©Kumo Kagyu • SB Creative Corp.-Goblin Slayer2 project
I’ve made it clear that I’m hardly a fan of Goblin Slayer. Still, I at least got acclimated to interacting with the series during the time I spent with it. I enjoyed how irreverent this second season’s discord was compared to its serious beginnings. This week’s episode includes a sitcom-tastic sequence in which the other team members use reverse psychology on the Slayer to convince him to participate in a mission unrelated to goblins. It features the Sword Maiden boldly using her influence to assign Slayer as her bodyguard for a mission, because of her not-so-subtle feelings for him. That leads to an aside about the Priestess and the Cowherd, as Goblin Slayer II threatens to turn into a harem anime. The show is still fun, I wish it had a laugh track.
This is the initial setup for the sequel. So it makes sense that that’s the part that most closely resembles players in a tabletop RPG session making cryptic comments as the GM lays out all the lore. The fun of framing things is one way the show can keep things going in the long run. Another approach is seen in the adventurous style applied in this construction. Goblin Slayer’s first season made the oft-repeated point about how its story isn’t the kind of epic, thrilling adventure it’s often told. This episode of the second season opens with a stylish flashback to the Sword Maiden’s old group having a melodramatic battle with a great demon. Though this also serves a contrasting purpose to confirm the idea driving the story, in the way she notes her fear of goblins even after taking down such an incredibly powerful threat as So.
But then there’s that goblin-free adventure the party’s solutions are in the present. It’s great to just jump on the bandwagon using their usual pragmatic approach to taking down a sea snake. And it’s hilarious watching the Slayer’s green screen as he struggles to understand completing a quest that has nothing to do with goblins. Can the show always aim to be this funny? It’s tempered by sweeter moments like Slayer giving Cow Girl a seashell as a gift or seeing him and Sword Maiden bond over their trauma. Goblin Slayer could use established horrific developments for actual character work, instead of shallow tragic erotica.
Explaining how all of this works reasonably well leads to…not doubt but more curiosity. Last week I mentioned how Goblin Slayer makes killing goblins themselves feel almost perfunctory. Well, that’s practically an afterthought here. Despite the Sword Maiden’s escort and concerns about the goblins’ wider conspiracy seemingly being at the core of this plot, the episode still sees fit to cut mid-battle and move on to the heroes Ours killed them all. That’s fine by me, back to the group of goofy comedy and fake harem antics. Those are the parts of this jingle that I like. But I have to admit that it’s kind of weird to say that if you just want to see little monsters killed, you’re quantitatively going to get less of that at this point.
Goblin Slayer really is still as profound as a movie replica of a Magic Eye picture. But when what it’s built for is watching fictional classes chat around a metaphorical table, it’s quickly watchable. The writing can provide information about the local politics of the royals through knowledge the Slayer can gather from a farming village. It’s a simple but neat detail that feels like it’s there to make Slayer more interesting instead of simply cooler. I’m happy to hum along to this little tune while it also contributes to a grander concert. There could also be goblins but at this point I don’t seem to be as clear about them as the show.
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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.