Slayers: Difference between revisions

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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.

 

 

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.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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* [[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]].

* [[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.

** 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.

** 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 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.

* [[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]].

** 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.

* [[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.

* [[Anime Theme Song]], sung by [[Megumi Hayashibara]]. And not just one; all 14 of the anime theme songs have been sung by her.

** The Spell "Flow Break" dispels everything but [[White Magic]] and causes animation spells (such as armor and Golem) to stop working.

** There was a [[Magitek]] train in ''Try'' that ran on magic; the power source absorbed all magic, making attack spells about as useful as throwing toy squibs and defence spells almost as effective as a tin garbage-can lid.

** 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.).

** 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.''

* [[Avenging the Villain]]: Eris, Valgaav, {{spoiler|Jillas}}.

* [[Ax Crazy]]: Many characters have occasions of this, but Lina tops them all by a long shot.

* [[Badass Adorable]]: Amelia and Pokota.

* [[Badass Cape]]: All the main characters have these, along with most other fighters and magicians.

* [[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}}.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Amelia's normally a sweet girl, but if you endanger someone she cares about, ''watch out!''

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: The villains are more villainous than the heroes are heroic.

* [[Black Comedy Rape]]:

** 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.

* [[Bottle Fairy]]: Naga the Serpent.

* [[Boring Invincible Hero]]: Regularly quite subverted when things get serious. Multiple times Lina and co. have defeated their massively more potent adversaries purely through sheer luck. To make a list, {{spoiler|Shabranigdo was killed the first time using a spell that had an equal chance of ending the entire world as it did just being the ultimate offensive spell, and Lina wasn't even sure if the spell would work in the first place, and even then she only had the time to do it because Rezo held back his defenses. Gaarv was heavily wounded by Lina's Ragna Blade, but it STILL wasn't enough to kill them and would have slaughtered them if Fibrizio hadn't intervened. Fibrizio obviously massively outclassed the group when he demonstrated that he could pretty much kill them at will without any real effort on his part while effortlessly shrugging off all of their attacks, and only won because L-sama didn't really give much of a toss about what was going on either way. So far the only Big Bad's in the series that Lina has killed without casting an incredibly risky spell that has a fifty percent chance of ending reality are Copy Rezo and Dark Star Dugradigdu. At the end of Evolution-R, Lina casts successful Giga Slave for exactly the second time ever to kill Shabranigdo yet again, and though he was massively weakened from the form she encountered originally, the team STILL couldn't really kill him without Pokota's act of self-sacrifice doing the same thing Rezo did the first time.}}

* [[Breath Weapon]]: Most dragons seem to have one. Golden Dragons in particular have ''laser'' breath, which they're shown to be able to use even in human form -- Filia's tendency to use hers when she's aggravated with Xellos is frequently played for comedic effect.

* [[Broken Pedestal]]: Zelgadis once fought on Rezo's behalf, believing he was the generous healer most people believe (and also because Rezo is his guardian and great-grandfather). This all changed when he found out how far Rezo was willing to go to cure his blindness, including experimenting on Zelgadis, and worse, {{spoiler|willing to risk the destruction of the entire world.}}

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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}}.

* [[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."

** Hellmaster Phibrizzo definitely qualifies as one of these too, {{spoiler|manipulating almost the entire list of events of season two, be it through Xellos or directly}}.

** [[Dropped a Bridget On Him|And then a guy falls for him when he's in drag]].

* [[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.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Gourry, Amelia, and Nama.

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Lampshaded; Amelia thinks things really works this way.

* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: One of Lina's major traits.

* [[Comically Serious]]: Zelgadis, poor guy.

* [[Continuity Lock Out]]: The belated ''Revolution'' and ''Evolution-R'' seasons of the anime attempted to avoid this by conveniently not mention the fact that the four leads had defeated an incarnation of Zanaffar before. It would've worked, had it not been for the fact that both seasons played this painfully straight in the first place - absolutely no prior establishment of what had happened before both seasons - and the end result was most of the viewers being those who had seen the first three seasons from eleven years back. Along with the issue with Zanaffar, there is also the fact that ''why'' Lina and Gourry are seeking a new sword (and the importance of the Sword of Light), and they also don't mention directly that Zelgadis and Rezo are related by blood, getting rid of some of the depth that Zelgadis' emotional turmoil against Rezo.

