(CR) Goblin Slayer 2

[Random14]

The elves' view of time really is crazy, but that's a very long-lived race for you, centuries are nothing to them. Although not sure even that long will help with trauma but Goblin Slayer's good at reassuring survivors.

Its nice to see they're actually pretty personable, with seeing how High Elf Archer acted around her cousin and sister. Even with the goblin attack earlier this has been a pretty nice vacation for all of them. Though of course things can't stay quiet, but also works as an opportunity for more Goblin Slayer misunderstandings.

[AC-Phoenix]

I didn't expect them to go so stereotypical uppity with HEA's family.

What she says "You are a dashing hero"
What she thinks: "Who is this Hoboadventurerer reeking of goblin blood?! I want my dreams of a dashing hero back. Curse you, little sis!"
And of course the remark about Lizard Priest and Dwarf...

Well to be fair, Dwarven Shaman is rare...

[Twi]

HEA is one of the few elves who breaks that stuffy notion, which is why she and Dwarf Shaman get along relatively well. When they first met, he thought she'd be too high and mighty, so her getting into a bar brawl surprised him. The Lizardmen are held in slightly higher regard and are considered the child of nagas by the Elves, especially since they've got some overlap in religious beliefs (Dwarf Shaman calls them basically Jungle Cousins of Elves).

And that bard has been making bank off GS' name with how far its spread.

[Guido]

Even seemingly light episode actually do feature goblins in some way or another.

Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest noted that the goblins were unconveniently getting smarter as of late which Goblin Slayer conceded. The critters seemed were particularly interested to the stone tablets which could signal they deliberately raided the monastery to get their hands on the tablets while the nuns were collateral bonus for them.

Now, further into the episode, Sword Maiden observed the tablets mentioned ancient magic and no indication at all on goblins, which obviously made Goblin Slayer closed the case. Nevertheless, I could nott stop pondering if the goblins were under instructions of a higher intelligent being to have the goblins secured the tablets and delivered them at some unknown nations.

Perhaps, I'm overthinking too much and should not given that High Elf Archer's older sister is marrying, and she brought all her party mates along with Guild Girl and Cow Girl to the event.

Still, Goblins once more caused mayhem and trouble as the party were attempting to cross the river bank.

[blitz1/2]

i forgot when the elf girl was rescued. Remind me again.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by blitz1/2

i forgot when the elf girl was rescued. Remind me again.

When they cleared elven fortress from goblins in S1.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

When they cleared elven fortress from goblins in S1.

No, the Elven Fortress was the one GS burned down with the dead women inside of it in the 2nd Episode.

It was the ancient ruins that had been occupied by Goblins and the Ogre where they first teamed up and GS used the Gate Scroll. She was a scout who got captured and found in the refuse area, where she asked him to kill the Goblin hiding near her and Priestess was afraid he was about to perform a mercy kill. They had Lizard Priest create a Bone Warrior with a note to run her back to the closest encampment after some light healing to keep her alive.

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

What the Priestess did was "purification" of water by removing trash from it. While it can be used creativelly it still have to mantain concept of purification and also have to be approved by her Godess. So if deity decide that it's note close enough, she can just drop ban hammer on Priestess and miracle may not happen at all.

I think the presence of the bones are what sealed the deal.

[Kanon]

What was it about the corpses that made Priestess and High Elf Archer so sick? They've been hunting goblins for over a year now, so I would think they're used to their usual atrocities and I'm assuming what they did there was much worse than usual.

[GDB]

Curious myself. Almost looked like the corpses were completely mutilated rather than the normal just beaten/broken/raped that they usually see?

[Twi]

Originally Posted by GDB

Curious myself. Almost looked like the corpses were completely mutilated rather than the normal just beaten/broken/raped that they usually see?

Because of the environment and the state of the bodies. I mentioned before that one of the interludes was cut and showed a woman literally being staked while alive and in the chapters related to this one they go into details about how the bugs and rot had set in, with the insects eating at them while the gas from their juices and humidity deformed them to barely resemble humanoids and they couldn't even determine her race. The fact that Priestess smelled something sweet and thought that flowers were blooming until she came into view and realized it was the stink of rotting bodies set her off.

