.}}
* [[Holy Hand Grenade]]: The Holy Magic of the golden dragons.
* [[Hotter and Sexier]]: While every form of media has its share of mild fanservice, it's taken [[Up to Eleven]] in the ''Hourglass of Falces'' continuity:
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* [[Human Doorstop]]: Zelgadis and Gourry get used as an anchor and dragon-bait at the end of a giant fishhook respectively in the course of the same ''Next'' episode.
* [[Humanity Is Infectious]]: Though not too much, being "tainted" with humanity can cause distinctly unnatural behavior in Mazoku. The most famous example of this, in-series, is Chaos Dragon Gaav.
== I ==
* [[I Call It Vera]]: Filia's mace is named "Mace-sama".
* [[Idiot Hero]]: Gourry.
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* [[Informed Ability]]: Lina occasionally brags about being an accomplished swordsman as well as a sorceress, but she doesn't do much to back it up. Most of the time the sword gets knocked out of her hand before she can make much use of it, and one of the few times she didn't lose it she was was wounded early on and had to leave the rest to Gourry. To make matters worse, from season 2 onward, Lina's sword is replaced with a dagger inexplicably. Good thing she's usually dishing out heavy duty magic since she's by far the strongest sorcerer on the team and Gourry is usually around to handle the swordsmanship.
** She does get a good moment here and there, but Lina is, at best, an accomplished swordswoman, but a god-level magic user. Any situation where Lina's mere swordplay could handle things wouldn't even qualify as an episode.
* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Even though Filia is a dragon, don't ever refer to her as a mere reptile.
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: In ''Slayers Try'', one of the filler episodes involves a love between a fish-girl (as in, a female fish with humanish arms and legs) and a male human... which ends up with the two taking a "cure" that simply turns her into a human and him into a fish-man, leaving them in exactly the same mess they were in before. They do consider it something of an improvement at least, as they now also find each other physically attractive.
* [[In the Name of the Moon]]: Amelia likes to smite (perceived) villains "in the name of Justice!".
* [[I Surrender, Suckers]]: {{spoiler|Zangulus}} wouldn't do that just to prevail over a man, but in such circumstances...
* [[It May Help You on Your Quest]]: Lina's treasure, specifically the Orihalcon statue, in the first season.
== J ==
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Lina and Zelgadis
== K ==
* [[Kiss of Life]]: Episode 7 of ''Slayers NEXT'' -- During a meal hunt for a dragon on a boat, Zelgadis almost drowns. Amelia suggests giving him mouth-to-mouth, in which he promptly blushes, expecting her to do it. Unfortunately for him, the (male) captain gives it to him. And to make matters [[Squick|squicky]], the captain [[Ho Yay|licks his lips after doing so]]. It accumulates even ''further'' when, at the end of the episode, it's revealed that Zel himself resembles the captain's late wife...
* [[Knight in Shining Armor]]/[[The White Prince]]: Parodied. Both Lina and Sylphiel has an image of a prince -- noble, heroic, handsome, blond, clad in white, riding on a white charger. Then they meet Amelia's father, Philionel el di Seyruun. He's the Crown Prince. Very impressive looking and quite [[Badass]]. [[Martial Pacifist|Peace]]- and [[For Great Justice|justice]]-loving. Merciful. Minor user of [[White Magic]]. He even sometimes rides on a white horse. Problems? {{spoiler|He looks like a bandit who just climbed down the mountain, and is ''slightly'' nuts}}.
* [[Knight of Cerebus]]: Rezo (after we find out about him), Gaav, and Valgaav are really the only ones that qualify. Most of the other Gods/Monsters don't have this profound an effect on the tone of the show since they have comic relief/lighter moments (even Phibrizzo).
* [[Konami Code]]: [[Played for Laughs]], one of Amelia's famous finger pointing moments that she usually gives with her all-empowering support speeches actually prompts the code to activate on screen.
== L ==
* [[Lady Land]]: {{spoiler|Played with in ''Slayers Next'' episode 17 where a city of only women, which does not allow men to even enter. It is shown to have many men crossdressing as women (presumably sons of women of the city who did not wish to part with their children) in order to stay within the walls.}}
* [[Large Ham]]: Amelia and her father.
