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{{short description|1998 original video animation directed by Takashi Watanabe}}
{{Infobox animanga/Header
| image = File:Slayers Excellent LD 2.png
| caption =
| ja_kanji = スレイヤーズえくせれんと
| ja_romaji = Sureiyāzu ekuserento
| genre = [[Adventure]], [[comedy]], [[fantasy]]
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Anime
| type = OVA
| title =
| director = [[Hiroshi Watanabe (animator)|Hiroshi Watanabe]]
| writer = [[Hajime Kanzaka]] <br> Keiko Watanabe
| studio = [[J.C.Staff]]
| music = [[Takayuki Hattori]]
| licensee = {{English anime licensee | NA = [[A.D. Vision|ADV Films]] | EU=[[A.D. Vision|ADV Films UK]] | AUS = [[Madman Entertainment|Madman]]}}
| first = October 25, 1998
| last = March 25, 1999
| runtime =
| episodes = 3
| episode_list =
}}
{{Infobox animanga/Footer}}

{{nihongo|'''''Slayers Excellent'''''|スレイヤーズえくせれんと|Sureiyāzu ekuserento}} is the second set of three ''[[Slayers]]'' [[Original video animation|OVA]] episodes featuring [[Lina Inverse]] and [[Naga the Serpent]], following the earlier OVA series ''[[Slayers Special (OVA)|Slayers Special]]''. The series was written by Keiko Watanabe basing on the original stories in the light novels by [[Hajime Kanzaka]], directed by [[Hiroshi Watanabe (animator)|Hiroshi Watanabe]], and originally released in Japan in 1998–1999.

In the first episode, "'''Labyrinth'''" (らびりんす ''Rabirinsu''), Lina and Naga first meet and are forced to battle zombies, ghosts, a vampire, and Naga's own tomfoolery. In the second episode, "'''A Frightening Future'''" (恐るべき未来 ''Osorubeki mirai''), Lina is hired to escort a bratty and spoiled daughter of an aristocratic family in a job that will turn out much more challenging than she excepted. In the third episode, "'''Lina-chan's Lovely Makeover Operation'''" (リナちゃん・おしゃれ大作戦 ''Rina-chan oshare dai-sakusen''), Lina and Naga take opposite sides in an out-of-control dispute between conservative and risque fashion designers.

==Plot==
==="Labyrinth"===
The episode begins with a retrospective story of [[Lina Inverse]]'s and [[Naga the Serpent]]'s original meeting when Naga began her obsession with Lina as her self-proclaimed arch rival. In the present, the two are traveling together when they are directed by residents of a village to the mysterious ruins nearby. After arriving there, however, they are ambushed by zombies and soon realize that this was all just a trap by the villagers as a sacrifice to a vampire dwelling inside an ancient labyrinth.

==="A Frightening Future"===
Lina has taken a bodyguard job to take a high-born girl named Sirene to her summer villa. However, when Sirene's selfishness and arrogance becomes too much for Lina, she hires some bandits to pretend to kidnap Sirene in order to demand a ransom from her father. But when she learns that Naga had defeated the bandits she had hired, Lina realizes that it was someone other who really kidnapped Sirene, and so she sets out with Naga to find and save her.

==="Lina-chan's Lovely Makeover Operation"===
Lina and Naga get involved in the rivalry between two fashion designers. Lina takes the side of the more traditionally minded Tatiana, while Naga supports Marty and her revealing costumes. The dispute escalates very quickly, which results in the destruction of the fashion studios. When an agreement no longer seems possible, Marty attacks Tatiana with the help of a mobile studio powered by golem magic. Lina and Tatiana, who too knows magic, take refuge in a secret hiding place which is also a moving building, and so begins an ultimate battle for fashion supremacy between the two huge robot-like studios.

