First Impressions / Goblin Slayer

「水の街の小鬼殺し」 (Mizu no machi no ko onikoroshi)
“Goblin Slayer in the Water Town”

Single week breaks getting you down? Character development fillers ruining the mood? Never fear because Goblin Slayer has got you covered. Literally. As we have seen time and time again it’s all about that fanatic purification of all things greenskin, and as this new arc quickly hints towards, we can be expecting plenty of additional goblin slaying going forward once again.

As I’ve highlighted before a lot of the fun of Goblin Slayer for me is the show’s attention to RPG detail. Get a new quest out of the blue? Well go visit the guy (gal) requesting it, confirm the details, and by golly go have fun. It’s standard fare questing in both tabletop and video game alike, but Goblin Slayer definitely embraces the idea to its fullest, especially when you factor in the fun it has with its titular character. The requestor is literally one of the strongest people around responsible for helping defeat the demon lord and upholding law in the area? Who cares point me in the direction of the goblins. I’d be lying if I said Goblin Slayer’s antics still don’t make me bust a gut, particularly when we have Priestess just give up even trying to change his ways and Elf actually side with the one track mind. Say what you will about simplistic character types, but this party? Oh yeah, this is one group I can happily watch interact for a long time. With banter like this who even needs an opponent?

Of course, however, no story is complete without enemies, and Goblin Slayer isn’t about to let its arch nemesis languish for too long. While the goblins are very much a one-dimensional enemy, Goblin Slayer has put some thought into making their shenanigans interesting, whether that be their adoption of certain technology or ability to outsmart and outmanoeuvre adventurers arrogant towards the skills of their prey. It’s an excellent hearkening back to the basic principles of RPGs, where the key to defeating enemies is not so much your own abilities, but understanding the capabilities of your enemies and how they employ them. Got the strongest spell around for miles? Fantastic, but will it work against the guy you’re now up against? Yeah, didn’t think that part through did you. Goblin Slayer may be comically quirky in his mannerisms and life mission, but the guy is 100% right when it comes to understanding the enemy and knowing how to take advantage of any opening.

Considering the calibre of green peeps coming down the pipeline he and the rest involved are going to need every last ounce of that shrewd intelligence.

 

Preview

58 Comments

    1. Want to be tempted to find heroines that resemble her.

      https://randomc.net/image/Goblin%20Slayer/Goblin%20Slayer%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
      https://randomc.net/image/Goblin%20Slayer/Goblin%20Slayer%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
      notably, this nun/priestess is HOT. Sadly, she seems to fall into the “motherly” looking waifu that are rarely put as a heroine. Unlike the elf and our priestess heroine.

      Anyway. I am not sure if Religion is explain in the Goblin Slaying universe but it seems, unlike arslan senki, the religious people are not “crazy.”

      Greed
      Reply

      1. My first thought when Goblin Slayer realized someone showed them how to boat was ‘son of a bitch the nun is in league with the goblins, it’s a trap!’ but you know, probably not. They had ol’ Yellow Eyes there at the end stinger, it’s probably just the bigger monster.

        Guile
        Reply

  2. I kinda love the bit with the Heroes. You know, like it could actually be that over the top up at the high end, or it could just be super exaggerated because it’s one of the Silvers telling his drinking buddies.

    It doesn’t even matter down here in the muck, though.

    Guile
    Reply

    1. Hero is one of a handful of Platinum Ranks in the world. No one becomes a Platinum through hard work, they’re straight up born special. She’s what you’d expect from the protagonist in a shounen fantasy series about girls saving the world with camaraderie, guts, and a lot of luck. So yeah, she really is that over-the-top.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. Yeah, it doesn’t really matter whether the Hero is actually that ridiculously powerful or not, not to Goblin Slayer’s quest.

        But as much as the common folk sing the Goblin Slayer song, the adventurers talk shit about him and get all starry-eyed when it comes to The Hero.

