It's that time again, campers! Time for more more mayhem thanks to Lina Inverse and her merry band of troublemakers.
Once we're through with the title sequence, we get a quick recap of last week's episode: Lina and Gourry were tormenting some pirates when they ran into Zelgadiss, Amelia, and the mysterious Wizer Freion, who tried to arrest Lina, only to have his turtle-shaped magic tank be blown up by this tiny stuffed animal, Pokota. The timing on this recap sequence is a bit off, as it takes a while for Lina to get going with it, but that will improve with later episodes and gives us a quick frame of reference to put this week's episodes in context. Without further ado, we begin with...
(Title card: "Because! You're Lina Inverse, That's Why!)
The music to start this scene, even with a massive crater blown from the earth and seawater flowing in, just speaks to hijinx. For Lina and company, this is, hilariously, not too unusual. Lina's question for Amelia, Zelgadiss, and Gourry is what, why, and how this all has happened, which Amelia and Zelgadiss unhelpfully parrot back, and Lina manages to intimidate Gourry into hiding like a turtle in his own armor.
Lina asks about Wizer instead, and Amelia explains that Ruvinagald made a formal request for Saillune's help in contacting Lina, which Amelia and her family were bound to accept. Why an entire nation would want to bother with a "simple, beautiful, genius" sorceress like Lina is utterly bewildering to her, but evidently, everyone else in the world realizes that Lina is one of the few human beings capable of creating an international disaster if she wanted. The wording of the translation here is a bit dodgy; "incident on a national scale" among other things.
Line, of course, takes this news in a predictable fashion: "Maybe I'll destroy it the next time I'm there—Saillune, that is." This sentence seems awkwardly constructed from an English perspective but is perfectly ordinary in Japanese, given differences in sentence construction and word order.
Anyway, this goes on for a bit with Amelia begging Lina not to destroy her entire home country when, guess who, Wizer walks in, dangling handcuffs and saying that he's heard Lina plot to destroy not only Saillune but Ruvinagald as well, but all it takes is an outburst from Lina to silence talk of that. Look closely, and you might catch Wizer's hand gesture, a common visual gag used in Ranma. Despite Wizer's unreasonableness, Lina honorably offers to surrender herself if Wizer can produce reasonable evidence that she committed any crimes, with the threat that if all his evidence is "that she's Lina Inverse" she'll go to town. This is enough to make Wizer agree, with a clear look of anxiety on his face.
Apparently, the turtle-shaped magic tank wasn't the only one built—or destroyed. Several have been taken out in a string of attacks, requiring powerful magic to do so. These are the crimes Wizer is trying to connect Lina to, and his evidence...
...is that she's Lina Inverse.
Lina clocks him and starts her incantation for the Dragon Slave, which Gourry and Amelia have to restrain her from completing. "Sometimes you have to fight even if it's against an entire country!" says Lina, and as she struggles to free herself.
But that spell is apparently what Wizer meant. Normal spells don't affect the magic tanks one bit, but the Dragon Slave clearly does. Lina knows the Dragon Slave, hence she's a prime suspect. Lina rightly points out that that doesn't mean anything—anyone who knows the spell could've done it. "The Dragon Slave is practically like the stuff you learn in bridal training!" she claims.
Really, Lina. Really now? Not every wife-to-be knows how to destroy a small city in 20 seconds. Even Wizer, who seems right now to be thick as a door, responds to this incredulously. Even so, Lina's past history of reckless behavior made her the "ideal" suspect for these crimes. The trail of destruction that follows her is widely known and legendary. For this, Amelia, Zelgadiss, and Gourry despair that the case against her, then, is very strong, and Gourry even offers to wait for Lina as long as it takes, until she's released from prison, waiving a yellow handkerchief in the wind!
That earns a kick from Lina for the absurdity. Lina points out that everyone saw Pokota destroy that magic tank earlier, not her. Amelia practically has the lightbulb come on over her head, and Zelgadiss rubs his chin thoughtfully, unable to deny the logic of it.
...really, Lina, if even your friends are conned into believing you did something you didn't do, when they saw for themselves that you didn't do it, you have reputation problems. You need a PR manager, one that you won't send to oblivion since, most likely, he'll end up insulting your chest for no reason. This is logic in the Slayers world here, folks. The hijinx music from the opening is back, and not without reason. Lina's friends believing yet again that she may be guilty is just the height of silliness. Humorous on one level, nigh-on unbelievable on the other. It took this long for anyone to point that out?
Of course, Wizer claims to have been knocked out before any "puny animal" did anything to his magic tank, so as he laughs it off, Lina punishes him with a Mega Brand for acting so happy about it.
Nevertheless, Wizer is convinced to give Lina a chance to prove her innocence, so they head to a fortress in the mountains, where the next magic tank is being built. Lina grumbles about this unbelievable puny animal that stole her scene, and one must wonder what she would've done if instead she'd destroyed the magic tank before Pokota had. But of course, then we wouldn't nearly so clear a route to follow. Lina can unambiguously go about proving her innocence, since technically she's done nothing against Ruvinagald of that magnitude, even if she would've if given the chance.
The fortress is well-staffed. A country building magic tanks such as these and fortresses must be ready for some sort of attack to come...or perhaps is planning one themselves.
The next magic tank is...a cow? The aesthetic sense of the designer seems a bit off.
It's not long before a bolt from nowhere blasts through the magic tank's armor—wait, that's not a Dragon Slave, but that's still a one-hit kill? Why didn't he use it before? I smell a Plot Hole here!
