Full disclaimer, dear reader: I’m already familiar with the series Goblin Slayer. I started reading the manga back in December of 2017, and am really only the one covering this review because, as someone who already knows what to expect of this series, there is no way in God’s good gracious creation that I’m going to make this blog’s other two contributors wander into this series blind.
Goblin Slayer, as the title more or less implies, is about an adventurer who does exactly what his name would suggest. A dark fantasy series in the style of old sword-and-sorcery RPGs, Goblin Slayer is a reasonable approximation of what you’d get if you took the series Berserk and said, “Gee, what if the central threat of this story was on a significantly smaller scale, and also it had, like, 17% more rape? And also goblins?”
As it happens, that’s also a pretty decent synopsis of this first episode. Our viewpoint character, a level 1 priestess, wanders into a goblin cave with her companions expecting an easy quest against some simple mob monsters, and immediately watches them all get horribly, horribly murdered. This is a happy, laugh-a-minute kind of show. The only thing to spare her from that same fate is the appearance of Goblin Slayer, a short (ha ha, he’s short) high level adventurer who only kills goblins. In case his name did not tell you that. She joins his party because he saved her life and also because he is a walking garbage fire who attracts more well adjusted people like flies, and thus begins our tale.
Also, as an aside to our charming Priestess, 15 years old is not an adult. Darling. Sweetie. Sugar pie.
Watching this episode when I already knew what was going to happen was like pulling teeth. The animation is decent but not impressive, and the goblins were noticeably replaced with CG models in crowd scenes, as was Goblin Slayer himself a couple of times. Something tells me their budget is not particularly vast. The voice acting is pretty good, and I liked Goblin Slayer specifically, and the musical score was fairly simple but effective. If you’re looking for your fantasy fix this season and aren’t also looking to scratch that Berserk itch, I’d recommend sticking to That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, or Radiant. Otherwise, I’d say to take heed of the content warnings and maybe give it three episodes to see if it’s to your taste. Who knows, maybe you’ll have fun with all the myriad methods of goblin slaughter.
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