Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari 盾の勇者の成り上がり

2019 winter | Episodes: 25 | Score: 7.9 (1044334)

Updated every Wednesdays at 22:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Netflix

Synopsis

The Four Cardinal Heroes are a group of ordinary men from modern-day Japan summoned to the kingdom of Melromarc to become its saviors. Melromarc is a country plagued by the Waves of Catastrophe that have repeatedly ravaged the land and brought disaster to its citizens for centuries. The four heroes are respectively bestowed a sword, spear, bow, and shield to vanquish these Waves. Naofumi Iwatani, an otaku, becomes cursed with the fate of being the "Shield Hero." Armed with only a measly shield, Naofumi is belittled and ridiculed by his fellow heroes and the kingdom's people due to his weak offensive capabilities and lackluster personality. When the heroes are provided with resources and comrades to train with, Naofumi sets out with the only person willing to train alongside him, Malty Melromarc. He is soon betrayed by her, however, and becomes falsely accused of taking advantage of her. Naofumi then becomes heavily discriminated against and hated by the people of Melromarc for something he didn't do. With a raging storm of hurt and mistrust in his heart, Naofumi begins his journey of strengthening himself and his reputation. Further along however, the difficulty of being on his own sets in, so Naofumi buys a demi-human slave on the verge of death named Raphtalia to accompany him on his travels. As the Waves approach the kingdom, Naofumi and Raphtalia must fight for the survival of the kingdom and protect the people of Melromarc from their ill-fated future. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Voice Actors

Hidaka, Rina

Ishikawa, Kaito

Seto, Asami

News

Reviews

FATMANBELUGA
08/24/2024, 09:10 PM
We live in a world where the Isekai genre is so overdone. It’s gotten to a point where it becomes very hard to stand out and make a unique series in the Isekai genre. The Rising of the Shield Hero’s first 4 episodes do a very good job at putting the MC into a unique situation not many other isekais have done before. The twist in the first episode is so shocking, infuriating, and it gets the viewer excited to watch how the shield hero will overcome this obstacle. It was looking like The Rising of The Shield Hero was about to become a classicin the Isekai genre, becoming the standard for what a good isekai should look like, but oh boy was I wrong. Remember the twist in episode 1 that sets up the rest of the series, well that doesn’t last for long. The show looses what makes it unique in the first place by the end of the first season. the whole point of the show is the shield hero trying to overcome this obstacle and they ditch it immediately. What’s the point of carrying on then? That’s like if in One Piece, after Luffy becomes pirate king, the Strawhats go on another adventure to defeat a giant tortoise that is terrorizing the north blue. If you want to watch only the good parts of rising of the shield hero then watch episodes 1-21. After that it becomes a standard Isekai harem.
iFound
04/06/2023, 07:59 PM
Great anime! It is meant to resonate with people. The story is simple - the hero is looking into your eyes, your heart and soul. What you see on the screen reflects exactly what any of us goes through in our lives. There's betrayal, there's love, there's hate, there are friends and enemies. And it's not easy to make it through life. It's a journey and it's a struggle. There will be losses and there will be rewards. It is like looking at your own life through this anime. In that way this is a very unique anime. It tries to inspire you to continueliving, fighting and not giving up. It's a great anime for anyone going through hard times, which is probably everyone. The art is great. Not over the top. Just right. The plot is not complex but feels very deep on the most fundamental levels. The characters are great too. Even the most minor characters feel they belong right where they are and contribute their share to the story. This anime doesn't try to be better than other anime, it tries to make you feel better and give you hope, which is very rare for anime, since most shows are very self centered trying to impress the viewer with plot complexity, over-dramatization and other flashy tricks. After watching this show I feel like Shield Hero is me. And it's a good feeling. It's a real feeling. If you didn't feel like Shield Hero after watching this.. well may be it's not your time yet. May be watch it when the time is right.. whenever it may be.
uniDJar
10/31/2022, 12:05 AM
In short, One of my all-time favourite isekai. There are some shows, which upon watching only the first few minutes of the first episode can give us the impression that "yes, this would be one of my favourites". The shield hero was such a show for me. From the start till finish this show managed to push all the right buttons that captivates me; a strong yet non-gullible MC, a caring and strong female MC and good supporting characters, excellent art, fantastic isekai storyline and apt pacing. The story of a hero using one of the weapon which was considered weak or an accessory, and managing toface the odds which even the heroes with the conventional OP weapons couldn't handle, in a more realistic pacing got me hooked to this show. Have rewatched this more than 5 times in the past few years. And will do so before the latest season 3 airs. PS: skip season 2
ThatAnimeSnobRE
07/06/2022, 03:45 AM
1) The hook A lot of people were really hyped during the early episodes of this anime because of a little thing called Outrage culture. Just like it happened with Goblin Slayer some seasons before, the touchy premise of fake rape allegations and pro-slavery themes triggered the social justice warriors. This in turn motivated the defenders of the light novel to write long essays for defending the anime. One of the usual excuses any fan says about any show he likes is how it’s a subversion. It ain’t like other isekai! This one is different! These fans were so vocal about it they managed to attracta lot of random people who got curious by the ongoing controversy. Before you know it everyone was watching and talking about the Shield Hero. And as usual what matters the most is the execution and not the initial hook or how popular a show is. Which is actually really funny when you look back at what they were saying and what the show ended up being. The hook of the premise, the same one that lured in so many people with fake rape allegations and pro-slavery themes, managed to enrage a lot and to keep them watching with a promise of justice porn. And by that I mean everyone was waiting impatiently for the protagonist to prove his innocence and make those who were responsible to pay. Something which he eventually does. Pretty easily I must say. And then most of those watchers lost their interest because they got what they wanted and the hook was no more. 2) The degradation of the plot During the initial episodes, the plot was edgy, dark, and kind of depressing in tone. It begins to fall apart after the fourth episode by becoming another generic empowerment fantasy. Up until then nothing was easy and uplifting, but then it turns into a typical isekai full of every cliché in the book. Comic relief, fan service, cockblocking romantic advancements, easy victories, constant ridicule of the opposition, and non-stop ego-stroking. -Naofumi’ shield was supposed to be weak and unable to be used for attack, but soon became able to cast every ability imaginable, and to have enough firepower for blowing up entire mountains. -The girls Naofumi travels with, which were supposed to have depth and mental issues, constantly do typical fan service shenanigans. Going to hot springs, getting molested by tentacle monsters, never shutting up about how awesome Naofumi is, fighting over who gets to be his lover, and constantly yelling about how they can’t live without him. -By the time you get to the half point of the first season Naofumi gets vindicated. His enemies, the vicious nobles who at first were sinister and sneaky in their plan to ruin Naofumi’s reputation, turn to complete idiots who exist to be constantly ridiculed. Their only defining features are being evil and idiots. It’s easy to get bored of them since they come off as incompetent and not as threatening as they did in the first episodes. -The rival heroes who during their introduction were presented as super smart and calculative, quickly turned into complete idiots who can’t even walk without tripping over their own feet. Every single thing they do turns to a disaster and it’s up to Naofumi to clean after their mess. -The world where nobody supports the Shield Hero, is quickly proven to be full of people who are constantly supporting him (peasants in need), wish to enter his team (soldiers during the monster invasion), defend him every time he is accused (queen’s spies), and even plot armor him when he is about to be killed (Fitoria). -The notorious fake rape allegations, the bread and butter when it comes to this show, like it or not, ended up being just dumb people with power incriminating a person THEY summoned for helping them out. It was a cheap shot at victimizing the protagonist for making him sympathetic to the audience. Lots of shows do that and try their best to maintain the victimizing all the way to the end of the story. This anime doesn’t do that. 3) The protagonist The initial impression you were given about the protagonist, was that he was not another overpowered self insert otaku and not everything in his second life in an isekai is rainbows and unicorns. He is not yet another neet otaku loser who gets transported to a different world that works like a generic videogame, gets ultra powerful very fast, and amasses a harem of pretty girls who all love him for being bland. Well, fancy that, he ends up becoming that as the episodes go by. Something you can’t forgive though, even if he is bland, is how he is entirely passive. Not a characteristic you want from any hero in any show. Naofumi is constantly told what to do instead of thinking for himself, and is then praised for doing what he’s told. So it’s basically double standards at play. The author can have him doing whatever he wants for the plot to move in any direction he fancies and is then retroactively proving him right for being passive. The author treats the protagonist’s actions like a heroic feat, when in reality he makes him comes off as a robot following a program imposed by others. -Buying the slaves was not the protagonist’s idea, it was proposed by the slave merchant. -Doing the missions that help the villagers was not his idea, it was the villagers asking for help. -He did not want to be a team with the other heroes, the chocobo queen demanded it or she would kill him. Plus that archbishop dude wanted to kill them. He went as far as revealing his evil plans right in front of them. He became a common enemy of the heroes by wanting to kill them and they automatically became a team in order to take down this enemy. Some elaboration on that last point. What really takes the cake is how besides being passive, the narrative is also constantly using double standards for every little thing he does, thus coming off as hypocritical. Naofumi’s idea of working together as a team comes down to mocking the very people he is supposed to work with as a team. The constant need of the author to provide justice porn contradicts what the protagonist is supposed to be doing. You don’t mock your teammates and then pretend you are a team player. In fact, you are not a team player if you were forced to enter a team. 4) The bad guys The nobles and the clergy are very shallow as bad guys since they did all their evil fake allegations just because they didn’t like Naofumi. When Naofumi eventually gets vindicated he doesn’t even allow them to be punished with public execution. No, he saves their lives just for changing their names into slurs and having them being humiliated for life. That is apparently enough of a punishment if all the viewer cares about is constant humiliation of the protagonist’s enemies. It’s otherwise very childish and done that way for a revenge porn written with the mentality of a ten year old. Haha, let’s change the big baddie’s name to kaka doodoo and call her names all the time, haha! Beyond that, nothing changes in the evil princess’ behavior. After all the crap she did, she remains in the team of the Spear Hero despite humiliating him that way, and she still constantly tries to mess with Naofumi despite having her life spared and being given the chance to turn a new leaf. Then there is the evil clergy which frankly do their best to contradict their very agenda. -The cartoonishly evil religion hates the Shield Hero because the previous heroes of the same class were allied with the furry kingdom. So basically, they hate the current hero for nothing, since he didn’t do something to hurt them. He just belongs in the same class. -The dogma of the cartoonishly evil religion is against the cute furry waifus, thus they seemingly justify their hate. And I say seemingly because they don’t, since the hate came before the Shield Hero had cute furry waifus. They hated him before he even got to have cute furry waifus. -The Shield Hero was normally supposed to be summoned at the furry kingdom. The cartoonishly evil religion cheated and summoned him in their kingdom, so they can hate him. Which means, they have the nerve to blame the guy for forcefully appearing in the place they rigged for him to appear. -If the cartoonishly evil religion hadn’t framed the Shield Hero, he wouldn’t be forced to buy cute furry waifus as aid in battles. So by framing him they got exactly what they were trying to avoid. And no, this is not smart writing by having a self-fulfilled prophecy. It’s backwards reasoning. -The cartoonishly evil religion is also suicidal. Before the second monster invasion they had the excuse of not needing the Shield Hero for defeating the monsters. After the second monster invasion they clearly need the Shield Hero, because he’s the only one who is not incompetent. By continuing to slander the only person capable of defeating the monsters they effectively doom everyone, including themselves. -The cartoonishly evil religion gets completely rewritten into a different organization. At first they needed to resort to slander against Naofumi, because they were unable to kill him directly. And then out of nowhere they have a magic weapon that is as powerful as the four heroes. Why were they accusing the Shield Hero all these months when their plan was to kill him? Everybody believes their lies, so there is no need for all this nonsense. Why didn’t they kill him all this time when they had such a powerful weapon and he was far weaker? Why were they hiding this super weapon and weren’t using it against the monsters? Why did they even need the heroes to save the world when they have weapons and chocobo waifus that are far more powerful than them? Why are the other three heroes considered blessed when they casually decide to kill them? Why do they have monarchy and not theocracy if they can casually kill the royal family in front of a thousand people and get away with it? There is absolutely no consistency. -In general all villains are one dimensional jerks. They smile smugly, love to torture and kill innocents, and they do it for fun because they can. What a better way to justify your justice porn if not by having sadistic one-dimensional nobles who exist just to make you hate them and wish to see them dead. And obviously, the only one who can stop them is the self-insert protagonist. 