Goblin Slayer (anime! light novel!)

Although one thing Dungeons and Dragons didn't do is make the goblins a One-Gender Race. They did that for mintoaurs, but not goblins.

I mean, that's the core problem that all the rape-chat is tangential to, isn't it? Goblin Slayer brings out the fascist undertones that D&D inherited from heroic fantasy like Conan the Barbarian (D&D orcs have way more in common with Robert Howard's 'savages' than Tolkien's orcs, which were more warped and twisted industrial workers than brutal spear-wielding tribesmen) and parades it around for all to see. The rape is there to help make exterminating the subhumans justifiable, and a major thread is the ghastly psychological toll that being the main subhuman-exterminator is taking on our hero, and his and his friends' efforts to convince the kingdom to make subhuman-extermination more organised and institutional.

There's a reason it's so unusually popular with the fash side of anime fandom.

What always gets me about the 'fash side', and others, of the fandom is how many of them will mock you for criticizing the rape aspect of the show and go "well the rape stuff is supposed to be bad, you simpleton" (when basically no one is making that argument) and in the same breath make the whole rape goblins aspect into a funny meme and joke (I'm pretty sure a lot of them are serious though) about getting off on those scenes. Just serves to make them look dumber, but obviously they have no self-awareness whatsoever. GS has an intolerably awful fandom.

I read parts of the manga and the typical Isekai stuff that's in it sometimes really drags the whole thing down. Like, you can't show a giant worm snatching a girl up and eating her face and giving us a panty shot of her at the same time. It's, pardon my French, fucking ridiculous. Also for something that's trying to be 'realistic' sometimes, too many of these girls are wearing dumb Fanservice outfits.

What I'm trying to say is the whole dramatic, brutal rape aspect of the show would be much easier to swallow if it was at least consistent about this stuff. As it is, it's a Mood Dissonance mess. Whenever I'm starting to like it, something happens that takes me out of it.

The series has a way of lulling its audience into thinking its going to be typical adventure fare...then boom! Something horrible happens that reminds you what series this is.

One can't really call this "isekai stuff" because this is not an isekai story. "Isekai" is not just shorthand for "stuff I don't like in a story", even if the isekai genre is rife with a lot of shitty tropes.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2018 at 7:42:53 PM

Yeaaah, ridiculous fanservice outfits isn't isekai trope, its something that was problem with anime in general ever since 80s and 90s

Heck, the Fan Disservice of the Rock Worm incident is hardly just an isekai thing either. It brings to mind Blood-C, an anime series rife with Fan Disservice.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2018 at 7:45:52 PM

I watch it because it's hilarious and the fight scenes are cool.

It's just, you hero -> evil army -> go kill.

Yeah totally this is not isekai.

What your referring too is typical Japanese tropes & such.

No, typical D&D fantasy tropes. Gygax, Greenwood and company let their freak flags fly, as a cursory look through their fiction will inform you, and the western fantasy scene in Japan is heavily influenced by D&D, to the point where Ryo Mizuno, the granddaddy of the genre, basically just novelised his campaigns.

I didn't say it literallly was Isekai, just that it shares many similiar tropes to it. And we already know this series is dark, there's no point in trying to lull us into anything. The stupid harem and Fanservice stuff isn't there to catch us offguard later, it's because anime producers get an aneurysm if they don't include it. Even if it was supposed to lull us in a false sense of security, it's still dreadful.

You're the one who described it as "isekai stuff". Despite this not being an isekai story. Not to mention that the stuff you hate about it is not actually unique to the isekai genre at all.

It did popularize those things though, and are now synonymous with it. And honestly? So far GS has a lot more in common with current Isekai than it does with its actual influences like Lodoss.

There are a lot more valid comparisons than referring to a genre it's not even a part of. Even if this story does have some of the problematic tropes prevalent in that genre.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2018 at 8:18:21 PM

I'd still take the isekai comparisons over the Doom and Berserk ones. I do not get that feel from this show that I do from the latter two.

The Doomguy comparison is mostly a fandom joke thing. The Berserk stuff is more of an homage to the series, especially Heavy Warrior.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2018 at 8:24:16 PM

I said it's "Isekai stuff" because it's a fantasy show where most characters are female, wear skimpy outfits and are subjected to Fanservice, and are all for some reason into the male protagonist. Yeah, that's just harem anime in general, but it's a fantasy show. Isekai basically means "fantasy show that's harem anime". Semantics.

