Goblin Slayer is a unique fantasy story about paranoid mentally broken wierdo who wants to commit genocide on a green raping barbarians. In a Dungeon&Dragons setting using homerules.
Is it Dark Fantasy? Yeah, sort of, BUT NO BECAUSE OF "MUH RAPE", you goddamn millennials, but because in the world of GS you are a pawn in the hands of Gods, you will die when certainGod roll D20=1 and you can do nothing about it. You cannot win because Gods, eventually, will create another scenario where demon lord resurrected or necromancers destroy your hometown or goblins destroy your village. But you also cannot loose, because
...
Gods will also spawn heroes on your side who will keep balance and endless war going.
Story - Anime is retelling events of first 2 volumes of ranobe (or light novel, who cares), cutting worldbuilng, character thoughts and 70% of details. Thats pretty sad but without full season necessary.
Its always very simple on surface - GS on a quest to kill some goblins (you dont get to see his routine, only the epic quests shown), but its always a different place, different threat level, different boss. And its not just "goblins sitting in dungeon waiting to be slaughtered", they are planning some bad things. So while it looks like a simple goblin slaying there is always something more, but I dont wanna spoil things.
Art - meh, from pretty good to "ahaha oh wow". Better use your imagination (your strongest weapon) while reading source material, or AT LEAST manga.
Sound - every theme fits the situation and place, from peaceful town/guild music to intense "overcoming the odds" battle themes. I am just waiting full OST release, cant fully judge it now.
Characters
GS - your main character. People's hero, defender of frontier villages from green shits, a silver ranked (third rank) adventurer who is actually obsidian (9 rank) in terms of strength, paranoid, autistic and simple man. Fighter+Ranger+Scout multiclass. Normalfags (both in his world and IRL viewers) dont understand him, but he doesnt care. Obsessed with guess what, and has a good reasons for it.
Priestess - second MC. Shy and kind girl in the beginning who will change A LOT in future. Idealistic, pretty strong magic caster for her level, one of the best female characters I've seen in like 10 years or so, with her own mind, motivations, strengths, weaknesses, without forced "muh stronk independent wamen" or being "token appendix to MC (ahem, Asuna, ahem)". True support who can carry whole party.
Dwarf Shaman - typical dwarf, I would say, if typical dwarfs were magic casters. But they usually dont. In any case, if you love fantasy you probably love dwarfs - these short, sometimes drunk, sometimes grumpy, but loyal and honest folk are a great battle-bros, so nothing wrong with being "typical dwarf".
Lizard Priest - one of the most serious (and probably strongest) party members. Lizardman is not a common species in a fantasy settings (usually they are just one of neutral secondary races who no one cares about), so seeing one is pretty refreshing. Wants to PURGE HERESY and become a Dragon. Isnt that a noble and relatable goal?
High Elf Archer - flat tsundere and normie, very young and optimistic (but you dont want to make her angry). Despite what animeonly thinks not a part of the harem (more on that later).
Guild Girl - older sister type character, competeting in GS-bowl with Cow Girl. Pretty cute in source material, but only a side-character in anime (I think Witch got more screentime than a Guild Girl).
Cow Girl - choldhood friend (childhood friends never win, remember that). Yet again another victim of anime adaptation with no screen time or personality. Guess you have to read the fucking book if you care!
Enjoyment
Here comes the most important. Why do people (and me) enjoy Goblin Slayer?
1. Classic tropes done right - your typical fantasy setting, but without bullshit isekai OP characters, without subverting expectations (except for the "goblin are stupid as kids" part) and without trying to be more than it is.
2. Rooting for underdogs. You see GS is weak as fuck compared to for example Lancer. So even if he fights the weakest monsters in the world he has to be careful and come up with new tactics and ideas. And if it wasnt enough there is always some greater threat that can smash and disintegrate our MC in 1x1 match. So even if you expect Goblin Slayer to prevail from the beginning you never know how this battle will end.
3. References. I fucking love references and there are A LOT OF THEM. Ignoring D&D part since its a part of the setting -
Lord of the Rings (Orcrist-Orcbolg, master Bilbo, lembas)
Warhammer FB
Doom
Batman
Punisher
Mini-Guts
Mini-Lancer aka Cú Chulainn
Platinum hero Haruhi
And so on, its too hard to remember them all.
4. Tonal shifts. What I heard many people complain about and getting it wrong. If you go full "tea and cake party" you get boring slice of life. If you go full "blood and gore" you get boring bloodbath. GS is about adventurers. Life of adventurer is about having fun while you can between the quests. Tomorrow you can die, but today you will laugh, drink and spend time with your party. What is the point of worrying about absolutely random dice rolls? Thats why tonal shifts are great and fit here. If you want 100% grimdark - watch some News channel or think about routine work you will have to do until you become old and sick. Pretty dark huh? Already want to forget about it using good old "tea and cakes" method? So dont blame adventurers for distracting from routine stress.
5. Compenent characters. At least most of them, but dont blame fucking noobs. You would also never expect that a level 1 giant rat can kill you when you start playing game.
And I am not even talking about Goblin Slayer, thats obvious part. The rest of his squad and even side characters (specially Lancer and Guts) has their own views and solutions to the problems. And most important that they respect each other views. So many stories show how MC knows everything better than anyone else, how he is perfect and others (mostly girls from harem) praise him. But here MC is experienced only when it comes to goblin slaying. Others use his knowledge and provide theirs.
6. Romance. "Oh look every girl like GS, bullshit stupid slice of life harem dropped". Aaaaand you are wrong. A common mistake for a beginner. Its all about love triangle between Cow Girl and Guild Girl (and potentially Priestess). Why do they love him? Skip the childhood friend part since its obvious. Guild Girl knows him for 5 years. Thats a lot of time to become attached to someone. And Priestess can become more than apprentice, but thats not the point. Also there is a Sword Maiden but no one cares about her. 2(3) girls love one stoic, reliable and good-looking guy, do you still think its so unrealistic and stupid? I think it totally makes sense. Specially if you think about some abomination like SAO where girls fall in love with MC after 1 day of meeting him instead of 5+ years of knowing each other.
7. The way Main party interacts with each other. Its hard to describe but you know what I mean if you played at least one game from Bioware, or any MMO with friendly guild.
Overall - most of my enjoyment comes from ranobe or manga, I've been reading GS for 2 years now, its just impossible to forget about it and judge only the anime.
But think of this - my friend could not enjoy Overlord S2 and S3 after reading source material. He said that anime just ruined entire arc and I trust him. With Goblin Slayer I read the source material and I still could enjoy the anime adaptation even if it has a lot of flaws and cut content. That means that adaptation is good, while the source material is great.
THE CRIME IS YOUR FOUL EXISTENSE, GOBLIN, THE SENTECE IS DEATH!
Nov 29, 2018
Goblin Slayer
(Anime)
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Goblin Slayer is a unique fantasy story about paranoid mentally broken wierdo who wants to commit genocide on a green raping barbarians. In a Dungeon&Dragons setting using homerules.
Is it Dark Fantasy? Yeah, sort of, BUT NO BECAUSE OF "MUH RAPE", you goddamn millennials, but because in the world of GS you are a pawn in the hands of Gods, you will die when certainGod roll D20=1 and you can do nothing about it. You cannot win because Gods, eventually, will create another scenario where demon lord resurrected or necromancers destroy your hometown or goblins destroy your village. But you also cannot loose, because ... |