5) The slave girls The slaves in Naofumi’s harem have horribly rushed character progression. The author never gave them more than a single episode for growing up into the forms they maintain throughout the rest of the show. Because why should you spend years on properly nurturing anything? Just skip all the build up and go straight for the outcome. And by outcome I mean seeing them constantly antagonize each other over who gets to have the self-insert’s attention, like in any typical harem. Obviously the protagonist is written to be dense as solid rock and constantly ignores their flirting, since the age rating doesn’t allow to show sex. There’s Redo of Healer for that. By the way, isn’t it strange to have everything growing up so fast on this world, yet their lifestyle is the same one we have in a typical medieval world? Not even the world building feels right because of that. Adding to that, whether they are slave raccoons, or birds from loot boxes, or random encounters with princesses in the wilderness, the protagonist’s allies are all cute girls who make every other male to be jealous of Naofumi. Did I mention how their ages range from 12 and all the way down to… a few months old? What does that say about the author’s sexual preferences? Let’s not ignore the fetishism of the show as many fans tend to do. It’s about a male slaver saving very young girls from other slavers, who are deliberately written to be one-dimensional evil rapists so the protagonist will be ‘forced’ to protect them by adding them to his harem instead. 6) The antagonists Whatever issues you might have with slavery you can’t blame the show for having it if it’s doing a decent job at portraying it. But, as I stated several times already, the author keeps using double standards all the time, so everything comes off as disingenuous. Naofumi makes fun of the Spear hero for taking advantage of cute girls for adding them in his team, when his own team also consists of nothing else besides cute girls, whom he also took advantage of by buying as slaves. So basically, it’s ok when he does it and wrong when anyone else does it. Also, very conveniently, Naofumi’s furries do not correct him on this obvious hypocrisy and instead support him, while also making fun of the Spear Hero for doing the exact same thing thus only making the hypocrisy more obvious. Late in the show, more heroes from a different world appear. They were constantly helping Naofumi and the rest to level up, defeat the monsters, and protect the people. Then all of sudden they want to kill everyone. The reason is so convoluted it becomes impossible to follow. They want to destroy this world, so the world they came from will be spared. It’s a lie, it will be destroyed anyways, but we need some sort of new fake allegations now that the justice porn is over. That aside, they are not fighting with the monsters so the world will be destroyed, they are fighting against the monsters which is the opposite of what they are here to do. So, the ‘logical’ explanation is, they are good people, they don’t want to kill innocents, they only want to kill the four heroes so the monsters will have nobody able to stop them. It’s another lie, because there are a dozen more people far more powerful than the heroes, so the monsters can still be stopped. And also, their sense of justice is so stupid they actually believe that if they only kill the defenders of the world they would totally not be responsible for the deaths of all those innocent people. Also, even if they are here to kill the heroes, they fight the monsters and help the heroes to level up and become harder to kill, although they are here to kill them. The ‘logical’ explanation for that is that they didn’t believe those four were the heroes they came to kill because they were too weak, so they might as well befriend them and help them get stronger, although it doesn’t matter because they are going to die anyways. So basically they befriend people they know they will eventually stab in the back. And obviously they couldn’t simply ask someone to confirm if they are the heroes; that’s too much work, man. It’s not like they are here to find and kill the heroes, thus their first question should be where they can find them. Literally everybody knows who the heroes are besides them. But wait, there is a ‘logical’ explanation even for that. They didn’t ask anyone to tell them where the heroes are because they had to level up first. You see when you cross over from another world the videogame logic of this stupid show dictates that you lose your levels because it’s a different videogame, so they had to grind all over again. Only when they were strong enough they felt like asking if they are the heroes and only then they wanted to kill them. And then they proceed to not kill them and to change their minds in the next season, thus dooming their world and making their trip here completely pointless. Don’t tell me all that are not completely convoluted, because they totally are. 7) Videogame (lack of) logic The world of the isekai functions like a videogame, which is nothing uncommon, but it’s done in such a way that it makes no sense. The allegations which make up the whole conflict of the show could have instantly been proven false, if anyone had bothered to use a slave crest that forces the target to be truthful. The core conflict had no thought placed behind it since there is a way to fix it in a few seconds. The reason it didn’t happen so soon is because everybody was deliberately not mentioning the ability of the slave crests. The viewer had no idea they could be used that way and not a single character who knew about them pointed it out. The excuse in-story is that they are very expensive to use in a trial. And yet Naofumi used them three times on his waifus with no financial problems. Did you see any villages starving to death because of all the money he spent on drawing a few crests? Of course not, because they don’t exist. Even the cost excuse falls apart when you take a step back and realize the setting is an oligarchy. The king owns everything in the kingdom, so it wouldn’t cost him a thing if he uses crests in a trial. I mean, he didn’t because that would prove he is a scumbag, but the fact remains. It doesn’t cost a thing to him. As it doesn’t for the queen, who used one in the trial without starving a million children. Essentially, the author had no idea how to prevent everyone from spamming crests and said ‘errr they are expensive I guess’ before allowing everybody to use them whenever it suits the protagonist and without any penalties. More specifically, when he enslaves waifus, and gets his justice porn by placing it on the bitch princess during the trial. Oh, now the cost is not an issue! The funny part is that they didn’t need magical crests to force the bitch princess into reveal the truth. If they had bothered to ask the guy who sold Naofumi the armor, he would reveal the lies of the princess, since she didn’t find it somewhere and then gifted it to the Spear Hero. It was an armor Naofumi bought from the armorsmith and it’s now right before his eyes! On top of all this mess, the dreaded videogame logic ruins even the concept of money in general. During the pilot episode, the heroes are given coins to buy their equipment. Why do they have to pay for anything? They were summoned against their will to save the world. Just give them the best available armor so they can save your sorry ass. An excuse could be so they won’t ruin the economy, but what good is money if they are all dead? And it becomes even messier later on, when Naofumi is constantly given stuff for free as thanks for helping people out. Also, turns out the magical weapons can literally clone anything for free. There was literally no need for money since day one, so what was the point of giving them coins? The author had no idea what he was doing, and he definitely did not thought of the economy collapsing because of it. The videogame logic ruins even the need to have a team and go on missions. There is no need to do any missions, because there is nothing to actually gain from them. -Some missions give them money, which they don’t need because their weapons can clone anything they want. -Mundane stuff like food and drinks are free for heroes who are here to save the world. -Monsters during missions give you experience points for leveling up, but there is no need to bother as there are special events where you can level up like crazy by beating trash mobs. Dumb action Despite the videogame terminology, everything constantly comes down to getting power ups in the middle of the battle by triggering a hidden ability, or turning to the power of friendship. What is the point in having rules, if powers come and go depending on what the plot says will happen? -They try to make it seem like the backlash for using major attacks comes at a cost by losing enough blood to fill a swimming pool. Yet there is a scene where Naofumi casually waits defenseless for 5 minutes, as everyone else around him are busy talking to the queen than saving him, thus making it seem like his injuries are not serious. He can take it like a champ. -The villains stand still while the heroes talk in the middle of the battle. -The heroes use mostly long ranged attacks, even when their weapons are short ranged. This makes the battles dull, since they are just standing still and fire projectiles. It also makes the Bow Hero to seem like he got the crappiest weapon, since he is supposed to be the only one using arrows and be useless in close range. -The three heroes use the exact same one attack all the time, making the battles repetitive on top of dull. 9) Slavery Regarding the touchy subject of slavery, which caused the controversy and made the show so popular… it’s garbage. Naofumi was accused of owning slaves in a setting where slavery is legal and most nobles own slaves. Hypocrisy, anyone? It never gets any deeper than that, and eventually it’s just an excuse for harem shenanigans. No sir, Naofumi is not forcing cute girls to fight on his side, and is certainly not going to have naughty moments with them at the hot springs. He bought them! Plus, the slave chicks clearly state that they love being slaves. Raphtalia in particular is given her freedom when someone removes the slave tattoo from her body. But she immediately rushes to get another slave tattoo. On her boobs I need to point out, since we need fan service for this garbage to sell. This validates the victimized protagonist by having the cute animal ear waifu proudly stating how she loves being manipulated as a slave. You don’t want to disagree with a cute animal ear waifu, do you now? Look how cute she is and has a tattoo on her boobs, she can’t be wrong. And as simple as that Naofumi once again has the moral high ground to do whatever the hell he wants. 10) Plot armor There is absolutely no tension in the show. The chocobo waifu plot armors Naofumi from the dinosaur, the spy woman plot armors the 2 heroes from the energy attack, the 2 heroes plot armor Naofumi from the Pope. There is never any sense of death in the show if they can survive all the time like that. And don’t get me started on why the Pope didn’t confirm the death of the 2 heroes before trying to kill the other 2, or how they never show how Sword and Bow survived the explosion. Eventually, even the queen plot armors the heroes from the church, and proves how the allegations were false by using a slave tattoo. Something everyone could have used since day 1. And essentially Naofumi didn’t have to do a thing for clearing his name. He could have sat on a bed for months and just wait for the queen to solve everything. There never was any urgency, there never was any actual threat, and he was plot armored from all sides. 11) Retroactive answers Most of the illusion of tension in the story comes from the author omitting information from the viewer. Almost every conflict would be easy if we were told how slave crests work or how the weapons can copy everything without the need for money. Even the heroes from the other world would have an easy mission if they had asked who the heroes of this world are. The show constantly hides its problems by basically making everyone too stupid to ask about things that are free and known to most people. Furthermore it provides answers to mysteries that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Why should the way crests and weapons work be kept a secret in the first place? It’s counter-productive for what the heroes aim to achieve. As a literary device it works on people who have no critical thinking, since they will perceive it as a plot twist or a major revelation, instead of bad writing. Thus whatever complains you might have about the show are instantly shut down by the defenders, who will claim ‘you didn’t know that at first and it’s explained later in the story, thus your complaints are moot’. The thing is, nobody was watching the show just to get answers for what is going on with the monster invasion or why the church hates the Shield Hero. Everyone was watching the show for the revengeporn and the pedophilic memes concerning Naofumi’s harem. There was no mystery to solve and therefore late explanations did nothing to save face. Especially when they did not fix any problems and did not make the writing any better. 12) Everyone is dumb This last point is a culmination of everything that is wrong in the aforementioned points I made. Every single character is dumb as rocks and self sabotages his own goals that way. -The protagonist not telling the armorsmith to clear his name right away -The king mentioning money when they are not needed -The other heroes being morons who cause more trouble with whatever they do -Raphtalia forgetting she had friends being tortured somewhere until she bumps onto them. Then she refuses to kill the slaver so she won’t be like him (although she is not a slaver so WTH?) -The church hating the Shield Hero when they can’t survive without him (plus they already had a super weapon) -In general, the civilian population is a bunch of sheep with no thoughts of their own. Throughout the series they believe everything they are told right away. And before some of you say that’s exactly how the real world is like, people don’t do a 180 in a couple of seconds. One moment they demand to see the ones responsible to be punished, and the immediate next they change their minds and renounce the religion they believed in for centuries just because the validated self insert that is Naofumi said a few mean words against their god. And that is why the Shield Hero is a dumb show for dumb people that blew in popularity because of all the wrong reasons.
