Goblin Slayer
Goblin Slayer is a Japanese dark fantasy light novel series written by Kumo Kagyu and illustrated by Noboru Kannatsuki. A manga adaptation by Kōsuke Kurose is serialized in the Monthly Big Gangan magazine, and a second adaptation by Masahiro Ikeno ran in the same magazine. A prequel manga by Kento Eida runs in Young Gangan. Both the novels and the manga adaptations have been licensed by North American publisher Yen Press. Three audio drama CDs have been released, bundled with the fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth light novels. An anime television series adaptation by White Fox aired from October to December 2018. An anime film, titled Goblin Slayer: Goblin's Crown, premiered in February 2020. A second season by Liden Films aired from October to December 2023.
Plot
In a world of fantasy, adventurers come from far and wide to join the Guild. They complete contracts to earn gold and glory. An inexperienced priestess joins her first adventuring party, but comes into danger after her first contact involving goblins goes wrong. As the rest of her party is either wiped out or raped, she is saved by a man known as Goblin Slayer, an adventurer whose only purpose is the eradication of goblins with extreme prejudice.Characters
The characters in this story do not carry proper names but are named by their classes or occupations.;Goblin Slayer
;Priestess
;Cow Girl
;Guild Girl
;High Elf Archer
;Dwarf Shaman
;Lizard Priest
;Witch
;Spearman
;Sword Maiden
;Noble Fencer
Production
Goblin Slayer was posted on an online textboard starting from October 2012, as a work that combined ASCII art with dialogue. The series was then rewritten into the format of a novel and submitted to competitions organized by publishers. As such, the novel version was completed before the online version. The novel was subsequently amended to match the ending of the online version, which was created according to real time feedback from users on the internet. Although the novel version failed to win awards in the Fujimi Fantasia Contest, it was picked up by GA Bunko editors when the author enrolled his other works into their competition. As such the work started publishing commercially via GA Bunko.The author and the publisher both consider the ASCII art version to be distinct from the novel. They do not consider the published novel to be based on the online version. Instead the published novel is said to be based on the version that was submitted to Fujimi Fantasia Contest.
Media
Light novels
The light novels are written by Kumo Kagyu and illustrated by Noboru Kannatsuki. The series was originally published online. SB Creative published the first volume under their GA Bunko imprint on February 15, 2016. Sixteen volumes have been released in Japan as of July 2022.The fourth volume of the light novel included an original audio drama CD written by Kagyu, as did the sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth, twelfth, and fourteenth volumes.
A spin-off novel written by Kagyu and illustrated by Shingo Adachi, titled Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One, published the first volume on March 15, 2018. It is a prequel series that reveals Goblin Slayer's past and the events that led him to become an adventurer with the sole purpose of exterminating all goblins from the world.
Kagyu released a second spinoff, titled Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana, in the Gangan GA online magazine. The series ran for nine chapter and was collected into three volumes.
Yen Press licensed the novels for publication in North America, and released the first volume in English on December 20, 2016. Yen Press has also licensed the Year One and Dai Katana spinoffs.
Manga
A manga adaptation by Kōsuke Kurose began serialization in the June 2016 issue of Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Monthly Big Gangan on May 25, 2016. Yen Press licensed the series at the same time as the light novels, and are simulpublishing the chapters in English as they are released in Japan.Artist Kento Eida launched a prequel manga, titled Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One, in Square Enix's seinen magazine Young Gangan on September 15, 2017. As with the main manga, the prequel is simulpublished by Yen Press.
A second adaptation of the main story, this one titled Goblin Slayer: Brand New Day and illustrated by Masahiro Ikeno, was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan from May 25, 2018 to May 27, 2019, and was compiled into two volumes. The story adapts the fourth volume of the light novel. Yen Press also simulpublished Brand New Day. The story follows the lives of the many other characters the main series' protagonists have encountered throughout their adventures, providing background on minor characters which further explores the world that Goblin Slayer takes place in.
Takashi Minakuchi launched a manga adaptation of the Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana novel on Square Enix's Manga Up! app and on the Gangan GA website. Three chapters were published from December 28, 2018 to April 12, 2019. The manga was canceled and rebooted under a new artist, Aoki Shogo, with the first chapter published on August 30, 2019.
A manga by Daichi Matsuse titled Goblin Slayer: A Day in the Life, adapting the twelfth volume of the light novel, was serialized in Monthly Big Gangan from December 23, 2022 to November 25, 2024, and was compiled into three volumes.
Anime
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by White Fox premiered from October 7 to December 30, 2018, and was broadcast on AT-X, Tokyo MX, Sun TV, and BS11. The series is directed by Takaharu Ozaki, with scripts penned by Hideyuki Kurata and Yōsuke Kuroda, character designs handled by Takashi Nagayoshi and music composed by Kenichiro Suehiro. The opening theme song is "Rightfully" by Mili, while the ending theme song is "Gin no Kisei" by Soraru. Funimation produced an English dub for the series, while Crunchyroll simulcasted the series internationally. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia and South Asia.The premiere of the first episode caused some controversy for its content due to the series being mis-rated as TV-PG by Crunchyroll when it first aired. Crunchyroll has since given the series a rating of TV-MA and added a content warning.
At the "GA Fes 2021" event livestream, it was announced that anime series will receive a second season. It is produced by Liden Films and directed by Misato Takada, with Ozaki serving as chief director, and Hiromi Kato designing the characters. Kurata and Suehiro are returning as scriptwriter and composer, respectively. The second season aired from October 6 to December 22, 2023. The opening theme song is "Entertainment" by Mili, while the ending theme song is "Kasumi no Mukō e" by Yuki Nakashima. On October 19, 2023, Crunchyroll announced that the second season will begin airing its dub the following day.
Film
A film, titled Goblin Slayer: Goblin's Crown, with returning staff and cast, premiered on February 1, 2020.Video games
A browser RPG game, titled Goblin Slayer – Endless Hunting, was released on the G123 game platform published by CTW on December 20, 2022.In January 2023, Goblin Slayer Another Adventurer: Nightmare Feast was announced for Nintendo Switch and PC. Published by Bushiroad Games and developed by Apollosoft and Mebius, it is a strategy RPG featuring an original story. The game was released in Japan on February 29, 2024, with a digital Western release on November 15.
Reception
The light novel ranked fifth in 2017 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, in the bunkobon category. By July 2020, the light novel had over 7 million copies in circulation.The first volume of the manga reached 39th place on the weekly Oricon manga rankings, selling 20,360 copies in its first week.
Controversy
Goblin Slayer features graphic violence and a dark tone, as well as depictions of sexual violence by the goblins, leading to considerable controversy.Goblin Slayer was one of two works cited by Matt Shaheen as pornographic when justifying his efforts to lead a book ban in Texas schools. In July 2020, the manga became one of seven titles to be removed from Books Kinokuniya in Australia for claims of promoting child pornography.