Goblin Slayer: Problematic World Building

Warning: This article discusses adult themes including sexual assault.  Viewer discretion is advised.

The Plot of Goblin Slayer

In a fantastical world, Guilds attract adventurers from all corners who seek both wealth and fame by fulfilling contracts. A novice priestess embarks on her first adventure with a group of seasoned adventurers, but things take a dangerous turn when their contract involving goblins goes awry. 

The majority of her team is either killed or incapacitated, leaving her in peril until a mysterious savior, known as Goblin Slayer, comes to her aid. He is a renowned adventurer with a singular goal of eliminating goblins with utmost brutality.

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The Main Cast of Goblin Slayer

Priestess the main female protagonist is a kind and helpful 15-year-old adventurer, skilled in healing magic and protective spells. She joins Goblin Slayer's party after a disastrous goblin hunt and quickly adapts to his brutal tactics. Despite the trauma of her first quest, she remains dedicated to adventuring and improving her abilities. the 

Goblin Slayer is a specialist adventurer who only takes goblin-hunting quests. He witnessed his sister's assault and murder by goblins as a child, which motivated him to kill all of them. He is merciless and kills every goblin he comes across, shocking those who witness it.

Who is the Director?

Goblin Slayer is directed by Takahuru Ozaki.  

He’s had several directorial credits however, this looks like it was his second full-session credit.  The other one is a show called Girl’s Last Tour which I haven’t seen before if I’m honest.  

Since directing session one of Goblin Slayer he has directed Wave, which if reviews are to be believed was subpar and an adaptation of Bastard! For Netflix.  Previously he worked as the cinematographer for Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, a show that I have very fond memories of, and Sound of the Sky which is a very cute anime if you haven’t already checked it out.

He’s a fairly interesting choice to direct this anime and I think that if I hadn’t already seen the series I would have been trepidatious about his involvement given the subject matter in the anime is not cutesy at all.  In the end, however, he was the correct choice given the success of the anime.

White Fox Studio produced Goblin Slayer

White Fox Studio is no stranger to the fantasy genre.  Previously they produced Steins Gate, Akame Ga Kill, and Re: Zero − Starting Life in Another World all of which have done quite well.  

It also makes the studio well-versed in dark fantasy and more adult themes.  If you haven’t already checked out Akame Ga Kill it’s definitely worth a watch however it falls squarely into dark fantasy and deals with topics of insanity, torture, and other dark themes. 

Are you ready for more dark fantasy? Look no further than Mappa Studio’s  Hell's Paradise! This show is a real gem, using stunning colors and themes to create a truly immersive experience. We recently reviewed it and were blown away. Check it out for yourself by clicking the link and let us know what you think!

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Goblin Slayer Season One Review

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Dark Fantasy Genre

Goblin Slayer is a dark fantasy, emphasis on dark.  

Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dread.  In the series, the sense of dread comes in the form of green horrid monsters called goblins.

Goblins are a long-standing fantasy enemy appearing in everything from JRPG video games to fantasy novels such as Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.  Usually, these creatures are treated as beginning fodder, they are not very strong and are easy to defeat.  They are something for the hero to test their skills and abilities against but are easily defeatable.  In video games, goblins will often be one of the first enemies that a hero fights, and they are quickly dispatched as the hero moves on to tougher and more epic-tier monsters.

Goblin Slayer the character never moves on from slaying goblins as he sees the insidious damage that they inflict on the common folk of the world.

What is the tone of Goblin Slayer?

Goblin Slayer deals with series tones and content that is not for young viewers. 

We have to talk about the elephant in the room which is the first episode of the series where a female adventurer is raped. 

 It’s completely horrid.  

It is purposely disturbing and makes you absolutely despise the goblins as you see that they are not “acting out of instinct” but are intentionally cruel and viscous to an irredeemable level.  

The narrative function of the scene is to show rather than tell the audience how despicable the show's titular villains are.  It makes you cheer for Goblin Slayer as he butchers mobs of goblins including young goblins.  

You remember throughout the entire series that these creatures are not benign they are villains that must be eradicated.  

As the show progresses you meet other women who are survivors of the goblin's horrible treatment it just fills you with pity for these women and fury at the goblins.

Kara Dennison wrote a very good article about how Goblin Slayer uses gore and disturbing imagery and they make several very good points.

The threat of goblins is constantly underestimated by society at large.

In the world of Goblin Slayer, the majority of society is focused on larger fights with demons and commonly underestimates the damage that Goblins can do.  

Since they aren’t considered much of a threat the society in Goblin Slayer often doesn’t take proactive measures to protect against goblin attacks.  

The threat of goblin attack though seems to be everpresent as goblins can be found out in the wilderness and under even large cities!  These goblins' only urges are to literally rape and pillage and everyone in the world is focused on other things.

Like, come on everyone how can this not be a priority?

The anime is playing with themes of how we can turn a blind eye to some threats closer to home than large world problems.  In my opinion, it’s not wrong but it could be presented without crossing this line.

You could argue perhaps that as a society we accept what we deem “lesser evils” and instead focus on far away issues rather than cleaning out our own house.  

At the end of the day though assault is assault and using it for narrative purposes is deeply unsettling which again is probably the point.

The bigger problem here is the presentation of the assault.  The cinematography during assault scenes is inappropriate at times bordering on exploitative which given Takaharu Ozaki’s past as a cinematographer can’t be brushed away as accidental.  

Given his expertise, I have to assume that he knows where that particular line is crossed.

Regardless of the narrative purpose it is an excruciating thing to have to watch.  Thankfully, this only happens visually once in the series.  The aftershocks however ripple throughout the anime as every combat involving Priestess, our primary female protagonist, carries with it this extra threat that is lurking in the back of our minds.  It makes the consequences of failure more than just death instead, it leads to despoilation.

Controversial release and attempted bans

The anime had a controversial release for the reasons that we discussed above.  

It’s really hard to launch your show with rape and not have everyone yelling at you.  Which is how it should be.  

The series was one of two works cited by Texas House of Representatives Matt Shaheen as pornographic when he attempted to lead a book ban in Texas and the manga became one of seven titles to be removed in Australia.

The problem was aggravated even more when streaming services such as Crunchyroll.com failed to provide a content warning for the show and rated the anime incorrectly. The
anime originally carried a PG13 rating but has since been upgraded to a TVMA rating, which I agree with. 

Since there was no warning or indicator of what viewers were clicking on it made the rape and assault even more jarring since we had no forewarning or expectation that we were going to be interacting with that kind of content.

Another show that we reviewed that honestly was a bit problematic as well was Jobless Reincarnation click here for the link to our review.

Can I recommend Goblin Slayer?

So at the end of the day can I say that you should watch Goblin Slayer?  I think that yes I can with the caveat that there is a brutal bit that I do not agree with.  

If you are sensitive to sexual assault skip the section of the first episode with the inexperienced explorers.  Once you get past that part it’s a good series that is worth the watch.

Season 2 of Goblin Slayer will be premiering this fall on Crunchyroll.com