SimYeon
06/22/2020, 05:33 AM
'Harem Trash' this word i have seen so many people speaking for this anime. Like hell it is. I would rather say its a very much well developed anime and one of the best. Don't know why people criticize this anime, the story and animation are so good but still people just has to call it a 'Harem Trash' just because there's a guy hanging around with 2-3 girls. They just don't look at the story behind or rather they deliberately choose to call it a 'Harem Trash' even after admitting that story is good. There are 2 more seasons coming so some parts whichyou didn't understand in this season will be cleared in other seasons or at least i hope so because i haven't read the Novel so can't be sure. But i can tell you this much that Naofumi has great character design and development. And the other characters Are great as well. I will definately recommend watching this anime.
billyism
07/16/2019, 05:00 AM
I'll always find the elitists in these comment sections absolutely hilarious. Fear not, fellow MAL users, this won't be an elitist comment dissecting and purely focusing on the fact this anime is an "Issekai". Yes, that's right, it's an Issekai. Oh no! Not another one! Yea yea, I know. I thought the exact same thing when I began watching it. Boy gets thrown into a video game-like world and has to use his powers to save it! Oh, also while being accompanied by attractive heroines. Creative!! But that's where they get you. The reason why I liked this anime so much, was because it wentAGAINST the Issekai stereotype. Yes, it was in a video game world. Yes, there were heroines. But the story was deep. The characters were well paced and extremely creative. Story: Wonderfully creative. It starts off making you feel like it's nothing special, but then takes a turn almost out of no where, delving you into a wild ride of well paced world building and great character development. It explains to you what is happening, and why. There's seemingly no plot holes. Point blank, it did a damn good job. Characters: I've seen so many comments telling viewers that all this is, is another Loli harem with no developed characters. That, friends, is false. Raphtalia is the perfect example. A young child having to see her parents and entire village brutally murdered only to be sold into slavery and physically and emotionally abused directly after. A child with no hope for the world, thinking all is lost, only to be found by the least likely person. Our MC, Naofumi the Shield Hero. Another person in this world who was abandoned, broken and forsaken. The slow progression of their relationship, piecing each other together and finding light in this dark world, was absolute breathtaking. Yes, there is some fan service where partners compete for Naofumi's affection, but is that what we're calling a loli harem these days? Overall: This anime is highly rated for a reason. It does nearly every aspect well and goes against the stereotype. Don't let the elitist comments detour you from this gem.
Injenss
07/12/2019, 03:57 PM
To be honest, my personal life experiences make me highly biased towards this anime. I was falsely accused by a "fictim" years ago, and I never had my name cleared. I suffered loss in many areas because of being lied on. As such, I found myself almost instantly seeing myself through the eyes of Naofumi. It almost certainly made it where I glossed over every misstep and reveled more deeply in the satisfying moments than any regular viewer. That being said, this anime was amazing solely because of that. The moments of emotional outrage and hatred, the times he gotin a "win" against those who were trying to destroy his reputation, the moments where he showed how much better he was as a man than almost everyone around him, were fantastic. I could feel his bitterness, his resentment, and unlike me, who was powerless against my circumstance, I could feel his power when he stood up for himself. What enhanced the story even more was the addition of Raphtalia. Raphtalia serves like an angel and guiding light (along with Filo) keeping Naofumi from being overcome by hatred and rage at the world around him. Their relationship was a great one, and the unique thing about it, is that Raphtalia wasn't just a one note character just to help Naofumi, like a Belldandy or something. She also had her own deeply traumatic experiences and past pains that made for some great moments in their own right. Together, the two helping each other through such intensely unfair circumstances made you root for them in a way that you don't root for many MC's. Outside of the angle of him being falsely accused and Raphtalia helping him stay on the right path, to be honest, the anime was pretty much standard Isekai fare. Demons are attacking the world, the heroes summoned from another world must save it, blah, blah, blah... Not much about the anime or world was groundbreaking, until the very last two episodes when you learn a little more about the nature of the waves. That wrinkle in the story provides Shield Hero an opportunity to take a different path from most Isekai animes, if they choose to do so. The animation is pretty standard, as well. It's not something beautiful, like the Fate series, but it's not horrible either. The fights are entertaining, but they aren't exceptionally memorable, either. The characters are either likable, like Naofumi, Rapthalia and Filo, or completely unlikable, like Melty, the other heroes and the King. This aspect helps to strengthen the anime, as there's not many characters that you care nothing about one way or another getting a lot of screen time. Overall, the strength of this anime is going to be determined by how much you can relate to Naofumi's predicament. If you can't relate to it, you're more than likely going to think this is just an average anime with a wronged hero. If you can relate to it, I think you'll enjoy it much more.
Chrysalis_Feline
07/12/2019, 01:16 PM
I am unsure how I learned of this anime but good lord I am so glad I did. Everything about it is amazing. At first I was a little unsure because I thought it was going to be another stereotypical Isekai anime where the MC has a harem and it end up a trash anime. Oh was I wrong. The MC starts off knowing anything about MMO games or how those worlds work. He never understood what was going on. He also starts off with a shield, what is seen as the weakest of all of the weapons.He is ridiculed and shamed by those around him and, later, the entire country. Everyone spreads rumors and he is lower than rock bottom. He gets conned and robbed and is, basically, thrown to the streets. It is through his hard work and effort that he raises and, oh boy,it is hard for him. Because of his history with the world, he does not trust anyone and is very cynical. It's not until many episodes in that he actually starts trusting his companion. I have never seen an anime with these attributes and I can relate with the MC as well. Seeing this was SO refreshing and I loved every second of it. I watched and listening to the opening and ending for EVERY episode, which I hardly ever do (I will usually watch the first one then skip the rest.) The animation and art was stunning and effects mind blowing. The characters were well developed and I don't think I even saw a cliche anime trope either. Romance is hinted at but never carried out, which, again, seems rare for Isekai animes. I am rooting for a season 2 and will start reading the manga. I want to learn Japanese so I can also read the light novels too. I HIGHLY suggest start watching this if you haven't already! While we wait with anticipation for a season 2 I will be entertaining myself with other works from this director as well as animes similar to it. Another thing to note is I never write reviews for animes so the fact that I spent the time to write this also says how amazing this anime is.
spy4killer
06/26/2019, 12:06 PM
*Review contains no spoilers* "Great production, loss of focus, lack of good characters" That basically describes Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari. In my opinion, an anime that has excellent production but have nothing more to offer than the production is much worse than an anime that is just bad. Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari had real potential to be a great anime or even better. With good art, great animation, and a fantastic soundtrack, but with a lack of good characters and a plot that is just boring and randomly changing and with rushed pacing. This anime becomes a much worse version of what it couldhave been. It just saddens me to see all of this good production going to waste. Being bad is far better than being boring. Let us talk about the best part first. The music is Astounding both openings could be easily considered one of the best in the season. The main theme is wonderful. Kansas, Mirrors, Autoroll and many other pieces of the soundtrack are incredible. definitely, a soundtrack that I and many are going to remember and come back for. Other than that there is not much else to say about this anime. The plot was okay in the first 4 episodes I guess, but it just didn't know where it was heading. It felt like every 3 episodes have a completely new direction for the plot. Although an ever-changing plot could be great this one doesn't even come close to that. The pacing is garbage. There are almost no good characters. All of the characters are as generic as it gets. Which in turn makes the plot that has no chance of being developed even less intriguing. I still don't understand what does the sitting of Isekai offer to a story like this. Isekai is an interesting setting when it used for the plot rather than just being a sale tag. For example, an anime like RE: zero uses the setting of an Isekai to have a plot revolving around the concept of "respawning" which made the plot much more interesting, on the other hand in Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari there is just no reason plot-wise to have the story in another world really. To wrap things up. This anime had the potential to be great with its production value but even with all of that, the plot and the generic characters drag this anime down and make it an overall disappointment.