==Cast==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Character
! Japanese voice actor
! English voice actor
|-
| [[Lina Inverse]]
| [[Megumi Hayashibara]]
| Cynthia Martinez
|-
| [[Naga the Serpent]]
| [[Maria Kawamura]]
| Kelly Manison
|-
| Steindorf
| [[Sho Hayami]]
| [[Mike MacRae]]
|-
| Tatiana Diward
| [[Aya Hisakawa]]
| Deanna Julian
|-
| Sirene
| [[Kumiko Watanabe]]
| [[Tiffany Grant]]
|-
| Marty Lenford
| [[Mayumi Iizuka]]
| Ayanna Grundy
|-
| Alphonse
| [[Shinichiro Miki]]
| [[Illich Guardiola]]
|-
| Fitzmeier
| [[Hiroshi Naka]]
| [[Jason Douglas]]
|}

==Release==
''Slayers Excellent'' was originally released in Japan in three parts between October 25, 1998 and March 25, 1999 on [[VHS]] and [[LaserDisc]]. [[ADV Films]] licensed the OVAs and released them on [[DVD]] on March 30, 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001DCR2A/|title=Slayers-Excellent DVD|date=30 March 2004|publisher=Amazon.com|access-date=2014-07-26}}</ref> It was included in the collection of digitally remastered ''Slayers'' films and OAV series,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fandompost.com/2014/11/20/slayers-anime-features-ova-japanese-box-set-planned/ |title='Slayers' Anime Features & OVA Japanese Box Set Planned |date=20 November 2014 |publisher=The Fandom Post |access-date=2015-11-04}}</ref> released on [[Blu-ray]] in Japan on October 30, 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2015/07/10/delayed-slayers-filmova-blu-ray-box-scheduled-for-october-30-2015 |title=Delayed "Slayers" Film/OVA Blu-ray Box Scheduled for October 30, 2015 |publisher=Crunchyroll |date=2015-07-10 |access-date=2015-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%8A%87%E5%A0%B4%E7%89%88-OVA-%E3%82%B9%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A4%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA-%E3%83%87%E3%82%B8%E3%82%BF%E3%83%AB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BCBD%E2%80%90BOX-Blu-ray/dp/B00PVKN0G0/ |title=劇場版&OVA スレイヤーズデジタルリマスターBD-BOX [Blu-ray] DVD・ブルーレイ - 林原めぐみ, 川村万梨阿, 阪脩, 高山みなみ, 白鳥由里, 平松晶子, 大塚明夫, 矢尾一樹, 内海賢二, わたなべひろし |date=30 October 2015 |publisher=Amazon.co.jp |access-date=2015-11-04}}</ref>

The series' ending song "Never Die" with vocals by [[Masami Okui]] was released as a four-track single CD (KIDA-174) by [[Starchild Records]] on November 27, 1998. It was also later included Okui's 1999 album ''[[Best-Est]]'' and in the CD collection ''The Best of Slayers vol. 2 (From OVA, Movie & Game)''.

==Reception==
Polish fantasy writer Aleksandra Janusz, writing for the magazine ''Kawaii'', called ''Slayers Excellent'' "not much less brilliant" than ''Slayers Special'', noting the second part to in her opinion be the most funny and the third one to be the weakest.<ref>Aleksandra Janusz (Ina, Błękitna Czarodziejka), "Slayers nie tylko w TV: Filmy kinowe oraz serie OAV." ''Kawaii'' 40 (October–November 2002), p. 12-15.</ref> [[Dave Halverson]] gave ''Excellent'' a review score of three-and-half stars out of five in ''[[Play (U.S. magazine)|play]]'', opining that while the first episode is indeed excellent, the other two "don't hold a handle" in comparison to the films ''[[Slayers Great]]'' and ''[[Slayers Gorgeous]]''.<ref>''Play'' 29 (May 2004), p. 76.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.madman.com.au/actions/series.do?method=home&videogramId=3313 Official website of ''Slayers OVA Collection''] (Madman Entertainment)
* {{ann|anime|737|title=Slayers Excellent}}

{{Slayers}}
{{J.C.Staff OVAs}}

[[Category:1998 anime OVAs]]
[[Category:Adventure anime and manga]]
[[Category:Comedy anime and manga]]
[[Category:Fantasy anime and manga]]
[[Category:J.C.Staff]]
[[Category:Slayers]]

Slayers Excellent - Revision history

imported>Citation bot: Altered title. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Jay8g | Linked from User:Jay8g/sandbox | #UCB_webform_linked 512/1220