In Slayers Return, the mercenary heroines Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent are hired to rescue a village girl from an evil wizard who is searching there for a legendary treasure that might be an invincible magical weapon instrumental for his plan of world domination.

Lina and Naga embark to defeat the Zein megalomaniac leader Galev and discover is a fluke as his wizard powers are mostly a bluff, and his organization currently consists of just himself and his sole underling Zahhard.

The film ends with the girls and Biaz's people running after Galev, because not only did he take money from them and spend it on useless fancy costumes for his organization, but now it was also impossible for the chief to pay Lina and Naga.

A companion guide book was published by Fujimi Shobō in the Dragon Magazine Collection in August 1996 (released also in the low-budget "miniartbook" version[7]), followed by Slayers Return Anime Comic in November 1996.

[12] Dani Moure of Mania.com gave this "hilarious little movie with endearing characters" a B+ and positively compared it to the first Slayers film, writing that Return, despite a shorter run time than its predecessor, is "still immensely enjoyable, and actually manages to be a complete story that doesn't totally alienate those who have no prior experience with the series.

"[13] Mania.com's Chris Beveridge too praised the film, especially for how it "tells a fun little tale with a fair number of quirky twists and physical comedy that it has something that would make just about anyone laugh," also giving it a B+ and declaring it "definitely a keeper.

[17] Animetion gave it four stars out of five, opining that "if you want serious and meaningful fantasy check out Escaflowne, but if you want love-struck golems, disenfranchised henchmen, villains with delusions of grandeur, plenty of pointless explosions and a good laugh then Slayers Return is just what you're looking for.

"[18] Polish fantasy writer Aleksandra Janusz, writing for the magazine Kawaii, noted the film to be funnier than its predecessor, which she called "a very good movie".

[19] In a relatively rare dissenting review, Mania.com's Megan Lavey gave Return a score of C, calling it "the weakest movie out of the [Slayers films], simply because the plot is not memorable and even Lina and Naga aren't very funny themselves in it, especially when compared to Great.