Shingster
06/26/2019, 11:41 AM
Please note this review is intended to be read by those that have finished watching Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari and while care has been taken to minimise spoilers there may still be spoilers within character analysis. You have been warned. Based off a popular light novel of the same name Tate No Yuusha no Nariagari which is better known by its English title The Rising of the shield hero is an action, adventure, fantasy and drama genre anime, that gives us the unique opportunity to see what would happen if a human being from the modern world was not just summoned to a fantasyworld but also summoned in order to take up the role of one of the world’s heroes and protect it as a once in a lifetime crisis takes place within the world. While Isekai genre anime like this one has long served as the staple of modern-day anime and on the surface, The Rising of the shield hero may look exactly like a standard example of that esteemed genre there are several aspects of it that in my eyes made it noteworthy. One of the main premises of the Isekai genre is of the fact that after being transported from the original world the person that was summoned will usually be given a large role that’s important to the well-being of the world to which they were summoned too with hero’s being the most common types. However, in the case of the Rising of the shield hero instead of using this common aspect of the genre, it instead flips it and makes the main character Naofumi take up the role of an anti-hero instead of being a hero as his fellows have become. This unique flip on roles while adding some much needed creativity within the genre also served to allow us to see the kind of unique interactions that the world’s inhabitants show to those that don’t fit the idea of their image of a hero which when paired with the types of bonds that Naofumi forges with his party members and his many allies within the series served to give a unique perspective on how prejudiced this new world can be. It is these aspects that served to draw me to this series and ensured that it was one that I would watch until the end. The first episode of the series while doing an excellent job in introducing both the setting, the main hero’s as well as the members of the kingdoms royalty also served well to show the kind of actions that can result from those that have both the power and the influence needed to make life difficult for those that have slighted them. While the first episode proved to be a somewhat controversial shock to some I felt that it was an excellent episode as it served to not just forge the foundations of Naofumi’s cynical personality but also help define his overall quest of finding a way to protect the world while trying to get his name cleared in a world that sees him as nothing more than a villain. The overall story for the series takes place in a parallel world that combines the standard fantasy world where swords, magic and fantasy creatures exist with the types of prejudices and royal intrigues among royalty that’s common within the medieval era of the modern world. In this world of swords and magic, humans are not the only races that inhabit the world for they co-exist alongside various races of demi-humans as well but alas this co-existence is anything but peaceful and especially so in the kingdom of Melromarc. In this kingdom that serves as one of the primary settings for the series the king consort aided by his daughter has mandated a series of suppression on the kingdom’s demi-human population and has not just made life within the kingdom hard for them but also ensured that within the kingdom his word and that of his daughter was the law. A fact that swiftly becomes apparent when Naofumi was not just stripped of his title of hero but also labelled as a villain by both the royal family and the general population after a serious accusation by the princess to which despite having no sign of physical proof ensured that he was transformed from that of a righteous hero to that of a villain that had the title the devil shield. However despite being labelled as a villain and being cut off from all the support that the kingdom could provide him Naofumi determined to both prove his innocence and at the same time get his revenge for all the hardship that the royal family has inflicted on him does not let this stop him and despite being treated harshly by others still fights hard to both continue to live within the world and at the same time fight to protect it in his own way. But he will not do so alone for despite his status his grim determination to protect this world and get back at the royal family serves to draw many unique and powerful allies to his side that serves to not only increase his parties combat ability but also allow him to not just learn more about this world but also use it to his advantage in both defending this world from the waves and in getting justice for himself by proving that the accusations from the royal family were nothing more than lies. However in the face of both the increasing power of the waves which serves to bring increasingly powerful foes to the field and the ever malicious plots by the king consort to ruin him Naofumi and his party must not just fight hard on the field but also stay on their toes if they want to protect this world and fulfil the role of being a hero even one that is unacknowledged and unsung by the masses. Naofumi Naofumi portrayed by veteran voice actor Kaito Ishikawa of Rascal Does Not dream of Bunny Girl sempai and Sakurada Reset fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main protagonist of the series. An otaku and a second-year student from the modern world that was abruptly summoned to a parallel world in the beginning of the series Naofumi on initial appearances is seen to be a positive, intelligent and earnest person by nature that somewhat contradicts the typical image of otaku’s given that he has no fear of interacting with others in society. A quiet person by nature Naofumi is shown to be someone that prefers to be low key and is shown to prefer using diplomacy to settle matters and ensure that everyone is getting along without any trouble. While doing well in showing Naofumi’s preference to use diplomacy to deal with matters this also did well to show how trusting Naofumi was towards both his fellow heroes and to the members of the royal family that he had just met. However, all of this soon changed as a result of both the false accusation that quickly labelled him kingdom-wide as a criminal and his banishment from the circle of heroes that have been summoned to fight the waves. After the change of Naofumi’s status from hero to criminal Naofumi’s personality gradually started to change. While still remaining quiet and earnest Naofumi also notably becomes more aloof and serious in terms of attitude and indeed is willing to use threats against others if they prove to be obstructive of his goals. At the same time largely as a result of the fact that trust in his newfound state is no longer something that can be expected of others Naofumi was shown to develop a somewhat cynical attitude to life and always expecting things to go awry which is shown well in the encounters that he has with the various allies that he meets along the way. However while this aspect when combined with his willingness to use threats on innocents fitted well with the official story that he was a villain it can be seen that was also a blessing of sorts as it allowed him to easily determine the true nature of someone and more often than not expose them before they can cause any damage to him. Despite Naofumi’s cynical nature and his unwillingness to open his heart to others it can be seen that this is largely restricted to outsiders as when interacting with companions that have proved themselves to him it can be seen that he would not only fight hard to protect them but also work hard at not just developing their skills and equipment but also take great care in determining whether is there anything that’s bothering them aspects that show not just Naofumi’s caring nature but also of how considerate and perceptive he is as well. Despite the betrayal of the royal family it can be seen that Naofumi had never forgotten the fact that he was one of the heroes that have been summoned to this world to fight the waves and despite knowing that he would not get official gratitude from the kingdom and nothing but scorn from the heroes he would still work hard at not just protecting people but also encouraging them to fight together with him showing not just his desire to protect the innocents from harm but also do the job that he was summoned to do and thus showing his sense of responsibility not just to the people but to the world as well. This is perhaps best shown in the defence of Lute village which despite not being evacuated before the wave hit was literally abandoned to its fate by the other heroes due to its negligible strategic worth. Rather than follow suit Naofumi and party instead opted to protect the village and its inhabitants instead of going for the wave’s main force as others would have expected. This victory while a small one in the larger war effort did well in showing that Naofumi’s chief concern was neither glory nor fame but simply the desire to protect innocents that have been caught up in the war. Within the series one of the most important bonds that Naofumi is shown to value the most is the relationship that he has with his fellow party member and confidant Raphtalia. While the relationship between the two was frosty at first due to his initial desire of wanting to use her as a tool this slowly began to change as a result of not just the number of battles and adventures that they have been through together but also of sense of trust that has been formed between the two of them a bond that served to not just ensure that she will not just fight for him but also fight to protect him from the many detractors that exist within the kingdom. As a result, seeing not just the amount of trust that Raphtalia has in him as well as the benefits that can come from having someone that you can rely upon and share burdens with Naofumi’s attitude towards bonds and friendships gradually started to change. While still far from being the first that would make a move when encountering new allies Naofumi gradually begins to learn to show more trust towards not just his allies but also his friends as well and willing to offer genuine praise and support to them when warranted which a far cry to how gruff he was in the past. This aspect is shown well not just in terms of words but also in terms of actions as well in Naofumi’s attempt to both protect his friends from harm by both creating new and better gear for them and in improving in his ability to finish battles quickly and effectively so as to minimise any potential damage to his friends. However, though Naofumi’s attitude towards showing trust in his comrades and to allies that he can trust in was softened the same cannot be said of his attitude towards both the royal family and his fellow cardinal hero’s. More than anything within the series Naofumi is shown to bear nothing but absolute hatred towards both the king consort and Malty who framed him and the cardinal heroes for not questioning the fact that there was no proof of his alleged crime. While this sense of anger towards them serves to not just provide a sense of motivation for Naofumi in his desire to get stronger it also served to provide him a powerful set of skills in the form of the Rage shield that had the potential to increase his combat ability considerably. This power, however, proved to be a double-edged sword however as while giving him a notable increase in combat power it also made him susceptible to the madness within a madness that thankfully he was never able to experience thanks to the increased bonds that connected him with his comrades. The character of Naofumi I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with the gradual evolution from a typical earnest and positive young man who seemed content with the life that he had to a cynical, serious and grim young man who expected to be betrayed by everyone and then finally to someone who despite living through a betrayal that would have broken a lesser man had not only learned to master the anger within him but also found a new sense of motivation that can not only help himself but his many comrades as well as they fight together to protect the world as hero’s being especially well done. Raphtalia Raphtalia portrayed by veteran seiyuu Asami Seto of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai and Strike the Blood fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main heroine of the series. A member of the Tanuki demi-human race that inhabit the realm Raphtalia on initial appearances is seen to be a quiet, timid and hesitant person by nature. As a result of being enslaved at such a young age, Raphtalia in the beginning was shown to be rather hesitant when dealing with strangers both in terms of standard interaction like going to a restaurant and in learning to use weapons effectively on the field. Despite her fear of not just failing but also displeasing her master she was also shown to get scared easily. However, despite this fear she was shown to be a quick learner when properly motivated showing both determination to help master the new skills that she needs and a strong desire to do her job effectively an aspect that is shown well in the first team-ups between her and Naofumi in the field. At the beginning of the series largely due to her status as a slave Raphtalia was shown to be someone that expected her eventual masters to treat her badly likely due to the images of the number of slaves that she had seen being mistreated during her time at the market. As a result of this, it can be seen that she was pleasantly surprised that while Naofumi was a harsh master at first the efforts that he had put in teaching her not only served to allow her to defend him but also herself as well. At the same time while Naofumi’s outwardly aloof nature made it somewhat hard to approach for her it can be seen that she was surprised that rather than treat her harshly such as feeding her just scraps of food as others would have that Naofumi not only treated her to actual food but also allow her to eat with him as well. As a result of this treatment, it can be seen that Raphtalia’s attitude towards her new master swiftly improved with her fear of her master being largely replaced by a desire to both learn not just new skills but also more about the world to which she lives in. Though the time in which Raphtalia was a slave was a harsh one that had a heavy emotional toll on her it can be said that there was one thing that had kept her from giving in to despair as many of her fellow slaves have had which was her interest in the shield hero that came from the old legends that her parents told her when they were still alive. These legends while essentially nothing more than fabled tales was shown to have a deep impact on her and indeed they served as the primary reason for her desire to serve the shield hero should the opportunity present itself. As a result of this desire, Raphtalia had no qualms about stepping up and make that wish a reality when her master revealed to her his true identity. While very much aware that her skills were not yet powerful enough to be able to protect him effectively Raphtalia vowed to not just become stronger but to be also brave enough to fight by his side as his sword a vow that swiftly becomes a reality. After growing up both mentally and physically and after seeing the kind of treatment that Naofumi receives from the kingdom’s people Raphtalia’s personality gradually starts to change. While still quiet to a degree Raphtalia in her grown-up form was seen to have become much more