Lina may be small, but she packs a mean fireball! by Mark Johnson As another example of anime before manga, SLAYERS first appeared in SEMIMONTHY COMIC DRAGON MAGAZINE in April 1995. Following on the coat-tails of the ever popular Slayers animes and movie series, the manga stars the same prime characters in adventures that sometimes parallel, but are not directly related to, the anime. The main characters still are Lina Inverse and Gourry the Warrior. Lina is the young fire sorceress who is underestimated time after time by hordes of thieves and cutthroats, and who will unhesitantly whip off a "Fire Ball" or "Flame Arrow" at the overzealous without a second thought. She loves money, magical artifacts, food, more money, and develops an odd partnership with Gourry. Gourry has no magical powers, but can easily hold his own in mobs of ruffians seeking revenge over a previous flambé from Lina. He also shares Lina's passions of money and adventure, and is a great match for Lina's eating abilities. The first manga shows Lina and Gourry meeting for the first time, with Gourry bravely protecting the "defenseless" Lina and deciding to follow along. Afterwards many of the plots tend to be episodic, with the pair performing standard adventurer work (protecting a prized statue though taking out the owner's mansion at the same time, racing for strange artifacts with rival treasure hunters while running from hordes of Golem guards, dealing with lots of vengeful past enemies, and generally causing a lot of structual damage along the way) Later on, the manga begins multi-part storylines. They encounter Zelugardis (a scaly sorcerer who in the anime joins the team) working for some enemies of the pair. He fights only to be defeated by Gourry's first use of his magical blade, and then later on by a strange priest who saves Lina from him. Overall, the manga art is clear (and tends to improve in style over time) and the text is easy to read (with clear lettering and accompanying furigana on the side). Yoshinaka does a good job in portraying the magic and battles that frequently occur, and the character designs do a good job in recreating the anime feel. There are already 3 compilation volumes available, and more probably on their way. For fans of the popular anime or newcomers with a taste for fantasy RPGs with a humorous tone, I can recommend this series to you. Which reminds me of my adventure with a 25th level fighter and that Sword of Random Carnage...