Goblin Slayer vol 1 by Kumo Kagyu

Goblin Slayer volume 1 by Kumo Kagyu
Art by Kousuke Kurose
Character Design by Noboru Kannatuki

Manga
Read March 15
Rated M
Fantasy
176 pages
Spoiler-free Blabber

Goblin Slayer is visceral and vicious.

And I loved it.

Goblin Slayer is one of a trend I’ve seen recently: manga and anime that basically seem like a D&D campaign. Not that I’m complaining, mind you – I’m digging quite a few of them right now. This one in particular though is the most intense, the most violent. Trigger warning for blood, gore, and rape.

Goblin Slayer follows the story of a young priestess who is set on becoming an adventurer – one who fulfills jobs, usually hunting and killing various creatures or finding various artifacts for money. The story opens with her getting her first job – hunting a band of goblins that have stolen some young women from the nearby town. She goes in with a band adventurers, also brand new. What she experiences in the goblin cave is far worse than she had anticipated, and then Goblin Slayer shows up. That’s his name, the guy in the armor on the cover. He, unlike the priestess, is not a rookie.

So as mentioned above, multiple trigger warnings for this – even moreso for the anime (which is also really good and I really recommend. But the anime is even more visceral than the manga, believe it or not). This manga does not shy away from the danger these characters are putting themselves in, nor does it hand wave any of the brutality the goblins are capable of. This first volume is a good set up of the world the characters are living in, and even starts to touch into the back story of the enigma known as Goblin Slayer. Having seen farther in the anime than I’ve read in the manga at this point, I know the character development and world building is only going to get better from here.

There were a few things in the manga that were a welcome surprise though – insights into goblin thought patterns, background info on characters. I really liked it all. While an overarching plot has not really taken hold in this first volume, the ending of it hints at one, and it makes me want to buy the second volume yesterday. I really like the art in this too – the characters are well-designed and I never had an issue remembering who someone was.

I think my only complaint about this is it gets a bit fan-servicey at times. Boobs when they’re not relevant, butts when they’re not relevant. You get the gist. It didn’t occur often enough though to really take away from my enjoyment of the manga, but it did happen often enough that I noticed it. So hopefully it’ll stay at the level it’s currently at or decrease. I feel like an increase in meaningless boobs wouldn’t really benefit anything.

And to reiterate what I listed at the top: this manga is rated M, so be prepared for M rated content, because man, it does not shy away from it. If you’re willing to go into it knowing this though, and you tend to like fantasy and d&d, you’ll probably like this. I really did.

Rating: 4/5 stars