        Guile
        Reply

    2. I like it too. The contrast is deliciously ironic, and a bit painful too:

      -On the one hand, you have this party with a bonafide Hero who charge without thinking and waste the element of surprise. The leader is your usual baka hotblooded hero who, nevertheless, is powerful enough to kick the bad guy’s ass and save the girl in an instant. Hers is the life of an Isekai protagonist, or Player Character, or Chosen One, or an outright Mary Sue.

      -Then we go back to the guild and Goblin Slayer, who doesn’t have a super-sword and is doomed to see the bad guys harming good people time and again, couldn’t care less about the Hero’s feats. Because, at the end of the day, they live in two different worlds. His is the life of a humble NPC, or a commoner, or cannon fodder.

      Mistic
      Reply

      4. There’s also the case that Goblin Slayer pointed out in a previous episode: while [Hero] goes around saving the world, nobody is saving the villages from the goblins. I guess it’s just a case of everybody needing to do their jobs– Hero does hero things while Goblin Slayers keeps slaying.

        Beedle
        Reply

      6. Goblin Slayer have no use for magical sword. He just need gears that works. He’s fully aware that he will eventually be killed during his work, and he’ll be damn if he gave goblins any better gears than they deserved.

        BigFire
        Reply

  5. MAN! It’s like Priestess is getting cuter after every episode. All the blushing, the comfort in talking with everyone, plus that little maneuver she did when asking about the Childhood Friend just makes her oh-so toradorable =03!

    frubam
    Reply

    2. Show Spoiler ▼

      BigFire
      Reply

    1. Good point. Now that I pay attention to it, Sword Maiden is definitely embodying the “Lady Justice” imaginery. As the Archbishop of the Temple of Law, it makes sense.

      I also notice that the paintings in the temple depict the gods playing games. The Game of the setting, perhaps? It’s fascinating to think of a board or role-playing game as a valid metaphor for a religious cosmology.

      Mistic
      Reply

    2. She can see though (sort-off), She’s blind due to events 10 years ago (which we’ll prolly be getting next ep along with the temple bath), she got Aura vision as a trade off for her blindness which allows her to “see” the aura of nearby people, but not enough to see the details.

      Devastator001
      Reply

  9. Great episode.
    LOL at those Pirate Goblins in the sewers. The fight against them and the alligator was pretty hilarious. Also, animation wise this might have been the best episode so far.
    Very interesting to see the Hero in her happy go lucky save the world setting, while Goblin Slayer’s world is the grim dark opposite.

    boingman
    Reply

  10. Admittedly I was not expecting to see Heroine quite so early but the adaptation has actually impressed me with their pacing. The original light novels and the manga adaptation were written ex nihilo as it were. They were self-contained since the author had no clue how long his work would progress or how the world would develop. The anime creators on the other hand have a full road map and could plan for a better tonal shift.

    This also succinctly shows the difference between gold and platinum ranks. Sword Maiden is a gold ranked adventurer but she cannot tromp around the sewers single-handedly massacring goblins. Gold ranks are like Batman, the peak of human ability. Platinums are like Superman, born with amazing powers. Heroine does not need things like “planning”, “tactics” or “stealth” because she is an OP isekai MC. She can power through anything she meets. Sword Maiden on the other hand has quite human limitations. Show Spoiler ▼

    Goblin Slayer also has a very understated sense of humor, it keeps the work from becoming too dark and I do like that touch quite a fair bit. It is not the grimdark of other works but it also does not have jarring tonal shifts either. The ludicrousness of goblin pirates already makes it clear we are in absurdity ascendant territory so his remark about the alligator slides in naturally.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Mechamorph
    Reply

  11. It’s official….Goblin Slayer is my favorite series of the new series this season. Loved this episode and the subtle character development with GB asking if the merry band want to join him or not (options haha). I also like the writing and story telling as when I saw the goblins in boats I wondered who taught them and then I wondered why they seem so organized – all asked by the MC and explained. That’s what the type of writing I like. The one thing I don’t get is why the Priestess and the Elf don’t want GB to use fire/water/poison – surely this is limiting your ability to kill alot of them in one go. Are they being ‘humane’ or did I miss something? They are clearly fine with butchering the goblins otherwise so its a bit odd. Roll on next week.