confident and direct with both her words and actions. While her child form would have shown some hesitation in both the usage of weapons and in identifying herself as part of the shield hero’s party here as a result of her newly founded confidence it can be seen this fear is no longer present and indeed is replaced by a strong sense of loyalty towards her master. This aspect is shown well in the many instances where Raphtalia stepped up to both stand up for herself and her master after being slandered by others. An interesting development that came about as a result of Raphtalia’s newly founded confidence that I found to be quite endearing was the fact that Raphtalia while for the most part was content with following her master’s orders was not above acting forcefully to force her master to take a deeper look at a situation. A good example of this is during the time when Raphtalia reminds Naofumi that there is no need to try and do everything by himself. While Raphtalia’s newly discovered confidence served to not just allow her to better defend her master both on the field and in society it can be said that this newly founded confidence also managed to awaken or otherwise enhance the other personality traits that had existed within Raphtalia. At the beginning of the series while noted to have a keen eye for detail Raphtalia was noted to be somewhat hesitant in passing what she had found to her master and as a result, causing delays in situational processing for the party. In the wake of her newly awakened confidence, however, this sense of hesitation and fear of acting outside of her bounds was replaced by her embracing her excellent senses while at the same time learning to pass on what she had learned to her master quickly and effectively. While enabling her to better support her master on the field this overcoming of her hesitation also allowed her to show more care towards her master by acting as both a comrade and a confidant to which she can provide both advice and her own unique take on the kind of situations that the party encounters in their journeys by listening too and determining the main aspects of the facts that have been discovered by Naofumi even the ones that Naofumi did not want to reveal. While showing well how considerate and understanding Raphtalia had become this also did well in showing the increasing bonds that have been forming between Raphtalia and her master as her past self would never have wished her masters displeasure by pressing for the whole truth. As a result of the ever-increasing bonds that have been forged between them its perhaps unsurprising that Raphtalia views the relationship that she has with her master as something that was dear to her and indeed this bond can be seen to act as her primary sense of motivation in life for in her mind it was the meeting between the two that had allowed her to break out of the grim reality of slavery and given her a new purpose in life which was to act as her masters sword. While serving to ensure that the bond between the two were almost unbreakable on account of the strong debt that both feel that they owe each other this bond when combined with her perceptive nature also allowed Raphtalia to better understand Naofumi’s personality and see past the lies that he creates to both protect himself and his parties while masking his true kind-hearted nature. While certainly understanding the necessity of protecting innocents from being targeted by his detractors it can be seen that Raphtalia dislikes the idea as while hiding the fact that her master had worked so hard to protect innocents it also served to prolong the impression that he was a villain as per the official kingdom’s bio of him a fact that frustrates Raphtalia to no end. As a result of the strong bond that had been formed between Raphtalia and her master its perhaps unsurprising that she will find it threatened when a new party member joins, but such is the reality when Filo joined the party. While the introduction of Filo and later Melty within the party served to create some unique problems for Raphtalia it also served to allow Raphtalia to realise that while the bond that has been forged between her and her master was a strong one that didn’t mean that she cannot learn to expand the bond to accommodate other allies that have proven her worth not just to her but to her master as well. While the relationship between Raphtalia, Melty and Filo was a frosty one at first it can be seen that this gradually began to change and be replaced by a sense of mutual respect that results from the development of both friendships and the acknowledgement of a valued comrade. While doing well in both boosting the amount of combat power that the party can call upon this new bond also served to expand both Raphtalia’s desire to make more friends but at the same time awaken her desire to treat her party members as something akin to family members and protect them with all her might. While doing well in expanding upon her desire to make more friends in this world I felt that this development of hers also did well to introduce a surprisingly motherly side to Raphtalia’s character. The character of Raphtalia I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed. The evolution of her character from a little girl who as a result of being forced into slavery from a young age and who was easily scared, nervous and unwilling to show her true thoughts to one that was not just more confident, intelligent and direct with both her actions and her words was well done. This is especially seen well in the role that Raphtalia had chosen for herself within the party which was that of her master’s sword as in this capacity she is not just able to stay by her master’s side as his sword but also act as his confidant and shield when needed. However this sense of seeing herself as a sword is by no means a way to view herself as a lesser being and indeed the opposite is true for Raphtalia sees the role of being her masters sword as both a means to repay her debt to her master for giving her a new purpose in life and for allowing her to meet the one person that she had wished so fervently to meet and save her from the bleak world that she had lived in. In a way it is perhaps fate that had allowed both Raphtalia and Naofumi to encounter each other for not only had they through their bonds with each other managed to create a bond that was not just able to provide both with a sense of trust, understanding and warmth that both had lost but also for the first time in their lives create a place where both feel that they can belong too and where they can show their true selves to each other while allowing both to stabilise their own fears and insecurities and help them become better people in the long run. Filo Filo portrayed by veteran seiyuu Rina Hidaka of SAO and Boarding School Juliet fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of the members of Naofumi’s combat party. A member of the Filolials race a demi-human race that inhabits the realm Filo on initial appearances is seen to be an excitable, positive and innocent person by nature that closely resembles a child which considering the fact that she had just hatched prior was an apt term. While excitable Filo was also a polite, kind and loyal person by nature that enabled her to easily forge friendships with others as seen in how quickly she befriended Melty. Due largely to her child-like personality Filo was someone that was seen to have a keen sense of curiosity which when combined with her perceptive nature made her surprisingly keen-eyed at times which within the series is used well in her interactions with the spear hero. Unlike the other members of her race however Filo is able to transform into both an bird form and a human form that while showing that she is by no means a normal member of her race also does well in providing the party with some much needed tactical flexibility as her bird form allows her to both provide a means to travel to other locations within the realm faster while at the same time allow her to provide a much-needed boost to the party’s combat ability through the use of her talons. As the series goes on however and Filo’s personality is gradually expanded upon it can be seen that Filo despite being a kind and caring person by nature is shown to be both surprisingly stubborn and at the same time teasing at times with this latter point being used for comical effect with regards to the spear hero. Indeed, this stubbornness of her’s while itself normally a negative trait of hers can be seen here as a defining trait of hers when used in conjunction with both her friendly nature and her loyalty to both her friends and comrades. This is shown well within the series during the rescue of Melty who can be said to be her first friend from the corrupt noble Idol where despite facing fierce resistance from his guards Filo still changed straight into the teeth of his defences to save her. While a powerful combatant that’s almost equal to Raphtalia and a definite asset to the party it can be seen that unlike Raphtalia Filo herself lacked any strong sense of motivation for wanting to serve Naofumi which while lessening the amount of power that she can call upon to help them when the situation requires it also made her susceptible to doubt as well something that Fitoria was able to exploit well within the series. However, despite this flaw, it can be seen that when Filo is properly motivated and has something and someone that she wants to protect that she too is capable of changing her personality in order to compensate for her own flaws. This within the series is shown during the rematch with Fitoria in which Filo rather than charging into battle without a plan as she would have done previously instead opted to show both calmness and caution willing to wait and observe the enemy’s attacks before deciding on how to approach a given battle. At the same time, Filo also awakened within her the one reason that she had needed to motivate her to become stronger which was her desire to both protect her comrades and at the same time her friends Naofumi, Raphtalia and most importantly Melty. The character of Filo I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with her evolution from a newly hatched girl that while infinitely curious and positive and cheerful to a fault to a girl that was not just immensely loyal to both her friends and comrades but also versatile enough to act as both a fighter and the parties rapid response asset being especially well done. While Filo’s versatility is without a doubt impressive for the party I felt that it was so for us the viewers as well as it allowed her to provide a degree of comic relief in her treatment of the spear hero. Melty Melty portrayed by veteran seiyuu singer Maaya Uchida of Charlotte and Goblin Slayer fame is one of the main support characters of the series and is one of Naofumi’s allies within the series. The second princess of the kingdom of Melromarc and the younger sister of the first princess Malty Melty unlike her older sister is a kind, caring and positive person by nature that despite her young age is able to see easily the larger picture of a given situation and react accordingly showing not just her intelligence but also her quick thinking nature as well. Unlike her elder sister and despite her young age Melty is able to project both a sense of gracefulness, calmness and sincerity that few girls her age is able to show and while doing well in showing the kind of behaviour that a princess should act with also does well to show that despite the darkness within the royal family there is still light within it. While a calm and kind person by nature Melty was also someone that was not just open-minded but also perceptive being able to not just accept the circumstances of an event but also pick out the main points of it no matter how far-fetched the story was and who it allegedly involves. This is further supported by her preference to confirm things with her own eyes rather than rely on the eyes of others as royalty often do. Unlike her older sister Melty was someone that was seen to be akin to a people’s princess in that she was not just friendly but also polite as well and was willing to apologize to others directly rather than send others to do so on her behalf and while further cementing her role as a princess also ensured that the impression that she left on others was a good one. True to her sincere and honest nature Melty was someone that preferred to be direct with her words and seemed to prefer to get to the heart of a matter quickly rather than waste time with pleasantries as other royals would have something that I felt complemented her nature really well. Unlike most people within her, kingdom Melty was someone that was curious by nature and was someone that believed that not all monsters were enemies of man which is best shown in the manner of how Melty met Naofumi and party and also in the strong friendship that she forms with Filo later on despite knowing who she was. In line with Melty’s core personality traits of being sincere and honest, it's perhaps unsurprising that Melty is someone that is shown to have an intense dislike of not just injustice but also the act of wanton cruelty that have been perpetrated by both her sister and her father across the kingdom. Indeed, while certainly uncomfortable on hearing the news it can be inferred that Melty must also feel immense regret that someone from her own family was actually responsible for these acts as well. As a result of this and in line with the image that she was the princess that will herald in a new change to the kingdom it was both a breath of fresh air and incredibly satisfying in seeing Melty lay the foundations for her mother’s return to the palace to bring about the change that she so desired. As the series goes on however and Melty gets to experience first-hand not just how life outside the palace is like but also what it's like to travel with people that doesn’t let her status as a princess change in how they interact with her Melty’s personality gradually starts to change. Despite Melty’s image of an people’s princess whose kindness and calm nature was known across the kingdom it can be seen quite surprisingly that despite that Melty is still very much capable of showing anger as well which when combined with the verbal bards that she throws out at those that have angered her had the effect of showing a surprisingly cute side to her character. Unlike the rest of the royals Melty largely as a result of her mother’s teachings is of the belief that while the decision to summon all of the hero’s within one kingdom was the wrong decision believes that instead of simply confronting the waves haphazardly as the heroes had done so until she arrived that they should make the effort to form a unified front and fight the waves together. However this is by no means an easy task as not only had her father and sisters schemes splintered the unity of the hero’s but they had also created an intense sense of distrust between them that was not only making the situation grimmer but also gave other parties the gap that they needed to put forward with their own plans. Due largely to Melty’s role as a princess its perhaps unsurprising that she is someone that while knowing how things would work in theory would have no real knowledge on how things actually work in practice and as a result she while certainly diligent in her studies knew very little of the kind of life that exists outside of the walls of the palace. As a result, she was in for a rude awakening when she not only saw first-hand the kind of crimes that had been committed by the Knights of the kingdom but also of the actions that her esteemed father and sister had committed for no other reason other than just petty pride. This within her created a sense of doubt within her heart that served as her characters primary