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* [[Last of His Kind|Last Of Their Kind]]: {{spoiler|Sylphiel, after Sairaag is destroyed.}}
** Also {{spoiler|Valgaav, after the other Ancient Dragons are killed by the Golden Dragons.}}
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Happens a lot throughout the series and [[
{{quote|
* [[Lethal Joke Character]]: Jillas. For someone with no magic and physically weaker than everyone else, he still managed to be mildly dangerous. Even Zelgadis was impressed with Jillas by the end of ''Try''. In ''Revolution'' he even has a cannon named after him, if you notice the soldier ordering them to fire the Jillas Cannon.
* [[Leitmotif]]: Rezo has a particularly impressive one.
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* [[Living Doll Collector]]: Episode 15 of ''Next'' has one of these, who also turns Lina's friends into dolls and attempts to kill her, for a filler related reason (re: None). {{spoiler|It turns out that the collector is actually a doll himself being manipulated by a doll-like Mazoku that he carried around.}}
* [[Long-Lost Relative]]: [[Word of God]] states that {{spoiler|Naga is actually Amelia's elder sister}}, though neither {{spoiler|Lina nor Amelia}} appear to be aware of this. (Naga never told Lina her real name.) {{spoiler|Naga's}} identity was concealed all three times she met {{spoiler|Amelia}} in continuity -- once intentionally.
* [[Long Runner]]: Began in 1989 as a serialized set of novels that are still running today; the anime aired from 1995-1997 (And was [[
* [[Long Speech Tea Time]]: When Dilgear is ranting about punishing Zelgadis for his [[Heel Face Turn|treachery]] and the death of the fishman Noonsa, the other henchmonsters are eating Noonsa.
* [[Loophole Abuse]]: Mazokus are fond of these.
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** Gourry, again for exposition purposes.
* [[Love Freak]]: Ditzy [[Cute Clumsy Girl]] Amelia is a rather satirical example.
== M ==
* [[The Magic Touch]]: Astral Vine to enchant anything sharp including corporeal spell effects to damage targets immune to normal weapons. Amelia eventually creates the Visfarank spell to apply the same sort of general effect to her fists.
* [[Market-Based Title]]: The TV series was marketed as "The Slayers" outside of Japan. When [[ADV Films]] licensed the OAV and films, they retained the original name.
* [[Martial Pacifist]]: Parodied by Prince Phil, Amelia's father.
** Amelia herself, especially in the Hourglass of Falces.
* [[Mask Power]]: Xellos' eyes are almost always hidden by his hair or closed. If they ever open, bad things are happening.
* [[May-December Romance]]: Of the "in terms of maturity" variety: In the first season and the start of the novels, Lina is 15 and Gourry is 22. Amelia and Zelgadis have a very scant amount of chemistry in the novels, but they're 15 and 19 in those mediums if the very mild [[Ship Tease]] means anything. Their ages in the anime are bumped down (13 and 16), and the differences in maturity apply to this trope.
* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]: Any possibilities of either Eris or {{spoiler|Ozzel}} getting together with Rezo (as both were in love with him) is more or less this, because they're a normal-aging human and a puppet respectively, and he's at least a century old.
** Gourry's ancestor Rowdy allegedly got together with a female elf, as addressed in one of the movies, [[Non-Serial Movie|''Slayers The Motion Picture'']]; Rowdy is a human; elves age at half the speed humans do (similar to chimeras). Kanzaka [[Jossed]] the pairing, though, because of this trope.
** Zelgadis, being a chimera, ages slower than his friends (a [[Word of God]] fact), so he and Amelia could plausibly fall into the [[Mayfly-December Romance]] trope.
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** Eris in the original series tries to kill Lina in revenge for killing Rezo, the man she loved. Technically, Rezo was killed by Shabranigdu, who had been possessing him up until then, and emerged when he was summoned (Rezo not knowing the demon was sealed inside of him). ''Then'' Lina killed Shabranigdu. So maybe Lina sort of killed Rezo, [[From a Certain Point of View]].
