English Dub Review: Goblin Slayer “A Gathering of Adventures”

A MAGIC: The Gathering of Adventures!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Goblin Slayer tells Cow Girl to hurry away from the farm, as he has no chance of fighting as many goblins as he expects, especially since they’re probably being led by a Goblin Lord. Despite being very clearly scared, Cow Girl knows that she’ll just be letting the same thing happening again if she leaves, as well as losing her home and leaving GS to die. So, he runs to the guild to beg every Adventurer to help him. Initially, almost none of them bother to help him fight mere goblins, and even less so when they hear of the numbers, until a Spearman asks him what he’ll give them all as a reward. He offers everything he can, aside from his life. Luckily, the Spearman just asks to be bought a drink later. The rest of his party also joins in, but everyone else, young and old, is hesitant.

Taking the hint, Guild Girl authorizes it as an official quest, with one gold coin awarded per goblin kill, winning the rest over. That night, the entire guild gathers near the farm to confront the goblin onslaught, which arrives in droves. Multiple goblins, including several Champions start to turn the tide as the adventurers hold the line. But while everyone is tackling the hordes, GS is closing in on the Goblin Lord himself.

OUR TAKE

Well, that took a lot less time to recap than normal, but despite such an easily explained plot, this episode is ripe with things to discuss. For one, as I mentioned, this arc is from the end of the first volume with the second used in between Episodes 4 and 10, and this was crucial to help Goblin Slayer develop further bonds with the other significant guild members so that this request to help him would make more sense than if he had done it around Episode 5 or 6. This a perfect fit for a season finale because it shows the culmination of GS slowly reaching out and forming bonds and acquaintanceships with other adventurers, compared to the start of it when he was mostly seen as a weird loner.

It’s also a perfect story to end the season on because it distills the main dilemma of GS’s work down to that one scene of him begging everyone for the help. GS is essentially an exterminator, a job that’s not usually seen as very glamorous or honorable, but is more necessary and dangerous than most would admit. And in this case, as someone who is only known for handling that grunt work, many only see him as someone who deals with unimportant tasks and not much else. However, because of how much he has shown his integrity and strong will, as well as his willingness to help those around him, those good deeds and unwavering determination shine through to his friends, who are able to turn people around on helping him with a goblin infestation even he can’t handle. Instead of being an inspirational charismatic hero that has the power and influence to convince people to help, it’s his actions that have helped build his good reputation with the rest of the guild.

On top of that, everyone gets a chance to shine in this episode, which makes the battle against the hordes a thrill to watch. We’ve seen plenty of our main party’s respective move-sets, but not so much of Spearman or Witch or any of the other minor characters who lend their arms in the fight, so it’s great that everyone gets a moment to show their stuff, from old swordsmen to rookie warriors. However, all good things must come to an end, and next week is that end, so I look forward to seeing what is hopefully the first of many seasons end on a high note.