struggle which pitted her against whether to keep running away from her responsibilities and avoid conflict with her father and sister or to stand and fight and bring change back to the land by getting word to her mother the queen. Despite the difficult choice that effectively pitted her own ideas and desire to see fairness in her kingdom be extended to all with the petty pride that her own father and sister was displaying I was glad that Melty’s experience with Naofumi and his party and her ability to see the larger picture contributed in enabling her to make the right decision and bring back her true ruler of the land and turn the war around. In the beginning of the series Melty’s relationship with Naofumi was shown to be a rather frosty one due to his distrust of members of the royal family as a result of the betrayal that he was subjected to which when combined with Naofumi’s aloof and cold nature only served to make Melty’s job of mending relations between the royal family and him a difficult job. However, as the series progressed and Naofumi was able to not just see first-hand the kind of efforts that Melty was putting in to mend the rift between him and the royals his impression of hers gradually began to soften much to her delight. Though still somewhat put off by his aloof nature and his unwillingness to show his true feelings openly Melty like Raphtalia and Filo before her was able to see past his guard and see the kind and caring person that lay beneath the shield that Naofumi puts up around people and as a result began to treat him as a friend and comrade with the first of her steps being to get her to call her by her first name rather than her role identifier a scene that I felt was both amusing yet heartwarming. While Melty and Naofumi are shown to quarrel quite a bit over the course of their journey rather than showing any sense of anger between the two it can be seen that rather the opposite is true for rather than create splits between the two these quarrels actually serve to allow both Melty and Naofumi to improve the bonds that been formed between them and allow Naofumi to not just understand how things within the kingdom work but also allow him to see things from her perspective as well and contributing in allowing both to eventually see each other as comrades that can be counted upon to help each other when needed. The character of Melty I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with her evolution from a kind, polite and caring young woman who while acting in good faith knew little of how things worked in the real world to someone who despite seeing the amount of darkness that lurked outside the walls yet was still determined enough to stay true to her ideas and correct the mistakes that have been committed by her father and sister by standing with the one hero who had been shouldering the burden of protecting the people by himself to be well done. While the relationship between Melty and Naofumi was not developed to the same level as the one between Naofumi and Raphtalia I felt that it was still well thought out as Melty’s first responsibility was always going to be the safeguarding of both the country and the people despite her feelings for Naofumi. AMV In term of animation, I thought that the series characters both in terms of main and support ones were not just well designed but also matched well visually with not just their roles within the story but also with the circumstances of said character within it. This is shown especially well with relation to the heroes and their support parties with Naofumi and his party being of particular note. While the Sword, spear and bow hero’s as a result of their acceptance by both the king consort and the princess Malty were both expensively equipped and armed and armoured in the best gear available Naofumi’s party was the opposite with him bearing ragged but yet functional equipment that reflected their contrasting fortunes within the world. Notably, I felt the character designs also made great use of colour to not just show the personalities of the characters but also serve to make them more distinguishable on screen. In this regard, this proved particularly effective for both Raphtalia and Melty both of which bore distinctive designs that matched well with their personalities. In terms of environment design and variety, I felt that the series made great use of the types of locations that can exist within a fantasy world where both magic and monsters can exist. While the series did well in featuring the standard villages, towns, mines, and ruins it also featured a surprising amount of variety by featuring locations like ghost ships, beaches, leisurely islands and more within the series. In terms of combat animation and fights this is one area in which I felt the series truly excelled at thanks to both the many excellently designed enemies and the strong and well designed battles that take advantage of both the enemy design and the ever-increasing bonds between the members of Naofumi’s party that ensured that while their abilities and skills improve in leaps and bounds that they also understand the kind of roles in which they must fulfil when fighting on the front line. While strength certainly is important I felt that the battles in which Naofumi and party fought in also made great use of tactics and strategy which when used in combination with the trust that was formed between the party served to make each battle within the series a unique and entertaining experience. In terms of music the series made use of two opening and ending themes for the two cours with the openings being Rise and Faith by MADKID and three ending themes which were Kimi No Namae by Chiai Fujikawa, Failing Through Starlight by Raphtalia’s seiyuu Asami Seto and Atashi ga Tonari ni Iru Uchi Ni that was also sung by Chiai. Of the opening themes while both Rise and Faith served well to both introduce tension within the series on account of the kind of stakes that the world was facing in the form of the waves also served to introduce differing sub emotions as well with the former introducing both darkness and a desire to take back something that was lost which matched well with the first cour while the second introduced the themes of determination to stand firm with your allies and friends against the waves to protect them in the present to ensure a future ensures. With regards to the ending themes like the opening themes they too also served to represent specific themes within the series with Kimi No Namae being one that symbolised both despair and resentment against the world which I felt matched the first episodes superbly. The latter two ending themes while symbolising the types of emotions that the members of the party were experiencing as they bonded with each other also I felt grew calmer and more peaceful in their undercurrents and reflecting well on the gradually improving situation within the world thanks to Naofumi and party’s efforts on the front. In terms of the series OST, I felt that this was very well designed as it showed a surprisingly an excellent variety that allowed it to switch from calming tones to grand ones seamlessly as the series story progressed. The ones for combat scenes, in particular, were particularly impressive with my personal favourite being the one in ep11. In terms of voice acting, I felt that the series main voice cast did an excellent job at portraying their assigned characters whether main or support ones. In particular, I felt that Kaito Ishikawa, Asami Seto, Rina Hidaka, and Maaya Uchida all did an excellent job at portraying the characters of Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty respectively. Though the two were only introduced in the latter half of the series I felt that veteran seiyuu’s Sakura Tange and Kikuko Inoue both did an excellent job at portraying the characters of Fitoria and Mirelia respectively. Likewise, the characters of L’Arc and Therese who were portrayed by veteran seiyuu’s Jun Fukuyama and Saori Hayami respectively while only appearing near the end of the series proved to be surprisingly effective characters on account of both their chemistry and combat ability. While later comers to the series the vocal ability of both veterans really helped in ensuring that their respective characters left a lasting impact within the series as it neared its end. While only appearing twice within the series I felt that Megumi Han who portrayed the character of Glass did an excellent job at portraying the mysterious and enigmatic beauty whose sharp tongue is on par with both her high combat ability and her enigmatic nature. Overall conclusion In overall Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari was an excellent anime that I felt was one of the best ones of the spring 2019 season with its main strong points being its unique premise that expanded upon the traditional concepts of both the Isekai genre and of Hero led animes, an excellent and well designed story, excellent and well developed characters, strong voice acting from a talented voice cast and well designed and executed battles that combined excellent tension with easily relatable stakes for both the heroes and the world. The overall story of the series is without a doubt one of the series greatest strengths due to its combination of combining both the overall journey that Naofumi and his party went through as they went from being outcasts that were shunned by the kingdoms general populace to becoming hero’s that proudly stood and fought on the frontlines to protect the people from danger and the impact that these actions had on the larger war effort as a result of the many strong and lasting bonds that have been forged not just between Naofumi and his party but also with the many support characters that existed in the kingdom but yet were reluctant to ally with the kingdom for various reasons. While the overall story did start off by making use of a unique concept for Naofumi’s origin story that might have raised a few eyebrows I felt that this concept of introducing the role of a atypical hero to Naofumi’s character actually ended up being a well thought out idea as not only did it ensure that Naofumi was determined to prove his innocence in the eyes of the kingdom but also cause him to realise that as a result of being cut off from the kingdom’s resources that he would have to find a means to increase his combat effectiveness. While the decision to include slavery into the series was a tricky concept that proved controversial in some areas I felt that this method in the end managed to serve its intended purpose well as while it allowed Naofumi to increase his combat ability by taking Raphtalia under his wing this also allowed the opening of his eyes to the concepts of both friendship, bonds and loyalty that would later go to serve both him and the party well as Raphtalia’s inclusion into his party not only allowed him to gain a potent sword that can tear through the toughest of foes but also allow him to gain a close confidant that serves to balance out the cynicism that had developed within him. As the party expanded thanks to Filo and Melty’s introduction this bond of friendship not only served to make the party a much potent force on both the battlefield and in the kingdom but also served to expand the world significantly a fact that I felt was an excellent result. While the role of any hero within a series is to act to protect the people from harm I felt that Naofumi’s role as an atypical hero and the cynical nature that he had surrounded himself with as a result of the betrayal made him somewhat unique. While this nature of his more often than not served to make others suspicious of him I felt that this also made the effects that his actions had on others and the reactions that they give after seeing it that much more powerful while also giving both Naofumi and myself a great degree of satisfaction especially if the said party was the arrogant type. Taking advantage of both the story and the character development that came about was the series excellent combat scenes. While most Isekai series that feature combat tend to follow the standard role of having fighters, rogues, mages and healers I felt that The Rising of the shield hero just as they improved upon the hero concept also served to expand upon the combat as well. While Naofumi himself may have been a fighter the fact that his main weapon was a shield may have given the impression that he was a one tricked pony but within the series this is not the case as thanks to the large variety of shield designs and abilities the shield that many looked down upon can be said to be one of the most powerful weapons within the series thanks to the sheer amount of tactical flexibility that it gives both him and the party. Likewise, this is also shown in both Raphtalia and Filo as well who acts as both the party’s main melee attacker and guerrilla fighter and mage and fast attack fighter respectively. Melty while joining the party only halfway through the first half of the series also served to become a potent force for Naofumi’s party as Melty while a competent mage was also a skilled diplomat whose intelligence and perceptiveness made her a worthwhile addition to the party. These dual roles within the party while the having the potential to cause great damage to any enemy that they fight along the way also had the potential to cause great confusion to them if they were used haphazardly but thankfully within the series these dual roles were used to great effect when used in conjunction with the strong bonds of friendship, loyalty, determination and desire that served to link the core party of Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo and Melty in a nigh unbreakable bond that served to become their solid foundation as they fought to beat back the waves and protect the kingdom and its people from harm. This within the series is shown especially well within the series many battles in which the cast’s unity and determination allowed the creation and unleashing of many powerful and unique combo’s that while allowing the defeat of many an enemy also showed the depths of the bonds that made it possible. In terms of final score, I can say for certain that Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari easily deserves a final score of 10/10 on account of its combination of a unique take on a tried and tested premise, excellent world building, well designed, developed and easily relatable characters, excellent combat scenes that were paired well with unique and powerful enemies and excellent voice acting from a top tier voice cast.
Rusticks
06/26/2019, 11:21 AM
Terrible show about terrible people. Less than typical isekai trash. Story sets itself out to be epic, exciting adventure but stumbles to a crawl by the end of the fourth episode. It's about as dull and meaningless as one can expect. At least other isekai trash put SOME effort into their world-building and plot. Almost everyone in the show is either an idiot or an asshole, with one of the only "good guys" being a slave trader. So that should give you a good idea about what you can expect from the characters. If anyone but Spear Hero brought up the Raphtalia/slavery thing, they wouldhave been right. But because the biggest idiot in the show said it, suddenly everyone else is wrong and slavery is okay. Even worse is how the show goes out of its way to jump through so many hoops in order to defend slavery. Naofumi is a dense idiot (and a bit of an asshole) but at least there's some empathy to give him considering his situation. How ironic that a "blank slate" main character is the best written character in the series. Reminder that Raphtalia is still 10 years old. "bUt ShE mEnTaLLy AgEs aS sHe LeVeLs uP". Yeah and his entire harem is lolis. Doesn't exactly help your point. Only redeeming factor is the fantastic OST, but it doesn't do enough to save this travesty.
