Goblin Slayer: Season 1/ Episode 12 “The Fate of an Adventurer” [Season Finale] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

The first season of Goblin Slayer comes to an end in as bloody of a way as it began. But, is it with the Goblin Slayer surviving? Let’s talk about it.


Community Rating: 0.00% (0) - No Community Ratings Submitted (Add Yours Below)

Read our Editorial Guidelines regarding how posts are written and rated and our use of affiliate links.


The first season of Goblin Slayer comes to an end in as bloody of a way as it began. But, is it with the Goblin Slayer surviving? Let’s talk about it.


Network
Crunchyroll
Director(s) Takaharu Ozaki
Writer(s) Hideyuki Kurata, Yōsuke Kuroda
Air Date 12/29/2018

Images and text in this post may contain affiliate links which, If you make a purchase, I may earn money or products from the company. Most affiliate links contain an upward facing, superscript, arrow.

Blood on the Grass

Things near the farm are just as they were where we left off. Many of the characters we have sporadically seen, but barely have gotten to know, are killing goblins left to right. Now, the Goblin Champions sometimes required more than one person but, for the most part, it seems the humans don’t encounter any real losses. They barely break a sweat

I Trusted You: Onna, Goblin Slayer

As has long been made clear, Goblin Slayer isn’t all that good at close quarters combat. He more so relies on strategy and stealth to take care of goblins. Which, when he doesn’t take that route, nor using bombs or scrolls, it leads to Goblin Slayer getting pretty beaten up. His fight with the Goblin Lord is no different. Yes, he gets a few good hits in but also nearly gets his head stomped in.

Luckily, he and Onna came up with a strategy to use her barrier spell, protection, to squeeze the Goblin Lord into submission. With doing so, Goblin Slayer, with his last bit of energy, slits the throat of the Goblin Lord and kills him. Leaving one last spell for Onna to use that can heal the Goblin Slayer.

Commentary

Goblin Slayer revealing his plan worked because he trusted Onna.
Goblin Slayer: It’s because… I trusted you.

The show started with a bang and ended with a bang. And while the shock has dissipated, seeing Goblins, be it low level or lords, killed as they were, it only seemed fitting. But, the big to do was Goblin Slayer trusting Onna, this spellcaster he saved, who knows how long ago, to have his back when facing his toughest opponent yet.

In doing so, it seems Goblin Slayer has indeed taken a turn for the better. For while it isn’t clear if he trusts the others as much as Onna, just one person breaking through that armor is a big deal. If only because it might be what Goblin Slayer needed to feel like he could let his guard down. Perhaps explaining why he broke his rule of always being ready – as shown below.

The Face of the Goblin Slayer: Goblin Slayer, Onna, Ushikai

Goblin Slayer's face, from his nostrils down.

Since his village got ignored when a quest was put up years ago, Goblin Slayer figured he was on his own. That is why he took up a sword and shield and decided to take on the quest, as we’ve seen, all others would ignore. Yet, when they, at higher levels, ignore these quest, many appear to have been saved by those, like Goblin Slayer, who take these quest and save whole villages. And with Goblin Slayer able to round up so many to help with this request, no longer feeling like the guild’s weirdo, he allows two things to happen.

The first thing he allows to happen is letting the idea of becoming an adventurer seem possible. For while this one time assembly may not mean the eradication of goblins, perhaps it could mean peace for some time, If not inspire others to take up the fight that has nearly been a solo project for so long.

What follows that idea is something Onna requests, Goblin Slayer taking his helmet off. Now, being that Goblin Slayer tries to stay ready, even in his sleep he doesn’t take off his helmet. Ushikai makes it seem the only time that thing comes off is when it breaks and is useless. Yet, with the trust Onna helped to craft, Goblin Slayer reveals his face to everyone – but us the viewer. Leading to quite a commotion as the guild stops celebrating the victory, and gold coins, to see what Goblin Slayer looks underneath his mask.

Commentary

Is it wrong to be mad that, for this whole damn show, we have not gotten to see past this man’s nostrils? We’ve seen him damn near naked in some (arguably) horny woman’s bed, but never his face. Even though we’ve been through so much with him. Not even just the various battles, but also his emotional growth. To go from someone who didn’t want to deal with the disappointment of people telling him no, to trusting some young girl, who just started venturing out into the world, that was a huge leap.

But, despite all that, we can’t see this man’s whole face. We just got to see he has some scars on his cheeks and hair which goes to the nape of his neck. Oh, and Majo noting he is handsome because that fills in the missing details.

A end title card noting Goblin Slayer will return - but not noting in what form.
Goblin Slayer will return.

Complaining over minuscule things aside, it should be interesting to see what is next for Goblin Slayer. The episode ends with noting Goblin Slayer will return but, like with most anime, finding follow up information on that announcement isn’t that easy.

Question(s) Left Unanswered

  1. How many Goblin Lords are there?

Highlights

  1. Goblin Slayer’s emotional journey came full circle.
  2. While the fights weren’t as brutal as the earlier ones, they were no less exceptional.

Low Point

  1. The tease of seeing Goblin Slayer’s face, but it not happening.

 


Follow Wherever I Look on Twitter, Like us on Facebook and Subscribe to the YouTube Channel.


Check Out Other TV Recaps


[ninja_tables id=”27562″]


Listed Under Categories:

Follow, Like and Subscribe



What Would Your Rating Be?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.