Goblin Slayer II – 10 – The Princess and the Priestess

The Princess of the Holy Capital yearns to leave the confining palace and go on an adventure like her brother. When he returns from an adventure of his own, she decides she’ll make her move and sneak out. Since we know what happens to naive folks who rush headlong into adventures, this probably won’t end well for her.

She sneaks out the same day Goblin Slayer and his party arrive, and Sword Maiden enthusiastically offers her Temple for their accommodations. She’s also delighted to escort Slayer to the library, but Dwarf Shaman insists they have a meal first. As Slayer, Dwarf and Lizard eat, Slayer shares with them some Big Questions.

He admits he had fun with the sea battle and the escort mission, but wonders if he’s neglecting who he fundamentally is: a goblin slayer. Dwarf assures him that just as steel must go though balance cycles of heat, striking, and cold, so to must people. Lizard adds that most people don’t have a firm calling, but it is perfectly okay to simply live and die while worrying and hesitating.

Priestess pays a visit to the Wizard’s grave, admitting to Archer that she wasn’t with her long enough to know her too well. When Archer sees Priestess is acting so serious for one so young, she takes her by the hand to do the opposite of serious. More specifically, they head to the capital’s lavish bathhouse.

Whlie there, Archer notes that Priestess is still wearing chainmail, which holds a great deal of sentimental value (as Slayer complimented her in it). Priestess also notices a female soldier seemingly watching her, but doesn’t let it keep her and Archer from having fun bathing together.

When Archer runs off stark naked to the saunas, a blonde, blue-eyed girl joins Preistess in the bath, and has a lot of questions about her adventuring and in particular the equipment she uses. Priestess can tell this girl is curious, but delivers a warning about being prepared that perhaps isn’t stern enough.

Priestess returns to the changing room to find her robes, chainmail, and staff are gone. In its place she finds the clothes of the soldier, who left the Priestess’ money pouch. When next we see Priestess she’s wearing the soldier’s clothes, and I thought for sure that Slayer would compliment her anew, since she looks very cool.

Alas, Slayer is holed up in his room sharpening a blade. The Sword Maiden pays him a visit with a book for him to study, telling him he can’t let girls cry as Priestess is crying; they typically want comfort from someone close. Slayer acknowledges this, and as Maiden turns to leave, says “Things end up lost,” then mentions specifically his father’s dagger he was meant to inherit, but ended up lost.

Sword Maiden says she’ll bring it up at the royal counsel at the palace the next day. His Majesty holds court as his advisors report on the “flaming stone from the heavens”, the possibility of having to summon the Hero and her party, and a strange new religion worshipping the “God of Wisdom.”

When it’s Maiden’s turn to speak, she gives some general big-picture report on the state of the world, but then gets extremely granular in reporting the theft of Priestess’ clothes and staff at the bathhouse, then declaring her believe that all goblins should be destroyed, creating some sweat beads on her colleagues’ faces.

Her mention of the theft connects to an urgent report given by a messenger of a young woman in holy robes being given a ride on a merchant’s wagon, only to be attacked by goblins. The merchant got away in order to get help, but the girl was taken by the goblins … and that girl is none other than His Majesty’s little sister, the Princess.

Needless to say, this is very bad for the Princess. She’s lucky she wasn’t assaulted on the spot, but there’s no chance in hell she’ll come out of this entirely unscathed either physically or mentally; not with what looks like a high-ranked goblin pope-looking mfer in charge.

His Majesty is loath to send his army out there, as the scandal of the princess stealing a priestess’ robes and getting captured by goblins will hurt the kingdom’s standing. He and the other advisors turn to the Sword Maiden to take care of this matter, as she is both capable and trustworthy.

The mere mention of having to deal with goblins absolutely petrifies the poor Sword Maiden, so it’s a good thing Slayer and his party are right outside the meeting room, heard everything, and are ready, willing, and eager to go. Time for Goblin Slayer to get back to doing what’s on the tin.

Divine Gate – 03

As Arthur summons Oz (that’s right: the Wizard of Oz…oh my) along with Loki, not necessarily for their aid but to at least bear witness to the impending discovery of the Divine Gate, the show takes a closer look at the cheerful, energetic Midori, who not surprisingly is dealing with demons just like Aoto, which affects her focus and performance in a sparring exercise, and may prove more of a crippling liability as the quest to find the gate heats up.

We haven’t even been formally introduced to three of the six kids in the core group, but as Akane talks with them, one makes clear that Midori’s intense belief in the Gate, or something related to it, could be hampering her development, like an anchor holding back a boat (not the most flattering metaphor, I’ll admit).

As Aoto is initiated into the academy, he still declines warm food and has trouble putting into words why exactly he’s there (as opposed to how he came to be there). But it’s a brief outburst by Midori about “being number one” that shifts Akane’s attention to her later.