Flexstyle
06/26/2019, 08:38 AM
Rising of the Shield Hero? More like rising of the Edgelord Hero! [Warning: Spoilers] Shield Hero is another overrated isekai the fandom overhyped it being "different from other isekai" and to an extent I could see where they’re coming from since it did have a promising start, but then it continuously declined with each episode and devolved into a generic, power fantasy, loli harem isekai. Story (3/10): The story is about 4 otakus who get summoned into this world where they’ve become legendary heroes and have to defeat the succession of waves to save the World in order to go home. However, the show would be over ifwe fought all the waves so quickly, right? To drag out the story, we follow Naofumi’s party daily lives as they: learn about this world, fight monsters, fulfil side adventures, buy new items/equipment, become merchants and start trading (which comes off as bootleg Spice & Wolf), and most importantly deal with the latest contrived drama Naofumi has gotten himself into. I’ll explain this in more detail later on. Characters (2/10): Naofumi starts out as this misunderstood ‘nice guy’. That’s all I can describe him because he had no personality and we know barely anything about him or his past. He gets played by Myne and is accused of a rape accusation. This is only the first of many acts created to shit on Shield Hero. The show constantly goes out of it’s way to portray the royals, heroes and pretty much everyone in the world as unlikeable assholes to make Naofumi the victim. Naofumi is the “nice guy” who believes he has terrible luck for being chosen as the shield hero, which is seen as the worst class. Myne’s betrays him, steals all his money, he gets a false rape accusation, a bad reputation, ostracised by everyone and because of this Naofumi’s drastically changes into a edgy ‘morally grey’ anti hero- who buys a child slave in order to fight for him. Thus the story how the Edgelord Hero is born! My problem with this is Naofumi at the beginning is a blank slate that isn’t fleshed out enough so his sudden change doesn’t resonate with me. I’m not yearning for Naofumi to go back to his old self because we didn’t spend enough time for me to care about him. Edgelord Hero doesn’t have much of a personality or endearing qualities, he’s just a standoffish, cynical asshole who’s less sociable, has trust issues and asks quest givers money for his help. The amount of forced drama is so poorly written and contrived that it’s emotionally manipulative. The writer wants you to feel sympathetic to Naofumi’s cause and root for him in this ultimate underdog story. Too bad I’ve got none for the Edgelord Hero! For example, why should I be rooting for him Vs Spear Hero to win his duel so he can keep his slave? You want to know what I don’t understand? Is these evil assholes who are hellbent on screwing with Edgelord Hero, [i] need him [/i] to save their world. He has no reason whatsoever to fight for them, so why do they hate him with a passion? Why do they keep handicapping one of their four chosen heroes? For example, the King giving him less starting gold, not giving him information about the hourglass to access the waves, not letting him class upgrade. It makes no sense. We aren’t given a explanation as to why they act the way they do, so unless it’s for the Lolz, it’s to make Edgelord Hero the victim. LN readers are constantly saying “there’s a reason for all this, you just have to wait!” but the writer has dragged this out for 20 episodes with little hints alluding to why (e.g. a history of nefarious shield heroes), while adding more contrived drama to the point where I’m exhausted and desensitised to the whole situation. The reveal after all this buildup was sooooo underwhelming. The consequences was incredibly childish and pathetic, that I will spare you the details and just say it was akin to one of the school playground punishments. Raphtalia is a bland, poorly written heroine (Demi-human) who went from a scared, meek little girl with a tragic backstory of being tortured, in slavery, had PTSD over her parents death, to losing all her flaws and any potential of emotional conflict that could have led to some good character development because of how she changed in a instantaneous, implausible manner e.g. an absurd personality change and rapid aging that happened offscreen after two episodes to gain qualities to make her the “perfect waifu”. Her development is too unrealistic. She remains a static “Naofumi sama” bot for the rest of the show. This may sound sensitive to some, but I have to say, this show romanticizes slavery. It sweeps under the rug the nature of Edgelord Hero and Raphtalia’s master/slave relationship, him buying her out of necessity because Edgelord Hero can’t attack or trust anyone else to party with. Edgelord Hero punishing Raphtalia when she didn’t bend to his orders. It’s worse in the manga where it was stated Edgelord Hero bought her because she’s a girl that looks similar to Myne so he could project his pent up hatred on her. They wasted the opportunity to explore the themes/morality addressed with slavery and their dynamic in detail. For example, Raphtalia essentially was a broken slave who’s lost everyone she’s ever cared about. It’s clear Raphtalia developed stockholm syndrome for Edgelord Hero over a few instances of kindness due how shit her life has been and the story about the legendary Shield Hero who will save the demi humans. Instead of showing how unhealthy their relationship is with both of them depending on each other to “lick each other’s wounds”, leading to some good character development for both of them, it’s portrayed to make Raphtalia the perfect waifu who unconditionally loves Edgelord Hero, who worships the ground he walks on and will stand by him even when everyone in the world’s betrayed him. Doesn’t that sound like a edgy fanfiction to you? They could have slowly developed their relationship into a genuine romance with them gradually growing closer- slowly letting each others walls down, begin to trust each other (despite being ostracised from society) and eventually fall in love. It was hard to watch the scene where Raphtalia was angry that the kingdom freed her from slavery and was defending Edgelord Hero basically saying: “Naofumi sama is kind! He feeds me, bought me a ball, he tortures me when I don’t bend to his will i.e. being scared to fight, but it’s okay because I want to be his slave!” Her level of stockholm syndrome surpasses that of a battered wife. Raphtalia is nothing more than pure waifu bait. Worse of all is Naofumi doesn’t see the problem with slavery, he doesn’t change his perspective with the slave trader and becomes a regular customer, hell he doesn’t even apologise to Raphtalia. This is further evident when Raphtalia wants to go to the slave owner’s shop to get a new slavery mark because she likes being his slave- she wears it as a badge of honour now. Who the hell cares about her years of PTSD when it’s magically cured from a few moments of kindness?! As long as you fed and pet your slave then you can be a great slave owner! Filo is a one-dimensional, generic, cute bird loli with no depth. The only reason she’s a loli is for fan service. I despise Filo because when she joins the party the story goes downhill. It started off deep with a darker tone to it which was interesting, but slowly devolved into a lighthearted, generic harem isekai with loli’s joining one after another. The parental relationship between Edgelord Hero and Raphtalia becomes a competition between Filo and Raphtalia for the Edgelord Hero’s affection, despite him not returning it. Malty gains feelings for him too, because it’s not Isekai if all the girls don’t worship/ fall in love with the self-insert protagonist right? Myne is a one dimensional, spiteful, unlikeable, basic bitch with no depth. I don’t think ever witnessed a character who was created to be as insufferable and hated like her. Her only motivation in life seems to be ruining Edgelord Hero’s life e.g. faking a rape accusation, stealing all his money, lying about Raphtalia being held against her will as a slave, interfering in the Shield/Sword duel while trying to have the King and Pope cover for her. I don’t even hate Myne anymore because that’s what the author wants and won’t give him that satisfaction. I feel sorry for her for being a victim of bad writing. Together with her trusty sidekick Spear Hero they become so comically evil, i can’t take them seriously. There a discount version team rocket because even they have more depth than them. The king is another one dimensional prick who’s hated the Edgelord Hero since his inception. The Queen feels like a plot device. She’s isn’t present for the first 15 or so episodes to allow for Naofumi hate conspiracies to continue and when she eventually shows up out of the blue after her Country had gone to shit. She magically solves all of his problems. The Queen’s reason for being away from her Country is absolute BS, since if she really wanted to reprimand the King her little shadow bodyguards could have delivered the message. The three heroes are one dimensional caricatures. We never follow their journey, view events from their perspective or really learn anything about them: Motoyasu aka. Spear hero... the guy has the most screentime out of the three and yet he’s a utter moron lacking any brain cells. Seriously, his level of stupidity is unrealistic. For example, who the hell starts a fight in the middle of the city? and when they get called out for damaging the place he gets all pissy about being a hero. The dude was the first to pipe up accusing Naofumi being a sexual offender, all the while trying to molest Filo at every given opportunity. Why is are these hypocrites okay with this? Pedoyasu needs to be castrated because his Filophilla is uncomfortable to watch. Honestly, I’ve given up on Spear Hero. The guy’s either being a brainless pawn or straight up comedic relief. I literally can’t describe Itsuki aka. Bow Hero, because he has no personality or character besides a hero complex. Ren aka. Sword Hero (Not Kirito) seems to be the most competent out of the three, too bad he’s still as bland as the others. The three heroes are more like the three stooges. Everything about them from the lacklustre characterisation, to their dialogue and actions are some of the most lazy, poor written I’ve ever encountered. It’s really annoying that they are continuously portrayed as incompetent morons who can’t do anything right, since their sole purpose is to make Edgelord Hero look good saving the day! I understand it was it meant to be a plot point to portray how they view the world as a game e.g. them not treating the NPCs as real people or not properly completely a quest, however the writer goes out of his way to emphasise the stupidity of these idiots by making the three heroes' attacks always follow the same move of “Meteor shot/thrust/slash" and attack at the same time like when they fought the dimensional spirit it’s simply lazy writing on the writers part. Their development is inconsistent. After Edgelord Hero points out the three heroes flaws and they come to terms with him not being the guy he’s been portrayed as you’d think these guys would grow, but nope. The three heroes are the still the same idiots who antagonise Naofumi, still use the same attacks and treat the world as a game. The heroes (especially Motoyasu) always follow every word Myne says, being gullible to the fact that the Edgelord Hero is being setup at every opportunity for no reason. I think the worse case was when Myne said Edgelord Hero was brainwashing Melty so she tried to kill her sister. The game mechanics are stupid and unnecessary in this fantasy setting. It’s been proven time and again that levelling means absolutely nothing. The way how the everyone in the Country is portrayed as unlikeable, cult following assholes who hate Naofumi is beyond unrealistic. None of them behave like real people. Whenever Naofumi points out how obvious it is that everyone is conspiring against him, no one seems to bat an eye? They never believe him, which to be fair he does a shit job at defending his case e.g. The heroes accuse the Edgelord Hero of brainwashing his party and yet they have no evidence to support their claim. Does Edgelord Hero mention this? No. Why doesn’t he show one of the heroes his skill tree to show he doesn’t have a brainwashing shield? Myne states that Melty has been brainwashed and has to be rescued, she then proceeds to try kill her and all the heroes do is stand there like dumbasses as if she didn’t just do what Edgelord Hero was saying. Myne’s whole potryal and evil laugh is like the most generic mustache twirling villain ever. The pacing was bad. The constant montage sequence to try develop character interactions where they’re bonding isn’t working. It’s a shallow attempt to make me care about them. Another problem is the way it’s chopping scenes together e.g. Edgelord Hero & Raphtalia are waiting for Melty & Filo, the next they’re meeting the Pope. I really don’t like the rage shield. Not only is it a powerup that focuses on his rage boner, it defeats the purpose of him being a tank. It’s bullshit that the lower level tank is doing more damage to the enemy than the three heroes combined who are higher levelled, got better gear, equipment and are offensive classes. It would have been better if the heroes cooperated and Edgelord played the tank. Not to mention, there’s no real consequence for using the rage shield. Edgelord Hero didn’t need time to learn how to master the shield e.g. he just uses it in the second wave not because his party or the other heroes were defeated and it was his last option, but because it was taking to long to defeat the boss. In fact, there’s no tension in the show. Edgelord Hero is stronger than everyone in the Country who could try to mess with him. His party is loyal to a fault and will never leave him. Animation (5/10): The animation is mediocre, the CGI is horrendous. Don’t believe me? Look at the T-Rex. Th action scenes are terrible. Not only are they so static that it reminds of you a Pokemon battle where characters take turns attacking, but the choreography and storytelling is weak. Conclusion (2/10): Naofumi is a classic example of a MC who in real life would be so unlikeable that no one would hang out with him, let alone have girls fawn over him. This show panders to the types who want to think it's the worlds fault. Everything that happens to Edgelord Hero is fuelled to making him the poor misunderstood victim of a revenge story going against the authoritative power (e.g. royalty, legendary heroes), who are the bad guys. The audience is supposed to emphasise with his plight as a underdog trying to free his name/reputation and build towards the satisfying climax where Naofumi sticks his middle finger at the big guy as he finally gets his revenge for all their wrongdoings... The problem here is the execution is appalling. Shield Hero has the elements to be a good show, such as an interesting story, usage of game mechanics and world building, but the storytelling is badly written, the characters having no substance, the villains have nothing going for themselves and are comically evil- to the point it becomes repetitive and boring. If you need to hammer down the same plot points and themes while sacrificing any potential interesting thematic elements then you’re doing something wrong. I’ve read the manga to see if it might change my perspective and manga/LN readers kept banging on how much better it was. I’m pleased to inform you, that’s not the case. The anime has been more faithful than most isekai adaptations. They did change a couple of scenes and remove, but that was bound to happen due to time constraints. The anime toned down Naofumi and omitted his inner monologues to make him more of a generic, good guy isekai MC. I don’t see this as much of a problem though, since him being a edgy insufferable twat like his manga counterpart isn’t any better. The point is the manga isn’t much better than the anime, as it still suffers from the same pitfalls. Shield Hero is shallow, poorly written revenge porn.