** This is also a massive problem with the ''Slayers Special/Smash'' novels. There are over fifty of those versus the fifteen "main" novels. Mind you, those fifty are supposed to serve as a ''prequel'' to the fifteen, and they're [[Long Runner|still going]], whereas the last of the main books came out in 2000. It also doesn't help that both series began around the same time, in the early 90's.

** In an odd meta-version of this, it is revealed that Gourry's Sword of Light's true name is "Gorun Nova" {{spoiler|which in the Lost Universe series takes the form of one of the Five Lost Ships created by the ubervillain of that world, Dark Star Dugradigdu. In the Slayers part of the multiverse (which only exists in the series, and not the Slayers novels) [[Dark Star]] Dugradigdu's five generals became the Weapons of Light instead of spaceships.}}

** Vurumugun (the real one) is in attendance at {{spoiler|Zangulus's wedding at the end of NEXT}}.

* [[Conveniently an Orphan]]: [[Word of God]] states that both Zelgadis and Gourry also lack parental figures.

* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Averted with Luna Inverse who scares Lina more than anything else in the world, but played straight with Martina {{spoiler|who unknowingly looks after the child form of Hellmaster Fibrizzo while Lina and the others fight Gaav}}.

* [[Cool Helmet]]: Filia wears a helmet with gigantic Christmas ornaments stuck to the sides.

* [[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.

* [[Crystal Prison]]

* [[Curse Cut Short]]: Episode 11 of ''Slayers TRY'' -- Just as Amelia was about to say "piece of shit" (referring to a fecal matter-shaped mountain they were about to scale), Lina cuts her off, noting how improper it is for royalty to swear.

* [[Curtains Match the Window]]: Xellos, who has purple hair, also has [[Technicolor Eyes|purple eyes]].

** Lina has red eyes and red hair.

* [[Cute Little Fang]]: Lina sometimes has one. It was pretty much permanent by ''Revolution''.

* [[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.

* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: The Blessed Blade at the end of the first series. It comes out of nowhere with very little explanation behind it in the second to last episode, and can somehow hurt {{spoiler|the merged Copy Rezo/Zanaffar}}, which contradicts what we've heard several times about Gourry's Sword of Light being able to hurt it. This is further made strange when in Slayers Evolution and Evolution R it is shown that the Sword of Light CAN destroy it as a major plot point.

* [[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.

* [[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.}}

* [[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.

'''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.

** Xellos almost never gets angry, even when reminding the audience that he is a [[Complete Monster]]. When his cool does dissipate, it's downright disturbing.

* [[The Ditz]]: Gourry.

** Amelia in earlier seasons of the anime.

** Gourry gave one to Zelgadis after he mentioned Amelia's lost sister and upset her.

** Lina once slapped Zelgadis, but immediately regretted it.

** 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.

* [[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.

** 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.

* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Rezo.

* [[Executive Meddling]]:

** 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]].

** 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.

* [[Face Fault]]

* [[Fairytale Wedding Dress]]: {{spoiler|Martina's}} dress at the end of ''Next''.

* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Lina Inverse has the personality down pat, even though it takes until about Slayers TRY for her to get the hair color right (it starts off as more of a coppery brown).

* [[Filler]]: This series is noteworthy for pulling it off beautifully. The filler episodes were stand-alone comedies that never got in the way of the main plot and were entertaining in their own right.

** Hellmaster Fibrizo -- [[Big Bad]]

** Greater Beast Zelas Metallium -- [[The Dragon]]

** [[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).

** Lina -- [[The Hero]] (sort of)

** Zelgadis -- [[The Lancer]]

** Gourry -- [[The Big Guy]]

** Amelia -- [[Action Girl]] and [[The Chick]] (to a degree)

** [[Guest Star Party Member|Guest Star Party Members]]:

*** Sylphiel and later Filia -- [[The Medic]] / [[Sixth Ranger]] and [[The Chick]]

*** Pokota -- [[Tagalong Kid]]

*** Naga -- [[The Rival]]

** 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.

** 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.

* [[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]].