** In ''TRY'', Valgaav has a vendetta against Lina for allegedly killing his master Gaav. [[Revenge Before Reason|This one makes even less sense]], since Gaav was killed by Hellmaster, not Lina.
* [[Model Couple]]: Lina/Gourry and Zelgadis/Amelia have similar clothes and hairstyles.
** Xellos and Filia, who are [[Foil|foils]] (with some [[Ship Tease]]), have hair with complementary colors, and wear the complementary colors to each other. In the later novels, Luke and Millina also follow the complementary color theme (Luke wears red, Millina wears green, and they have those respective eye colors also), and even have [[Shiny Midnight Black|black]] (Luke) and [[White-Haired Pretty Girl|white]] (Millina) hair.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Mostly applies to the anime (See [[Bloodless Carnage]] above), but can happen in the other mediums as well.
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* [[Mundane Solution]]
* [[Mysterious Watcher]]: Xellos.
== N ==
* [[Naive Newcomer]]: Gourry.
* [[Neutral Female]]: Parodied in the first episode, when Lina is attacked by bandits and Gourry comes to her aid. Lina is preparing to just blast the bandits into oblivion, but then realizes that she's supposed to be all passive and girly in these situations.
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** The first novel has a scene where the conversation is basically the same, but we get to see Lina fuming at him because she thinks it's a sign that he's cannier than he lets on, and is actively mocking her. In a later scene a villain catches on, and Lina in the narration rages, "Do I have a big sign on my forehead that says, 'I'm on my period. Let's discuss'?!"
** In the second volume of ''Super Explosive Demon Story Slayers'', the scene goes exactly as in the anime. The subject is mentioned briefly in the third volume, where Zelgadis, after capturing Lina, wonders why her spells were so weak... "Oh, I know! You're in THESE days!"
* [[Not So Harmless]]: Jillas from above. Despite being comic relief for the first quarter of Try, he manages to separated the gang from Filia and Xellos, get the others into a situation where they could't use magic, all through tactical and psychological manipulation. And he later outdoes himself by creating an explosive rocket, that is as powerful as a dragon slave.
== O ==
* [[OAV]]: Six of these were produced, each of them set before the events of the TV series and covering the adventures of Lina Inverse and a solitary companion, a [[Gag Boobs|ridiculously buxom]] and extremely flaky sorceress called "Naga the Serpent", who served more or less as a one-woman [[Goldfish Poop Gang]] and [[Unknown Rival]] to Lina.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Inspector Wizer Freyon. He shows up and immediately tries to arrest Lina for the hideous crime of ''being herself''. Also has a bad habit of interpreting/ignoring everything to suit his theories and conveniently passing out just as a critical piece of evidence presents itself. {{spoiler|It's all just an act so he can conduct a real investigation under the guise of trying to bring in Lina, have her storm the bad guy's fortress and take him out by herself. Since the villain was being backed up by royalty, not to mention having hordes of monsters at his command, he couldn't act openly.}}
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** Amelia's sister {{spoiler|Gracia Ul Naga Seyruun}}.
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: {{spoiler|Zuuma}} and {{spoiler|Abel}} in ''Evolution-R''. The family that {{spoiler|dies}} together,, stays together?
** {{spoiler|Christopher}} to {{spoiler|Alfred}} in the original novels; {{spoiler|Christopher}} is forced to stab him for treason, whereas in the anime, {{spoiler|Alfred}} is killed off by {{spoiler|Mazenda}}.
** On a technical level (and accidentally), Amelia to her uncle Randionel in the anime. This is averted in the novels, since Randy appears [[Death by Adaptation|(and dies)]] in the first ''Slayers Special'' novel (i.e the prequel series).
** Averted in the original light novel version of this storyline, where {{spoiler|Abel actually ''succeeds'' in [[Dying as Yourself|reaching his father's humanity long enough for Lina to finish him off]], and [[
* [[Off-Model]]: In episode 1, we see the right side of the Dragon Fangs. Instead of his eye patch covering his eye, it is between his ear and his eye.
