References to Other Anime/Pop Culture Slayers It is quite obvious that the Sword of Light is similar to the Lightsabers from Star Wars, but it's unlikely that it was a parody. The bracelets that Ameria wears are similar to those worn by Chobin in Hoshi no Ko Chobin. In the episode where Lina is "training" Ameria to learn the Dragu Slave, the area at the top of the hill between the towns resembles Stonehenge. In the same episode, when Ameria wears a metal training suit, it is similar to one used by the protagonist of Kyojin no Hoshi. In addition, she points her finger toward a star to declare she will be victorious, just like the protagonist of that series. Lina, Gourry, and Ameria get lured into a cave by the smell of roast chicken. When they find the chicken, it is being presented to them by a bounty hunter dressed like Colonel Sanders. When Lina, Gourry, and Ameria are being chased by a giant boulder, it is the same as a scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. A group of bandits attacks Lina and Gourry, claiming to be from a place called Gondor. Gondor is a location in The Lord of the Rings. When Lina, Phil, and Randy enter the cave to fight the demons or whatever, Lina uses a Balus Rod and yells, "Call me queen! Call me queen!" This is a reference to the character Tira Misu from Sorcerer Hunters. Tira, along with Lina, is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara. Ameria's stage outfit in episode sixteen is similar to Hikaru's from Magic Knights Rayearth. Gourry's hairstyle in episode seventeen is a blatant rip-off of Sailor Moon. In episode seventeen, Lina, Gourry, and Ameria are standing in a street. Lina has her back turned, and someone dressed as Naga walks in front of the camera. Ameria does a double-take. In a short scene when Gourry is tied up to something, with bunchs of thorns surrounding him (the hiragana "poka!" are nearby), it resembles the opening scene of Rose of Versailles. The sea dragon in episode seventeen moves through flames and water just like monsters from Godzilla-type movies. - Slayers NEXT Martina's name is an ironic joke about real-life tennis player Martina Navratilova. The irony of it is that the real Martina is a lesbian, while the Martina we know and love is completely the opposite. To top off the joke, Lina faced Martina in a match of Brass Rackets, aka "Extreme Tennis." In an early episode of Escaflowne, Allen strikes Van with his sword, making Van fall to the ground. Allen says, "Don't worry, I struck you with the back of the sword." In Slayers NEXT, Zelgadiss says the same thing to the bandit leader he just hit, but he adds the next line to it, making a joke of Allen's words- "Oh, sorry. This sword's double-bladed." Right after Xelloss takes the Claire Bible pages from Zelgadiss while in the bandit's hideout, he is sitting on top of a ledge reading them. Zelgadiss fires a Flare Arrow at Xelloss, and Xelloss' response is to put out a force field to block it. This barrier is strikingly similar to the AT Fields used by the Angels in Neon Genesis Evangelion, right down to the hexagonal pattern that appears on the field when the attack strikes it. When the group is in Halciform's mansion looking for the pledge stone, a statue that has the same appearance of the orihalcon statue in the first series is smashed. Slayers makes a reference to itself when Lina and Ameria are in the hotsprings, discussing the size of Lina's chest. Ameria says, "Maybe next time we'll find a hotspring that will grow your breasts!" Lina gets angry because in Slayers: The Motion Picture, Rowdy tricked Lina into going to a phony "Hotspring of Growth," and Naga teased her about it. In Femille, when Lina and Gourry split up from the rest of the group to try to find Claire Bible clues, they run into a woman who presents a rose to Gourry. This is a reference to Revolutionary Girl Utena. The girl is not only dressed like Utena, but she is drawn in the style of the Utena manga/anime. Not to mention the whole rose thing. There is also speculation that this is a parody of Rose of Versailles. In the same episode, Gourry's hair is the same as another of the Sailor Senshi. Kira resembles Chibi Usa from Sailor Moon. The twins Mimi and Nene resemble Shampoo from Ranma ½, from their looks to their attack style. When Lina and the others have to go through Artemay Tower, the way that the characters are eliminated one-by-one, leaving the protagonist, is similar to something from Saint Seiya. In addition, Lina is left, dressed as a horse, which draws parallels to the protagonist of Saint Seiya. - Slayers TRY Here's a reference spotted
by one of my friends: "This Place is a Wonder Island!" was a big reference to Alice in Wonderland. In that same episode, Lina
makes a jab at Evangelion-type psychological drama shows
when she says this: Also in the wonderland episode, Lina makes a reference to a set of lines from Those Who Hunt Elves when she chants, "Sore, odoru ahou ni miru ahou, onaji aho nara odoranya sonson! Yakekuso yakekuso mou shiranai..." or "Here, the dancing idiots and the watching idiots. I'm an idiot too, so why not dance? I'm desperate, I'm desperate; I don't care anymore." Remember Kerel, the human who was in love with a fishperson? On the surface, he has many similarities to Evangelion's Kaworu. First of all, they have the same voice actor, Akira Ishida (who also does the voice of Xelloss). Second, they're drawn similarly- Kerel's hair is just a little bit longer and a bit darker. And lastly, their introductory scenes are nearly mirrored. In Kaworu's first scene, he's sitting on a rock facing the ocean, humming "Ode to Joy." In Kerel's first scene, he's sitting on a rock facing the ocean. Alas, no "Ode to Joy" here, but that might have been a little too much. When Lila is turned into a human, her hairstyle is somewhat similar to Rei Ayanami's from Evangelion. Both Rei and Lila have the same seiyuu, Megumi Hayashibara. In Honar's original character design, he