English Dub Review: Goblin Slayer “Goblin Slayer”

What’s this show called again? And who’s it about?

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

In flashbacks, a young girl on a farm tells her friend, a boy, that she’s going into the city with her uncle for awhile and wants to bring something back for him. The boy gets angry and the two have a little fight before his sister comes to break it up. As she leaves, she hopes she can apologize for making him bad when she gets back.

In the present, the girl is known as Cow Girl (Brittany Lauda) and has grown up…and then some. She wakes and goes to greet her friend, who we know as Goblin Slayer. He does his daily routine of checking around the farm for signs of Goblin tracks or damage that might be signaling another attack, then has breakfast with her and her uncle. She’s more than happy to look after him while he does his work, and he brings in plenty of rent money from it, but the uncle is pretty uneasy around him.

They head over to the Guild to look for more Goblin jobs, though the other Adventurers look down on him for only hunting Goblins. The Priestess is also there and wants to discuss Goblin Slayer’s dangerous hunting methods. He responds to this by quizzing her on all the minutia, which she apparently passes. The two then go to check the newest available quest, picking the one in an old mountain fortress that Goblins have taken over. They also hear of another band of rookies that took one of the other quests. The Priestess, remembering the last team of rookies she teamed up with against Goblins, asks to go save them, but Goblin Slayer is set on his own quest.

Cow Girl waits at the farm for him to return, though her uncle warns her that he’s no longer the boy she knew. While on the quest, Goblin Slayer remembers what happened to his and her village while she was away. Goblins attacked, killed nearly everyone, tortured and raped his sister before killing her, but he somehow managed to survive as he witnessed all of it. He made it his life’s mission to eradicating Goblins, spending years training and formulating new plans of attack, all while watching countless more Adventurers die. In time, he became more and more driven to kill, learning to enjoy it and turning into a monster even Goblins would fear. Nonetheless, she waits for him.

OUR TAKE

I usually expect a series to go about half a dozen episodes before getting to one about how supporting characters view the main protagonists’ life from an outside perspective, though that’s often because the main plot takes precedence over character work. So, I’m glad to see some fleshing out of both Goblin Slayer’s backstory and how his crusade against Goblins is seen by those around him, both friend and stranger. Goblin Slayer is a pretty simple character on paper, having a sole, unwavering focus that revolves almost entirely around finding the next herd of little green men to slaughter, but it becomes complex when put in the context of the larger world of the story.

Goblin quests aren’t seen by other adventurers as very glamorous or heroic like slaying a dragon, and so they’re underestimated and seen as small-time work for rookies who then take those jobs. Sometimes they survive, like the group that went after the smaller quest today, and sometimes they don’t, like the last episode. Killing Goblins is still necessary to work, but people in adventuring for the fame and glory see it as beneath them and can’t comprehend why someone would dedicate their career and life to only hunting them. The only people who would understand are people who have also witnessed how terrible the creatures can be like the Priestess, the Guild Girl, and the Cow Girl.

Speaking of, the idea of a world where everyone goes by titles rather than names is an interesting one, though it does make the recapping job a little harder than normal. Putting that and the fact that she’s the clear source of fanservice in this show, for now, Cow Girl is already a really charming character. Her role in the story is entirely in relation to Goblin Slayer, but it carries its own sense of tragedy and sadness as she worries over his many risky and lethal adventures while trying to reach the boy she grew up with. Her English actress, Brittany Lauda, isn’t as experienced as Funimation’s better-known talent, but she lends both the character’s boundless optimism with her wavering hopes.

I’ve also noticed a bit more about Goblin Slayer in this episode, and not just that his character model randomly shifts to CGI at certain points. There were a few lines in Brad Hawkins’ portrayal which, compared to Japanese actor’s more grounded and dreary take on the character, felt less like a hardened warrior and more like a short-sighted and headstrong teenager. This wasn’t how I had originally imagined the character to sound, though I wonder now if this isn’t because Goblin Slayer isn’t meant to be seen as the chiseled and unstoppable warrior such as Conan or Hercules, but someone who is still very much that child who watched his family die in front of him and trying to take that rage out on a single target. So, kind of like a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne after he saw his parents killed, but still a teenager.

We also get a look at the Opening and Ending for the series, which reflect the more sullen and melancholic tone of these past two episodes. They make it clear that this is not meant to be a grand tale of adventure and glory, but one of exhausting and grueling battle by those who have nothing left but to fight against mindless hordes of monsters. It’s not overly saccharine and upbeat like some other shows might do to keep people around, and I appreciate that. Though next time, Goblin Slayer’s reputation reaches even farther as we meet the rest of the main cast.