Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown is the first feature-length film of the
Goblin Slayer anime. Set some time after the events of the first
season of the anime series, it follows Goblin Slayer and his party as they take
a quest that has been requested by the Sword Maiden. They
head to the cold northern realms, in which they must search for the Noble
Fencer, a young woman who was born in a noble family but had relinquished her
status to become an adventure. Recently, she had led her party to the snowy
mountains to get rid of the goblins there, but a couple of days in, they went
missing. Goblin Slayer’s party succeeds
in finding her – weak and violated, but otherwise alive – and in the process, they learn of an imminent threat present in the area: the Goblin Paladin.
While controversial, Goblin Slayer was an anime I loved when
it debuted and ran a few years ago. I
would even argue that it’s smarter and deeper than many are giving it credit
for. Thus, I liked that it followed the
trend among recent manga/light novel-to-anime series adaptations of turning its next arc into a film instead of a new TV season (other recent examples
of anime that did this are Rascal Dreaming and
KonoSuba). I was hyped for Goblin’s Crown.
As a fan of Goblin Slayer, I had a lot to like about Goblin’s Crown. It was nice
to once gain see Goblin Slayer, Priestess, High Elf Archer, Dwarf Shaman, and
Lizard Priest – an ensemble that I really grew fond of – in action. Their dynamic is quite endearing, and watching them kick goblin butt is as fun
and gratifying as I remembered. And though
it isn’t as thoughtful as the first season when it comes to exploring its dark themes, it actually proves to be pretty clever in aspects of its storytelling. I really like how it brings up details that are seeming trivial during the course of the narrative, but as it turns out, these are actually setting up some relevant payoffs for the future.
On the other hand, I’m also not
fully satisfied with it. It doesn’t feel
like it has a legit cinematic edge. For even
though it has a feature-length running time – 75 minutes – a good part of
its opening 30 minutes are spent on recapping the first season. Thus, there’s barely a runtime left to cover
the main storyline described in the first paragraph. Considering this, Goblin’s Crown doesn’t really deserve to be a theatrically released
film. Being so raises certain
expectations, which it doesn’t really meet.
Therefore, if it’s not actually capable
of using the technical and narrative benefits unique to cinema to tell this
particular Goblin Slayer story, then why opt for this format in the first place? It would have been more appropriate if it was
just included in season 2 or had been told through an OVA mini-series instead.
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