A young priestess fresh out of the temple is excited to start her life as an adventurer. On her first day, she joins an adventuring party to go slay some goblins.
However, like so many young adventure parties before them, they underestimate the goblins. It ends with two dead, one viciously raped, and the priestess saved from fate by a man whose only mission in life is to slay all the goblins.
While it caught attention with its shock value first episode, Goblin Slayer is actually one of the less shocking dark fantasy anime. That said, it still tells a good story for a series about only killing one type of creature. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Goblin Slayer, head on down below.
Anime Like Goblin Slayer
For Fans of Single-Minded Revenge
Berserk
Gutts has been a mercenary for as long as he can remember, caring for nothing but moving to the next battle.
One fateful battle puts him at odds with the rapidly rising mercenary group, the Band of the Hawk. Their charismatic, idealistic leader Griffith soon makes him join by force, but the bond he forms with the Band of the Hawk may very well mean the end of the world.
Both Berserk and Goblin Slayer are quintessential dark fantasy anime that follow a main character who is blind to everything else by his pure rage-driven need for revenge.
Berserk and Goblin Slayer both had a main character undergo a serious trauma, then vow revenge against the thing or people responsible. In Berserk, he is slaughtering demons to get to the one at the top, in Goblin Slayer, he is slaying goblins. While not every moment is them being in a rage, they are always only moving towards their goal.
While both have a similar love for graphic gore and violence as well as rape for shock value, Berserk has more instances of sex for shock value than Goblin Slayer.
Redo of Healer
As a boy, Keyaru awakened the power of a Hero. His specialty was healing. However, by using these powers, he experienced the trauma of the injured person as well. It eventually drove him insane, but he was forced to use his powers anyway.
After enduring torture and abuse by his fellow heroes for years, Keyaru formed a plan to get his vengeance. He was able to turn back time and restart his life with all his previous memories.
Thus his vengeance began.
Goblin Slayer will forever be defined by that graphic goblin rape in the first episode, but it is actually rather tame when compared to all the other dark fantasy anime that enjoy violence and sex for shock value. However, if you were invested by that traumatic first episode, and did wish Goblin Slayer had more of that, then I think you are looking for Redo of Healer.
While both Goblin Slayer and Redo of Healer are about main characters who are motivated only for a desire for revenge, Goblin Slayer is really just about killing all goblins. Alternatively, Redo of Healer is about the violent torture, murder, and rape of all the people that wronged him. It has a lot more sex, sometimes even too much.
The Kingdoms of Ruin
With the help of witches blessed upon humanity by the goddess, human civilization flourished for generations. However, as humanity adapted more independence from the magic of witches through innovations in science and technology, they began to violently persecute witches.
Leading the persecution and execution of witches is the ruthless Redia Empire. Adonis, a human boy, is forced to watch the brutal public execution of the kind witch who raised him and granted him access to use magic.
After years of isolation and imprisonment, Adonis is freed and begins his bloody vengeance on the empire.
Like the titular Goblin Slayer is motivated by what goblins did to his family, The Kingdoms of Ruin has a main character who is driven by a rage-filled need for revenge by what humans did to the witch who raised him. Both events are brutal, traumatic, and make their desire for revenge perfectly understandable.
However, while Goblin Slayer is about killing all goblins, The Kingdoms of Ruin is about killing all humans, even if that means sacrificing other witches too. While Goblin Slayer is more of a stoic-type guy, The Kingdoms of Ruin embraces a more edgy, visibly angry main character.
The Rising of the Shield Hero
The stories tell of four heroes summoned from another world – the sword, spear, bow, and shield heroes who will prevent calamity. With darkness bearing down on them, the Kingdom of Melromarc summons these heroes from modern day Japan.
For otaku Naofumi Iwatani, unfortunately he is labeled the shield hero, the weakest of the group. Worse yet, betrayal sees him labeled as a criminal and outcasted.
With hatred and vengeance consuming him, he sets forth to grow strong.
At least in the beginning, both Goblin Slayer and The Rising of the Shield Hero embrace the darker sides of fantasy by having the main character be motivated only by their desire for revenge.
While both main characters are the quiet, brooding type, plan their battles out, and often attract companions despite not being very personable, The Rising of the Shield Hero does grow beyond its initial revenge-based plot since he actually gets his vengeance.
The longer The Rising of the Shield Hero goes on, the less dark it gets, but it still offers an interesting fantasy world.
Peach Boy Riverside
In a world where humans and demihuman creatures live at odds with each other, princess Saltorine “Sally” Aldike is on a journey to find a man named Mikoto Kibitsu who is bent on exterminating all ogres. On her travels, she takes up with a number of companions despite questionable lineage as ogres or demihumans.
Whereas Mikoto is traveling and using his immense power that manifests in physical prowess and a peach shape in his eyes to slay ogres, Sally, who possesses similar powers, hopes to unite the inhabitants of the world in a more peaceful existence.
