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Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Goblin Slayer II
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Clockwish
 Subscriber Posts: 8 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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Most of human history is full of "harrowing scenes of women being brutalized".
A fantasy series that handles this realistically is something I for one value highly. Plus, I enjoy the characters, the plot and the humor of Goblin Slayer. -removed unnecessary references to current political crisis used insensitivitly |
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The Scream Man
 Posts: 156 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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The final scene of Episode 2 was very effecting for me, and episode 3 was great. Seeing more of the human side of Slayer is great, and i look forward to more of that.
Last edited by The Scream Man on Sat Oct 21, 2023 6:53 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2528 |
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 Except that first few minutes of Ep1, we really didn't need more of that...
Also Wizard Boy (correction: Wizard Man) or Goblin Slayer Jr if you prefer. I got quite the kick out of the Elf Lady asking GS if he was a relation. Yeah, not sure if adding WM was the best narrative choice for this show, guess we'll see how it plays out. Other fun humor was WM asking if Cow Girl was GS's wife and she says "Yes!" and GS asking the guild receptionist "Goblins...got any?" Reminds me of a commercial...Overall, I'm finding the intro episodes more comedic than anything. |
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Gnarth
Posts: 175 |
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I think season one started out great but then completely lost any tension or stakes and ended up being a disappointment. I hope this season can go back to an atmosphere close to that "infamous" first episode which is in my opinion by far the best one in the series, but it's definetly taking its time before any main conflict. However I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would, thanks to some genuinely emotional moments, at least for Goblin Slayer standards: end of episode 2 did more work to develop the main character than most of season one, and the surprisingly realistic and believable conversation in the tavern and in front of the river was great. I'm actually interested to see how the next big goblin "job" plays out.
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sirdano1
Posts: 295 |
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Real shame about the downgraded character designs, but at least everything else seems to be just as excellent as the first season.
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jdnation
Posts: 2007 |
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Seems like this season is leaning more into nice-guy Goblin Slayer.
I'm not saying I need to be heavily reminded about more violated women in future episodes. But I think the series is served best by Goblin Slayer showing naive adventurers the folly of underestimating the goblin hordes. And I think a rotating cast of party members is better than a staple few, with the exception of the blonde priestess, who can remain by his side to balance things out. Though the other members can reoccur as needed. Anyway, we're only 3 episodes in, so the show can pick up. But the new Harry Potter/Negima looking dude isn't doing anything for me. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2394 |
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I kinda feel like that first episode set really weird expectations of what Goblin Slayer is about. I'm caught up with the novels now and while the world itself is often uncompromising and cruel, the general vibe the series gives is "a rowdy group of adventurers goes on adventures and has fun". There's a little growth in character here or there (and it matters and can be quite endearing), fine worldbuilding each volume, a lot of intertwining webs of side character stories and high-stakes going on in the background which is fun to follow, all while Goblin Slayer slays goblins and overall contributes very little to the state of the world. Thematically, the storytelling emphasizes that this is more an "in the life of" narrative revolving around one small cogwheel in a much greater series of world-at-stake events in which the main character is largely uninterested in, but whose actions on the small scale more or less matter regardless. It's work that has to be done. And he's learning how to enjoy adventuring again, little by little.
Another way to put it would be that it gives the vibe of getting together with your friends and playing DnD or something. Maybe that disappoints some people, but I feel like if you peel back your expectations of what you think this series ought to be, I think it's much easier to enjoy it for what it's meant to be. It doesn't want to be greater than what it already is, and doing so would just derail its entire point. It doesn't help that the anime has cut out a lot of the little scwnes that create the vibe the novels excell at. |
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flamemasterelan
Posts: 452 |
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I agree with everything you said, but especially this. This is the core of Goblin Slayer, IMO, the D&D party of adventurers shooting the shit between quests, discovering the joy of cheese for the first time, figuring out how to make ice cream, etc. I think the first episode is almost necessary to sell the world as it sets the threat level for what the party is up against, but it's also something I regularly tell people isn't indicative of the series as a whole. The other main draw, IMO, is Goblin Slayer's Batman-esque preparation and strategizing. Some of the most fun in the series is seeing how he'll put the pieces together, and what unconventional item he'll use to his advantage. It's why I thought a strategy RPG was the perfect match for a tie-in game when everyone else expected a Souls clone. |
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freebird1994
Posts: 73 |
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I think people are selling the scene of him having a PTSD/anxiety attack (or whatever you want call it) short.