Anyway, the last we see is Wizer looking oh-so-tough as Lina tells him to run, and he doesn't, just as the cow magic tank explodes.
(Eyecatch)
Maybe you should've listened to her, Wizer.
Pokota's seen running off in shadow, and Lina tells Zelgadiss and Amelia to tend to the wounded, going after Pokota with Gourry at her back. Gourry cautions her to be careful, but Lina insists she'll be as reckless as necessary to catch the culprit. Lina and Pokota trade volleys of Freeze Arrows versus Flare Arrows, but what are more important are the insults. Two powerful magic users, capable of levelling small islands, decide to go at it in something reminiscent of a catfight, complete with a boxing match bell and wacky music. Never for a minute suspect Slayers won't pursue the comedic angle when it presents itself.
Anyway, they pull apart, and Lina states her intention to capture Pokota and prove her innocence. Hence, the real battle begins. After volleying back and forth with a few more spells, and Pokota takes the opportunity to hide...at least, until Gourry slices through a tree to find him hiding inside. Even a Diem Wing won't keep him down. As Pokota speeds off in flight, Gourry slings himself in the air, slicing madly at Pokota until he can be knocked to the ground and buried in the earth. Lina complains idly that Gourry seems a bit off form.
Pokota offers Lina a chance to turn tail and run, which she shoots back that she's not the one with a tail. A quick cut back to the fortress shows Wizer waking up and learning from Zelgadiss that Lina's gone after the culprit. We cut back, and Lina and Pokota are firing off trivial spells at each other, which she knows won't do any good in the long run. She needs an edge, fast—something to counter his small size and great agility. As Pokota descends with another ice-based spell, Lina flees, shouting, "Ferious Breed!"
And nothing happens. Pokota sits on a rock, narrows his eyes, and wonders aloud what that spell was supposed to do.
As it happens, the spell summons birds. Lots of birds, and they're hungry for stuffed animals. Pokota manages to fend them off, albeit worse for wear, and Lina continues to taunt him for his small size. Pokota insists that this body of his, weird as it may be, wasn't his choice, which Lina mockingly asks about like she's interested in the story, but Pokota's more interested in firing back at Lina. She's not so big herself, after all. She could be considered a bit...scrawny, even. She's a flattie. She's the Queen of the Flattie Kingdom (the translators go with "Flattie King of the Flat Kingdom" or so, which seems a bit odd), and she spreads flatness everywhere.
Honestly, where do we get characters so keenly attuned to others' Berserk Buttons?
Well, Pokota, look at what you've done now. Lina Inverse is not happy with you. Using her magic amplifying talismans, Lina begins to call upon the Lord of Darkness to increase her power, and we actually have a great shot of her slightly out of focus, giving the impression that she's drawing upon more energy that should even be possible. Futilely, Pokota tries to disrupt the incantation, to no avail. Lina's committed, and surprisingly, Pokota pulls out the Sword of Light (!) to defend himself, but the Dragon Slave destroys just about everything in another ridiculous crater.
But Pokota lives, with the Sword of Light, though it fizzles out quickly, being only a replica. As it turns out, Pokota is the one who created those magic tanks and this replica Sword of Light and regards them as being stolen by Ruvinagald. Now it's time for the introductions, where we actually learn Pokota's name, and both sides marvel at the tricks each has up their sleeves. But to interrupt is Wizer, who claims that Lina's really in for it now that she's blown things up with a Dragon Slave. Protesting her innocence, Lina tries to give him Pokota, but the puny animal is gone. Once again, the opening bars of Revolution play, so we know the end is near, and Lina shouts to the skies again, where Pokota flies off with a smirk.
For those unfamiliar with Lina's character, we actually get a good picture of her here. There is a sense of honor with her, as she would willingly submit to Wizer (at least, so she says) if presented with hard evidence of her guilt. She has Amelia and Zelgadiss stay with the wounded at the Ruvinagald fortress, clearly seeing the injured's health as more important than an even stronger tactical advantage. Lina is greedy at times, to be sure, and can be self-centered or easily angered. Casting a Dragon Slave after having come up with a more subtle and clever trick shows that destruction isn't always the first solution on her mind. When not angered, Lina is extremely clever and is capable (even if she doesn't always exercise it) of using proportional force instead.
There can be moments of unusual art, particularly when Wizer checks off Lina as guilty or Pokota buries Gourry in the earth. See image at right. There's also some Conspicuous CG when the flock of birds flies out on Lina's spellcast; they're noticeably 3D as they come over the trees.
Finally, Megumi Hayashibara is the leading lady here, and if you're watching the Japanese version, you should relish her every shout, scream, and whisper. The second half of the episode is chock full of moments where Lina mumbles to herself as she thinks aloud, then shouts her spells, then mocks Pokota's predicament. She runs the gamut from quiet and measured to obnoxiously cute to guttural and brash. It's for this reason I feel Lina is Hayashibara's most three-dimensional role. It requires the most versatility from her, and she delivers every time.
Lingering questions for episode 3:
- Wizer seems visibly alarmed when Lina goes after the "real" culprit. Why would he be, if he thinks Lina is it?
- Why and how did Ruvinagald steal Pokota's technology, particularly the magic tanks?
- Why is Pokota in that stuffed animal's body?
- What war might Ruvinagald be building up for?
Stay tuned, of course, to get closer to answering these questions. Tune in next week for episode 3, "Chase! The Endless Pursuit!" in which Lina is suspected of...serial petnapping?
