Goblin Slayer II is the second season based upon the light novel series. It is 12 episodes long and follows the first season and the movie. Goblin Slayer is the titular character, joined by Priestess, Elf Archer, Dwarf Shaman, and Lizard Warrior. Their lack of proper names adds to the theme of the show as it is set in a stereotypical fantasy world that has heavy Dungeons & Dragons inspired elements, and it is a cruel world. What you might think are the weakest of monsters, goblins, can be a huge threat to the inexperienced. They can overwhelm you with numbers or have tricks that you wouldn’t have expected. Yet the reward for defeating goblins is low, and Goblin Slayer is the only one regularly taking on these quests.
The cruel, harsh, and potentially disturbing imagery beings almost immediately upon the first episode. The first part of the season is more like a slow burn as it tells the day to day lives of the characters. Goblin Slayer is doing what he does best but is also helping in the academy to train newbie adventurers. Priestess on the other hand is worrying about ranking up in the guild and having to prove herself in the process. As a result, the characters meet a new adventurer, being a wizard that has the ego and rashness of a newbie who hasn’t experienced reality at all.
As mentioned, there are disturbing scenes but we’re passed the shock factor now, so it does not phase you much when characters get hurt or die. There are certain scenes that are supposed to have a sense of seriousness and gravity but the anime flashes by them so quickly that you don’t have the time to appreciate it. A good example is when Priestess does something that is against her beliefs and faith. We see her horrified expression; however, you might not click on why she is so horrified until much later and that’s only if you spent the time to think about it afterwards. So while the viewer might expect the violence, deaths and other harsh things to happen, that is not true for the characters who are still recovering psychologically from what they had to experience and endure.
Goblin Slayer is unique amongst the adventurers in that his mind is only ever filled with goblins. Being scarred from his childhood, he has a need to destroy and kill all goblins. This is to prevent whatever happened to him from happening to others. He seems calm and indifferent on the outside, but you can tell that he has a lot of emotions swirling inside him. While a solo adventurer at first, he has gathered around him a reliable party of friends and thanks to his efforts, he has also gained the approval and respect of many other adventurers of the guild.
A lot of the season lacks any sort of big goblin hunt. These are usually some of the most interesting aspects of the anime as it shows off the ingenuity of Goblin Slayer in his goblin slaying conquest. Thus, when the anime skips over these battles so quickly, that aspect is not present. The goblin hunts are quickly glossed over in favor of Goblin Slayer’s interactions with the other characters. While these aren’t bad or boring, it is not something that they could have filled most of the season with.
Something that also sets the anime apart is the smaller scale of its adventures. Since Goblin Slayer mainly concerns himself with goblin quests, that is naturally the case. As a result, the anime gives us a perspective on other happenings in this world. it will cut to other more conventional adventurers as they fight a bigger threat, rather than just the local monsters. These events are loosely connected to Goblin Slayer’s party but can often feel like an out of the way scene that was randomly shoved in.
The season finale naturally goes for bigger in having Goblin Slayer and his team fight against a huge nest of goblins with bigger stakes. Here, we finally see more of Goblin Slayer’s unorthodox methods of clearing out his enemies and it only whets your appetite for more. It also gives a solid ending as it leaves Goblin Slayer with something to ponder considering the current situation that he has found himself in, and the current state of the world. As an aside, the animation is bright and colorful for a lot of the scenes, despite the darker themes of its content. There are a lot of cost saving tricks such as limited movement in many scenes, but the aesthetics are unique and that helps set it apart.
Overall, while Goblin Slayer II does not have the same shock factor in its dark fantasy setting as the first season did, it is still a good watch. It focused heavily on the characters this time around with their day to day lives, which while wasn’t bad, kind of does detract from the reason that you’d watch the anime. As a result, we don’t get to see enough of the camaraderie of the party while they’re battling, nor the unexpected but clever fighting methods of Goblin Slayer himself.