12 November 2018: I've started watching the most popular anime in the world: Goblin Slayer!
This is the highlight of Goblin Slayer! thus far.
I watched the first episode of Goblin Slayer! when it first aired, found it to be a straightforward adaptation of the manga (it was toned down a bit, honestly), and decided not to watch more. After all, I had only read about a volume or so of the manga before losing interest. (I've never read any of the original light novel.) Somewhat predictably, that episode's content generated a lot of discussion on the Information Superhighway about Goblin Slayer! and its relative merits (or lack thereof). The reactions I saw on the Twitter, at least, were almost uniformly negative.
She turned me into a newt.
More recently, the Crunchyroll released this map (as it is wont to do), identifying the most popular show in each U.S. state and in each country where the Crunchyroll is available. I am used to seeing these maps every season, but this was the first time I recalled seeing one show completely dominate nearly every territory. I've also heard that the primary reason why Goblin Slayer! did not cover all of Europe as well is because it is not actually available on the Crunchyroll in many (all?) of the European countries where a different show won.
Sometimes goblins needs slaying
In light of this, I decided to resume watching Goblin Slayer!, and quickly caught up with the six episodes that are currently out. These episodes covered the same material I read in the manga, more or less, so there won't be anything new to me until next week or the week after, probably. Frankly, what I've seen so far isn't particularly good. Nevertheless, it's also not particularly bad. At a minimum, it doesn't deserve all of the handwringing and outrage (or the corresponding rebuttals and retorts to this outrage) which followed the first episode and continues to attach itself to the series.
Not a goblin.
Specifically, the "shocking" rape and violence of the first episode has been mostly absent from the subsequent episodes. Besides, I'm not particularly sensitive to such content anyway, and I sort of remember anime (at least what was available in the U.S.) during the VHS days as having plenty of gratuitous rape and gore. That sort of violence was a big component of anime's reputation and stereotypes of the time. I'm not nostalgic for those days; I'm merely pointing out Goblin Slayer! isn't exactly breaking new ground.
This dumb elf has already slung her weapon while there's still a threat in the area.
Honestly, my biggest problems with Goblin Slayer! as a show is that it's mostly just sort of meh. I'm caught up now after undropping it, but I'm not driven by any motivation to continue watching it other than as a matter of general principle. I'm also appalled by the egregious lapses in the force protection measures Goblin Slayer employs to safeguard his current home from the goblin menace. I gotta say, I'm not liking Cow Girl's odds for surviving the series. Really, there are huge problems with the ways communities in Goblin Slayer! defend against the little monsters. Seeing as how literal genocide is presumably not off the table, it seems there are surely more effective means to eliminate these threats. That's probably best a discussion for a later time, though, if at all.
