Goblin Slayer II Episode 9 Review

Sword Maiden’s Former Party

Goblin Slayer II Episode 9 starts off with a flashback of Sword Maiden’s party. This was pretty interesting to see. But, I have a few complaints about it. The first and biggest complaint is that a grainy filter was placed over this whole section.

I get that the point of this filter was to make it obvious that this was a flashback. But, there are so many better ways to do that. Why not just add a date or text that says something like “10 years ago” in the corner at the start of the scene?

There was no need to make the whole scene look like garbage to tell us it was a flashback. I’m not going to call it “lazy,” since my solutions are arguably even easier to implement. But, I’m going to say that this was the wrong artistic choice.

The other complaint I have isn’t so much a complaint as a want. I wanted to see more of this party. I know there’s a spin-off light novel that covers it. But, why couldn’t we have this entire episode dedicated to Sword Maiden’s former party? They and their adventure seem pretty cool.

Also, as far as I know, we were never given the “names” of Sword Maiden’s party members in the anime. But, since they exist, we can assume their names were revealed by this point in the manga. And, with that assumption in place, allow me to reveal them here.

Obviously, we know Sword Maiden was a member of this gold-ranked party. But, she wasn’t the leader. That’s Captain, the samurai guy. There’s also Half-Elf Scout, Female Wizard, Female Warrior, and Myrmidon Monk. I have no idea if these other party members are still adventurers or even still alive.

Escorting Sword Maiden to the Capital

Back in my review of Episode 5, I said I wanted this series to give us a map of the region. Maps are pretty important in fantasy series. They let us get a better understanding of where locations are in respect to each other.

Without a map, I have no idea where Water Town is in relation to Cow Girl’s farm. I don’t know how far away the Elves’ Domain is from the Capital. And where is the fortress from Goblin’s Crown? A map would make it easier to follow Goblin Slayer’s adventure.

Well, Episode 9 finally gave us the map I’ve been asking for. And, much to my dismay, it’s so low-resolution that we can’t really make out anything on it. We know there’s a small town between Water Town and the Capital. That’s about all the info we got.

Anyway, Sword Maiden hires Goblin Slayer’s party to escort her to the Capital. She does this because there have been goblin attacks along the route. So, who better to protect her from goblins than Goblin Slayer? But, to be honest, I didn’t believe her at first.

I thought Sword Maiden was just saying there were goblins so that Goblin Slayer would take the job. I forgot that she’s genuinely terrified of goblins and not only in love with Goblin Slayer. But, that makes complete sense when you consider what she’s gone through.

Does this mean that the goblins were the only reason Sword Maiden hired Goblin Slayer, though? Or, is there a bigger threat she hopes Goblin Slayer will help take down? As we know, she deciphered the ancient tablet Goblin Slayer’s party found. And, as far as I know, Hero’s party is investigating that lead right now.

The Black Hand Goblins

The most interesting thing to come out of Episode 9 is the “black hand” goblins. Not much is known about this group of goblins. But, let’s go over the things we do know.

First, these goblins all have a black tattoo on their back that resembles a hand. I say “resembles” a hand because Goblin Slayer points out that it might not be a hand. It certainly looks like one. However, calling it a hand could be an oversimplification.

Sure, it might end up literally being a handprint. But, what does it mean? That’s the important part. Why is this the symbol of this particular group of goblins? And why do they even have a symbol, to begin with? These are the things Goblin Slayer is thinking about.

Something else we “know” about these goblins is that they don’t have a nest. Though, I’m not convinced that’s actually the case. The goblins killed by Goblin Slayer’s party only had the remains of a few people in their stomachs. And, the implication here is that the other people they attacked are being held somewhere.

Are they with a larger group of roaming black hand goblins? Or, are the black hand goblins keeping them in their nest somewhere? For now, we don’t know. But, I assume they have a nest — or, at least a home base — somewhere. These goblins seem to be part of a larger organization.

There’s been a lot of weird stuff happening lately. There were the goblins attacking boats along the river. There were goblins controlling Mokele Mubenbe. And the gillmen said that someone was controlling the sea serpent. This is probably all related to the tablet’s prophecy that Sword Maiden deciphered.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of Goblin Slayer II Episode 9? Do you want to see more of Sword Maiden’s old party? Did you believe Sword Maiden when she said the escort quest involved goblins? And, what do you think the significance of the black hand is? Let me know in the comments.

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The review of Episode 10 is available now.