'Goblin Slayer: Goblin's Crown' Would Have Been Better Off as an OVA Miniseries

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.