The Goblins also got away with hiding for so long because the territory belonged to the dinosaur and the Elves don't go near it.

Anyway, review done and content below:

Spoiler:

This episode starts around the end of Volume 7, Chapter 3, and goes to part of Chapter 6 of the Volume:

1. Another name for the dinosaur is the Lernaean Hydra, just one that’s so young that it hasn’t gotten more heads.
2. Lizard Priest is in awe of the dinosaur and wants to feast upon an ancestor of the Great Naga, to which HEA has to remind him not to because they don’t want to seriously hurt it. To him it was a half-beast, half-divine creature said to accompany the rainbows.
3. There was also more than one goblin riding on the thing, with their job being to drive it mad so it would charge into the village.
4. Lizard Priest using Dragon’s Roar was to buy them time to act, basically issuing it a challenge with him thinking it’d be a great way to die if that happened. It then prepared to stomp on him when Stupor came into effect and left it unable to think clearly before GS blinded it.
5. The ropes that GS used were actually a gaggle of leather straps made into a net, which would become tighter and more trapped on the surroundings the more it struggled until it fell over. He had prepared it earlier since he had heard of Elephants from HEA and figured they might run into something like that.
6. The reason it calmed down when Priestess started to heal it was because it was more god than beast and felt the divine will in her miracle.
7. That messenger bird was meant to go to the Elder Council but landed close to her, so when she released it the bird went to deliver the message.
8. The reason HEA’s sister got out of the meeting was because she was too young, as seniority was immutable and she was too young to be allowed to speak. Keep in mind she’s older than HEA, so that’s saying something about how old the Elders are.
9. Sword Maiden is technically blind, but she can feel the subtle differences in the texture of paper and ink to decipher letters.
10. Shining Helm is classed as a Ranger and Tracker, who has an affinity with the Sylphs due to being an Elf.
11. The Elixir is a secret remedy passed down among the elves, said to be made with a combination of herbs, tree sap, fruit juices, and a ritual to the spirits. its top is sealed with a Kingsfoil leaf, so it can only be drunk once.
12. The first corpse on a pike they came across was a woman who had been pierced from between her legs to out her mouth, her body left to rot and the inner fluids bloating until she barely resembled a human anymore. The mutilation was so bad from the bugs and goblins they weren’t sure what race she was.
13. What finally caused Priestess to puke was that the sweet smell she had been smelling earlier and thought were flowers was the stink of the rotting corpses. Even after a year-and-a-half of this she just couldn’t stand that.
14. Dwarf Shaman used a Kindle spell to create a mist around them by evaporating the water in the air.
15. Priestess and HEA had to be covered in Goblin guts again since they didn’t bring their perfume packets.
16. When Dwarf Shaman mentioned fire can’t be used that close to the fort, it was because of a fire prevention ward that needed a special spell from Elves to get around.
17. HEA learned how to pick locks largely to amuse herself, but it turned out to be convenient. Dwarf Shaman then oiled the door hinges so they weren’t given away when they opened it.
18. The reason they headed down was because Priestess heard a voice, which caused HEA to focus on it and they picked it up along with some goblins. She then had a flashback to her first adventure, the captured elf from the first mission as a team, and the skewered women, leaving her to become unsteady. They killed the Goblins along the way and kicked them down into the hole at the bottom while under Silence.
19. By the time they reached the bottom, the voice had stopped and they realized they were too late. GS then borrowed everyone’s socks and used them with glue and rocks to throw them at the goblins, using their panicking as a distraction to get the drop before they could sound an alarm whistle.
20. The device was a millstone that was being used to apply pressure to whatever was inside of it by turning a handle. The victim was a female adventurer whose hands and legs were twitching from the last vestiges of life. Her body was in such a state only GS and Lizard Priest were able to tolerate it.
21. In the case of Lizard Priest, it was because he kills as a vocation they consider it a proper custom to split open the guts of a superlative warrior and eat their hearts.

[grecefar]

I guess for them even after a year is not enough to get use to see something like that and the puke I imagine it was more because the smell.