Although Peach Boy Riverside really suffers due to how needlessly confusing its non-linear storytelling makes it, the series is pretty similar to Goblin Slayer in that it is a darker fantasy with characters motivated by a desire for bloody revenge.
Like Goblin Slayer wants to kill all goblins, Peach Boy Riverside has characters that fly into a sinister rage when it comes to ogres. Unlike Goblin Slayer that is a dark fantasy throughout, Peach Boy Riverside switches between rather normal fantasy adventure and dark fantasy whenever ogres make an appearance.
Ragna Crimson
Humans live in constant fear of dragon attack, the species that really rules the world with overwhelming power. To keep human populations safe, a number of hunters track and kill dragons as their job. Ragna was one such dragon hunter, though as weak as he is, he is often carried by the prodigal talent of his companion, Leonica.
One day, Ragna gains an influx of power that came from his fallen future self. He learns that after Leonica’s brutal death in the future, Ragna’s future self labored for years hunting dragons in revenge, losing comrade after comrade and building his strength ever higher.
While his new body struggles to hold all the power he gained, his future self tells him that the key to finally killing all dragons, including the Dragon God, lies in him finding Crimson, a Dragon Lord who also seeks to end their entire species.
What Goblin Slayer is to goblins, Ragna Crimson is to dragons.
Both Goblin Slayer and Ragna Crimson feature main characters who lost someone dear to them to a specific creature, and they then dedicate their lives to hunting that creature down.
However, while Goblin Slayer is rather straightforward, Ragna Crimson has a few extra elements of the main character teaming up with a dragon to kill dragons as well as going from weak to strong immediately as he inherits the tremendous amount of power his future self cultivated and sent back to his past self.
For Fans of Dark Fantasy
Drifters
While forming the rear guard for his uncle’s escape, Toyohisa Shimazu manages to mortally wound Ii Naomasa, but is critically wounded himself in the process.
While trying to limp back home, he finds himself transported from the field to a hallway lined with doors. There a mysterious man sends him spiraling into another world.
Dragged into the forest by two young elves, Toyohisa is patched up by two others from the Land of the Rising Sun that turn out to be Yoichi Suketaka Nasu and Oda Nobunaga.
From there, Toyohisa and his fellow historical figures, named “drifters” must save (or conquer) their new world.
You could say that both Goblin Slayer and Drifters are dark fantasy anime that are a little light in terms of depth of plot. Goblin Slayer is about various adventures to murder goblins, Drifters is about several historical characters fighting each other to conquer the world because they have nothing else to do.
The highlight of both series is seeing unique characters fight each other with unique abilities. You come for the cool fights by cool characters and enjoy all the gore in between.
Claymore
In Claymore, the world is overcome with demons called Yoma that constantly plague humanity. After Raki’s parents were killed by Yoma, he teams up with Claire, a Claymore, an order of powerful half-human, half-Yoma women that are shunned by society but fight to rid the world of Yoma.
Together, each learns more about the each other and work towards their own goals.
Both Goblin Slayer and Claymore are dark fantasy anime that highlight the suffering and violence in a fantasy world. However, while Goblin Slayer does have its moments where it is almost cheerful like a standard fantasy anime, Claymore is all suffering and all sadness all the time in its bleak depiction of fantasy Middle Ages where people had to death with death from disease AND maybe demons that eat them.
Both series follow main characters that kill only one specific thing, and do so stoically. While a little levity is injected by the characters that join their party, the battles are brutal and death comes frequently. Claymore is just filled with a lot more melancholy due to various other aspects of their profession.
Akame ga Kill
Tatsumi is a naive boy from a rural village that makes the trip to the city in order to join the military and help his hometown.
However, after he is rejected, he ends up joining Night Raid, a group of assassins part of a revolutionary movement to overthrow the government.
From there, he must fight a brutal and increasingly bloody shadow war.
Both Goblin Slayer and Akame ga Kill sit among some of the most notable dark fantasy anime that aren’t isekai. They follow main characters that have a specific enemy that they are fighting, then show the bloody struggle that they go through.
While Goblin Slayer never really goes so far as to kill off many major characters, Akame ga Kill is remembered for how many major characters is does kill off. If you like gore and shocking violence, Akame ga Kill excels in it.
Dororo
In order to become indomitable on the battlefield, a samurai lord barters his son’s organs away to 48 demons and then abandons him.
However, his son doesn’t die. Instead, a medicine man saves him with primitive, but lethal prosthetics that allow him to hunt down the demons and regain his organs for an eventual battle with his father.
While Dororo is less a dark medieval fantasy and more a dark historical fantasy, it shares Goblin Slayer’s passion for brutality and main characters that only target and fight one thing. However, Dororo does have a bigger passion for body horror.
If you enjoy watching Goblin Slayer hunt down goblins, Dororo does the same with demons. However, it adds a fun new layer to his hunt by giving him back the body parts his father sacrificed with every demon that he kills. So you watching him transform as a character, though never quite leaving the stoic-type personality behind.
