©Kumo Kagyu • SB Creative Corp.-Goblin Slayer Project2
Despite the expanded story of the goblin wedding and the characterizations within, once Goblin Slayer gets down to goblin slaying in this storyline, the anime won’t be able to pull off anything other than the book . Lizard Priest even directly confirmed that they will participate in this battle using “orthodox methods”. The first half of this episode flashes back to the confrontation with the goblin mob, the appearance and attack of a Wizard to complicate things, then the resounding rally of the leaders using Use a big smart trick to win. Saying “rinse, repeat” would be especially appropriate here, since the Slayer’s trick of wiping all the goblins out of the building by teleporting in a series of water is a repeat of previous plans there. That is pragmatism.
Killing goblins in Goblin Slayer is probably not the part that attracts the audience’s attention. To its credit, this arc-bound episode does make some attempt to repeat characterful elements as the action is going through the motions. Riding the elevator on the loading screen before the big battle gives the Goblin Archer another chance to empathize with her teammates and strengthen her attachment to them and their little lives. They are true friends and going on an adventure together even if they were originally here for a wedding was simply inevitable in their relationship. It’s also mentioned a lot after the battle, including a really cute moment teasing the possibility of the Lizard Priest and Elf meeting in the future, as well as the Elf later helping to assuage some of the doubts that were lingering. Priestess’s potential.
The aspect of the Priestess is another highlight in the content featured here. The last episode that saw her fall into poltergeist trauma was also revisited this week, in an apparent flashback to her big series-starting failure. But it has been confirmed that, while shaken, Priestess is able to steel herself and continue fighting, indicating her growth since the beginning of this season. Her current real problem seems to be a growing doubt about the true purity of her purification miracle. She’s learned it before (notably in the first season finale), but this episode shows her deploying healing magic as an anti-goblin offensive move, causing her to question ask deeper. Are miracles only used in the service of healing or is helping your comrades, even through violence, acceptable enough to maintain the favor of the gods you have sworn to obey? According to your principles?
These questions might resonate more strongly if Goblin Slayer were especially deeply meditative about its religious aspects. The iconography is always there, in the context of characters like the Priestess and the Swordswoman, or in the titular explanations of things like the Lizard Priest’s lifestyle, which drives the way the his strength. On the other hand, the series didn’t go too far into examining the inherent conflict of a practitioner of a healing faith who regularly engages in violent orgies in the name of species extermination (however tried justified by the story). This episode and Priestess’s question represents the furthest step in that direction but it’s still mostly deployed as anxiety fuel that she can use to reflect alongside the Slayers and Goblins.
The Murder side leads to some consistency with his ongoing arc this season. He is still working through his guilt over what happened to his sister, questioning whether he “deserves” to be honored as a hero of his crusade the same way Priestess questioning her worthiness as a healer. It marks them as a suitable pair to anchor the story of this series and potentially lead to the great cataclysm that is about to hit the world to give them a bigger outlet to showcase their position. me. If this is a thoughtful turning point for our heroes right before the world really needs them, it almost works even if the action required to get there is more perfunctory ever. It wasn’t overwelcoming, to say the least.
The thrill of that fight means that the rest of the episode feels a bit lost in how it uses the wedding to fill the rest of its time. Only the Goblin was dressed for her sister’s big ceremony, meaning there was no sign of the Slayer or anyone else in formal attire. The Faithful Elf asking for the Priestess’s prayers is a heartwarming way to address those questions at this time. The end of this story reinforced just how skewed elements of the whole thing were for me, with the setting and characterization coming across strongly in a way that highlights some effective themes. more effective than I expected from Goblin Slayer, while the destruction of the goblins was inevitable. Just… there.
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Goblin Slayer II is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
You can just call Chris the Goblin Slayer. You can check out his other adventures on the blog or brave the dirty goblin cave Twitter.