He Does Not Let Anyone Roll the Dice
Creative Staff
Story: Kumo Kagyu
Art: Noboru Kannatuki
Translation: Kevin Steinbach
What they say
It’s fall, and the village’s harvest festival is under way. The adventurers spend the time in their own ways: Priestess busy with her duties at the temple, High Elf Archer pouting over a certain turn of events, and Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest helping with festival preparations. Goblin Slayer also spends the days without incident, but what is lurking behind the dwindling requests to exterminate goblins, his three visitors, and the upcoming festival?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Goblin Slayer is back with a slightly different premise than usual. The beginning of the novel starts out about the same as always, with Goblin Slayer and Priestess going on a mission to rescue some women who have been kidnapped by goblins. The women they are rescuing are inside of a mine. Of course, Goblin Slayer’s fighting methods are unorthodox as always. Using trickery and deceit, he and Priestess slay all of the goblins and rescue the fair maidens, and they even get a surprise.
The women are untouched.
Being a dark fantasy series, Goblin Slayer is a story that doesn’t shy away from the darker themes. One of those themes is rape. It’s been stated since volume one that goblins are not only vile thieves and murderers, but that one of the activities they take pleasure in is that act. It’s both a means of procreating and taking out their hatred on humans. The fact that these women were untouched, and that these goblins were using equipment as opposed to simple tools, lets Goblin Slayer know that something is in the works.
When they get back to the Guild Hall, it’s to discover High Elf Archer, Lizard Shaman, Dwarf Priest, and Guild Girl are drinking together.
I actually like these characters a lot. While they’re names are more like titles than names, they all have very distinct quirks. High Elf Archer is my favorite, but I feel like it’s because she doesn’t act like a typical elf from normal fantasy novels. She’s rambunctious and kind of childish, despite being over 2,000 years old. Plus she can’t hold her liqueur at all. It makes her cute. Meanwhile, Lizard Shaman has this weird obsession with cheese that makes him seem less scary than his appearance. Dwarf Shaman is kind of a cliché. He acts like any other dwarf I’ve ever seen or read about, but that is a little comforting, if I’m being honest.
Guild Girl is the biggest surprise this series. She hasn’t been a huge presence so far. I mean, she has, but it’s in the way that she’s just kinda there. She’s always present, always helping Goblin Slayer, and it’s obvious that she has a crush on him. This volume has her asking Goblin Slayer to go out with her to the festival that’s happening in a few days. Perhaps even more surprising than her asking him out is when Goblin Slayer agrees.
Of course, Goblin Slayer also agrees to go on a date with Cow Girl, so I’m not sure he’s aware of the significance.
There are a few issues that I have with this volume, but a lot of them are cosmetic. One of the first problems are the interludes. The first interlude is done in that weird first person POV, and it’s about Sword Maiden. Okay. Fine. I liked Sword Maiden in the second volume. However, after this first introduction, we never see her in the main story. She never makes an appearance at all, leaving me to wonder why they bothered adding this interlude. Was there some point? It doesn’t seem like it.
The other problem I had was the introduction of another party near the beginning. There’s an all-women’s group of adventurers who attack Goblin Slayer, having mistaken him for an undead. Again, the problem is not that they are introduced, but that they are never heard from again. Where did they go? Do they have a role to play? Why did they just disappear off the face of the map?
In Summary
Volume 3 had a slower and less intense story progression than the previous two volumes. There isn’t as big a threat, but I feel like this is okay. It’s nice to sometimes give your characters a break, and it was interesting to see Goblin Slayer when he’s completely out of his element. My overall impressions of this volume was that it was a nice, slow-paced volume that progressed the dynamics of the characters, but didn’t much progress of the story. That’s not always a bad thing.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen On
Release Date: August 8, 2017
MSRP: $14.00
