Goblin Slayer and his allies return for another bloody mission against the incredibly underestimated goblin menace. Is the movie as good (or as controversial) as the anime series?
Goblin Slayer proved to be one of the more controversial anime released in 2018, not just for its hyper-violent content but its first episode skirting the line with its depiction of what goblins do to women they capture (I’m not going to say it, but if you’ve seen the series, you know what I mean). However, if you could get past that, and also accept that despite its typical cute anime character designs that it was a dark fantasy series in the vein of Berserk, you’d find not only likable characters and intense action sequences but one of the most terrifyingly determined protagonists in all of anime with the titular Goblin Slayer. Normally, I’d say how a movie like this, following up after a season of the show, would be a problem for new fans but Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown comes with a 25-minute short film in which the Priestess, the secondary main character to Goblin Slayer himself, does an abridged retelling of the TV anime. While some context is missing, it does showcase the show’s biggest action highlights, as well as establish Goblin Slayer himself for new audiences.
The main feature finds Goblin Slayer on a new mission with his party: the Priestess, High Elf Archer, Dwarf Shaman, and Lizard Priest. This time, they’re headed north into the snowy mountains on a two-fold mission: destroy a growing goblin nest plaguing the countryside and rescue a nobleman’s daughter-turned-adventurer who went missing with her party going after the same goblin nest. As the quest goes on, Goblin Slayer notices new behaviors in these goblins that concern him, and eventually, the party comes face to face with a new goblin menace that no one suspected. As always, there’s only one solution as the main character would put it: slay some goblins.
The story isn’t any more epic than the show normally could be, but given how Goblin Slayer isn’t about mythic heroes changing the world but a small band dealing with a threat often overlooked for being mere goblins, it actually feels really on-brand. That said, if you’ve seen the series, it’s pretty much what you’d expect: lots of violent and depraved cruelty caused by goblins, small moments between our main characters that build on their relationships in little ways, lots of hyper-prepared planning by Goblin Slayer and his team, and of course, a blisteringly exciting climax where it all comes together. It is rather short, only an hour long without counting the short recap.
The music and sound design are as good as the show, but nothing really stands out much as different from the small screen version, with many tracks sounding the same. The voice acting is good, with the original cast returning to reprise their roles. Probably the biggest issue here is the animation. It’s not bad, but for a theatrically-released film, it doesn’t feel like a big display of the budget that you usually get with a film adaption of a popular series. Of course, there’s the occasional awkward CG animation for the swarms of goblins and the clashes with Goblin Slayer, who has to be moving extremely fast and fluid.
Goblin Slayer: Goblin Crown isn’t the super epic movie adaption fans might have hoped for, but it’s just a big enough story without betraying the small scale that the series likes to keep in order to focus on why Goblin Slayer stands out from other fantasy heroes. Fans should have a good time with it, and maybe newbies will as well if the 25-minute recap short doesn’t put them off of the dark subject matter.
More information about Goblin Slayer can be found on the official Crunchyroll listing. The film was watched by the reviewer on Crunchyroll after it was officially released.
For more anime reviews, I recently tackled another series-turned-film in my review of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising. We also recently celebrated Ultraman Day by choosing ten good starter shows to start watching this iconic tokusatsu.
