Goblin Slayer (Episode 9) – There and Back Again
They’ve discovered an ancient relic that can create a gate between two places, allowing the goblins to walk in without a bother. Of course, the goblins are not about to just give it up and there’s nowhere to escape to!
What happened?
Someone had provided the goblins with the mirror and was sending them under the city intentionally. Having defeated the Guardian, Goblin Slayer and his party had the mirror, but the goblins wanted it back. All the remaining goblins, including the goblin champion, rushed to recapture it. There was no way out. Their only choice was to fight.
Luckily, Goblin Slayer had a plan and all they needed to do was lure all of the goblins into the room. He gave lizardman the task of removing the mirror from the wall as he, High Elf, and Dwarf attacked the advancing goblin horde. They needed to buy enough time to get the mirror off the wall. Thankfully, Lizardman did it. Goblin Slayer told him to point it at the ceiling and get underneath it.
Priestess cast a blinding light spell as Dwarf unleashed another spell to destroy the ceiling. The took cover beneath the mirror as boulders and rocks tumbled down. Of course, any that fell on the mirror would have been flung out the other side of the gate, destroying the goblin settlement.
Amazingly, they had won. High Elf wasn’t too impressed with Goblin Slayer’s latest use of excessive force, but I’m sure she’d rather that than being dead. All that was left was for Goblin Slayer to report back to the Sword Maiden.
He approached her to tell her the goblins were all dead, but also that he knew she knew everything. It was her familiar, the giant white alligator, that gave her away. She broke down, telling him that the Demon Lord’s cult was mad that she had defeated him and were moving the goblins in, aware of her past. They were also killing the people on the streets, however, Sword Maiden saw that as her chance to ask for help.
Who would believe her, if she revealed that she was terrified of goblins? She took advantage of the situation to summon Goblin Slayer. He told her he had seen what happens to girls when goblins attack, but he didn’t understand what she’d been through. He did say that if she ever needed him to slay goblins, he would come. Even in her dreams!
What did you think?
When I see episodes like this, it makes me so mad that this series got a bad reputation from the “cancel brigade”. They’re too busy seeing rape fantasies that don’t exist in a show that looks at the effects of these situations in a realistic manner. What Sword Maiden went through was no doubt horrific, but that was just the beginning. The Demon Lord’s cult used this to torment her, aware that she could never tell the truth of what happened to her. No one would believe her to start with.
The scene where she asked Goblin Slayer if her would even save her in her dreams was heartbreaking. I have to believe that he gave her some comfort at that moment and going forwards. It’s not going to fix everything, but acknowledging the problem and offering his help was a remarkable thing for him, especially given his usual bluntness.
What have you learnt?
It just goes to show that no topic is off-limits in any genre. This is high fantasy, but it looks at problems that are all too prevalent in today’s society. Sure, we don’t have goblins in a physical sense, but a monster by any other name is still a monster. There needs to be those that will stand up to the monsters and stand beside those impacted.
Adding in parallels to the real world may make things uncomfortable, but then isn’t that the point. And, once again, I’m going to state this as a fact, there is absolutely no glorifying sexual violence in this series. It is brutal and disgusting, which is the exact feeling it should leave you with. Then there are those that claim that this sort of topic shouldn’t be in fiction, or it’s a cheap and easy way to show a villain. I don’t think there’s anything easy about writing scenes like that.
Other reviews in the series
Series Information
| English Title | Goblin Slayer |
| Japanese Title | Goblin Slayer |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Dark Fantasy |
| Demographic | Seinen |
Anime
Season One
Movie
| English Title | Goblin’s Crown |
| Japanese Title | Goblin’s Crown |
| Released | Winter 2020 |
| Animation Studios | White Fox |
Season Two
Manga
| Series | Side Story II: Dai Katana |
| Author | Kumo Kagyu |
| Artist | Shougo Aoki |
| Volumes | Ongoing |
| 1 | The Fortress City |
| 2 | There’s Always Tomorrow! |
| 3 | Help and Help Alike! |
| 4 | I Can Smell Blood! |
| 5 | If You Let Your Guard Down, You Die! |
| 6 | Be Thankful to Everything! |
| 7 | Let’s Go Shopping!! |