* [[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.

* [[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.

** 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]]

** 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.

* [[Giving Someone the Pointer Finger]]: Amelia does this a lot, and gets called on it several times in the final episode of the first series.

* [[Godzilla Threshold]]: Anything that justifies asking [[Destructive Saviour|Lina Inverse]] for help necessarily has be something that poses a risk of absolute annihilation, otherwise... just let bandits and/or rampaging dragon do whatever they want, they're liable to cause significantly less of a mess.

* [[The Gods Must Be Lazy]]: What are the gods in this world doing while the Mazoku are busy manipulating people into destroying the world?

* [[Good Is Dumb]]: Gourry constantly proves this all on his own.

* [[Gray and Gray Morality]]: Moreso in ''Slayers TRY'' than in any other season, with the questioning of the battles between Mazoku and Shinzoku coming into question and the cowardliness of the Golden Dragons among other things. Even the main party is affected from this.

* [[Gratuitous English]]: Many spell names, though this is [[Hand Wave|handwaved]] with a short explanation that the names had been corrupted over the years. Lina's most powerful attack used to be known as the "Dragon Slayer" before it became what it was.

* [[Guardian of the Multiverse]]: The Lord of Nightmares.

** Although he was a bad guy in the first season, Zangulus would technically count in NEXT.

* [[The Gunslinger]]: Parodied with Jillas.

* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: In ''NEXT'', Gaav gives one to Amelia (who had just delivered a sermon on JUSTICE), pointing out that Hellmaster's plans would be void if he killed Lina and that, by defending her, she was acting against the cause of JUSTICE. Cue [[Heroic BSOD]].

** Considering that Hellmaster's plan was to {{spoiler|manipulate Lina to cast the Giga Slave, potentially destroying all of reality, and that Lina actually does it to save Gourry}}, Gaav was 100% correct.

* [[Hand Behind Head]]: Gourry does ''this'' a lot.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Zelgadis.

* [[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.

** ''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.]]

** 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.}}

* [[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:

** And in the ''Super Explosive Demon Story'' manga, Zelgadis is frequently [[Walking Shirtless Scene|without a shirt]]. There's even a color splash page of him removing it.

** Later artwork of Lina, namely in later ''Slayers Special''/''Slayers Smash''. They feature her in more sensual poses, and every other drawing of her flaunts her nipples, irregardless of how modest she's dressed.

* [[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 Call It Vera]]: Filia's mace is named "Mace-sama".

* [[Idiot Hero]]: Gourry.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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.}}

* [[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.

* [[Literal Genie]]: When Zelgadis first met Rezo, the latter put on an affable facade and agreed to grant Zelgadis' wish for power, promising to make him "completely different" -- he gave him the power but transformed him into a monster.

* [[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 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.

* [[Lovable Traitor]]: Xellos is the contemporary epitome of this trope.

* [[Love Makes You Evil]]: Halcyform in ''Next'', also Duclis in the manga version of ''Revolution''.

** Gourry, again for exposition purposes.

* [[Love Freak]]: Ditzy [[Cute Clumsy Girl]] Amelia is a rather satirical example.

* [[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.

* [[Martial Pacifist]]: Parodied by Prince Phil, Amelia's father.

* [[Mask Power]]: Xellos' eyes are almost always hidden by his hair or closed. If they ever open, bad things are happening.

* [[Medieval European Fantasy]]

* [[Misplaced Retribution]]: Happens at least a couple of times in the series, and is even a driving force in the plot:

** 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.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Mostly applies to the anime (See [[Bloodless Carnage]] above), but can happen in the other mediums as well.

** Xellos can be silly, goofy and whimsical. Then he opens his eyes. At this point, something absolutely horrible happens. To put things into perspective, the least horrible thing he's done with his eyes open is gleefully torture someone with the intent to kill him. The shift in personality between his 'casual' and serious moods is about as extreme as can be.