They aren't like goblin slayer that he is too use to it and he is messed up in the head.

[frubam]

Well, guess I see where the budget went ... maybe the director or producer really likes HEA, cause it really felt like they were pushing the GS/HEA narrative quite a bit this episode, and it is the best animated episode by a long shot of the 2nd season(i.e. it is well animated because of the HEA focus). Yeah, GS also passively implied that he might want to start a family, after his sister wasn't able to do so, and Cow Girl is obviously the one who he would be with, but affections of all kinds are always appreciated, and I like the relationship HEA and GS have. All the more appreciate that she realizes whatever feelings she has, that they will be fleeting in the lifespan of an elf, but will embrace those feelings until that time. I would say that all that stuff seemed death flag-ish for HEA, but no way they'd have the balls to off her(though there IS the elixir, so she might have a close call)

[AnimeFan188]

Spoiler:

Interesting that the dinosaur was called "Mokele Mubenbe". I wasn't expecting
the African legend to show up in this anime:

"Deep within the dense jungles of Central Africa, Mokele-Mbembe has intrigued
cryptozoologists and adventure seekers alike. Like the Loch Ness monster and other
famous cryptids, the beast has made appearances in various forms of pop culture, from
books and films to video games.

It often serves as an inspiration for fictional creatures and mysterious beasts in
adventure and fantasy storytelling. Its depiction ranges from a fearsome, prehistoric
creature that could easily fit within the fictional lost world of "Jurassic Park" to a
misunderstood guardian of hidden realms, adding an element of intrigue and wonder to
popular narratives."

See:

https://science.howstuffworks.com/sc...ele-mbembe.htm

[AC-Phoenix]

Is it just me or did the visuals suggest that HEA's sister was talking about a long dead close human friend or even a spouse when she talked to HEA about lifespans?

[GDB]

I just assumed it was a LotR reference, since it's basically the same thing that Elrond constantly said to Arwen due to her falling in love with Aragorn.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by GDB

I just assumed it was a LotR reference, since it's basically the same thing that Elrond constantly said to Arwen due to her falling in love with Aragorn.

Dunno, her expression in the anime looked kinda pained. but since characters don't even have names we will probably never find out.


---
That aside: I think they overdid it a bit with elven lifespawns... 2000 being upper average would have been more than enough.

[Guido]

I suspected and was proven right that the Mokele Mbembe's rampage from last episode was due to Goblins being the culprits involved, though I imagined different circumstances back then.

In addition, the episode suggested that something dark and malevolent has begun to stir deep into the darkness that lies beyond the Elve's forest which could explain the Goblins moving into that area and nesting close to High Elf Archer's homeland. It is as if whatever dark forces are inducing the Goblins to grow bold and daring, and the critters bloodlust has been stirred into a frenzy rampage.

I mean the way how they tortured and slaughtered all those victims to have their corpses displayed upstream in the river became too much for our heroes to call it an average act of typical Goblin wickedness. Priest girl is again having her emotional scars abruptly opened, as the death is quickly taking a toll in her mental sanity. And, I cannot blame her at how cancerous goblins become once nesting into a place they take a liking to, and the place our heroes infiltrated the fortress just gives bad omens taking into account that all the killings the Goblins made was to pollute the river downstream in order to cast a curse on the Elves.

The critters aren't sophisticated, but they learn their homework in order to earn methods that would help them to kill, ravage, and destroy their enemies.

[scififan]

The party almost got wiped out by the goblin shaman's curse spell. In her desperation, the priest uses the purifying spell to knock out goblin. She is crying. Maybe using healing magic to kill is a forbidden by her deity. Maybe there is other explanation. The story is hard to follow. Meanwhile, Yuusha and her friends(Sword Saint and Great Mage) are fighting demon underneath the castle. They praise that the elves also caused destruction from above. The Sword Maiden's interpretation of cipher is the location is the gate of hell. The yuusha party somehow teleported to the location, and they start the fighting right away. It's confusing.

The wedding scene is the happy ending.

[Twi]

They cut content that actually hurt the story here.