No, it's not just that. That would be fantasy anime in general. Not just isekai. It's just that isekai stuff has become a lot more common recently.

The problematic part of the isekai genre isn't the harem stuff, though it's related. It's the Power Fantasy aspect that is so inherent to the genre.

In that respect, GS is nothing like an isekai story. GS is not an OP protagonist like a lot of isekai protagonists. Goblin Slayer isn't going to engage in any ridiculous overpowered shit like Hajime from Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou.

The isekai protagonist who bears even a slight resemblance to Goblin Slayer in terms of how powerful he is would be Subaru from Re Zero — and that LN is largely a deconstruction of isekai stories.

That series is probably the most blatantly shameless Power Fantasy isekai out there. Rivaled only by In Another World With My Smartphone — and that one at least doesn't take itself too seriously.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2018 at 8:33:56 PM

Thing is this is not a fucking isekai.

It may have tropes commonly seen in isekai but that still does not make it an isekai because it lacks the fundamental premise that makes an isekai, being transferred to another world.

This is a fantasy anime, use the correct terms please.

What the Hell is with that Sekai series Laconic page? Its literally a generic description of an isekai, da fuck?

Edited by slimcoder on Oct 16th 2018 at 5:31:46 AM

Isekai means "Character is from Earth and somehow gotten into fantasy world" which is often combined with power fantasy of character getting OP powers and harem. Its not isekai ever if it doesn't involve someone from "our" world getting into fantasy escapism shenanigans.

GS is definitely a power fantasy character the same way Batman is however. A crazy-prepared strong-willed badass mercilessly killing a bunch of one-note monster army with multiple girls having feelings for him is wish fulfillment however you slice it.

Edited by Ikedatakeshi on Oct 16th 2018 at 8:34:20 PM

Batman is not a wish fulfillment character. Anyone who does think of him as one really doesn't get the point of the character at all.

Thing is, there is difference between self insert character(what isekai protagonists tend to be, someone you can easily imagine yourself as especially since isekai rarely focus on what their life was like before they transported) and "Man it would be cool to be batman". And even then, you wouldn't want to be batman if you really think about it, dude is crazy

Edited by SpookyMask on Oct 16th 2018 at 3:36:13 PM

A bad Batman story makes him a wish fulfillment character.

The man is way too self-destructive & dysfunctional to ever achieve any sort of happiness. Every issue his family teeters on supporting him or hating him for whatever reason, usually about killing or guns. Which makes him a staunch self-righteous asshole on the topic of guns & killing that nets him plenty of arguments.

Guy can't even get married, his damn fiancee ran off the night before the big day because she knew she could never truly be together with him due to his obsession with the cowl.

Batman's life is just one constant shit-stain right after the other.

Edited by slimcoder on Oct 16th 2018 at 5:42:14 AM

Batman has a lot of emotional baggage, for reasons similar to Goblin Slayer. Except GS had it worse, since Bruce Wayne at least had Alfred. GS had no one but Burglar during his training to become a Goblin Slayer.

Granted, GS is going through Character Development in a way that Bruce Wayne doesn't. But that's largely because Batman is a mainstream comicbook character, and those are largely trapped by Status Quo Is God and Depending Onthe Writer.

Bruce is only ever allowed a modicum of lasting happiness in alternate continuities like the DCAU.

Edited by M84 on Oct 16th 2018 at 8:41:43 PM

That's a really poor distinction. GS isn't overpowered, but he's exceptionally good at what he does, smarter and more meticulous than basically everyone, and a typical so-many-girls-are-into-him-that-it's-ridiculous Chick Magnet loner. Obviously he's not a typical Isekai protagonist, but if the plot told me "this is just some normal guy who fell into this world and got, like, jaded and stuff after [random female character he cared about] got killed" I'd say yeah that sounds about right.

The whole argument is just semantics. The point is GS has a lot of ridiculous stuff that doesn't fit in with the tone it set out from the start. If you have a character being raped and tortured onscreen in the 1st episode and then show me a girl practically shoving her boobs in the protagonist's face in the 2nd episode something went wrong.

Edited by lara16 on Oct 16th 2018 at 5:42:13 AM