Goblin Slayer II

Episode 8

Despite the expanded framing story of the elven wedding and the characterizations within, once Goblin Slayer gets to slaying goblins in this plot, the anime couldn't be anything other than by the book. The Lizard Priest even directly confirms that they'll be going into this battle using "the orthodox method". The first half of this episode goes back to a confrontation with a crowd of goblins, an appearance and attack by a Shaman to complicate things, then a resounding rally back by the leads using a big clever trick to win after all. Saying "rinse, repeat" would feel particularly appropriate here, given that the Slayer's trick of rinsing all the goblins out of the building by teleporting in a bunch of water is a repeat of previous plans. That's pragmatism.

The goblin slaying of Goblin Slayer probably shouldn't be the part that the audience is tuning out on. To its credit, this arc-capping episode makes some effort to loop those carrying characterization elements in as the action is going through the motions. The loading-screen elevator ride before the big battle gives the Elf Archer one more chance to commiserate with her comrades and reinforce her attachment to them and their tiny lives. They are genuine friends, and ending up on an adventure together even if they originally came here for a wedding is simply an inevitability of their association. It's touched on well after the battle too, including a frankly adorable moment teasing the possibility of the Lizard Priest and the Elf getting together in the future, as well as the Elf later helping to assuage some of the Priestess's brewing doubts.

Priestess's side of things is the other big spike of characteristic content here. Her seeming slide into goblin-based trauma last episode also gets revisited this week, in a pointed flashback to her big series-starting failure. But it's confirmed that, while shaken, Priestess can steel herself and soldier on, communicating her growth from earlier in this season. Her current actual issue seems to be a growing doubt about the true purity of her purifying miracles. She's dabbled in it before (notably in the first-season finale), but this episode sees her deploy healing magic as an anti-goblin offensive maneuver, which throws her into deeper questioning. Must miracles be used exclusively in service of healing, or is helping your comrades, even through violence, acceptable enough to maintain the favor of the gods whose principles you've sworn to uphold?

These questions might ring stronger had Goblin Slayer ever meditated particularly deeply on its religious aspects. The iconography has always been there, in the backdrops of characters like Priestess and Sword Maiden, or in the nominal explanations of things like the Lizard Priest's lifestyle which fuels how his powers work. The series otherwise hasn't dipped too hard into examining the inherent contradiction of a practitioner of a healing faith regularly participating in orgies of violence in the name of (however attempted to be justified by the narrative) species extermination. This episode and Priestess's questioning represent the furthest step in that direction but it's still mostly deployed as a source of angst fuel she can use for reflections alongside the Slayer and the Elf.

The Slayer's side results in some consistency with his ongoing arc this season. He's still turning over the guilt he feels over what happened to his sister, questioning whether he's "worthy" of being celebrated as a hero in his crusade the same way Priestess questions her worthiness as a healer. It marks them as an appropriate pair anchoring this series' narrative and potentially primes that big world-ending cataclysm on the horizon to give them a grander outlet to showcase their places. If this is a pensive turning point for our heroes right before the world truly needs them, then it mostly works even as the obligatory action of getting there was as perfunctory as ever. At least it didn't overstay its welcome.

The briskness of that fight means the rest of the episode feels a little padded out in how it uses the wedding to fill up the rest of its runtime. Only the Elf dresses up for her sister's big ceremony, meaning there's no sight of the Slayer or anyone else in formalwear. The Elf faithfully requesting the Priestess' prayers is a warming way to settle those questions for the moment. This finish to the story reinforced how lopsidedly the elements of the whole thing worked for me, with the setting and characterization coming through strongly in a way that highlighted some themes more effectively than I expected from Goblin Slayer, while the slaying of the goblins themselves was just kinda…there.

Rating:

Goblin Slayer II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

You can just call Chris the Goblin Slayer Slayer. You can check out his other adventures over on his blog, or brave the grungy goblin cave that is Twitter.