* [[Older Is Better]]: Played with, when an ancient golem activates, takes a few steps forward, fires a superweapon into the distance that seems to dwarf the Dragon Slave, aims said weapon at Lina ... and falls apart.
* [[Once Killed a Man with A Noodle Implement]]: Lina's sister Luna Inverse is often said to have slain a dragon with a butter knife.
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* [[Orichalcum]]: Used as an [[Anti-Magic]] metal
* [[Orphan's Ordeal]]: Sylphiel loses her one remaining parent when [[Beta Baddie|Copy Rezo]] destroys her entire homeland; beforehand, Lina and her group did meet her father. As if that weren't enough, {{spoiler|and just in case anyone thought he might have survived, he's [[Animate Dead|brought back]] and then [[Undeath Always Ends|lost]] ''[[Undeath Always Ends|again]]''}} in the last few episodes of ''NEXT''.
* [[The Other Darrin]]: The American dub of the first series, produced by Central Park Media, had several cases of this.
** Partway through the series, CPM took a break from dubbing the series for about a year, and during that time period, lost contact with several of the voice actors. As a result, [[Crispin Freeman]] replaced Daniel Cronin as the voice of Zelgadis, while [[Veronica Taylor]] replaced Joani Baker as the voice of Amelia. Other characters like Zangulus and Prince Philionel also changed as a result of the gap.
** ADV Films handled all the Movies and [[OVA|OVAs]] and used their talent pool. Cynthia Martinez replaced [[Lisa Ortiz]] as Lina, and in Slayers Premium, [[Chris Patton]] replaced [[Eric Stuart]] as Gourry, [[Luci Christian]] replaced [[Veronica Taylor]] as Amelia, and Kurt Stoll replaced David Moo as Xellos; however, Crispin Freeman returned to play Zelgadis.
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* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: In the OAV "Explosion Array", werewolves can take on the forms of either humans or humanoid wolves, whenever they want. In the first season, Dilgear is a werewolf/troll hybrid; he never changes out of his (green furred) wolfman form and he can regenerate his wounds to a certain degree. In fact, canonically, his last words aren't an idle boast; he really does come back to life in the non-anime continuities and becomes "Spot", Luna Inverse's pet -- the only hint of this in the anime is an eyecatch showing her walking him in ''Try''.
* [[Overshadowed by Awesome]]: Gourry, between {{spoiler|giving up the Sword of Light}} and {{spoiler|getting the Blast Sword}}.
== P ==
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Prince Phil would do anything to protect his daughter Amelia, even if it means charging headfirst into obvious danger.
* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Kanzel and Mazenda in NEXT. Literally the first time they appear, they don't even try to hide the fact that they're evil.
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* [[Princesses Prefer Pink]]: Amelia's outfit has some pink touches, but she wore an actual pink dress in the first episode of ''Next''.
* [[Puppy Dog Eyes]]: Lina when she's trying to con someone, often Gourry.
** Amelia at times.
* [[Pure Magic Being]]: The Mazoku.
* [[Purple Is Powerful]]: Xellos.
* [[Put Off Their Food]]: In the light novel ''The Battle of Saillune'', Lina and Gourry are attacked by a number of lesser demons that possessed items of food, including a nasty tentacle monster that emerges from their squid stew. After the fight, they order more food, and Gourry requests they skip the squid stew — though Lina disagrees, saying it'll take more than that to make her lose her appetite.
* [[Put on a Bus]]: Several cases. Zelgadis does not appear at all in the ''Knight of Aqualord'' manga. Also, while he does leave for eight episodes after the tenth episode of season 1, he is one of the three with bounties on his head two episodes later, but this is never mentioned when he returns. Finally, he, Amelia, and Xellos are bussed off when the first arc of novels ended; Luke and Milina replace the former two, and Xellos doesn't reappear until the final novel.
** Sylphiel is put on a bus after ''Slayers NEXT'' and is only mentioned once in ''Slayers TRY''; Filia replaces her for that season. Sylphiel does return at the end of ''Revolution,'' though. Zangulus and Martina are also sent off when ''NEXT'' ends.
