Goblin Slayer II - Reviews

If you liked the first season, you will probably not like the second season. Don't believe the numbers, they're bs.

They took all the magic of the first season and ruined it. Why would they think any plot that takes so much focus away from slaying goblins would be interesting? This is just boring. The plot is boring. The animation is worse and the characters feel less dynamic now that they're trying (and failing) to show them in different contexts. The whole show just turned boring and it's so upsetting considering I loved the first season.

The first season of Goblin Slayer was the talk of the town for its edgy content that involved raping monsters and a protagonist who was blinded by his hatred for them. There were lots of discussions about whether the Goblins were born to be evil or if they were raised that way. A lot of people wondered if the protagonist could ever escape this fruitless existence of perpetually killing them, and settle down to have a normal family.

Gradually, the interest went away. Everything that could be discussed was discussed and the show was proven to be very shallow with its subject matter. It never attempted to have monsters that could be redeemed, or the protagonist getting development and growing beyond his hatred for them. It became an unconnected line of stand-alone missions where he and his team fight and kill whatever comes their way, while rescuing as many prisoners as they could.

It did, however, have a complete arc in terms of the protagonist being accepted by the other adventurers as something other than the guy who only kills one type of monster. And he also defeated the highest rank of Goblins, so power-wise there was nothing beyond that. So, what new things could the second season offer that could move the plot beyond its initial premise and completed arc?

The answer is nothing. Nothing new was added. It kept being more stand-alone missions with the exact same characters fighting more low-level monsters. There was nothing new to the flat personality of the protagonist. His platonic romance with the priestess went nowhere as well. The animation was also not as good anymore, and the action toned down considerably. There were, though, missions that fleshed out a few of the secondary characters (especially the elven archer) and new locations were added to the setting. You could say the world became a bit livelier.

But as a whole, these additions were peanuts. The second season felt like a generic fantasy adventure without the shock factor of the first one. There was nothing to look forward to, it became a casual watch at best and a time waster at worst. And the truth is, it never was good to begin with. It was always shallow with its characterization (nobody had names and was an archetypical class) and the battle tactics were usually the protagonist magically having just the thing that can get them out of trouble. It was the initial shock and drama, caused by a lot of viewers who were taken by surprise by the rape and gore scenes, that made it feel like it was better than it actually was. Once the shock factor was gone, everyone got accustomed to its style, and the missions toned down in gore, Goblin Slayer became another average and mostly forgettable show. Fans of fantasy games will appreciate it more, as long as they stop saying nonsense like this is exactly how Dungeons and Dragons is like. For everyone else, he can safely ignore it and look for something with more substance.

after all these years we finally get season 2 only for it to be a massive dissapointment. significantly worse animation, music was great but the characters were 99% the exact same but without hlaf the charm the 1st season had. and the story although intersting was mired by so much garbage cliches and troupes. did it really need a bulldhit harem? or a wannabe beach episode? no and it detracted greatly from what the show is about. there seems to be a really solid story in the background but its kept getting over shadowed by pointless side quests except for one which did make sense to the characters. 

i really hope it gets better if there is a season 3 but if not it would be a sad end

I regretted having seen this 2nd season, apart from the fact that nothing advances in the plot, nor the protagonist's past, nor this famous war that is involving the kingdom, I can say that here everything has worsened with the change of studio, both the animations, that the cruelty of the scenes, the direction and even the characters were so annoying to watch (although a favorable point goes to the priestess who here shows strong growth compared to the first season). This whole season is truly a mess, it doesn't even deserve a proper review, do yourself a favor and don't waste your time with this anime which is now confirmed as trash

The only objectively worse thing is the animation quality.  Every other change to the show is subjective.

Overall, I have really enjoyed the slightly different approach they are taking to the story.  There is a bit less action, but way more character development.  I really enjoy watching the characters grow and become more fleshed out.  However, I do wish there were more cool action scenes like in the first one. 

Short Summary:
At the time of writting, the show has not been fully released yet.  I have watched up to episode 8 out of the 12.  So far, there has been two sub plots; Adventurer Boot Camp and the Elven Kingdom.  I suspect there will be a third sub plot involving the Samurai Character you see in the intro. 

Conclusion:
Besides that, there is not much else to say.  I absolutely loved the first Goblin Slayer Season; have rewatched it several times now.  While I would personally rank the first season above the second one, the second one is by no means bad.  I love both of them.  

(I may or may not update this review when the final episodes have been released. Depends on if I remeber or not.)