Goblin Slayer Episode 12

Introduction

Before I get into the review of this final episode of the fantasy series, Goblin Slayer, I’d like to make it known that I’m currently running a poll over on Twitter to determine which fantasy series you’d like for me to review weekly next season. This season, along with Goblin Slayer, SAO: Alicization and TenSura are the other fantasy anime which got the weekly review treatment.

While both SAO: Alicization and TenSura are continuing in Winter 2019, there are also two other fantasy anime starting up in the form of The Rising of the Shield Hero and Endoro~! However, I’m only planning to write about two of these four series, which is where the poll comes in.

Simply click on the embedded tweet to be taken to Twitter where you can cast your vote. Also, keep in mind that I will be selecting the top two anime from this poll, so even if the series you chose doesn’t come in first, there’s still a chance it’ll make the cut. And, stick around until the conclusion of this post to learn about the other series I’ll be reviewing in Winter 2019.

The Fate of an Adventurer

Now that you’ve voted in the Twitter poll, it’s time to get down to business. The first thing I have to say about this final episode of the season is that it was the best episode yet and I can’t wait for more Goblin Slayer in the future. The series as a whole wasn’t perfect, but I’ll talk more about that in my full review of the season at a later date.

As far as a finale goes, this episode had it all; action, a satisfying ending, and the promise of more to come. So, how does Goblin Slayer achieve all three of these parts to a successful finale, and why are they necessary?

The first half of the episode is the climax of potentially the entire season. In many cases, the climax isn’t pushed back into the final episode of a series and this last episode is instead used to wrap up loose ends, which is pretty boring. By adding a lot of action in the first half of the episode, Goblin Slayer has avoided the boring last episode problem.

However, a final episode can’t all be action either because there needs to be some sort of ending for viewers to be satisfied with. Some series, like Attack on Titan, go the cliffhanger route, but Goblin Slayer instead ended on a high note in which we’re shown how far he’s come as a character.

Okay, but if the end of a season isn’t a cliffhanger, then where can the series go from there? As far as the anime adaptation of Goblin Slayer is concerned, one season would be fine. Everything is wrapped up nicely, though there are a few characters who we’d obviously like to be explored more.

But, that’s where the final few frames of the episode come into play. Just when we’re accepting that the end of the season may be the end of the anime series, and we’re oddly accepting of that because of how satisfying the ending was, we’re hit with the words “Goblin Slayer will return.”

Many of us already knew that there’s a lot more Goblin Slayer content to be adapted into anime, and yet this simple phrase still made me feel like we’re getting surprise bonus content although I know that isn’t the case. There was likely always going to be a second season of Goblin Slayer, but once it’s confirmed like that, the excitement for it truly begins.

Female Knight, Guts, and Cú

There are three main fights in the first half of this episode. The first of these fights is between one of the two goblin champions and the adventurers Heavy Swordsmen and Female Knight. These two are in a party together and have previously been shown training rookie adventurers in the series.

I’m not sure if Female Knight is supposed to be based on a character from another series, but Heavy Swordsman is basically Guts from Berserk. He looks just like Guts and wields the same giant sword as Guts, so I think it’s very likely that’s who he’s based on considering how popular the Berserk manga is.

By working together, these two are able to easily defeat the goblin champion, although later on in the episode they lament the fact that they fought such a tough opponent only to be paid a single gold coin as if it were a regular goblin.

The next fight is between the other goblin champion and Spearman. Upon defeating their opponent, Heavy Swordsman and Female Knight offer to help Spearman with his battle, but he refuses because he doesn’t want to be shown up by them.

I’ve heard it said many times, and I may have even brought this up in a previous episode review, but Spearman appears to be based on Cú Chulainn from Fate/stay night UBW. Not only does he use a spear as a weapon, but he also has Cú’s signature hair style and attitude.