** Finally, Filia herself is bussed once ''TRY'' is over, and any other characters exclusive to that season (Jillas, Valgaav, the "Overworld" inhabitants) go with her. None of them are ''ever'' mentioned again -- unless one counts the reference to "Jillas cannons" in ''Revolution''.
== R ==
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: "Ruby Eye" Shabranigdu.
** Lina herself, what with being Enemy Of All That Live, and all.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Lina...though 'hero' is a bit strong of a word, and she starts off more of a brunette, her hair turning coppery as the anime progresses.
* [[The Reveal]]: Numerous instances where a character turns out to be a Mazoku or in cahoots with a Mazoku.
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* [[Robot Maid]]: {{spoiler|Ozzel}} counts for this, although she is actually a doll.
* [[Roof Hopping]]
== S ==
* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: In ''Slayers Gorgeous'' the dragon army flees from Lina after being ordered to attack.
** Zelgadis also tries to do this a couple of times, but never succeeds.
** Zangulus feigns one of these at the end of NEXT to try and land a hit on Hellmaster. {{spoiler|It doesn't work.}}
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Prince Phil, Amelia, Pokota, and {{spoiler|Naga}}.
* [[
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: Shabranigdu, who is defeated by a power his sealer didn't have access to, and Zanaffar, who was just resealed.
** To be fair, Lina and company never actually fight Shabranigdu at his full strength, just the fragments sealed in humans.
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* [[Shout-Out]]: Amelia is at least in part a parody of [[Sailor Moon]], and Gourry's disguise in the first season's cross dressing episode has Usagi's distinctive hair style. Furthermore, an episode of ''NEXT'' has Amelia and Lina dressing up in what look like Sailor Senshi fuku for a humiliating musical number. Furthermore, most of Zel's initial appearances have him looking like Tuxedo Kamen's OTHER identity crisis, Moonlight Knight.
** The magic doctor Lina goes to when her powers are sealed looks exactly like a slightly older Chibiusa, right down to the pink Odango hair.
** The aforementioned episode of ''NEXT'' also has a pair of [[Single-Minded Twins]] who look exactly like Shampoo from [[Ranma
** There's episode 18 of ''TRY'' where Amelia visits the Village of Justice becomes either a Power Ranger or a member of G-Force. Visually, though, they resemble the [[Ronin Warriors]].
** The whole story of ''TRY'' is that beings from the "Overworld" (one of the other worlds seen in Lina's explanation of the War of the Monster's Fall) come to the Slayers world to try and destroy the [[Big Bad]]; a fusion of their Arch God (Night Dragon Vorfeed) and Arch Lord (Dark Star Dugradigdu). For many years, fans thought that this meant that Hajime Kanzaka's sci-fi series ''[[Lost Universe]]'' and ''Slayers'' were part of the same [[The Multiverse|multiverse]], though [[Word of God]] was that he merely chose to reuse the names.
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** '''Pok'''ota is apparently a [[Pokémon]] parody, but he looks more like a [[Digimon]] (namely Terriermon).
** In ''Evolution-R'', the relationship between {{spoiler|Amelia and Nama/Naga brings to mind [[Fullmetal Alchemist]].}}
** Sherra, the second general of Dynast Grausherra, in the Slayers novels looks like Ranma's female form, from [[Ranma
* [[Signature Spell]]: "'''[[Fantastic Nuke|Dragon Slaaaaave]]!'''"
* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: Although most of that is because of the attention they get for offing the previous [[Big Bad]].
* [[Soul Jar]]: In ''Next'', the sorcerer Halcyform makes a pledge to the Mazoku (Monster Race) which makes him unkillable while the pledge stone is intact.
** Taken literally in ''Revolution'' and ''Evolution-R'' -- {{spoiler|Rezo's getting another sequel by having his soul in an actual jar}}.
** Also from ''Evolution-R'', {{spoiler|Naga got her soul literally trapped in a jar at some point while adventuring solo, then it somehow got stuck in a suit of armour and became "Nama"}}.