* [[Mundane Solution]]

* [[Mysterious Watcher]]: Xellos.

* [[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.

* [[Nice Hat]]: Zangulus wears a cool old Pointy Hat that he never takes off, ''ever''. Probably because the one time it was off, in episode 21, he realized how ridiculous his hair looked without it.

* [[Nigh Invulnerable]]: Zelgadis has the combined traits and resiliences of a brow demon and a stone golem, making him virtually indestructible amongst humans. Dragons, high-level Mazoku, and the higher levels of magic are the only things that can actually hurt him seriously.

** Mazoku also count; not only are they effectively [[Made of Iron]] and [[Healing Factor|able to regenerate]], but their real bodies actually exist on a separate plane of existence, with their material form merely being a projection of their psyche. They're also immune to varying levels of Black Magic (as monsters are the power source of Black Magic). The more higher-ranked the Mazoku is, the harder it is to kill it, which leads rather nicely into [[Authority Equals Asskicking]].

* [[Noble Demon]]: Zelgadis. He's even one-third demon, making this more literal than most.

** Averted with Xellos.

** And in one of the movies, "Slayers Gorgeous," a villain appears with one of her own. Naga decides it's not good enough and tries to give her ''lessons''.

** Martina had a pretty good one also.

* [[No Fourth Wall]]: Well, not quite, but they break it on occasion, usually when the show has been serious for too long. Also, the ''Pretty Miss Lina's Magic Lessons'' segments.

* [[No Kill Like Overkill]]: This is proven every time Lina does a high-level spell like Dragon Slave for a comedic effect.

** Used afterwards, as in 5 TV seasons, and a dozen movies and OVAs, it hasn't come up again, ever.

** 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!"

* [[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.}}

* [[Ojou]]: Sylphiel.

** 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?

* [[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.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Zelgadis is usually this, but Gourry of all people was actually this when he and Amelia went to the "Village Of Justice".

** 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.

* [[Our Hero Is Dead]]: Lina suffers what's supposed to be a [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now|fatal wound that goes straight through her chest]] at the end of episode 24.

** [[Lampshaded]] by Lina herself: "How could this happen?! I'm the star of the show!"

* [[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''.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Prince Phil would do anything to protect his daughter Amelia, even if it means charging headfirst into obvious danger.

** Josephine in an episode of the OVA. Josephine is a proud mother who has hired Lina and Naga to make her son a successful military leader. They're initially skeptical as Jeffrey is skinny, sickly, poorly trained, and hilariously overconfident. It turns out that these aren't problems, because the instant someone says something disparaging about him, Josephine comes charging onto the scene, wearing a mask, to smash them with an oversized warhammer. Jeffrey is the only one who sees nothing odd about this, and the only one who buys her claims that she's an anonymous tourist passing by (it happens to him that often).

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Amelia's mother is dead, Naga's mother is dead, and Zelgadis is an orphan. Lina's parents are alive but Luna ''did'' have a major role in her upbringing.

* [[Percussive Pickpocket]]: A little boy does this to Lina.

* [[Perpetual Poverty]]: After Lina obliterates her kingdom, Martina sets off on a revenge quest but since she's now broke she's got to bankroll all her schemes by doing odd jobs. This continues even after she pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] and joins Lina.

* [[Petting Zoo People]]

* [[Pieces of God]]

** Subverted in episode 15 with poor Zelgadis.

* [[Player Archetypes]]: All of the main four characters fit the Munchkin File 'four types of role players'

** [[The Munchkin]]: Lina

* [[Pollyanna]]: Amelia.

* [[Primordial Chaos]]: The Sea of Chaos, from which the four worlds arose at the beginning of time.

* [[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.

* [[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.

** 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''.

* [[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.

** Eris created Copy Rezo and went after Rezo's legacy so she could get revenge on Lina for Rezo's death. {{spoiler|Too bad we learned three seasons later that he was never dead to begin with and the entire second half of season one's events, which included the destruction of Sairaag as well as Eris' death, could've been avoided entirely if Rezo had only told her about the Hellmaster's Jar.}}

* [[The Rival]]: Zangulus to Gourry, and Naga (and later in the novels, Luke) to Lina.

