Ahh... Slayers Try, the successor to Slayers Next which is an absolutely fantastic anime. However, that was definitely its downfall. Slayers Try (which I will now refer to as S3) acts like a separate episode from the other two series. It takes the story from the first two but discards any previous character development and relationships that have been formed. For instance, the Lina/Gourry and Amelia/Zelgadis subplots of Slayers Next are gone. S3 doesn't even have Sylphiel, one of the funniest characters in the entire franchise, or Martina, who is the comedy relief of NEXT.

The plot is straightforward and linear, unlike the other two series which are very twisty. Around episode 5 they discover a creature called Darkstar... in episode 26, they fight Darkstar. S3 centers around a very cliché theme: revenge. Minor characters, major characters, that's all that's featured.

S3 introduces a new and creative character to the series, however. Filia, the dragon, is this series' comic relief and she is actually a really funny character throughout the series. It's pretty hard to describe, but you can take my word for it that it's funny.

I haven't touched upon the meat of the series yet, the reason people come back for more: the character development. Every character is well developed with ample background information provided, relationships are built (although the ones that were founded in NEXT were discarded), and they all have their own little quirks that make them interesting. Add to this the great soundtrack and Megumi Hayashibara's usual fantastic voicework and you have an enjoyable experience.

Slayers Try is not something you can watch as a standalone series. There is just too much information that you need to know going into it in order to understand what's going on. That's another area where S3 really shines: background information. It goes into so much detail about what happened in the past that it's really interesting just to watch for the story.

This is getting pretty long, so I'll conclude my review with this: watch Slayers Try if and only if you have seen the previous two series.