** An episode of ''Try'' has a ghost ship captained by the spirit of Captain [[Meaningful Name|Jarlov]], a drowned pottery fanatic whose spirit has been sealed inside a jar until someone breaks the curse keeping him from going to the afterlife.
** Mazoku in a pot in ''Slayers Premium''.
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* [[Sword and Sorcerer]]
* [[Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist]]: Wizer Freyon pursues Lina throughout the better part of Revolution for all of the destructive acts she's committed in the past. At some point in the series, he obviously realizes she's innocent and just keeps playing up the chase as [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] to use Lina to catch the real criminals, but it's not clear exactly when that point is.
== T ==
* [[Take Our Word for It]]: Considering all the things Lina has faced, her sister Luna would have to be pretty tough to intimidate her. It helps that Luna is [[The Chosen One]].
* [[Talking Animal]]: There's a ton of these throughout the show, although most are just one-liners.
** Noonsa and Dilgear in season one.
** Jillas in ''Try''.
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* [[Theme Naming]]/[[Punny Name]]: Rowdy Gabriev, Gourry Gabriev.
* [[They Fight Crime]]: Parodied. If you have a bandit problem, [[It Got Worse|Lina will solve it]]. Eventually bandits become endangered, so Lina switches to pirates.
* [[Twelve-Episode Anime|Thirteen Episode Anime]]: ''Slayers'''s fourth season ended up getting split into two seasons with thirteen episode, instead of one whole 26-episode season. Well, Revolution has a tendancy to leaving a ton of plot threads just for Evolution-R. But Season Five got a new OP and ED.
* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: Gravos and Jillas.
* [[Through His Stomach]]: Sylphiel is quite happy to hear "Gourry dear" really likes her cooking. Though, being [[Idiot Hero|Gourry]], he fails to notice her demure but [[Everyone Can See It|obvious]] advances.
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** {{spoiler|Jillas}} at the end of Slayers Try.
* [[Too Dumb to Fool]]: Gourry, regarding Xellos' nature.
* [[Trickster]]: Who else but Xellos?
* [[Tsundere]]: Lina is a tsun-tsun subtype, but she definitely has a few dere-dere moments. The reverse is Filia, ignorance-based holier-than-thou attitude aside, with her [[Berserk Button]] (which Xellos has a talent for finding and pushing).
== U ==
* [[Unbuilt Trope]]: Both older and current critics of the show argue that Amelia is a [[Trope Codifier]] of the [[Moe]] character archaetype, alongside Rei Ayanami of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''; Amelia has the [[Genki Girl|energetic]] and innocent aspects of the character, complete with a short yet bodacious body, whereas Rei has the [[Extreme Doormat|more demure and shy]] aspects (ironically, Rei was meant to be a [[Creepy Child]]). Now, though, with the craze in full swing, Amelia is arguably a subversion; she's no powerhouse, but she's far from useless (a trait that built overtime), has a go-getter attitude (most moe characters are unable to speak out for themselves), and has [[Stepford Smiler|deep and harrowing issues]] that arguably created her energetic and positive ideals in the first place.
* [[
* [[Underwear of Power]]: Lina wears what looks like yellow bra and panties over her tunic and leggings. Martina also wears a thong over leggings.
* [[Unholy Nuke]]: Lina's Dragon Slave spell (when it is not [[Played for Laughs]]). Just listen to the incantation.
* [[Unknown Rival]]: Naga thinks Lina is her rival. Lina tries her best to forget Naga exists.
== V ==
* [[Vanilla Edition]]: [[FUNimation]]'s digitially-remastered re-release of the series lacks all of the outtakes, commentary, and other extras that [[Central Park Media]]'s DVDs had. Stranger still, when the first three seasons were released in one box set, the washed-out video quality from CPM's release was used instead of the restored version.
* [[Villain Teleportation]]
* [[Villain with Good Publicity]]: Red Priest Rezo, of course! Justified, as Rezo genuinely strived to help people... when he was not busy with increasingly extreme and amoral forms of magical research, meant to find the way of curing his blindness.
* [[Visible Sigh]]: Lina and Zelgadis do this most often, but Amelia, Filia, and even Gourry have been known to occasionally.
