Finder has never given me more pleasure than when I hit “move to trash” on Goblin Slayer.
Goblin Slayer – 01
I put off and put off watching this, kind of figuring I was going to hate it. Guess what, I hated it. It’s a distilled microcosm of every reason why I hate what light novels are doing to anime (and most light novels in general). Some juvenile “author” giving vent to his own Palaeolithic social viewpoints while convincing a bunch of readers he’s “dark” and “serious” by inserting a bunch of guro and rape. I could not possibly pass any harder on this show, but I didn’t skip over it altogether because I want to make absolutely clear how much I detest it.
Gaikotsu Shoten’in Honda-san – 01
Bear in mind, the other show in this post could have been the video of Ronald Reagan’s colonoscopy and it still would have been the best thing in it. But Gaikotsu Shoten’in Honda-san is certainly not without its humorous moments. Though I must say, it doesn’t shy away from the edge of being downright offensive.
First of all… Is anyone going to explain why the MC is a skeleton? Or why all the staff at the bookstore are the menagerie they are? Or why almost all the customers are gaikoukujin? Maybe not – if that’s the case, so be it. Having managed bookstores myself for years, there was a certain appeal for me in this premise. And the general sense of what it’s like to work in a bookshop (i.e. the barely controlled chaos) is right on the money. Mind you, no bookshop I worked at was anything like this in terms of the specifics but some things are universal.
Still, all those gaijin stereotypes were pushing the envelope pretty hard. And while I’m no fuj**hi, that portrayal wasn’t exactly flattering either. But both did make me laugh, I admit. I mean, I’ve seen that look of panic on a clerk’s face many times (though they were always covered in skin). And Friday at Comiket is always an interesting experience.
I would have to guess it’s pretty unlikely I’ll cover Gaikotsu Shoten’in Honda-san, but I could see myself watching a few more episodes to see if it tones down the racial stereotyping and plays up the workplace comedy. And explains what the fuck is going on.
guile
October 8, 2018 at 12:27 pmthe darkest manga I’ve ever read was Monster, and regardless of the darkness intensity it was quite tasteful and enjoyable
Guardian Enzo
October 8, 2018 at 12:35 pmI’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you aren’t equating Monster with this pile. But there’s a difference between genuine darkness and puerile literary masturbation, which I think is the most salient point.
Simone
October 8, 2018 at 5:58 pmTold ya you wouldn’t like Goblin Slayer. I read through a bit of the manga before tossing it aside because not only it’s juvenile – it quickly gets pretty dull. There’s literally no story except “monomaniac obsessed guy kills hordes of brainless mooks”. That’s not the most exciting of conflicts.
Guardian Enzo
October 8, 2018 at 6:29 pmLesson learned. I just wanted to be sure – maybe I was just being masochistic.
Arabesque
October 9, 2018 at 6:05 pmRandom musings: In the same manner that we are seeing non-Japanese creators in the Western Hemisphere take elements from anime and rework them as inspirations or ground work for their own stories (a la Stephen Universe, Under Tale, Avatar and this seasons Radiant) we are seeing the opposite happening as more Japanese authors who got their start from web novels work in what they loved in non-Japanese fiction and games into Japanese stories, typically from tabletop/D&D and games (Overlord, Re;Monster, Chaos Dragon, Goblin Slayer, and a plethora of LNs and WNs). On the one hand, I should be happy to see this cultural exchange of ideas happening as the new guard of creative minds take to the field, but I can’t help but see a lot of distasteful elements always making them into the Japanese side of the equation.
As someone who keeps up with the English release of the LNs, and is up to date with the Goblin Slayer manga, and can say some good things about its later portions of its story, I don’t have much nice things to say about how the series starts off. It is pretty gross at worst and juvenile at best. An attempt at “dark”, “adult”, “mature”, “extreme” introduction that is meant to tell me that this ain’t my dads D&D campaign. I do appreciate that the anime direction attempts to not linger on the goblin rape, but there is only so much lipstick you can add on this pig to hide what it is.
I can say that, at least, the direction that the story take does make it better (not hard when it starts off at a near rock bottom) and that goes back to the authors own passion in regards to D&D and tabletop games. He says so himself in the volume 1 afterward about how he had played tabletop games for a near decade, had written a story that is based on and takes ques and inspirations from D&D, and is going to continue playing them for the foreseeable future. That passion does come through once the series stops fetishising about raping goblins and more on the group dynamic and it being a D&D adventure. Sort of a discount Order of the Stick, but not as good or clever., but still charming in its own way.
I do wish it started off being that, but I suppose this is the pitfalls of a series having its genesis from a shitpost on an online message board.
Ansgar
October 9, 2018 at 10:46 pmI can’t blame you for hating Goblin Slayer. It really starts rock bottom with a fetish for rape and a juvenile take on dark stories.
I got through that because a friend insisted it got better. And yeah. It did. For someone like me who has played TTRPG for more than a decade the later part has a charm. It has an obvious D&D influence.
But… you still have to pass through that first part. And I don’t think it’s wort it because the end its not a masterpiece. It’s just a D&D adventure with a goofy party and nice interactions.
Guardian Enzo
October 9, 2018 at 11:00 pmHey, I played D&D too, pretty seriously in my middle school days. But I don’t feel like subjecting myself to GS, based on the premiere. Just not worth it.
Ansgar
October 10, 2018 at 7:35 amLike I said. As someone who subjected himself through that, it’s not worth it.
It’s not like the later parts are amazing. Just enjoyable.
Matti
October 10, 2018 at 2:05 amFelt the same after the first couple of manga chapters, but it was manga (an easier to consume format) so I simply stuck with it, and it got a bit better. Not A class by any means, but good enough to be a guilty pleasure of sorts. Then I gave the LN a shot. Subject matter aside, it’s genuinely well written (or maybe just well translated/edited?) compared to other translated LNs I’ve sampled. Guess I’ll be following the anime for now. Definitely not the best thing ever, but hey, it did mildly entertain me, which is something that mecha anime you claimed was written by Jesus last season couldn’t do.
Bob
October 10, 2018 at 2:11 pmSo now that you have a free spot so to speak, any plans of checking out Thunderbolt Fantasy? It was one of the top anime of its season, and so far season 2 looks like the same high-quality irrepressibly fun and engaging show that season 1 was. Also, it’s puppet wuxia, its very existence is a boon to anime.
Guardian Enzo
October 10, 2018 at 3:19 pmI did try and latch on to the first season but It absolutely flat-out did not work for me. Not even a little, and I gave it a fair bit of time. Maybe I’m not sophisticated enough to appreciate the art form but the whole thing just didn’t work.
Bob
October 11, 2018 at 1:32 amThat’s a real pity, but to each their own.
A.Sade
October 11, 2018 at 2:58 amIf we’re talking about a slot for another anime, I just wanted to say that I learned about Modaozushi from a comment here, and the first cour was just completed. Personally I feel it was not as strong in the middle as it was in the beginning, but the ending was pretty damn epic.