Fall 2018 Anime Review : Goblin Slayer

I love playing Role Playing Games especially if the RPG set in medieval age with dungeon crawling and flying wild dragons everywhere. Not just that, I am quite familiar with the game of Dungeons and Dragons which is a tabletop version of action-fantasy RPG. For me, Goblin Slayer is a re-imagination of Dungeons and Dragons with a very cruel Dungeon Master who loves to torture the players with little things that often overlooked by everyone. But before we started to get into the review, let's begin with my opinion about controversy that has been lingering around this anime from the very first episode.

The first episode of Goblin Slayer shown a major disturbing scene of rape and Crunchyroll carelessly put it on stream without any warning, starting the controversy we know today. Since the setting of fantasy with goblins and creatures is already staple with our regular Isekai anime (even when this anime is nowhere near Isekai), people thought at first that this anime would not be that dark. So, that was where exactly the controversy begin. But, what about my opinion? While many people said it was far too edgy for an anime set in fantasy world, I think the disturbing scene is very important for Goblin Slayer's cruel world building. It is very clear that the writer wanted us to know how fearsome little goblins are, especially in huge groups and in their own nest. But the most important is they want to set a lore that there's no female goblin in this world of Goblin Slayer thus making a purpose for the goblin to attack, raze, and kidnap women and children. So, yeah. While I am still a bit disturbed, I still think the disturbing scene is important point for this series to go on.

Now, with that settled, let's talk about the story and characters. As the title suggest, Goblin Slayer revolved around the not-so-adventure of a man who always takes goblin slaying quests. His backstory is quite simple and yet, it is fitting for a story took place in fantasy world like this. The story of wanderlust caused by loss of the loved ones just like a character creation in an RPG. After all, the characters in this anime felt like a personification of Dungeons and Dragons character sheet. Not just that, Goblin Slayer is a man of few words, making him a more fitting description of RPG main protagonist. I love how he eventually ended up in a party consisted of a fairly new adventurer Priestess, a drunken Dwarf Shaman, a cocky High Elf Archer, and a cheese loving Lizard Priest. The party is drawn to him by his deed of slaying goblins, not by his persuasion as he does not talk much (to the point he received a protest from Priestess). This is extended to other people like the Sword Maiden and other adventurers in the guild.

Oh yeah, I really love how they kept the characters unnamed and how they kept it that way throughout the series. It made this feeling of anyone could step into those characters shoes. It could be me, it could be you, and it could be anyone.

My major problem in this anime probably caused by its CGI. I know very well that Goblin Slayer's character design is very much hard to redraw yet very cool and intimidating. I praise anyone who design the characters for those. But it seems the difficulties in redrawing Orcbolg makes the studio decided to utilize CGI for Goblin Slayer's movement. While good CGI models and animations could lead into beautiful animation and direction, the CGI model of Goblin Slayer felt weird as the movements of the model are far too awkward and unnatural. Not just that, the inconsistent changing between 2D and 3D makes me want to say "Makeup your mind already!" I just really hope they are going to makeup their mind in the continuation of this series.

Then, let's continue to the soundtrack. While not too remarkable or outstanding, the rocking metal soundtracks in Goblin Slayer surprisingly fit the theme very well. It made my blood boils as The Beard Cutter trying to slash here and there. Simply, the soundtracks amplified Goblin Slayer's hatred towards the goblins very well, reaching the heart of the audience. The opening sequence itself felt very fitting to the dark theme of Goblin Slayer and it accompanied by many references of Dungeons and Dragons in the animation sequence and in the song lyrics as well. Talk about the opening, I think you should check out the music video. I love the performance of that performer who tries to convey a man who literally lost his humanity. So, check them out!

Overall, a continuation of this series is probably a must do since there are still some things that we want to see like the adventure Orcbolg wanted and promised by him to the High Elf Archer. If the animators decided to fix the CGI problem whether making the CGI movements better or maybe getting rid of it, the second season probably could outmatched the first one. And so, I will look forward for the continuation!

(This review was previously written in MAL : https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=297802)