When she used Purify how she did, the Earth Mother immediately cut her connection to Priestess and told her that the miracle must never be used like that again. Her Goddess, the very foundation of her faith, effectively chastised her so thoroughly it shook her to her very soul. She felt horrible because she saw it as her using a miracle gifted to her by the merciful deity in a way that perverted the very connection she shared.

That's why she broke down crying more than anything else. And why she was grateful her prayer still reached the Earth Mother during the wedding. It showed she hadn't basically fell out of favor with her Goddess and ended up being denied magic like how Female Knight is no longer capable of using her own Miracles.

It should also be noted this happened nearly instantly, not time seeming to stop when GS praises Priestess while moments prior they were being nearly TPK'd by the Goblins. This is a flaw on the anime's part that I can't overlook since without an explanation it makes that whole sequence feel ridiculous.


Review done. Other changes:

Spoiler:

1. To get across the gap, HEA jumped and set up a rope line for the less dexterous party members to get across. If they fell then Dwarf Shaman would have had to burn a Falling Control since otherwise it would be certain death.
2. The fortress was so tall that the pressure was starting to mess with HEA's ears until GS told her to swallow since it was throwing her off.
3. When they were speaking of the formation with her being in the rear, Priestess started having flashes of what happened with the Wizard in her first party.
4. This particular Goblin Shaman had good fortune, having been granted magic and then placed in charge of a horde. It had intended to try and put the dinosaur to sleep with its magic, but it had befuddled it instead (similar to how Stupor did) and allowed them to send it toward the Elves. The skull on the staff belonged to a female adventurer he killed.
5. He was rallying them up to get ready to attack the elves, certain his curse with the poisoned water had worked, and if it didn't he would blame his followers. He also planned to knock up HEA's sister in front of the decapitated head of her husband, and eventually rape Sword Maiden out of a grudge from a decade ago that she went against the Dark Gods.
6. Part of the reason Priestess panicked was because the horde was larger than any other that she had personally seen. She was with GS, so she only encountered the Goblin Lord personally and not his army, and they had been performing a fighting retreat from the Goblin Paladin rather than attacking them head-on.
7. It caused her to have another flashback to her first party and she got hit with a graze from a pebble instead of an arrow, which nearly broke her concentration on Protection and she wet herself again.
8. The Sleep Cloud spell was identified by Dwarf Shaman and it muddled Priestess' mind, which caused Protection to drop fully and allowed the horde to pour in all at once.
9. One of the Goblins managed to land on Lizard Priest's back and was trying to slit his throat, but the scales there kept him from being killed as they tried to work between them.
10. Seeing GS being stabbed shocked Priestess enough that she shook off the Sleep Cloud effect and on intuition from her own experience with him she cast Purify knowing that it would work like she thought it would. Earth Mother cut their connection once it did and she was shocked at her own bloodlust.
11. The dagger he was stabbed with was poisoned, so GS downed the Elixir he'd been given by HEA's cousin.
12. Dwarf Shaman had used Tunnel to make a hole in the breakwater and the water pressure caused a geyser to rise up from the lowest level to the highest level, precisely because of the way the Goblins had dammed up the water.
13. The situation with the Heroine is that the clay tablet was a warning left to them by mages who had lived nearly in the Age of the Gods. They were screwing with the Gate spell and opened a portal that should have remained closed forever leading to Hell. They sealed it shut, but knew it was a matter of time before it opened again and left that tablet as a warning for when it would.
14. Sage, the magician of the group, was using her own magic to try and seal it shut, and in the process, the magic circle of the ones trying to keep it open was interrupted by GS' side of things.
15. The Elves who were surrounding Dwarf Shaman were older than him, but young by normal standards. They were aware of the racial antagonism, but it was the first time they'd met a Dwarf in their lives.
16. Lizard Priest sang the story of the hero he mentioned of his people.
17. Priestess, after being rebuked by her Goddess, was unsure if she was worthy of praying to her again until she did so at the wedding and felt her goddess' reassuring touch that she hadn't been forsaken.
18. Both Farm Girl and Guild Girl looked over towards GS since they knew about the bouquet and effectively decided to make things "fair" by encouraging Priestess to participate as well since she was interested but nervous for obvious reasons.