Skeleton Knight in Another World
After falling asleep playing games, a gamer woke up in the game world, but as a skeleton. While he is equipped well, his appearance is too frightening to live the peaceful life he wants.
Yet, after meeting a beautiful elf woman, he may find himself pulled into a path of building intrigue.
Alongside both series having a main character that hides his face under a helmet and travels with an elf, Goblin Slayer and Skeleton Knight in Another World provide a darker fantasy experience.
While Goblin Slayer enjoys a lot of gore which makes it a dark fantasy, Skeleton Knight in Another World is actually a bit lower on gore. Instead, the darkness comes from the subject matter that its main adventure explores, which is dismantling an illegal slavery ring targeting elves and unraveling the dark intrigue behind it.
Berserk of Gluttony
In this world where everyone is born with a special skill, the useful skills find respect in society. Those with particularly good skills are often elevated into noble families and rise through the ranks of the Holy Knights that protect the people.
However, for people like Fate Graphite whose Gluttony skill just means he is always hungry, he struggles through each day just to stay fed.
However, one day Fate discovers the true nature of Gluttony. His skill awakens and allows him to absorb the stats and skills of everything he kills. However, the more he devours, the more he must devour or risk losing himself in a berserk starving state.
While Goblin Slayer’s edgy reputation is defined by its edgy first episode, Berserk of Gluttony provides a similarly edgy dark fantasy experience, but this time it is defined by the nature of the main character’s power.
While both Goblin Slayer and Berserk of Gluttony are dark fantasy anime, Berserk of Gluttony doesn’t follow a main characters’ desire for revenge. Instead, his unique skill simply demands that he frequently needs to kill things or risk going into a berserk murder rage. As such, like Goblin Slayer, this means he ends up – for a time, anyway – killing an absolute ton of goblins.
Neither series is heavy in plot, but both series do love dark, vicious action and do it pretty well.
For Fans of Well-Planned, Calculated Battles
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
Thrown into a foreign land with no memory of their previous life, a group of strangers must try and survive in a brutal world filled with dangerous monsters.
While the strong quickly band together, the weak are left to make a patchwork group of their own. Slowly but surely this group becomes fighters, finally earning enough to survive each day.
While many remember Goblin Slayer for the shock value first episode, in truth it is just a pretty normal darker fantasy anime and really excels at showing a main character prepping for each encounter and not just being super overpowered with no thought involved. Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is similar in that it forces the main characters to actually realistically struggle.
While Goblin Slayer is about an already well-experienced adventurer, it still goes through the motions of them creating a plan for each encounter. Grimgar features rookie adventurers who aren’t particularly skilled learning how to strategize and fight together. Furthermore, Grimgar isn’t a light-hearted isekai fantasy either. Characters get hurt and they really will die if they lose. It creates a similar brutal world not unlike Goblin Slayer.
It is also worth noting that both series both spend a lot of time fighting goblins, but Grimgar eventually grows past fighting them.
I’m Standing on a Million Lives
Bored with the world that surrounds him, loner Yotsuya Yusuke is one day transported to a new world with two girls from his class.
There, he finds out that they have been playing a game with ten increasingly difficult rounds. After beating each round, they get to pose a question to the game master before heading back home.
On this, the third round, Yusuke finds himself excited for the first time in a long time, only for his battle class to be rolled as a weak farmer.
Together with his teammates, they struggle to survive and move forward or face certain death.
While Goblin Slayer is a pretty standard dark fantasy, I’m Standing on a Million Lives is a bit of a different take on isekai by being a game-type affair where each level is a new battle. However, both series fully embrace the gore of dark fantasy and feature more stoic-type calculating heroes.
What Goblin Slayer and I’m Standing on a Million Lives share is presenting interesting dark action full of gore, but doing so in a way where the characters are always thinking about a strategy. Nothing they do is random and they both recognize the value in being well prepared for situations.
Cautious Hero – The Hero is Overpowered, but Overly Cautious
In the divine realm, Gods and Goddesses are assigned worlds in peril to summon heroes to guide on their quest to save those worlds.
The Goddess of Healing, Ristarte, is assigned a difficult S-class world and told to pick a hero to defeat the Demon King. While her choices are underwhelming, one low level hero with super stats catches her eye!
Seiya Ryuuguuin is indeed a powerful hero, but he also has the problematic quirk of being overly cautious. His desire to stay on the safe side, over-preparing and over-training for all encounters, is a source of frustration for all.
Cautious Hero has the very obvious difference from Goblin Slayer by being mostly a comedy isekai rather than a dark fantasy. However, both Cautious Hero and Goblin Slayer are about main characters that love to prepare, almost obsessively, for any battle. However, Cautious Hero turns that into comedy.
While Cautious Hero is legitimately a pretty good isekai comedy, it does get pretty dark by the end, which honestly only makes it even better.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Goblin Slayer? Let fans know in the comments section down below.
question but does goblin slayer have any romance?
It doesn’t really. The main character only has eyes for goblins.