    Kurik
    Reply

    1. The anime skipped the scene where this restriction came from. GS is all about efficiency, not fun or adventure. The Elf and Priestess find tactics like the one shown in episode two, where he burned a nest to death, to be “unsporty” or ” not adventure-like”; Elf actually calls his methods “cruel”. In the skipped scene, the party goes to explore random ruins, aka a real “adventure”, as a way to reward the Elf for the events of episode 4. They end up finding a goblin nest, and Elf gets angry that her adventure turned into an extermination. The Elf and Priestess consider themselves to be adventurers, not exterminators, so they got him to agree to the restrictions for future quests.

      Also, and more importantly for this quest, his methods tend to involve mass-destruction and they are operating underneath a city and inside its water management system. The sewers also are the foundation the city sits on.

      anon234
      Reply

      2. This is a strange exclusion IMO, the limitations made no sense based on prior events and doubly so coming from Elf (I’d expect Priestess to be demanding them given her previous experience with roast goblin for example). Ideally something like this should be foreshadowed in advance because of the impact it has on the arc overall.

        Pancakes
        Reply

      3. @Pancakes
        Sadly, this seemed inevitable the moment LN/Manga readers noticed the quick pace, the omissions and the changes in the order of the events. Until now the series has done an impressive job and anime-only viewers don’t suspect that something is amiss, but it was a matter of time that the anime would lack the time or the chance to expand on things that are important for the plot or the setting.

        The anime tried to offer a bit of foreshadowing, with Priestess’ horror about burning in episode 2, and High Elf’s WTF reaction in episode 4 when Goblin Slayer told her about the many, many ways he knows of killing goblins. But it still feels forced when compared to the original order of events in the LN/manga.

        Mistic
        Reply

    2. That’s the one bit I don’t like. Elf, sure, Elf is into High Adventure, but the Priestess never seemed to have a problem with it until now. It twists her character to make the joke, you know?

      Not to mention both of them have seen the suffering goblins inflict, so calling any method of killing them cruel feels weird.

      Guile
      Reply

      1. Priestess has voiced objection to some of his methods before, like in episode 2 where she lectured him on using fire to bring down a goblin cave without considering the consequences like a potential avalanche, even though she puts up with them in the end regardless.

        Should also be noted that in the light novel and manga, it was solely High Elf Archer imposing all those restrictions on him. Not sure why they’d have Priestess join in for the anime, but at least it’s not too out-of-character for her, I feel.

        AshScar
        Reply

      2. Not sure why they’d have Priestess join in for the anime, but at least it’s not too out-of-character for her, I feel.

        I suspect it’s precisely because of that: it’s more natural for Priestess to show concern about his methods, because she has seen them first-hand. In the anime’s timeline, High Elf has only been with him for a single adventure (in which, ironically enough, he didn’t kill any goblins by drowning, burning or poisoning them).

        Mistic
        Reply

    3. As anon suggests, they feel that they lose their own humanity if they decide to stop at nothing to exterminate goblins.

      Do you want to gloriously defeat your foes in honourable combat, or murder them in their sleep? Maybe a win is a win, but your answer defines who you are.

      Specific to this show, I think it fits in very well with past events. Priestess has on multiple occasions expressed concerns about Goblin Slayer’s techniques, which is surely fitting for someone raised up in the traditions of the Church of Law. The elf certainly has as well. She wrestled with this issue out loud as she stared into the abyss, her face spattered with blood, her hands slick with it. The issue has been there for most of the season now.

