Time to Slay Some Gawblins!
Introduction
While 2018 was an incredible year overall in the anime industry, a show about slaughtering goblins took to the internet by storm with its captivating and controversial pilot episode. That anime was Goblin Slayer, based on the light novel series written by Kumo Kagyu. Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown is a 2020 movie adaption of the 5th volume of the Goblin Slayer light novel and the continuation to the Goblin Slayer Anime.
Plot and Setting
In a world where goblins are sexual deviants, and everyone’s name is based on their job description, one faceless badass clad in armour will rise above all and make it his life’s mission to exterminate every living goblin from the face of the Earth. He is the Goblin Slayer (Yuichiro Umehara).
The first third of the entire film acts as a recap to the 2018 anime series from Priestess’ perspective. For those who are new to the series or have been kicked in the face by a horse just before watching this movie, this could be a treat.
On the other hand, for those who probably have a clear understanding surrounding the plot and characters in the series, this is a waste of time and you could just skip it. The Japanese have a tendency on writing painfully long and condescending recaps, treating their viewers like they are school of mentally deficient goldfish.
The real meat and potatoes come with the latter two-thirds of the narrative, as Goblin Slayer and his party venture forth to a snowy mountainous region. They are tasked to find an adventurer, Nobel Fencer (Sumire Uesaka), and return her to her family (and also kill some goblins, because y’know).
Outside of that very long-winded and pointless recap, the film lasted a measly 50 minutes, counting the credits as well. The movie was initially supposed to a special two-part episode but was “expanded” into a movie. While the Goblin Slayer’s first cinematic adaptation was a decent watch, it was all skin and bones in the content department and needed some fattening up before being served.
The film’s pacing was fine and hit all the right beats of an average Goblin Slayer episode, and that is the problem. Outside of an extra party member who stays for the duration of the movie, nothing changes. Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown does nothing to merit its own existence as a movie.
While I do love Goblin Slayer and anime in general, I have issues with some of its themes, as a lot of anime tends to portray women poorly, mainly viewing them as either sex objects to be ogled at by young hormonal teenage boys and/or dirty old men, or as the damsels in distress to be rescued by the male hero. The second season of Sword Art Online does this with its heroine, Asuna, destroying her character and turning the show into a complete joke in the process.
Goblin Slayer takes that a step further and has the goblins visibly molest these girls, some of them being teenagers. For the most part, I tolerate this anime enough to brush off sexualised material, but I have to ask, do we really need to have it shoved in our face that the goblins gotta boink ‘em to reproduce? Isn’t knowing enough?
At least this film in particular adds more personality to the goblins, giving them the ability to learn and mimic the characters’ weaponry, also giving them a threatening leader in the form of the Goblin Paladin.
Characters and Performances
Goblin Slayer (the character) is a loner of few words who lets his actions do all the talking, doing whatever it takes to eliminate goblins. One of the best skills of this goblin-murdering machine has to be his strategies. Listening to Goblin Slayer go about his ideas and executing them with such extreme precision is enough to give a lot of dungeon masters ideas. Everything this man does has a purpose and rarely does he do anything unnecessarily.
Something that surprises me about the character is that while he is passionate about his desire to exterminate every last goblin with great prejudice, it does not override his compassion for his allies. An example is when he takes Priestess in as his apprentice after her tragic loss by the goblins early in the series.
I have never been fond of soft-spoken characters, not just because the tone of their voice is the equivalent of passing a kidney stone, but because it makes the person sound overly submissive and downright annoying, and Yui Ogura’s portrayal of Priestess is no different. In a world where goblins are sexual predators, does it make sense for our main heroine to sound so weak and uncertain?
Outside of my impression of Priestess, I found the rest of the party to be enjoyable. I appreciated the small philosophical subplot between High Elf Archer (Nao Tōyama) and the rest of the party revolving around the concept of long life and death, with each of the main party (excluding Goblin Slayer) sharing their own perspective of the matter.
The movie also introduces a new character to mix called Noble Fencer, who before getting captured to be used as a sacrifice by a group of goblins, was the leader of her own group of adventurers tasked to hunt down said goblins.
Noble Fencer’s character in this movie was one of the film’s highlights. Sumire Uesaka’s portrayal of the character shakes up the dynamic within the group, as well as provides some outlook of a character who is trying to build themselves up after trauma. However, outside of her outstanding introduction, a lot of her decisions before meeting Goblin Slayer felt a bit foolish.
Animation
In terms of animation, Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown delivers in the goblin-slaying department. The film uses a combination of hand-drawn animation with some CGI effects spread across the scenes. For the most part, the animation looks crisp. Watching Goblin Slayer cleave a goblin’s head in two is still as satisfying as it was in the anime series. However, towards the end of the movie, there is a slight dip in quality, as repetitive scenes and ugly cel-shading emerge during the final battle’s climax.
Conclusion
Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown is disappointing. The film feels more like an extended or special episode than a movie from an animation and production perspective. If one were to add this film to the series and call it an episode, I would probably not even bat an eye, but as a film, Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown is very lackluster in its execution.
The thirty-minute recap episode drains a lot of the enthusiasm before the film even begins as well. Yet, as I have mentioned previously, the characters and their teamwork and tactics are the highlight of the film and what makes Goblin Slayer such exciting anime to watch.
If you want to watch this film with no prior experience of Goblin Slayer, I suggest watching the series before as the film would probably blend in a lot better than just watching a recap. If you would like to watch Goblin Slayer and then its movie, you can watch them both on Crunchyroll.