* [[Vocal Dissonance]]: Alfred was mistranslated as Amelia's uncle when he's actually her cousin. This resulted in him sounding much older than he actually is in the dub.
* [[Vocal Evolution]]: Lina's voice is noticeably deeper now than it was when the anime began.
** Zelgadis also has gone quite a bit lower, while Gourry and Amelia's voices may have actually become a bit higher.
== W ==
* [[The Wall Around the World]]: The magical barrier in seasons one and two.
* [[Walking the Earth]]
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* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Lina's actions sometimes go overboard in the eyes of one or more other characters.
** In episode 26 of ''Try'', it's Lina's turn to call someone out; specifically, Filia for {{spoiler|being indecisive as to whether or not to kill Valgaav when they all know full well he's on the verge of bringing about [[The End of the World as We Know It]]}}.
* [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]]: Lina becomes one of these temporarily after she casts the Giga Slave.
** According to a description in the ninth novel and color illustrations, Milina is this.
* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Miwan, a one-shot character from the [[Once a Season|crossdressing episode]] of ''Next,'' is forced to dress like this due to him being born to the royal family of a strictly-run [[Lady Land]]. Humorously, Zelgadis winds up falling for "her" until he [[Dropped a Bridget On Him|reveals himself as a man.]]
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* [[Whole-Episode Flashback]]: A noteworthy [[Averted Trope|aversion]], given that many shonen series have at least one. The closest one we get is Episode 10 of ''Evolution-R'', which expands a little on Zelgadis' time as a human, following up to [[You Should Know This Already|his transformation.]]
* [[Wild Card]]: Xellos. He switches from helpful to bullying and from saving the heroes butts to crossing them and back [[Eyes Always Shut|without as much as blinking]], when it advances his plans. He's also loyal only to his creator and instrumental in the demise of two other Dark Lords, without participating directly.
* [[World of Buxom]]: Many, many females in the series are quite stacked, [[A-Cup Angst|minus Lina.]]
* [[The World Tree]]: Holy Flagoon, which is Zanafar's prison.
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Zangulus and Gourry.
* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Zelgadis has no problems hitting Lina when they first met as enemies, and he even gave Amelia a [[Dope Slap]] when she said that all villains wear black.
* [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]]: Gourry is hesitant about fighting Gioconda in ''Slayers Revolution'' because he says he wouldn't feel right about striking down a woman.
* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: Amelia, the self-proclaimed hero of justice in a show full of otherwise morally ambiguous characters. She's usually convinced her group are the good guys, even when they're clearly only in it to turn a profit, and often marks others as villains simply because they oppose her.
** In one episode, she can't decide which side are the heroes: either Lina, or a pair of bounty hunters out to arrest her. Confused about who to help, she sits on the sidelines of the battle agonizing over it until she has an epiphany: "Of course! Justice always triumphs! ''So whoever loses will be the bad guy!''" She then attacks BOTH groups at once, figuring whoever crawls out of the rubble was the hero.
== X ==
* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: Hellmaster traps Lina with one during ''NEXT''. He wants to force her to use Giga Slave because it can destroy the world, which he thinks is the purpose of the Mazoku race. To do this he sets her against Chaos Dragon Gaav, who has rebelled against the Mazoku race. If Lina uses the Giga Slave, he wins. If she uses some other spell, such as the Ragna Blade, he can goad her himself. If Gaav survives the attack, then he finishes off Gaav. Since he's the Hellmaster, he can control her death to prevent her from dying until then. All outcomes work for him. {{spoiler|Lina does eventually cast the Giga Slave and summons [[Eldritch Abomination|Lord of Nightmares]], but the latter "politely refuses" to cooperate with Hellmaster's plan.}}
== Y ==
* [[You and What Army?]]: In the first episode of ''Revolution'', Wizer brings a small army along to help him arrest Lina. {{spoiler|It's not enough.}}
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Purple Hair]]: Xellos, Phibrizo, Amelia, Naga, Rezo, and Sylphiel all have dark purple hair, and Zelgadis' hair is a light lavender color. Pokota has pinkish-purple hair. Many minor characters also have purple hair.
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