When vengeance is within reach … you never give up.
Creative Staff:
Original Story: Kumo Kagyu
Illustrations By: Shingo Adachi
Character Design: Noboru Kannatuki
Translation: Kenneth Steinbach
What They Say:
After his sister is brutally murdered during a goblin raid, a young boy swears vengeance upon the creatures who killed her and the rest of his village. Five years later and now a novice adventurer, he is by chance reunited with his childhood friend, another survivor of the massacre.
Despite his inexperience, crude battle gear, and low rank, the boy sets off alone on a mission to defeat a lair of goblins – thus begins the origin story of how he came to be known as Goblin Slayer!
Content (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Three days had passed since he saw his older sister become no more, but before that grisly fate she told him not to leave from his hiding place beneath the floorboards, and the only reason he moved now was due to stiffness in his joints. It was not due the uncomfortableness of his soiled pants, his own filth could be endured, and while his sibling always stated he was always hungry, handfuls of soil kept his grumbling belly from complaining, all as he smelt the burning remains of people he once knew. The sounds of raiders seemed distant, but he remained cautious even as he crept out from his shelter, keeping watch over random shadows and tricks of the light. There was nothing left of his home, splintered wood littered the area, cracked pottery gave no meaning to what was kept inside, and only a pool of water remaining within the water jug gave him notice, which he now greedily lapped up like a dog. Only now does he look around the room to survey the damage, allowing himself to relax for a moment before planning his next move.
The place he once called home was no more, a ribbon he gave his sister was now nothing more than refuse strewn upon the floor, now dirtied by small footprints from bandits as searched for things to sack. A formerly impressive bow was now wrecked beyond repair, the only memory of parents he could no longer remember, faces which were out of reach and no longer made an impression. His sister had told him they were prominent members of the community, his father a ranger and mother a healer who cured many, but she too fell ill to the sickness and her mate was killed when he tried to find herbs for a remedy. It was then when his sibling took up the task of raising this child, caring for her brother and seeing to his needs, making their guardians all but distant recollections. But even now she too was in the past, having fallen to the cruelties of this world and fallout from a war which plagued the land between the armies of Chaos and Order. This was no longer a sanctuary … it was nothing more than distant memories.
As he walked out into the night from the shattered remains of his hiding place, an uneasy texture underfoot made him stop – it was a familiar leather bag with a simple flower pattern sewn into the front, his sister’s money pouch. A number of coins jingled within and he gripped them closely, making sure to secure the noisy baggage within his shirt before continuing outside. He is not sure if it is sunset or dusk, but either way the darkness helped to conceal his movement as he stayed within the shadows, making certain he could not be seen. As he crept along slowly the house next door finally came into focus, the charred remains of the place a ghastly reminder, its tree swing now gone and the parents nothing but burnt husks laying beneath the plaything. And yet as he looked on, he wondered where she was, the red headed playmate he had an argument so many days before, with them parting ways – her via a carriage and he being escorted by his sister back home. But those reminders of the past will not help him now, they only serve as hold backs to simpler times which are best forgotten if he is to survive.
No such transports had arrived and is it doubtful any would come, with this meaning everyone had been slaughtered by goblins, the entire village wiped out. Even as he reached this conclusion, he could hear distant voices amid cooking fires crackling in the still air, and while anger stirred within his small frame, try as he might even with his best efforts of biting lip or straining nails upon skin, he could not bleed. This feeling of helplessness held him fast – he could not move forward, legs did not cooperate and he was sure these creatures would soon discover him, but as he worried his useless knees buckled. All he could do was crawl to the fence which marked the edge of the village, the forbidden place he was told never to cross, a memory of being scolded by his sister when he and his red headed playmate came too near to the border. If he reached this wall he would be outside, but these green devils stood guard clad in overly large clothes replacing the rags he was told they normally wore, cackling in foreign words and casually barring the way.
He had to get outside, this was the only way to escape a living nightmare, but even if the invaders were the same size as he, they were experienced in combat where he had no weapons. Taking a risky chance the boy grabbed a rock and let it fly, hearing in satisfaction as it sailed and landed with a crunch upon the face of a goblin. Even as his compatriots laughed at this misery, the escapee grabbed a larger stone and rushed forward, knowing a frantic attack could be the end. With spears in hand the child sized raiders surged toward their oncoming prey, determined to kill yet another human but it never happened, heads flying off bodies and the boy was left unharmed. He had no idea what happened yet was this event better than what was to come … but his question was never answered as a sharp pain pierced his head and all fell dark.
In Summary:
Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One is a frightening verbal visualization depicting the horrors of war and its fallout, and yet the narrative creates a moving story as we cheer for the protagonist, but it still falls short on one pronounced element – no one has a name. Normally when you read a novel you are able to emotionally connect with the actors due to their actions, interactions with people and bonds they form with others, however separated the reader may be due to a two dimensional format, and yet this book still falls short without the audience knowing it from the beginning. To have a name by which to connect all of these opportunities may not seem essential due to other writers using it with wanton abandon to identify their characters, but now we do not have any way for the reader to focus on how important they are due to a necessary need. And while Kagyu-sensei does identify his cast by job titles, at the same time this method is callous, especially when you try to connect with someone named Cow Girl or Witch – since either of these monikers can also be considered insults.
But worst of all is the lack of any personal addressing for the main character of this light novel, always addressing him as boy or he/him. And this becomes most distressing when he/him starts the sentence, since via this method some religions address their deity, also being true for the girls and the use of she. To address an eight year old boy in this fashion is at times awkward, with the beginning descriptions making his escape sound like a military exercise and not of a frightened child fleeing for his life. While the substance of the paragraph will denote who Kagyu-sensei is speaking of, this lack of practicality and personality makes a majority of the book seem cold and impersonal, which in hindsight may have a purpose to compound the trauma he faced seeing his elder sister being tortured and murdered and later the stolid nature of his training, keeping his emotions in check so as to be more efficient in cleaning up the goblin nests of all inhabitants, including children. All in all, this technique makes his adventures seem more like a retelling of an action report, outlining what he did in preparation for missions and every step until he ends up injured and more experienced by learning the nature and techniques of his main prey – the goblin.
Even with this distancing of the main character, the approach by which Cow Girl tries to reconnect with her childhood friend is endearing, made all the more heartwarming by the five year time skip. But at the same time, this lack of addressing her best friend directly is unusual, never saying a name but indirectly acknowledging his existence. You would think for a pair who developed such a close relationship they would call each other something, and yet every conversation is discomforting: he limiting himself to a few words and she always stumbling over any feelings by pushing them off to the side, to be addressed at a later date. How could they have grown up in this manner? And yet this method for everyone is kept until the end of the book, where he finally earns a title and is supposedly called Goblin Slayer.
Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One unravels the mysteries we have seen in the anime without any sacrifice of the chilling story or harshness of how the child became the man we now know today. To see him gradually learn from his mistakes helps to expand on his draconian nature, but at the same time, the lack of names makes reading this light novel a bit troublesome with the drilling repetition of personal pronouns. And while we are able to connect with some of the side characters by learning how they were involved in Goblin Slayer’s development, the constant use of titles in lieu of names gives a sense of impersonality, not allowing for a connection in the manner which this story should be allowed in the end.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16 & Up
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: October 30, 2018
MSRP: $14.00