When I first read this it was a genuinely revealing scene for the character of goblin slayer. He puts on the armor and becomes almost robotic and soulless in his interactions and manners in day-to-day events as well as in quests. But deep under that layer of armor he's put on, he's just a traumatized child. He thinks nothing of having to mercy kill someone but upon realizing that Wizard boys older sister was the one he killed triggers that deep trauma within him, to the point where he had to excuse himself to deal with the overflowing emotions. And I've seen various points people have made about this scene. Some think its him realizing he may have unintendedly created a new goblin slayer, something NO ONE should want. Some think he is suffering from the classic hero dilemma, where hero's tend to not remember the ones they save but the ones they cant save always stay with them. And while I see both these points, In my opinion what happens here is GS is absolutely disgusted with himself. As someone who has described himself as "a goblin to the goblins", what could be more disturbing that pursuing this vendetta and ending up killing someone's older sister? He watched as goblins killed his older sister, and now he learns HE KILLED someone else's older sister. It does not matter that it was a mercy kill ment to prevent unnecessary suffering, the trauma is the action not the intent behind it. I can also understand why people don't think they handled it well cause the next time we see GS he's basically back to normal trying to be an educator. But I think given how we know GS operates, obviously that wasn't going to be a "dam breaking" kind of moment, where now all his held back emotions are free to run loose. At best it was a pot boiled over moment, and once he calmed down the lid was put back on and the pot became still once more. GS regaining his lost humanity is going to take a lot more time to fix than one emotional moment. I know this went on for a bit but I really did like this scene both here and in the manga where I first read it. It just really fleshed out the character for me and showed me that while there is still a long road to go, GS is becoming more human as time goes by. One more thing I want to ask those who have read the LN or manga spoiler[Do you think they are doing the same thing they did in season 1 where they are changing arcs around? cause I was pleasently surprised they tackled this mini arc first and not the Festival arc.] |
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GhostD
Posts: 1004 |
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spoiler[The answer is yes because that's clearly whats happening. We'll find out eventually whether they go back to that arc next or save it for the finale as the next canonical arc after this one would be the Elven Village where the manga is currently. Personally, I like the idea that like season 1, this season finale takes place within the area of the town and farm.] |
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Clockwish
Subscriber Posts: 8 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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Your site, your rules. Sorry. But I have to say that people who are sensitive to ‘insensitivitly’-written material should not be watching Goblin Slayer. It is not at all sensitive as it deconstructs several FRPG tropes: bloodless combat in medieval settings, hot-headed shōnen heroes (Wizard Boy) and some hero tropes (Goblin Slayer is a badly damaged man who is just starting to heal a bit, thanks largely to making some friends). If you want a less disturbing show, Cute Girls Doing Cute FRPGing is quite good so far. |
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Terraziel
Posts: 58 |
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This has always been the least believable thing about the story. We get told that adventurers think of goblins of as low level easy enemies, despite the fact that they routinely wipe out said adventurer parties, form armies, destroy villages etc.... There is just no justification for the perception of them being weak, for us a viewers it makes sense but for people in the universe? No chance. I suppose the alternative is that all the other monsters are worse, but then i'm pretty sure humanity would have been annihilated already. |
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flamemasterelan
Posts: 452 |
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I think this is fairly easily explained early on in the series. People don't take goblins seriously because there are only two results when goblins attack: either they leave no survivors to tell the tale, or they are wiped out fairly easily. Most people's experience with a goblin is seeing a straggler or a small group wander close to town and get instantly KO'd by any halfway decent swordsman. When they're successful, they're either setting ambushes in caves with traps and misdirection, or they're raiding a remote location. And the latter seems to only happen when they're being led by a higher class of monster, either a goblin mutation or a stronger creature altogether. There is the question of why the guild doesn't do more to educate their new recruits, and why the church doesn't seem to say anything despite taking in the victims of goblin attacks who have had their minds broken by the trauma, but seeing as how disconnected we are from the leadership of either (and how little the Sword Maiden's pleas mattered), I doubt we'll get answers to that. However, the other monsters are objectively worse. There's an entire war going on in the background of the first season that involves the alliance of the humans, elves, dwarves, and lizardmen to fight against the demon army, with a legendary hero leading the way. Goblin Slayer is the story of adventurers who are dealing with the jobs that fall through the cracks of all of that. |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2319 |
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This season has been an improvement so far. Would really like to see the titular guy show more growth; at least they're hinting at it with his PTSD-like breakdown, now, but he's just been a downright bore to watch, generally. There's only so much ersatz D&D batman I can take without wanting to see a little of what's under the hood and cloak.
This is the primary thing that makes it unbelievable, though -- they have an entire ecosystem built around supporting adventurers, including clear efforts seen throughout the series for veteran adventurers/guild staff to nurture younger adventurers, and there have been many viciously traumatized, surviving victims of goblin attacks. The show never really offers any explanation for why this doesn't change especially newbie adventurers' view of the danger; it seems to expect us to treat this as a natural form of naivete that persists for some reason. It's probably not impossible for the show to offer a satisfying explanation (insular adventurers' subculture, with veteran adventurers just generally not interacting very much with people outside their immediate adventuring subcommunity? And maybe the guild is corrupt and likes the business goblins generate, or is just terrible at/uninterested in general education, though I don't remember that being hinted at?), given the lack of electronic communication in D&D-land, but it doesn't seem very interested in trying to do so. |
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Gnarth
Posts: 175 |
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It does though, as you can see towards the end of the first season and the start of this one. The many victims and Goblin Slayer's influence have started to produce positive change in this regard, and now newbies are told to hunt rats rather than goblins by several people other than our protagonist. The initial attitude towards goblins was caused by their small and ugly appearance that makes them look dumb and unthreatening, as well as some meta knowledge about their usual role in DnD and videogames. They are not the proud and grand monsters you want to brag about defeating, and they've mainly destroyed villages and unprotected areas. You do have to accept some of it, but I don't think it's totally unjustified. |
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