Goblin Slayer Episode 2

Goblin Slayer Episode 2

Introduction

With the second episode of Goblin Slayer we also get both the OP and ED for the series. Unfortunately for Goblin Slayer, after seeing the OP/ED for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5, every other OP/ED from this season is bad by comparison.

While the visuals of the ED matched the mood of the series, the songs for both the OP and ED didn’t really make me feel anything special. I would have rather had an opening song that got me hyped to slay some goblins, and an ending song which was even more sombre than what we got.

Also, and I may have simply missed it in the first episode, noticeable CG was used to animate Goblin Slayer himself. It wasn’t as terrible as the CG used in Overlord III, but when you’re able to notice that CG is being used, CG is being used incorrectly.

I understand that animating characters using 3D animation of character models is probably easier and faster, but I don’t believe it should be used when it takes away from the anime overall. I’d rather more time be put into a series so that it actually looks good, but hey, I’m just a consumer so what do I know?

(As a consumer I know that I’m more likely to spend money on a series if that series is good, and one easy way to make a series good is to simply make it look good. So, by that logic, it should be beneficial for the licensors of an anime to want that anime to look good too.)

Goblin Slayer

But, now let’s get into today’s episode, aptly titled, “Goblin Slayer.” In this episode, we learn about Goblin Slayer’s origins, much like how we learned about Giorno’s origins in the second episode of JoJo’s Part 5 yesterday. Though, however tragic Giorno’s circumstances were, I think Goblin Slayer has him beat.

The reason he exclusively hunts goblins is because a group of goblins stormed his village when he was a child and murdered everyone who was there. Child Goblin Slayer survived by hiding beneath the floorboards in his home, but this didn’t prevent him from getting psychologically scarred.

Along with killing everyone in the village, the goblins raped and murdered Goblin Slayer’s older sister while he watched from below, and her blood dripped down onto him through the cracks. Luckily, his one childhood friend wasn’t in the village the night of the attack, and so she survived as well, but I’ll mention her more later on.

Goblin Slayer recounts the story of his childhood horror not as a direct anecdote, but simply as an example of what could happen in the future if he allows any goblins to escape from his genocide. He tells this story in response to his party member suggesting that his goblin slaying tactics are too extreme.

She also implores him to rescue a party of three porcelain adventurers who took a goblin-slaying quest, but he declines and chooses to go after a goblin fortress instead. His reasoning essentially amounted to, “they’re not the first rookies to go hunting goblins and they won’t be the last.”

During their attack on the goblin fortress, Goblin Slayer fires flaming arrows into the large wooden structure, thus making the goblins attempt to flee. However, Onna Shinkan has a new spell which creates a protective barrier, which she uses at Goblin Slayers instruction to block the exit, leaving the goblins to burn to death inside.

Goblin Slayer from the anime Goblin Slayer
Goblin Slayer

Coming back around to Goblin Slayer’s childhood friend, her name is Ushikai Musume and she lives and works on her uncle’s farm, where Goblin Slayer lives as well as a tenant. She appears to have some sort of affection towards Goblin Slayer beyond just childhood friendship, and she accepts him for who he is, despite recognizing his goblin-hunting psychosis.

When she visits the guildhall with him for the first time, she, and therefore we, see just how the rest of the adventurers view Goblin Slayer. Even the lower-ranked adventurers comment on how dirty his armor looks, or how weak he looks, or how strange he is for only taking goblin-slaying quests.

However, Uketsuke-jou, the primary girl who works at the guildhall doesn’t see Goblin Slayer that way at all. Instead she views him as a hero who’s doing the necessary work that’s either too dangerous for the rookies or too mundane for the professionals.

We also learn that despite how Uketsuke-jou or the other adventurers view him, Goblin Slayer has a different view of himself. He doesn’t see himself as a hero doing the work that needs to be done, nor some strange weakling. Instead, he’s just acting on revenge, and luckily for him, slaying goblins is something he’s good at.

It’s interesting to me to see a hero protagonist admit to being fueled by revenge. While anti-heroes are nothing new, I see them surprisingly less in anime than I would expect. Typically there’s an antagonistic rival who does something evil with good intentions, but Goblin Slayer does something good with evil intentions.

Finally, there’s the post-credit scene of the episode in which we’re briefly introduced to the next three characters who will likely be joining Goblin Slayer’s party if the cover art and OP are any indication. From the looks of things, they’re an elf woman, a dwarf man, and a lizard man.

It also appears that they won’t initially be friendly towards Goblin Slayer, and more than likely have some bone to pick with him which is the result of a misunderstanding. Either that or they’re going to go the JoJo’s route and suddenly realize they’re all good people and become friends after fighting.

Conclusion

After this week’s episode I did lower my rating of Goblin Slayer from a 9 to an 8/10, and I’m no longer as convinced that it will be the standout series of the season. That said, I still think it’s going to at least be a 7 when it completes, but I’m hoping it can stay in the 8+ category.

As for the best anime of the season, I’m really liking JoJo’s Part 5 so far, but I’m going on the record and saying that Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai may be the hidden gem this season. I’d say more about it, but this is a post about Goblin Slayer, so you’ll just have to wait.

If you enjoyed this post, let me know by clicking the like button down below. I’d also like to read your thoughts on this week’s episodes in the comment section. How did you feel about the use of CG for Goblin Slayer? Were you disappointed by the lack of action this week?

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