      Consider this as well. Priestess is a young woman who was literally on her first quest when she encountered Goblin Slayer. He saved her from a most terrible fate and forcefully demonstrated why he has earned his ranking. Later, while in the back of the wagon, she explained that he goes out of his way to teach them all he knows. It’s obvious that she looks up to him. What’s more, before the ruins mission, she didn’t even know with certainty that she was a member of his ‘party’. When she spoke to him before the fortress mission, he changed the subject and instead walked her through her new catechism. And recall his comments as the two stood outside before entering the fortress… about a kindly moron suggesting that he let the goblin children live.

      How is she going to resist his will, let alone dictate anything to him? I think that’s a lot to ask of her.

      Then the elf and the others join up with them. Elf has overlapping concerns and unlike Priestess, her voice has some heft to it. She is a veteran adventurer. The two of them combined can reinforce each other as they try to constrain his most appalling behaviour. And I think that the party offers Goblin Slayer enough (i.e. tremendous goblin-killing power and flexibility) that he’s willing to entertain their request, which after all, it isn’t contrary to his purposes. I think that this was really well done.

      I think each member of the party likes Goblin Slayer — despite his answer to the question above — and his relentless competence compels their respect. I can only imagine that they would also like to reintroduce some humanity, and complexity, to him (and where the two women are probably concerned, get his damn helmet off).

      Mockman
      Reply

  14. Glad to see Konno Yuuki got her dream after her death.

    https://randomc.net/image/Goblin%20Slayer/Goblin%20Slayer%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2005.jpg

    It’s times like this you remember that Priestess is a 14 year-old girl.

    https://randomc.net/image/Goblin%20Slayer/Goblin%20Slayer%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2034.jpg

    The harem united! Minus Guild Girl and Cow Girl, sadly.

    https://randomc.net/image/Goblin%20Slayer/Goblin%20Slayer%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2022.jpg

    Beedle
    Reply

      1. From what I’ve read elsewhere, in the Goblin Slayer web novel the placeholder image for the Heroine IS Haruhi. 😀

        Other placeholder images:

        Elf Archer — Sinon (SAO)
        Guild Girl — Chihiro Senkawa (Idolmaster Cinderella Girls)

        Magnus Tancred
        Reply

  16. https://randomc.net/image/Goblin%20Slayer/Goblin%20Slayer%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
    I almost thought Aya Hirano voiced the Chosen Heroine as a casting gag… Not quite. She’s actually voiced by Miyuri Shimabukuro (who previously voiced the titular character in Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san). Also, is it just me, or did Marina Inoue voice Chosen Heroine’s ponytailed companion, Sword Saint?

    https://randomc.net/image/Goblin%20Slayer/Goblin%20Slayer%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
    “All hail the best girls!”…is what I’d like to say, if not for the fact that any human, elven or even dwarven (if goblins aren’t picky with their prey) female could find themselves on the wrong end of a goblin gangbang in this universe…
    Show Spoiler ▼

    That being said, I also liked how Sword Maiden is basically what Priestess would look like if she grew up, leveled up, and filled out.

    And for a bit of unintentional hilarity, seeing that giant alligator reminded me of Aqua’s “lake purification” quest in KonoSuba season 1 episode 5. (“Purification! Purification! AAAHHH!”)

    Incognito
    Reply

    1. Thats what I suspect as well, it was probably one of the best arc in the manga and has more of a “climax” feeling so its a good way to end the season.

      At least I hope so, I’d be pissed if they skipped it.

      YanDaMan
      Reply

  18. good lord, nothing beats setting fraking giant alligator onto hapless goblins…
    there is more of them, led by some kind of overlord, so no shortage of things to kill next ep
    I wonder what is the bigger story with demon lord and his armies? I guess this keeps regular armies busy, but those armies wont last long in the field if goblins ransack cities in the rear…
    god bless the undisciplined greenskins sneaking into city to kill and steal, cause this alerted the Archbishop girl to threat before they staged full scale invasion.

    ewok40k
    Reply

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