When he was fighting the goblin champion, I was half expecting him to yell “Gáe Bolg!” and one shot him, but it turns out he was able to win the fight even without going full-on Cú. I really hope Spearman plays a bigger role as the series progresses, because he may be my favorite side character.

The third and final fight of the episode is between Goblin Slayer and the goblin lord. After seeing how his army is being decimated on the battlefield, the goblin lord attempts to flee back to his nest so that he can create a new army with which to stage a second attack at a later date.

However, Goblin Slayer has already destroyed the goblin nest, and, in what is perhaps the greatest Goblin Slayer line of the series, says to the goblin lord that the entire battle was simply a diversion. Only Goblin Slayer, master of trickery, would start a war just so he could flank a single goblin.

But, sort of as I predicted last week, Goblin Slayer cannot defeat the goblin lord on his own simply because he isn’t a hero, he’s just a man who slays goblins. Instead, Priestess is the one who truly defeats the goblin lord by wedging him between two of her divine protection barriers while Goblin Slayer kept him distracted.

That’s right, the battle distracted the goblin lord from noticing that Goblin Slayer was flanking him in order to distract him so that Priestess could defeat him. Distract-ception as some might say.

Goblin Slayer Unmasked

The second half of the episode is the wind-down to the conclusion of the season. The goblin horde has been defeated, the adventurers are all celebrating, and we even get a scene of the Hero and her two party members mentioning how some unknown goblin slayer has made the city they’re visiting safe.

This last part is a nice way to show that there are still more characters to be formally introduced and adventures to be had going forward, which is a hint at what will happen in the second season. I was actually surprised that the hero didn’t play a bigger role in this first season.

During the celebration, Goblin Slayer gives the gold coin he received for defeating the goblin lord to Priestess because she was the one who actually defeated him, Goblin Slayer was just there to be the distraction. Although technically Goblin Slayer did deliver the finishing blow.

But, the best part of this entire episode may have been what comes next. Priestess requests a different reward from Goblin Slayer, she asks him to remove his helmet. I wasn’t surprised that he agreed to do this, but I was surprised that he did so in the middle of the adventurers guild.

It didn’t take long for other adventurers in the guild to take notice, starting with High Elf Archer, and soon the entire guild was gathered around Goblin Slayer to take a look at the man who seemingly never removes his helmet. I also enjoyed that many of them, specifically Spearman, still have no idea that they’ve seen Goblin Slayer without a helmet before.

Interestingly, it does seem that the only ones who knew what Goblin Slayer looked like under his helmet were Cow Girl, her uncle, Witch, and probably Sword Maiden. Despite sleeping with Goblin Slayer, Priestess admits that she had her eyes closed the whole time and never actually saw his face.

I also previously assumed that the rest of Goblin Slayer’s party knew what he looked like because it would have made sense for them to remove some of his armor, specifically his helmet, after he was severely injured and coughing up blood after his fight with a goblin champion.

But, most of all, I loved how despite everyone in the guild thinking that Goblin Slayer is a weirdo for only caring about goblins and seemingly never taking off his helmet, they all actually consider him to be one of them. Goblin Slayer is a staple of the guild, and it simply wouldn’t be the same without him, so they’ll all agree to help him whenever he’s in need.

Conclusion

So, what did you think of this Goblin Slayer season finale? Did you love the episode as much as I did, or do you have some different thoughts about it? Let me know in the comments because I’d love to hear what others have to say about what I thought to be the best episode of the series.

If you liked this post or found it interesting, click the like button down below. And, don’t forget to follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama as well as cast your vote in the poll to decide which fantasy series will be joining my Winter 2019 weekly review schedule.

Finally, I mentioned that you could learn more about what other series I’m planning to review weekly in the Winter season, and the place to go for that information is Patreon.com/DoubleSama. Patreon is a great way to directly support DoubleSama.com, but it’s also where I upload weekly updates which are absolutely free. Last week’s update discusses the schedule for next season.