* [[Robot Maid]]: {{spoiler|Ozzel}} counts for this, although she is actually a doll.

* [[Roof Hopping]]

** 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}}.

** To be fair, Lina and company never actually fight Shabranigdu at his full strength, just the fragments sealed in humans.

* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: As commented by other characters, Amelia always looks beautiful in a nice dress, and Lina and Martina looked great while wearing wedding dresses.

* [[Shell Game]]: Zelgadis with his band played "which bauble we [[MacGuffin|need to collect]]?" with Lina for some time. This didn't work well, though.

** [[The Chick|Filia]] and [[Affably Evil|Xellos]] are positively ''rife'' with this, mostly in the form of [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] topped with the fact that they're from the god and demon races respectively. They've actually become one of the most popular [[One True Pairing|One True Pairings]] in the show.

** Zelgadis and Amelia have a good deal of chemistry and moments together, especially in ''Next'', but most of the teasing is near-gone by ''Revolution''. Pokota also acts flustered around Amelia at times.

* [[Shock Collar]]: A captive Lina was restrained by a circlet that zapped her when she tried to use magic. They really haven't a slightest idea what [[Aloof Big Brother|her big sister]] used to [[Good Is Not Nice|put her through]], however...

** 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.

** 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.

** '''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]].}}

* [[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}}.

** 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''.

* [[Spirited Competitor]]: Zangulus followed Gourry just to test who's the best swordsman.

* [[Stealth Parody]]: Lina's group is rumored to be based on D&D campaigns; Zelgadis being a 'serious' role-player who's epic backstory and angst is somewhat made silly by the antics of the rest of the group, Amelia an overdone [[Lawful Good]] type, Gourry is the guy playing for a good time who's only half playing attention, and Lina is the [[Min-Maxing]] spellcaster, and Xellos is the annoying, completely unkillable, and most definitely the overpowered GMPC who largely exists to re-rail the plot when the rest of the party derails it.

** Also, by [[Word of God]], Gourry. {{spoiler|His family's more or less dead because of the Sword of Light, save a grandmother and a brother who he hates. Combine this with having gone through wars and mercenary jobs, and you have one embittered individual. If it weren't for Lina's father telling him to find a purpose in life, he'd probably be a [[Byronic Hero]].}}

* [[Stern Chase]]: Chasers -- Zangulus and Vrumugun in season 1, Gaav and his minions in Next.

** According to Amelia in ''Slayers: The Hourglass of Falces'', their mother made it a tradition that the women of the royal family "are expected to wear a sort of dress that evokes a 'bondage' image when they reach a certain age." Therefore, she abandoned her regulation pants for a very-mini-skirt, so she would be used to that sort of exposure when the time came. [[Word of God]] states that Naga found her [[Memetic Outfit]] in their mother's closet after her funeral.

* [[Stupid Sexy Flanders]]: Zelgadis and Gourry when Lina and Amelia [[Dragged Into Drag|have access to surplus women's clothing]].

* [[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.

* [[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]].

** Noonsa and Dilgear in season one.

** Jillas in ''Try''.

* [[Team Shot]]

* [[Technical Pacifist]]: Amelia and Prince Phil; ''especially'' Phil.

* [[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.

* [[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.

** {{spoiler|Jillas}} at the end of Slayers Try.

* [[Too Dumb to Fool]]: Gourry, regarding Xellos' nature.

* [[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).

* [[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.

* [[Villain Teleportation]]

* [[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.

* [[The Wall Around the World]]: The magical barrier in seasons one and two.

* [[Walking the Earth]]

* [[The Watson]]: Gourry.

* [[Weddings in Japan]]

** 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.]]

* [[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.

* [[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.

** 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.

* [[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.

** If you count it as canon, [[Always Someone Better|Luna Inverse]] is shown to have purplish hair in her cameos, although one manga makes it a more crimson red color.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Nineties]]

[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Manga]]

[[Category:Trope Overdosed]]

[[Category:Light Novels]]