Major characters of Slayers. From left to right: Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, Gourry Gabriev, Xellos (top), Lina Inverse (bottom) and Zelgadis Greywords.

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Slayers (スレイヤーズ, Sureiyāzu^?) is a successful and popular fantasy franchise. The franchise began as a series of fifteen light novels written by Hajime Kanzaka and later developed into several manga titles, three televised anime series, two three-episode Original Video Animations (OVAs), and five movies. Slayers follows the adventures of the young sorceress Lina Inverse and her companions as they journey through their world. Using powerful magic and swordsmanship they battle overreaching wizards, demons seeking to destroy the world, dark lords, and the occasional hapless gang of bandits.

Although released after the anime series aired, the two OVAs and the first four movies depict events that occurred early in Lina's career as a bandit-hunting and dragon-spooking adventuress. These installments show her first encounter and subsequent exploits with her first partner, the White Serpent Naga. Naga, while not a great intellect, is a formidable sorceress in her own right, and views herself as Lina's strongest and foremost rival. These adventures take place before the events of the three television seasons. The first of the three seasons of the anime bore the franchise's title and established Lina's three principal companions: the swordsman Gourry, the chimera shaman-cum-rogue Zelgadis, and Amelia, a young princess and warrior of justice. The second season was titled Slayers NEXT, and the third season Slayers TRY. A fourth season, Slayers AGAIN, was rumored following the success of TRY, but early scheduling conflicts caused interest in the project to dissipate. Each anime series begins humorously but builds slowly until the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Throughout each series, Slayers maintains its comedic nature, frequently displaying Lina's ill temper or abuse of her comrades or lesser opponents, using these events as comic relief in later episodes. Use of extremely destructive spells in inappropriate settings, especially the powerful "Dragon Slave" spell, is another frequent gag.

Volumes one through six of the light novels have been translated into English and released in North America by Tokyopop. The anime aired on TV Tokyo from early April until late September for three years, 1995 through 1997, and was released on VHS and DVD in North America by Software Sculptors. In May 2005, at Anime Central in Chicago, FUNimation Entertainment announced they obtained the license for the TV series, since the previous owner's license expired in Fall 2005. It currently airs as part of the FUNimation programming block on CoLours TV. While the previous releases have now been out of print for over half a year, FUNimation has not yet released their own new productions, though they claim to still be working on them. The OVAs and movies were released in Japan between 1996 and 2001, later released in North America and dubbed into English by ADV Films. Enoki Films holds the license to The Slayers television franchise as a middleman.