This month: Slayers sites!

What I found mildly disappointed me. I found a lot of interesting content, but very few overall good sites, and I browsed over 120 of them. I've found it to be a good rule of thumb that the fewer the sites in the General Information category, the worse the selection of quality sites for the anime. I don't know why that would be. Perhaps more sites in General Information is a sign that the anime is inspiring site designers to do their best work. Creating a General Information site does require a good deal of commitment, after all, considering the amount of data that must be gathered and organized to do it right. There are only three sites in General Information for Slayers, and one of them is the site, basically an ad for the tapes.

Of course, one of the other two sites is . I don't know what it is about the word "Universe" in a site's name, but I've rarely seen one that doesn't have a wealth of information. This site is no exception. This is an enormous, gorgeous, well-designed site. Among the content that impressed me was a graphic map of the world of Slayers based on a translation of a databook. If you're interested in seeing how it all started, a complete translation of the first Slayers novel is available. The section on the magic spells is incredible. They're all there, as far as I can tell, accessible either alphabetically or by category. Each spell is listed by its most common English spelling, with both romanji and alternative spellings given. The spell's effect is described in detail, including the incantation necessary to cast it, in both English and Japanese. Where available, one or more screen captures of someone actually casting the spell are shown.

I'd also like to give a mention to , a site in the Personal Pages section that could qualify as a General Information site. The site doesn't contain a lot of in-depth information, but it is a basic introduction to the series, and actually has more episode summaries of Slayers Try than the Universe site. There's a little quiz you can take, and a curious game which involves trying to find hidden links throughout the site.

If you are easily offended, do not visit . This site is crass and vulgar. But it's also damned funny. Basically, the site author hates the character of Xelloss with a passion and devotes this site to pictures of the mysterious sorceror being killed and tortured in various nasty and creative ways.

Here's a simple site I liked: . Okay, maybe it's because I like Naga, my favorite sorceress/exhibitionist. There are over 50 images available, and downloadable clips of Naga's infamous laugh. There's also a special section devoted to Naga in "super-deformed" form. (With a request to not "steal" the pictures. The pictures were just scanned from artbooks, and don't belong to the site author. What is she protecting?) The "Naga's Laughing Contest" coming soon sounds interesting.

Zelgadis. As I described him in my August '97 column: "He's of average height and build, has blue-green skin, is made out of stone and has big grotty scales on his face. Chicks dig him." I guess there's no accounting for taste. is different from most character shrines I've visited in that it relies heavily on reader commentary for its content. Many sites have message boards, but this site has several different discussion areas, including one which solicits nasty ways to kill Amelia, the cute little sorceress princess who has a crush on Zelgadis and is hated for that reason by many Zelgadis fans. I would like someone to explain the "What his name means" section. It claims to be from a website on names. But... "Zelgadis"? Am I to believe that's a real name in some language??

(I wonder what the website says about my name. "Ryan: You love to write and to be read by many." Wow, dead on. "You enjoy watching animated entertainment, and have no girlfriend." Er... "Your DVD player is broken, and you are being dicked around by the repair shop") AUGH! I said I wouldn't dwell on that! NEED DVD!! NEED DVD NOW!! Pardon me while I hit myself in the head with a blunt object... (WHAM!) I'm feeling much better now.

Uh, where was I? Oh, yes. On the other side of the Zelgadis/Amelia controversy stands , a cute little site dedicated to arguing that the two magic users are perfect for one another and should become an official couple. You can even vote on whether the two should be together or not. Currently the voting is running 4-to-1 toward "yes", but then I figure the visitors to this site may be a bit biased.

has too much fun content on it to pass up. The "Bloopers" section contains screens shots of the many quick, blink-and-you'll-miss-it jokes placed into Slayers by the animators, as well as one true continuity error. The "Toons" section takes screen shots or other art and adds captions and speech balloons for silly gags. There's also a Slayers tarot deck. The site doesn't say whether the deck was created by the site author or merely scanned in. The former appears to be the case, but the author never explicitly takes credit. There's a quiz you can take, and the ever-popular "vote for your favorite character" page.

Lastly, some sites deserving of a quick mention.

That should do it for this month. Now for the mail!