wore glasses and bore great similarity to Gendo Ikari from Evangelion. When Honar is shown in a flashback (he is Lila's age in it), he looks somewhat like Shinji Ikari (Gendo's son). Another Evangelion reference in that episode is Ameria's dress. It's nearly identical to the yellow dress worn by Asuka in her debut episode. The Peaceman are a parody of the Power Rangers and other sentai series. Anna, the girl in the deserted town who grows and sells flowers, has some similarities to Final Fantasy's Aeris... When Gourry is starving, he resembles the person from "The Scream" by Edward Munch. The creatures living in the desert village the Jiras and Grabos attacked are similar to the Jawas in Star Wars. Both species live in a desert environment and wear the same type of hooded outfit. In the same episode, when Grabos tries to take the protector sword out of the ground, it is like the plot in The Sword in the Stone. When Jiras runs away with the Sword of Light, it is like an Olympic torch runner. When Gourry is chained to the rock to fight the sea monster, it is similar to Andromeda from Saint Seiya. When Gourry and Ameria are walking arm-in-arm, Ameria says her sister is as tall as Gourry, and that she is scary. Naga is as tall as Gourry, and many would consider her scary... Lina laughs like Naga, and Ameria tells her that kind of laugh scares her. Filia runs to catch Val's egg that floats down from the sky. Around the egg is the silhouetted form of a woman. This is Vorfeed after her seperation from Dark Star. Okay, so technically this isn't a reference to another anime (although if it was, it would be to Lost Universe, which wasn't even on the air yet at this time), and Vorfeed IS technically a Slayers character, but I thought it was interesting enough to count. - Slayers: The Motion Picture When Lina and Naga are in the forest (Naga is drinking), three slime creatures appear. The same type of creatures (called Slime Halfs) are featured in Dragon Half. - Slayers Great Mr. Kanzaka admitted that this movie is a bit of a parody of Kyojin no Hoshi. When Piko-Piko Lina-chan emerges from the water in a whirl of water, it is similar to the way the giant robot Mazinger exits water. - Slayers Premium When the group is in the octopi's underwater headquarters, they are attacked by an army of octopi. Gourry dodges them, making a reference to a famous scene in The Matrix. - Slayers: Super-Explosive Demon Story Rezo is shown healing a man. Many people in the background watch in amazement. Directly behind Rezo and the man is a group of characters from Evangelion- Misato, Asuka, Rei, Shinji, Touji, and Kensuke. The Slayers staff sure does like Evangelion, doesn't it? - Slayers Special In the second volume, in the story involving the fake Linas, there is an opponent who is dressed like Char from Gundam. In the fourth volume, a headline on a tabloid newspaper reads "Ilpallazzo Invades Again!" (Excel Saga) Also in the fourth volume, a bandit introduces himself to Lina as Inigo Montoya. There is a character in the movie The Princess Bride named Inigo Montoya. Once again in the fourth volume, a man shouts (of an accused witch), "She turned me into a newt!" This is from Monty Python. - Slayers References in Lost Universe In the first episode, during the scene directly following the episode title screen, the camera pans over an area with several signs/billboards. The red sign with blue, very narrow and jagged text on the right side of the screen says "SLAYERS." Another sign has the word "DRAGUN" written in the style of the logo of Dragon Magazine, but since there was a gun underneath the text, it was a reference within a pun and a gun advertisment. Immediately after this pan shot, a statue of a troll, who looks just like Grabos, is focused on. In the "Toilet Fears" episode, when Millie goes into Kane's room, his old toybox is shown. Inside the box is a toy Sword of Light. On the box are several stickers, and upon closer inspection, two of them are Slayers-related. One is of chibi Filia, the other is of Saillune's coat of arms. During an above pan shot of the inside of a bar, you can see (from behind) someone with the same hairstyle as Lina, complete with headband, leaning against the counter. The only thing is, the woman had blonde hair. In the same episode, Kane and Millie enter a bar to talk to a woman named Merina. Suddenly there's a really weird camera angle used to focus on the bartender. Obviously you're not supposed to look at him, because taking up the whole right side of the screen is a wine bottle. The label on it says "SLAYERS" and below the text is a picture of Lina. - Slayers References in Other Places In the first episode of Full Metal Panic!, an issue of Dragon magazine is shown. Lina is on the cover. In Pokemon, the "Ghost of Maiden's Peak" statue is the same as the orihalcon statue from Slayers, only this has a flower in its hair. In an episode of the Disney cartoon "The Weekenders," one of the male characters enters a mask store. Behind the cashier is what appears to be a mask with hair similar to that of Zelgadiss (the face was blocked). (Note: This reference needs to be confirmed.) I know this IS NOT a reference, but it is interesting. While looking at the NASDAQ listings for economics class, I saw that there is a copy listed called Cepheid. - Slayers and Dragon Half While the Dragon Half
anime was released before the Slayers anime, there are
still some very striking similarities between characters
in both series. Something to remember is that it's very
doubtful that Slayers parodied Dragon Half in such an
important area such as character appearance and
personality. - Staff Appearances In "Slayers: Medieval Mayhem," look in the second-to-last frame of the last page, in the lower left hand corner. See the little guy with glasses who's wearing a party hat? That's Rui Araizumi. (For picture, see the Staff Info section.) In episode six of TRY, the chef in the restaurant is Takashi Watanabe. |
