Lina (sorceress extraordinaire), Gourry (the warrior with a cool sword), Zelugardis (scaly sorcerer) and Amelia (promising magician) are back as the fantasy parody of epic proportions returns for a second season!
After the last adventure the group went their separate ways, but now Lina and Gourry bump into Amelia and Zelu in the country of Zoana. This time, a strange but surprisingly powerful priest who calls himself Zelos introduces himself. He appears randomly to bother the party at the most unexpected times. Is he friend or foe? And now Lina has Maluchina, a clumsy sorceress wanna-be, seeking revenge for ruining her previously pampered life.
The character styles remain the same, although it looks like the popular animation's quality is higher. Hayashibara Megumi returns to play Lina Inverse, and performs the opening song ("Give a Reason"). You can be sure that lots of trouble and excessive amounts of structural damage will follow our heroes quicker than you can say "Drag Slave!"

Dragonball GT
Fuji Television, Wednesday 7:00pm

The DRAGONBALL story that never ends has spawned a new show, with a new shift in style and story. Due to an inadvertent wish by the now-octogenarian Pilaf on the Black Dragonballs, Son Gokuu is back to his child size (as in the original Dragonball series). This problem is compounded when the Dragonballs launch themselves across the galaxy, instead of just around Earth. Informed that the Earth will blow up in one year unless the balls are returned, young Gokuu, Pan, and Trunks set out in a special Capsule Corporation spaceship to find the Dragonballs.
The artwork is of high quality, more closely emulating the original drawing style of Toriyama Akira. Diehard Dragonball Z fans may be disappointed with the changes (including less main characters and the lower emphasis on fighting). GT is more like early DRAGONBALL than DRAGONBALL Z. The show definitely has some great moments and breaths new life into the DRAGONBALL universe.

Set in the Meiji era (circa 1895), this is the story of Himura Kenshin, a master of the sword and ruthless killer. The reformed Kenshin now refuses to kill and strives to help those in need. Along the way Kenshin has befriended Kaoru, a feisty kendo girl, Yahiko, a young boy with a knack for getting in over his head, and Sanosuke, a man of incredible strength. The Meiji era, however, is full of bullies and evil people, which introduces us to many original (almost unreal) enemies which are a trademark of RUROU NI KENSHIN.
Based on Watsuki Nobuhiro's manga of the same name, the anime does a good job of recreating the feel of the comic. Although sometimes the episode plots can be summarized as "Bad Guy of the Week" stories, the original style, characters, and well-orchestrated battles definitely make this an anime worth watching.

SLAYERS NEXT, RUROU NI KENSHIN, DRAGONBALL GT briefs by Mark Johnson.