Autumn 2018 First Impressions – Goblin Slayer

“I’m not saving the world. I just kill goblins.” Rumor has it that, in a certain guild in the middle of nowhere, there is an extraordinary man who has climbed all the way to the Silver rank just by killing goblins. At the same guild, a priestess who’s just become a new adventurer has formed her first party… and the man who ends up rescuing that party when they get into trouble is none other than the Goblin Slayer. – Crunchyroll

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: A Priestess, having just become an adult at 15, elects to become an adventurer and to serve as a healer for adventuring parties. No sooner does she join a local guild than she’s hired by a group of greenhorn adventurers on a quest to exterminate a nest of goblins. Though the popular opinion is that such a quest is too much for beginners, the enthusiastic bunch isn’t deterred. The Priestess joins them.

As they enter the goblins’ cave, it becomes apparent just how woefully under-prepared they are. The swordsman’s sword is too long for such an enclosed space, and no one has brought any healing items with them. When the Priestess and mage fall behind they’re soon surrounding by a swarm of goblins who, despite their small size, are vicious and cruel. Things quickly take a downturn and the Priestess soon finds herself alone and in a very vulnerable position. It is likely only due to insanely good luck that she is saved by the Goblin Slayer, a high-ranking member of the guild who makes quick work of the goblin horde. She then elects to join the Goblin Slayer on his quest to kill goblins.

Impressions: CW: Mention of rape/assault.

With many dozens of isekai fantasy series being produced lately, I feel like it’s been a very long time since we’ve had an honest-to-goodness low-fantasy bloodbath sort of anime. As a fan of the Berserk anime series (against my normal tastes and good judgment), I feel as though there’s some piece of me that’s drawn to this series’ sort of straightforward bleakness. As much as I dislike “cynical” anime – anime that revels in the worst of what humanity has the capability of saying, doing, and being – there’s something about added darkness and horror of a dangerous fantasy setting that intrigues me all the same. Unfortunately, along with providing the visceral terror of being gutted, flayed, and eaten, these series often come saddled with the added baggage of gender-related cruelty.

I feel like some the content in this episode is enough to warrant its own post, but to put it briefly, in addition to characters being stabbed and clubbed to death by the horrifying goblins residing in the cave, the female characters are also faced with the additional humiliation of being raped by them. One of the young women survives the ordeal, but all that we see as she’s carted away with a group of other kidnapped women, is that she’s in fact been broken by the ordeal and has lost her mind. Luckily I went into the episode already informed about this, or I might not be sitting here writing about it now; this kind of content is deeply, personally affecting to me, especially when it’s a surprise. Doubly-so when it seems to be used as a short-hand for “this is a bad situation” rather than handled as an act with actual consequences.

I think that’s one of the issues here; this is a story that seems to want to define itself by its immense and dramatic darkness. Much like a fanservice-oriented series tends to front-load its nudity in order to set itself apart and attract a crowd of rubberneckers to stop and look, this episode serves the same function, only the “eye-candy” is a type and amount of violence that’s so rare in TV anime that it garners a content warning. I think arguments can be made (and already have been made) as to how necessary this content is to telling this story, and as gory and upsetting as it is it’s not as though the camera lingers on what’s occurring in order to glorify the bloodshed or suggest that there’s something titillating about the violence against women. Considering how profoundly disturbing it all is, though, I’m left to wonder to what end this is all happening.

While I hate to beleaguer this comparison, I keep thinking about Berserk and its similar overall atmosphere. Way-back-when I was intrigued by the series because it was said to be one of the most violent; that was part of the “appeal” of anime at the time – it was definitely not for kids. While the anime series definitely has its share of spraying bloody wounds (as well as the suggestion of and the portrayal of sexual assault), I think its greater appeal comes from its characters and their troubled relationships with one-another. Going by this episode and looking at some of the character profiles, it’s hard to say how much the characters’ inner lives and interactions with one-another will bear on the narrative, because none of them actually has a name – Goblin Slayer, Priestess, Spear-user, Cow-tending Woman… they seem doomed to be defined by their function rather than their humanity. While I can think of one anime series where the protagonist’s name doesn’t matter (for the record: The Tatami Galaxy), I think in most cases having a name is a way to say “you are human, you’re acknowledged as worthy of note.” The fact that so many of the characters at a glance seem to be women without names has some unsettling implications. Whether they pan out or not is a question that weighs on me, but I don’t know how much I actually want to find out.

Visually this episode demonstrates quite a contrast between the daylight scenes in the town and and the oppressive darkness of the goblins’ subterranean lair. Just comparing the rendering of the environments gives a pretty good idea about where resources were concentrated, as the cave is much more atmospheric – gritty, dark, and (eventually) blood-soaked. The sense of claustrophobia is powerful and helps enhance the otherwise average animation. I think my favorite “effect” in this episode was the Goblin Slayer’s arrival and presence – the shine of his armor and the glow of his eyes did a good job of conveying how dangerous a man he is.

While I’m not particularly interested in watching more of this series and don’t get the impression that there’s a lot underneath the shock value, I have to admit that its existence has caused me to think a lot about how we as fans tend to justify harsh and upsetting content to ourselves. I think it’s in our nature to defend anime as “not for kids,” because so many of us have likely gotten ribbed for watching “cartoons” and been made to justify our enjoyment of it. It’s probably why stuff like Ninja Scroll and other really grotesque movies and OVAs were so popular when I was a teenage anime fan – I think every generation has something similar to reminisce about and use to justify their “grown-up” tastes. This kind of thing is, unfortunately, no longer really my jam.

Pros: The scenes in the cave provide a palpable sense of claustrophobia.

Cons: The violence (including sexual violence) doesn’t feel like it has a lot of purpose other than as atmospheric shock value.

Grade: C-