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This is a preliminary review for episodes 1-5.


TL; DR: I think Goblin Slayer is just another slightly above average fantasy anime.


Story: 6/10

Judging from the first 5 episodes of the series, Goblin Slayer's story seems to be pretty straightforward. Goblin Slayer hates all Goblins because they killed his family. Now he wants to kill all of the Goblins and only Goblins. And I think that's alright. It's not a great story or anything but it's enough to keep my interest.

Initially I was interested in the show because episode 1 was incredibly brutal, some may find it unnecessarily graphic or whatever but I don't care. I ... like brutal series. So I was disappointed that there was siginifcantly less gore afterwards. Furthermore, after seeing what happened in episode 1 I expected this show to also focus more on why Goblins are so evil and how people deal with it, how villages are affected by this and maybe also get some personal storys about characters having to deal with the trauma of Goblin attacks while Goblin Slayer saves the day or sth. I was not looking for another edgy anime that just shows brutality because why not, but I was hoping for a very gory and dark show. And Goblin Slayer and his crew slaying Goblins in the most efficient way with nothing happening to any of them is just very average and the kind of stuff I expect from fantasy settings where Monsters are the enemy. I don't see how Goblin Slayer is special just because Goblins are the only relevant enemy here.

I've heard that the anime left out some brutal stuff from the manga but this is irrelevant since I am only judging the anime here.


Characters: 6/10

None of the characters have actual names. They are just called what they are. Cow girl, Goblin Slayer, Priestess, Elf Archer etc. And yeah this sums up pretty much how interesting they are. All of them are quite likeable but none of them are really special in any way. I do like their designs and I do think it's actually quite cool and funny how Goblin Slayer only cares about slaying Goblins and ignores everything else but it's not like this makes the character interesting.

There's also a bit of a problem with character motivations here. *Spoilers* In episode 1, the Priestess and her crew get absolutely destroyed by Goblins. One of the girls gets gangraped and everyone besides the Priestess and the raped girl are killed. Goblin Slayer saves them and despite experiencing this she decides to follow Goblin Slayer from now on wherever he goes. She never gives a reason for this at all. I guess it's because she's looking up to him and wants to learn how to be a great adventurer. But we never get a clear statement for her motivations as far as I remember.

Furthermore, because this is a Fantasy anime there has to be a harem. And while this is not a harem like the one in SAO or sth where multiple girls are following one guy around while fighting over him, after 5 episodes we already have 3 confirmed romantic interests and well I wouldn't be surprised if the Priestess is next.

This sounded a bit harsher than necessary. I don't dislike any of the characters. It's just that it doesn't feel like there was much effort put into them.


Art: 6/10

The characters look very nice. All of the girls are pretty hot and you get sth for whatever kind of anime girl you like. The backgrounds are nothing special at all though. Generally this show looks like every single other fantasy/magic/isekai anime with decent animation.


Sound: 7/10

The opening is decent and I like that it's different from most other openings with lots of quiet elements. Though I don't think it's memorable.

Ending is also decent though nothing special.

One thing I do want to point out though is that I really, really like the voice acting of Goblin Slayer. That is very well done and probably my favourite thing about the show right now.


Enjoyment: 7/10

Even though this show is nothing special and I am disappointed by the lack of gore and exploration of darker themes, I do still enjoy this show as a throwaway piece of entertainment. I do look forward to new episodes but I never get the feeling that I have to watch them as soon as they are released.


Overall: 6.5/10

Overall I think Goblin Slayer is an above average fantasy anime that kinda betrayed my expectations from episode 1. I do like the anime but after 5 episodes there is nothing that makes me think this would become a memorable show. I expect to not talk about this show again in the future unless the anime changes a lot in the upcoming arc.

Minor spoilers ahead

Story:

So our story starts with a very interesting set-up, a being from another dimension - the anisotropic - comes to Earth and wants to advance humanity and help them find the right answer.
This leads to a couple of interesting questions:
Is it a good thing for humanity to advance through the help of outside forces?
Will humanity be able to handle this much advancement at once?
What are the consequences for the world?
Who is this anisotropic being and why does he do what he does?
... And what is the right answer?

These questions are the driving forces behind the story of Kado - the right answer and it's up to humanity to find out the right answer to these.

