Goblin Slayer stands as the most polarizing of this season’s simulcast anime offerings. From the first episode, the show has generated contentious opinions about the direction, framing, and use of loaded subject matter (Warning: The following will include discussion of sexual assault). The uproar around the graphic nature of White Fox’s adaptation of Kumo Kagyu’s light novel series caught Crunchyroll by surprise. The streaming service rapidly issued an apology and put a content warning on the first episode and all subsequent episodes of the show. What exactly drew so much attention to this seemingly traditional fantasy anime?

Goblin Slayer began as a series of light novels (although the core of the story may originate from fanfiction boards) published online by author Kumo Kagyu beginning in early 2016. Since then, eight such novels have been released in Japan, five of which have official English translations. The series proved to be so popular that Kagyu penned a spin-off prequel titled Goblin Slayer: Year One. A second spin-off novel received a serialized release consisting of nine chapters across issues of Gangan GA online. Kosuke Kurose has been adapting the light novels into manga form since mid-2016. An effort by Kento Eida to adapt Year One began this past September.

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That brings us to the anime adaptation that launched at the beginning of October. With a crisp style and an eye-catching title, Goblin Slayer brought in many viewers looking for a new action series. Though Goblin Slayer had gained popularity in Japan, many in the west had never heard of the dark fantasy saga.

Goblin Slayer's Shocking First Episode Explained

And Goblin Slayer is certainly dark, despite a visual style that can at times appear indistinguishable from a more lighthearted shonen series like That Time I Was Reincarnated as a SlimeGoblin Slayer tells the story of a man who made it his life’s mission to destroy all goblins. It’s a brutal show where the careless and the innocent have their bodies ripped apart on screen. Monsters go well beyond what a typical viewer might expect with their heinous attacks.

The series strives to put the viewer in the headspace of its protagonist, the titular Goblin Slayer. The first few episodes outline his hatred of the goblins and the detachment he feels from those around him. None of the characters even have names; the audience merely knows their titles or roles.

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To get the viewers into the mindset of abhorring goblins, Goblin Slayer builds a fantasy world based on the idea that there’s a race of monsters out there waiting to rape anyone they come across. And that's not hyperbole; in the fiction of Goblin Slayer, that’s exactly how goblins reproduce. That brutality, very candidly shown on screen, caused an uproar.

The first episode of Goblin Slayer focuses on a 15-year-old priestess joining her first adventuring party, a group of three similarly inexperienced, but spirited youngsters - a collection of personalities that a typical shonen might spend an entire season exploring. By the 6 minute mark, things go horribly awry. Members of the group suffer horrific stab wounds, and die to swarming goblins with clubs and arrows and knives. Then comes the scene of goblins ripping the clothing off one of the party members before they begin to rape her.

It’s not quite pornographic, but the audience sees and hears the motions. The scene nearly repeats itself with the priestess and her last remaining companion, until the Goblin Slayer makes his first appearance, interrupting the deed. The armored adventurer kills the goblins only to inform the surviving priestess that her wounded companion can't be saved from the poison slowly pumping through her veins. Our protagonist then mercy kills her as she begs for death. The rest of the episode consists of the duo traveling through the cavern system; they discover the severed limbs of her companions, rescue a number of rape victims, and finally Goblin Slayer bashes a handful of goblin children to death.

Page 2: Goblin Slayer's Backlash (& Its Defenses)

The Goblin Slayer Backlash (& Defenses)

From that brief description, it should be easy to identify the source of at least some of the backlash directed toward Goblin Slayer, especially when those unfamiliar with the light novels or manga might have mistaken it for a friendlier program. Many viewers, even those more accustomed to dark scenes of sexual assault in anime series like Berserk, found this depiction to be overly cruel, a shock with little forewarning for those unfamiliar with the property, and remarkably tone-deaf. 20-30 minute length breakdowns of the episode itself and the series as a whole began appearing on YouTube, notably T B Skyen’s “You shouldn’t watch Goblin Slayer” and “So, About Goblin Slayer” by Mother’s Basement.

The most thoughtful critiques of Goblin Slayer focused on the sexualization of female characters for fan service. That predilection on its own wouldn’t raise many eyebrows (though perhaps a few tired sighs). Unfortunately, the show continues to use that sexualized framework for the women throughout the depictions of sexual assault and rape. Goblins leer at the disrobed and contorted women - with the expectation that the audience will do the same. Goblin Slayer communicates this expectation by the posing of the characters, the length of time spent lingering on their forms, and the way it tries to titillate with near nudity. The show uses a character peeing themselves in terror as an excuse to show a shot of their panties.

Of course, the counterargument sidesteps the issue of framing entirely to focus on the narrative intent of the scene and the first episode in general. The goblins need to present a truly monstrous and evil threat, one so traumatic that both the protagonist and the audience will totally support the slaughter of goblins. This is a world where heroes go off to kill dragons and laugh about fighting demons. Goblins exist as an overlooked and uncared for problem. They remain as an existential threat for the common folk long after heroes leave for bigger and badder monsters. The rape and sexual assaults serve to hammer home the message that abuse happens when no one is looking in the world of Goblin Slayer.

That isn’t to say that the argument works 100%; it just makes the decision to include such a scene an understandable one. The execution of the scene and the silent expectation that viewers would find it perversely titillating muddles its narrative intent. With that in mind, it frames the remaining episodes whenever a woman appears on screen. We know how the goblins view women and the show seems to revel in that view by presenting overly sexualized characters.

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That's not to say that the show constantly fetishizes the sexual assaults. It doesn’t. However, that sexual violence remains around the edges of the show even baked into the Goblin Slayer’s origin story. It no longer has to appear on screen, the implication simply lingers.

Should You Watch Goblin Slayer?

The sensitive topic of sexual assault remains one of the most difficult subjects for anime (or any medium) to tackle. When handled wrong, like with Sword Art Online, it can sour an audience very quickly. Goblin Slayer handled the topic so poorly that it spawned a flurry of people declaring that no one should watch the series.

A major part of the bungle stems from hardly dealing with the sensitive subjects it uses. The loaded topics of rape and sexual assault were used as narrative shortcuts to get viewers to hate goblins. Instead of taking time to consider those horrors, Goblin Slayer took the opportunity to show boobs, sneak panty shots, and imply penetration. The showrunners chose to include sexual assault as a crucial part of Goblin Slayer’s narrative fabric. Then they opted to never really grapple with what that meant.

There’s plenty to like about the show that defenders will happily point out; the enigmatic Goblin Slayer himself seems to standout for most viewers along with the imaginative action set pieces. However, for many, the mishandling of one of the series' core issues has earned it an enduring black mark. It could take a while for Goblin Slayer to win back those driven away by that first episode.

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So, if you see people saying things along the lines of, “don’t watch Goblin Slayer,” now you know why. The treatment of sexual violence rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. This led to situations where viewers either stuck with the show or abandoned ship after the first episode. Overall, Goblin Slayer isn’t a must-see masterpiece, but it does have some really compelling moments. If the description of the first episode sounded like it was too much, then feel completely comfortable moving on. For those on the fence, your reaction to the first ten minutes will tell you all you need to know.

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