Midori decides to open up Akane, telling him about her friendship with Elena, someone who only wanted one friend: her. When Midori, a far more outgoing girl, inevitably made other friends at school, it poisoned the bond between them, culminating in an ultimatum from Elena that Midori simply could not accept. This was a decent, no-nonsense execution of the Obsessive Friend theme.

Midori fails to make up with Elena, who rather than attend the summer festival as they always do, heads off to find the Divine Gate on her own. Once Midori hears of a girl disappearing in the mountains, she rushes to a police-filled scene, and actually sees the massive gate looming over the mountain.

Ever since that strange, vivid experience, Midori has not only believed in the gate, but believed Elena was already there, waiting for her. She wants Elena to still be alive, but she also wants to repair the bond she broke by rejecting her ultimatum (which wasn’t an unreasonable move, but obviously came at a stiff price).

Aoto hears a little of the story, and it probably shows him that he’s not the only one with issues, but unlike her, he’s also got a little boy in his head telling him how messed up he is all the time. Akane and Midori can see him talking to someone they can’t see, and it worries Midori.

She does some digging online (on a computer with a keyboard that seems way too loud and disruptive for a library), but as soon as she accesses Aoto’s files, a red “Restricted Access” wall goes up, stopping her in her tracks and making her and Akane wonder what the heck Aoto did, or what was done to him.

Another episode that efficiently fleshes out one more character, Midori, without solving all her problems, but making us understand her better. I imagine the show will eventually do this with Akane and the other three prominent kids in the group, parallel to Arthur and the Round Table’s more abstract machinations.

However, I won’t be around to see it, because the mystery of the gate just isn’t doing anything for me, and there’s no indication the revelations (if they ever come, as we’re likely to be strung along for some time beforehand) will be any less half-baked than the characterization of iconic characters like Loki and Oz. So I’m making a discreet exit now; no hard feelings.

Nobunaga the Fool – 11

The Death card: we knew it had to be drawn at some point, and we knew it would mean big changes; it rarely represents a literal, physical death. After last week’s humiliation, Caesar’s anger and desire to put Nobu in his place are great. He stops sitting on his hands and brings all of his power to bear on Owari.

Beset on all sides by attackers, it’s a destroy-the-head-and-the-body-will-die strategy, with Nobu, Ranmaru and Hideyoshi having to work together with Himiko in the sky to negate Caesar’s big attack and take him out. Everything hinges on a smooth execution, and it seems like they’re well under way to that.

Then, out of the blue, Caesar refuses to accept defeat and asks for more power, and the Star of the East grants it to him. He unleashes a new, more powerful weapon that puts Nobu & Co.’s backs against the crumbling walls of Owari. Ranmaru deflects the attack, but right into the evacuee settlement, killing a great deal of the Oda clan’s people.

This is obviously a setback, nay, a huge catastrophe, but as we’re nearly to The Fool’s halfway point, it wasn’t unexpected. Seemingly no one near the guy should expect an easy (or long) life. But when Caesar halts his attack and asks Oda to surrender, Oda doesn’t sweat the massive civilian casualties, as Jeanne does. Instead, he invites Caesar to a tea party to settle the score.

Rating:7 (Very Good)

Nobunaga the Fool – 10

In response to the Shingen-Uesugi alliance, the Oda clan has been forging alliances of its own with neighboring clans and amassing an ever larger opposing force. This is actually what Uesugi wanted all along, since he/she is kinda insane and think a war’s worth having unless it’s as big and violent as it can possibly be.

The consequences of such a cruel, overindulgent way of thinking will be hardest felt by the masses of peasants living under the lords, as it always is. Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s family suffered due to the costs of war the Oda waged years before, and starvation claimed his little sister. Learning Nobu’s clan is responsible for that makes us (along with Ranmaru) see Hideyoshi in a whole new light.

Meanwhile, the Knights of the Round Table, old softies that they are, decide to reward Caesar’s continued failures with delivery of new sets of giant war armor at Takamagahara, a base high in the clouds where trade between East and West takes place. When Mitsu learns about this, he and da Vinci devise a bold plan to steal the armor, employing infiltration, decoys, sabotage, electronic warfare, swordplay, and archery, and Caesar fails again.

Virtually everyone lends a hand in the elaborate operation, and it’s all very entertaining, if tactically silly (par for the course with this show). Hideyoshi is paired with Ranmaru, he confides in him/her (rather out of the blue) that he’ll kill Nobu himself if he shows weakness. Nobu saves Hideyoshi’s life even knowing this possibility, probably because if he ever was truly weak, he thinks he’d deserve the cutting down Hideyoshi promises.

Yes, when you’re Oda Nobunaga, your even your friends threaten to kill you to keep you on your toes!

Rating:7 (Very Good)