Goblin Slayer II

Episode 11

The gratuitous goblin crimes of Goblin Slayer II feel like they've been toned down, compared to the first season. This episode's title, "The Princess's Ordeal" following her predicament from the end of the last episode, could cause the audience to brace for the kind of content this anime infamously opened with. But that title ends up hardly an artifact of the overarching plot, and the particulars of her situation seem to leave the Princess surprisingly relatively unscathed (so far) by this episode's end. It's fair enough, I suppose—Goblin Slayer made its point back at the beginning, so to merely repeat demonstrations of Goblins Doing What Goblins Do would waste valuable time that could be spent on other story beats.

I don't know that any but Goblin Slayer's most, um, particular viewers will miss that kind of content. But it feels notable in regards to how dry and straightforward the action of the series has gotten by this point overall. The "dark fantasy" aspect of Goblin Slayer II is not mainly defined by a base level of violence and the more grounded stature of the conflicts. This at least ends up being an entry that feels like a return to form as far as the act of slaying goblins is concerned. It's primarily dedicated to our heroes' raid of a location called the "Dungeon of the Dead." It's honestly quite lovely in the spring.

The basics of goblin slaying are still functional, mind you. I'm not fussed about the Slayer busting out the same gate-connecting trick he used with the water last season. He's pragmatic, it makes sense that he'd reuse something that works. And he does change it up a bit by sucking them in with the intense atmosphere of a high-up portal location this time. Meanwhile, the spell-conserving nature of the party's plan this go-around allows a moderately interesting treatment of the Priestess's role. She doesn't have much she can do, or needs to, and thus has to just hang in the back. It's an amusing deployment of Goblin Slayer's game-informed nature since this is an occurrence I know I and others have experienced with healers in a party. It's as integral as the planning banter the team engages in while riding in an elevator waiting for the next stage to load.

Goblin Slayer II is also trying to outline its more distinguishing tonal elements in ways that don't involve depicting on-screen horrors. It almost seems to embrace the opposite effect, including a short scene where Noble Fencer and Sword Maiden talk and bond a bit over their shared goblin trauma. There's something that could be explored there about survivorship if Goblin Slayer wasn't at least partially founded on a fetishization of sex crimes. It at least recalls the characterization efforts which I've noted as one of the series' strengths.

The other comparative component comes in the increasing appearances of the "Hero's Party" throughout the narrative. They're granted much more respect and resources in their adventures than the Slayer and pals. And what we see of their action plays up the glamorous excitement of the quests they're on, ostensibly protecting the broader world itself as opposed to saving just a few people from goblins. It's an element that is there, but the series doesn't seem to push the commentary much further. It mostly seems to be around to make the adventures of the Slayer's team seem like more properly "dark" fantasy, contrasting this grand, noble quest, and also occasionally raining unrelated goblin corpses over them out of that aforementioned portal. That was a great gag, I told you Goblin Slayer's better when I can imagine it with a laugh track.

Is this all enough to elevate Goblin Slayer II's effort from last week's flimsy showing? Technically yes, even as the majority of the action here is still rather flat. There's some interest-piquing by the end, in the ominousness of the apparent blood ritual, alongside an effectively executed call-back to the Priestess's blood-purification magic. And I can't complain about capping off on a scene of the Slayer just kicking a goblin in the gonads. But wherever the show might go after this as it approaches the end of its season, that can't help most of the proceedings of this episode from feeling a bit too boilerplate.

Rating:

Goblin Slayer II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

You can just call Chris the Goblin Slayer Slayer. You can check out his other adventures over on his blog, or brave the grungy goblin cave that is Twitter.