First of all the premise was very interesting and for most of the episodes the execution was great.
The problem with this story was the twist in its final episodes, while I liked the reveal of what the anisotropic being is and why he does things, it took this show in a very different direction than I thought it would go. It started of with a lot of these deeper, philosophic questions about humanity and ends with well... something quite different.
The final episode was horribly rushed and the ending was very unsatisfying. I don't want to give it away but the way the Main Characters story finished was just very anticlimactic.

Art:

This anime uses a lot of CG, especially for its characters. If you're really bothered by this then it might bother you in this show as well.
For me however it worked very well, the CGI was obvious but it was executed in a way that it didn't feel out of place at all. If this is the future of CGI in anime then I'm up for it.

There were a lot of beautiful wide shots of Kado and its surroundings in this show, especiall the proportions of Kado in comparison with other objects was handled exceptionally. It really felt huge. The inside of Kado was also designed beautifully and was one of the highlights of the show from an artistic point of view.

The character designs weren't anything that special, but I think that was the point, it was a show that was set in reality so everybody looks like an ordinary person, except for the anisotropic being whose design I really enjoyed.


Sound:

The soundtrack of Seikaisuru Kado was a highlight of this show. The opening and also the ending were just awesome. Especially the opening, I never skipped this one. Though in general the OST was quite good. It added a lot to the series and made a lot of moments feel bigger.


Characters:

Shindou, Koujiro

Shindou is the protagonist of Kado, he's a negotiator for the Japanese Government and the person who also negotiates with the anisotropic being.
He's a very likeable and interesting guy, worthy of being a protagonist. His interactions with his co-worker Hanamori would've been enough for me to watch a slice-of-life show with them just doing their negotiations.
He goes through some interesting character development over the course of this show, I just wish the end of his story arc wouldn't have been so anti-climactic.

Yaha-kui zaShunina

The anisotropic being who wants to advance humanity. His deisgn was great and I really liked the concepts of the anisotropic he brought to this world. He was a very interesting and mysterious character right until the final episodes. It was interesting to see him change due to the influence humanity had on him.

Tsukai, Saraka

The female lead of this show. At first she felt a little out of place in this show. Her typical anime antics just didn't fit with the otherwise serious world of Seikaisuru Kado. But she was a nice and sweet girl and she grew on me. It was interesting to see her become so important later on.


Enjoyment:

Overall I'm a bit disappointed with this show. I really enjoyed everything until the twist and was ready to rate this 9/10. But the twist of this show first drove it into a direction that was only okay instead of great and then the final episode happened and I won't give away the ending but it was a huge letdown for me and some of it felt like an asspull to me.
I'd still recommend this show for it's great 10 episodes!

*** Spoilers ahead****

Story:
This show started out very promising when Zero and Mercenary first met.
They are both very likeable and they have great chemistry together.
Their goal was clear: Mercenary helps her to find the Grimoire of Zero and she turns him back into a human.
Now if this show would've just been these two going on a journey to find the Grimoire of Zero, if this would've been an adventure anime, then I would've loved this.

However, this was not the case.

... The first warning I got was when Albus joined the crew.
I didn't like him from the very beginning because he was just the typical brat and he really got in the way of Mercenary and Zero's adventure.

But over time he grew on me and I learned to accept him and I really liked this show, besides AoT S2 it was my favourite show this season.

But then the villain, 13, was introduced into the story.
And that's where this show went downhill for me.
They split up Mercenary and Zero for a couple of episodes and shifted the focus to 13 and Zero's relationship.

Mercenary and Zero are great together but mediocre when alone.
13 is just your typical villain who claims he does it all for his live for the girl.
Nothing special about him at all. (Besides him being voiced by Dio's VA)

This really brought down this anime for me. Zero needed to be rescued and we also had the typical misunderstanding between the main characters that you get in so, so many stories and that is just annoying because you know how this is going to end.

Art:

It was done by White Fox and it looks just like Re: Zero, nothing special, nothing fancy but decent.
Though it's missing some highlights which Re: zero had.

Sound:

Opening is decent but forgettable, same with the OST.


Characters:

As mentioned before Zero and Mercenary are great together but mediocre when alone.
Albus started as the typical brat in anime but he got better over time.
13 is just bad and ruined this anime for me.


Enjoyment:

While I was rather harsh on this anime, I still enjoyed it in the beginning.
The main reason for my harshness is that I was so disappointed after the villain was introduced after liking it so much in the beginning.

6.5/10