Goblin Slayer Episode 5

Goblin Slayer Episode 5

Introduction

Today I feel like breaking down the episode of Goblin Slayer in a slightly different way than usual. Typically I go through episodes in chronological order, but today I’ll be splitting it into two separate parts, and going through each of them in chronological order as if they were two episodes.

First, I’ll go through the half of the episode in which Goblin Slayer is the protagonist. Second, I’ll go through the half of the episode which focuses on the two, unnamed Porcelain adventurers.

Adventures and Daily Life

Normally I would see an episode like this and think of it as nothing more than filler, but somehow Goblin Slayer’s character just makes it work better. Today, he doesn’t go on an adventure or slay goblins. Instead, he simply goes through a “normal” day around the guild hall.

I think Goblin Slayers suppressed personality is why he can make a typically bland episode format like this one actually stay interesting. A lot of people compare Goblin Slayer to the protagonist of the DOOM games, but since I’ve never played those, I see him more like Master Chief, the strong, silent type.

But, unlike with Master Chief, some people aren’t afraid of asking Goblin Slayer to help them out with menial labor or advice, which is exactly what this episode is about. After Goblin Slayer’s daily routine of checking for signs of goblins is complete, he accompanies Ushikai on her delivery to the guild hall.

There, he’s seen unloading cargo while Ushikai gets the receptionist to sign for the delivery. It’s at this point that he’s confronted by the High elf, Dwarf, and Lizardman. The Lizardman wants more cheese, which Goblin Slayer gives him, and the High elf informs Goblin Slayer that they may need his help again in the future, but while acting tsundere.

After his run in with those three, Goblin Slayer is met by the priestess who informs him that she’s been promoted from Porcelain to Obsidian. She thanks Goblin Slayer for helping her get to this point by saving her when they first met, and Goblin Slayer reminds her that all her comrades died, like the gentleman he is.

Next up, Goblin Slayer has two Porcelain-ranked adventurers ask him for advice on what to do if they happen to lose their sword in battle. Goblin Slayer tells them to take one from a goblin, but appears to be at a loss when they inform him they’re fighting rats and bugs instead.

They also inform him that they have no money, and so he suggests using a club because it can be fashioned out of anything. When the adventurers seem unsure about his advice, Goblin Slayer assures them by saying that if you hit something hard enough with a club, it should hurt it.

With his day just about done, Goblin Slayer is making his way out of the guild hall when he’s called for by the receptionist one last time. She tells him that she needs his help with something, but upon hearing it doesn’t involve goblins, he loses interest.

Somehow, the receptionist is able to convince him to help anyway. All Goblin Slayer needs to do is sit in as an observer during a promotional meeting with another adventurer, in this case a Steel-ranked scout.

I’ve mentioned the ranks a number of times before, but I don’t believe they were ever actually explained in-depth in the anime. So, for those who are unaware, the adventurer ranks go like this (from best to worst):

  1. Platinum
  2. Gold
  3. Silver (Basically everyone at the guild hall)
  4. Bronze
  5. Ruby
  6. Emerald
  7. Sapphire
  8. Steel (The scout attempting to be promoted)
  9. Obsidian (Priestess)
  10. Porcelain (The adventurers Goblin Slayer gave advice to)

The scout believes he should be promoted all the way up to Bronze from Steel, but as we find out, he actually lied about what happened during his last quest. He found a treasure chest, hid it from his party, and then claimed the reward all by himself.

For the “crime” of being untrustworthy, the scout is demoted to Porcelain rank and banished from working as an adventurer within the town. When he tries to get Goblin Slayer to come to his defense as a fellow adventurer, he reminds the scout that he deceived fellow adventurers.

The scout then thinks about attacking the receptionist for demoting him, but has second thoughts once he remembers Goblin Slayer is present. The image below depicts how the scout realizes his attack would play out.

Goblin Slayer punches a Steel-ranked adventurer from the anime Goblin Slayer
Goblin Slayer punches a Steel-ranked adventurer

After his job as an observer is done, Goblin Slayer departs and we learn that the receptionist not only respects him, but is in love with him for some reason, probably because she sees him as a hero who doesn’t fool around like the other adventurers. Goblin Slayer then returns to inform her he’ll be taking a quest.

The quest Goblin Slayer accepted is from the Town of Water and it asked for him by name.

Porcelain Misadventures

Remember those Porcelain adventurers who Goblin Slayer told to use a club? Well, between the scenes of Goblin Slayer, we got to witness their misadventures, so let’s quickly go through their conquests.

To start off, their party is composed of a swordsman and a mage of some sort. The mage can only use one spell per day, so she’s even worse off than the Priestess when we first met her in episode 1. Their quest involves killing an undetermined amount of monsters in the sewers.

On what we can assume is their first attempt, the swordsman manages to take down one giant rat, but gets his sword stuck in the corpse. The mage then takes out another giant rat with her spell, but now that means the pair are unarmed.

Normally this wouldn’t be too big of a deal because they could recover the sword, but a swarm of giant insects appears to eat the giant rat corpses, and so the pair have no choice but to flee. Their luck then gets worse when they realize they have no money for a replacement sword.

And, since they can’t complete any quests to get money without a weapon in the first place, their only choice is to retrieve the sword they lost. To do this, they first ask some Silver adventurers, the Witch and Spearman, if they have any spare weapons.

While the Spearman says he does have spare weapons, they’re too powerful for the Porcelain adventurers to handle since they’re magic weapons. It’s interesting to see that the Spearman is actually a good guy considering his dislike of Goblin Slayer.

The Witch then gives the Porcelain adventurers a magic candle that will get hotter as they near what they’re searching for. She tells them that they can either use it to find the sword they lost, or sell it to purchase a new sword.

The pair is then seen talking to some other adventurers, but nobody is willing to allow the Porcelain swordsman to borrow a weapon for various reasons. We then get to the scene of them asking for Goblin Slayer’s advice, but I’ll skip that since I already went over it.

Finally, we see the Porcelain adventurers head back into the sewers to reclaim their lost sword. Armed with the magic candle and a club, they head in the direction of their sword and fight off a number of giant rats along the way.

The pair is then attacked by the giant insects from earlier, and discover that the sword they’re looking for is inside the largest of said insects. After clubbing it to death, the Porcelain swordsman takes out a knife and cuts open the insect to retrieve his sword.

At the end of the episode, we see the Spearman throwing a party in the guild hall to celebrate the Porcelain adventurers reclaiming their lost property. I wonder how many episodes will pass before these rookie adventurers die as well.

Conclusion

I’m sure there were some things in this episode which I could dissect further, but I’m tired today so I think I’m just going to end the post here. If there’s anything you want to discuss about this episode, comments are always welcome.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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