I won’t mince words—well, I’ll mince them a little—this is Goblin Slayer at its very best: a quintessential tale of adventure and family, both found and in High Elf Archer’s case, blood. Like a movie in miniature, it’s impeccably structured, starting with the harrowing river ambush by goblins.
Having two civilians around—especially these two—only heightens the danger. And yet while Cow and Guild Girl can only hide under burlap, watch, and try not to freak out, Slayer and his companions have Got This Shit On Lock.
When shit gets real, they’re prepared, their coordinated, and they’re calm. This is what they do for a living. In that regard, Cow and Guild aren’t just traveling with friends to a wedding. They’re experiencing first hand what it’s like to be an adventurer. In effect, it’s a ride-along, only no cops.
Well, at least one of these adventurers, as Slayer, Elf, Priestess, Dwarf, and Lizardman are each extraordinary versions of their archetypes. More than that, they see each other and treat each other as family. Dwarf and Elf do their playful verbal sparing mid-battle.
And each member of the party is crucial for the success: Elf snipes goblins (and heeds Slayer’s suggestion to loosen her arrowheads), Slayer throws and launches his spears (the man is prepared), Dwarf summons Undine to speed their raft and try to lift it over a goblin-built dam.
When he can’t quite get it over, Priestess, who has been shielding everyone from thrown projectiles from above, casts a Purify spell to dissolve the dam. Then Lizardman, who had been steering (someone’s gotta steer) lets out a magical shout that disables all remaining goblins.
With the river cruise returning to its placid state, the party reaches the edge of the forest and make camp for the night. This gives the “lasses”, as Dwarf calls them, the chance to don the swimsuits they bought in the capital and play in the water and fish. Elf, Cow, Guild, and Priestess all get complimented on how lovely they look, and you can almost see Slayer blush through his face guard.
Fanservice quota aside, this is another quintessential adventurer experience: the downtime. While the ladies swim and chat, Dwarf and Lizardman ask Slayer if he’s okay with them being so carefree. Slayer wants Elf to be able to relax as she nears her home. His buds recognize Slayer for who he is: someone a lot kinder and cuddlier than his scary armor suggests.
Even Slayer can cut back a little because they’re now in the land of the elves. That night, the group sits around a fire and tuck into the fish the ladies (mostly Elf and Priestess) caught. Elf opens up about elf courtship, her big sister, her soon-to-be brother-in-law. She regales them with how he was singing about his heroic exploits she stopped and corrected him.
Hearing about Elf’s home warms Slayer’s heart. Even if you can’t see his expression, the heat of the fire in front of him mixed with the lingering warmth of the sunset behind him tell the tale of his feelings. He says her homeland sounds nice, and Elf says “Well, yeah. That’s where my heart is.” Such a simple statement, but delivered with such vulnerable grace by Touyama Nao it actually brought a tear to my eye.
When dawn arrives, Slayer is the first one awake … assuming he even went to sleep, which is doubtful. Such is his status as an incurable worrywart. But he’s not nearly quick enough to notice when an elven warrior suddenly confronts him at swordpoint. Of course, this is Elf’s brother-to-be.
When he learns she’s traveling with these adventurers, he hastens to her tent to confirm she’s there, and gets rightfully screamed at by all four girls in their nighties. I loved that little delay between them all waking up and realizing a guy was in there. Also, now we know Elf is the (or a) Daughter of Starwind.
We learn Slayer was vigilant because he sensed goblins. But unlike him, the elves aren’t too bothered by them. As Guild Girl explains, elves are old enough to remember the battle of the gods, which involved evil spirits, dragons, dark gods, demon lords, and most upsetting of all … polka enthusiasts.
When they arrive at High Elf Archer’s hometown, composer Suehiro Kenichiro adds the appropriate atmosphere and gravitas with an elvish theme dense with flutes and winds, soft drums, and ethereal chimes. The massive treehouses and sprawling network of bridges remind me of those cool fantasy binders from school … and van murals.
But even more splendid than the strange yet welcoming new environs is Elf’s pent-up excitement finally bursting. She’s just so damn happy to show everyone her home. It’s clear she’s proud of it, and cares about everyone enough to want them to enjoy it as well.
She’s in such a playful mood, in fact, that while she’s unpacking, she leaves a bra out so she can mess around with the stone bolos Slayer is working on (yes even here where no goblin could ever be, he prepares). Suddenly, her sister pops in, asking what the bra’s about.
Slayer’s reputation precedes him in song, but he simply tells Elf’s sister that “Songs are songs, I’m just me,” which may be my new favorite Slayerism. Their introduction is interrupted by the appearance of a girl, but not just any girl: the girl they rescued from the ogre.
While Slayer is clueless about a great many things, and that’s often the source of comedy, when it comes to sensing when people have suffered as he suffered and knowing how best to comfort them, there are few more shrewd . Case in point: he knows immediately who the girl is and why she’s there, and knows exactly what to say: That they’re all dead; he killed them all. She can rest easy now. She’s going to be okay.
Elf explains this to her sister, and says their entire party aided in her rescue. Adventuring is Elf’s way of proving what she can do once in a while, but her sister asks if it may not be time for Kuchukahatari, which I assume to mean hanging up her bow and returning home to start a family, as her sister is doing.
Elf’s sister also demonstrates their people’s distrust of other races, especially dwarves, but for all of their bickering, Elf and Dwarf are the best of friends, bucking the trend of their races. Her sister can also tell a big part of why her sister still adventures is to be near him.
When asked what her deal is, Elf says she doesn’t really know, but she can’t really leave him alone and he never bores her. That should be enough for now. It’s such a lovely, subtle way of saying she loves the guy without saying it. And when her sister reminds her that she’ll eventually outlive him, Elf says “we all just have one life,” which is to say, it’s best spent with someone you love.
Their superb sisters heart-to-heart, which elevates Elf to Best Girl Status over Cow Girl for at least this week, is suddenly interrupted by an unsettling blast that shakes the entire forest. Elf senses something is wrong, reaches for her bow and quiver, realizes they’re not on her, then hears Slayer coming to toss them to her and catching them with a wry smile. They really do make a good team.
Just as it was in the river, they now have to fight whatever’s coming while protecting a civilian. But while I assumed like Slayer that this was some kind of goblin incursion, it turns out to be some kind of giant gray dinosaur thing.
And as the funny cherry on top of an nearly perfect episode of Goblin Slayer, and an example of perfect comic timing, he incorrectly mistakes the dino for an elephant, and an exasperated Elf turns back and exclaim that no, it’s not an elephant. Whatever it is, it’s not going to ruin Elder Sister’s wedding—not if High Elf Archer and Goblin Slayer have anything to say about it.
RABUJOI - An Anime Blog 