TakaCode
06/26/2019, 08:07 AM
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was great. It was a show that brought me back to the isekai train after watching a certain broken heap of an isekai anime from the Summer 18 season that shall not be mentioned. The story was fun and nicely written. The characters were fun and enjoyable especially Rimuru. The visuals were beautiful and the music, as well as voice acting for both languages, were great. It's was the best isekai anime that I watched despite its few faults. Naturally, I decided to check out Shield Hero as I thought it would be the next best iskeai anime thatwill surpass Slime based on the amazing premise. It had the potential to be the saviour of this tiresome and uninspired genre. Maybe that was my mistake and I expecting too much for an isekai anime at this point. So what exactly went wrong here? The story, characters, themes, world-building, direction all of the above? In order to not immediately begin destroying this contrived mess of a plot, I'll start talking about what I liked and that is the revenge aspect of Shield Hero. One of the main things that made Shield Hero stand out of the isekai crowd is that it was the first true dark isekai anime. You could say that Re:Zero was the first true dark isekai anime however it only had one episode that was truly dark while the rest the show is tamed in comparison. From start to finish as we follow a broken and damaged lead trying to save the world while trying to endure and fight the endless hatred caused by the people he was summoned. This alone really made Shield Hero unique in the story side of things as it ditches most of the story elements that were in other isekai anime in order to introduce new story elements that were not presented in other isekai anime until now with Shield Hero. Shield Hero is a core revenge story. The revenge story may not be as special when it comes to anime but Shield Hero is one of the most fascinating and rewarding revenge stories I have seen in the long while. While it may not be as well written like Skip Beat and Gankustou it was still a fascinating ride I really enjoyed. Seeing Naofumi humiliating and take down the people that caused his reputation to get shattered put a smile on my face as he really went through a lot of things in order to have the will to take them down. This is all thanks to the show's fairly competent writing when it's not being an incompetent pandering feast and that is where our problems begin. While the revenge aspect of the show was strong from start to finish, I cannot say the same thing for the other story elements such as the save the world from the waves. The waves are basically your typical survival arenas that you see in a video game and they are not that interested in the slightest thanks to weak execution. I will give the show credit for trying to make the waves interesting toward the end but by then the show was already over by that point. Another major problem that would later plague the anime is how they make everyone minus the protagonist dumb and contrived. This alone really takes a massive shit of Naofumi's revenge tale as it could have been avoided if the characters just shut up and behave like actual human beings. Furthermore, why did no one in the capital cast a lie detector spell on both Naofumi and Malty chest? Any person with a brain would have put a lie detector spell on someone in case they are lying where they could receive a shock. The fact that the series showcased that the slave crest can also detect lies in episode 21 was infuriating and it really highlights just how contrived and poorly written the series is as it could have been used in episode 1 for Naofumi's trial. Don't get me started with the lacklustre world-building. I will give it Shield Hero credit for least trying to establish it's own world in certain episodes it compared to most other isekai animes but it's still lacklustre as the world at various points feels so lifeless and empty. The UI system is not interesting in the slightest as just another generic UI system that has been done in other isekai anime in the past. Now Shield Hero has a lot of themes yet most of them were poorly executed. My favourite is how the show tackles the topic of slavery. Not only is it handed incredibly poorly due to how preachy it was but the topic of slavery more often gets shafted (especially in the second half) in favour of stupid pandering. By far the biggest problem with Shield Hero is that it doesn't truly know what it wants to be. At first, the show is a dark revenge story, then it's a power fantasy and then it's an adventure series, then it's a harem. This alone really screws up the tone, direction and pacing of the series. The first 4 episodes of Shield Hero is very grim and dark that has a lot of tension and atmosphere thanks to the subject matter of rape and humiliation. Naofumi is portrayed as a cold lead who just wanted to revenge of the people that humiliated him. Unfortunately, episodes 5 and onward the series decided, for the most part, put its revenge plot in the bus just so the series can add generic isekai tropes and cliches for a show that didn't need it in the first place. It's not like the revenge has been shafted the revenge aspect it's but it doesn't appear all the much post-episode 5 as the series decides to waste its time of sick self insert loli pandering. Finally, the final 4 episodes which were without a question one of the most boring and lacklustre final 4 episodes I have seen in 2019 Not only did the series completely jump the shark where it introduced plot threads up its ass but it also lost its purpose. Episode 21 in terms of atmosphere and direction feels like I'm watching a finale of anime and it really shows. The episode after that feels like episode fodder as it's filled with fan-service and plot threads that won't be fleshed out due to the low episode count. I give the final 4 episodes credit for showcasing Naofumi's new powers and abilities then again the show could have ended with a cliffhanger after episode 21/22 The final thing I want to point out is the controversy in the first episode. When Shield Hero first aired it was met with controversy thanks to its offensive content where Malty (aka Bitch) falsely accused Nafoumi of raping her. I can definitely get why people get mad of this messy storytelling as it was done much better in Persona 5 but what I cannot forgive is a bunch of SJW try-hards trying to put down a show just because it deals with more serious themes and topics. This is why I didn't give two shits about the Goblin Slayer controversy as that series was an awful show regardless of the controversy being there or not. The characters aren't much better as all of them minus Nafoumi and Raphtalia ranged from bland, annoying, poorly written or the combination of the three. Let's start with Nafoumi who is easily the best thing about Shield Hero. He starts off as a grumpy individual who doesn't trust people but as the series progresses with the aid of Raphtalia not only does he open up to people he also becomes a proper badass especially towards the final quarter of the series. Another strong aspect of Naofumi is that he's not overpowered as he mostly relies on his partners to take down various enemies. Finally, he is not a bore to watch, which more I can say about iskeai protagonist as they all lifelessly self-insert husks. Nafoumi is tied with Rimuru for being my favourite isekai protagonist. Another character that I really liked is Raphtalia. She may not be as good as Naofumi in terms of development but she's a good character in her own right. I liked her chemistry towards Naofumi. Despite being a loli she will do anything to project Naofumi from falling into darkness. Sadly this is where my praise for the characters ends. The show has a lot of characters yet all of them are clichéd and poorly written to the core. The other heroes are a bunch of soulless character archetypes. They don't develop as characters whatsoever and they are all incredibly contrived. The bottom dog of the bunch a spear hero who is one of the most contrived and dumbest characters I have seen. His dialogue is painful to listen as he incredibly preachy for the sake of it and he's the main source of the show's major contrivances. In many ways, he's no different Sugou from Sword Art Online thanks to comically evil appearance and dialogue. Finally, the less I say about his confrontation towards the Shield Hero the better. The same thing can be said for Malty and Filo as they are literally loli trophies that constantly suck of Naofumi hairy crotch for a living. The villains are garbage. They are all evil for the sake of being evil, especially Malty who is probably the worst female villain I have ever seen in any fictional work. Her motivations are contrived beyond belief and she's overall a slag. She's comically evil and not even treating in the least. Her contrived motives aren't explained or given any depth whatsoever. Our villain's ladies and gentlemen. As for the overall presentation, Shield Hero looks beautiful for the most part. It may not be as colourful as 8bit That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime but it still has that special visual flair that helped it stand out from the crowd of other isekai anime. Character designs for the part were appealing to look at. The background scenery has a lot of attention that is only made better by the use of dark soft colour palette. The animation is, for the most part, good and fluent. The fight choreography is solid, the movement is smooth and there's rarely any recycled footage. Unfortunately, Shield Hero visually is not perfect for one. The animation does dip a bit for certain episodes as it messes up the overall good fight choreography of the series. The second and final notable issue was the crappy use of CGI as it was not only ugly to look at it but also didn't blend in with the 2D animation. Now we have the soundtrack and it's shocking subpar. The series features a dull score of fantasy music that doesn't keep the viewer invested in the scene due to how bland they were. Sure there were a couple of decent tracks every now and then, but it wasn't enough to save this mediocre soundtrack. The first opening theme Rise by MADKID is a fantastic opening that not only fits the tone of the series, it also a generally well-produced song that is filled with great vocals that scream hype. The same cannot be said for the second opening theme FAITH by MADKID. It's still a good opening on its own right but it was missing the intensity that was from the first opening. I may be the minority when I say this, but I really dislike the ending themes. Everything about them screams generic and lazy with their boring vocals and mediocre ending visuals. The voice acting is great for both languages. The voice actors for both the dub and sub did a fantastic job with the roles that they were given. Notable performances go to Kaito Ishikawa as Nafoumi (sub), Billy Kametz as Nafoumi (dub), Erica Mendez as Raphtalia (dub) and Rina Hidaka as Filo (sub). It's honestly sad what happened here. Shield Hero had to be great but it totally blew it. It has underwhelming characterisation, a shitty executed plot that is only made worse by plot contrivances and a subpar soundtrack. The only thing that saved this show from being terrible is the visuals and the main two characters. Everything else was a mess. I honestly thoughtt that Shield Hero and Slime would save the isekai genre for me but I guess Shield Hero was not suitable for the job as it showed its true colours which is being another generic isekai anime. I hope season 2 and beyond will be better. Least you tried Shieldbro.
Fircoal
06/26/2019, 07:35 AM
When I first heard of Shield Hero I was not that impressed. It seemed like the typical isekai designed with elements to shit on the main character and get people riled up because of that. And when I watched the first episode I had some very mixed thoughts. They were dabbling with some touchy subject matter to say the least, and had many elements that I personally found off-putting, however the execution was pretty good. As it turned out the strong execution managed to mitigate the concerns I had with those elements and ended up making what I consider to be a very good show. Thereis a lot of shit thrown at Naofumi. And at times it can seem quite excessive. A good portion of the show is dedicated to piling as much as it can onto him. And while I'm not the biggest fan of this, I think where the show is able to shine is in the execution of it. Shield Hero does a good job of showing how Naofumi reacts to all of this, and how his heart grew colder in relation to it. It showed the trust issues that happen to come after being falsely accused, and how it can affect his whole character. The show was able to give reasons why everything around him happened, and the whole plan around it rather than just leaving it up in the air, making it easier to understand the predicament that he was in. Since the show went into detail into showing and demonstrating the severe effects of all of this on Naofumi it makes it easy to empathize with him, and to feel for him. It could have easily felt like too much, mainly because it was so close to being too much, but the show being able to clearly show why the characters were doing what they were doing worked well. For example, take the other heroes. While they certainly are a burden for Naofumi, it's not as if they are evil. They are actually a realistic depiction of the typical guy being isekai'd. They are naive and think everything works like a video game. They are unable to think about the consequences and go with whatever they desire. This does create problems but it's understandable why they do what they did. Overall this reaches every misfortune that happens to Naofumi, and so while it can be painful to watch, it all matches up. Ironically it's Naofumi's struggles that make it so understandable why he ends up so OP in the end. While the other heroes were just doing whatever they wanted, Naofumi was struggling through life trying to do whatever he could to survive. Furthermore I think that Naofumi's anti-hero status was quite interesting to watch. While he grew colder there is an arguemnt to make that he didn't turn that cold and rather turned his outside cold, while still caring on the inside. His companions show this well. He clearly cares for Raptalhia despite her being his slave, and her having to do anything that he wants her to do, in theory. In fact even when he's training her and putting her through struggles, he cares about her and gives her the chance to leave. The relationship between Naofumi and Raptalhia is a high point of the show, and I think it demonstrates an interesting part of morality. Having slaves is immoral, and from that lens it'd be easy to see Naofumi as immoral. But because he picked up Raptalhia as a slave, he gives her a much better life just by treating her right, and caring for her. It's very easy to see things in a black and white manner but one thing I liked about the show is looking at these topics with more nuance. And while the show never directly talks about it, I like its able to the positive results to the grey-decisions that Naofumi had to make. The production values are also great and do a really good job of aiding the execution. The visuals look pretty amazing, outside of some CG, and the soundtrack may not match Perkin's Made In Abyss, but it is a great good OST that fits the song well. Furthermore Kinema Citrus manages to bring out great pacing yet again and allows for the time for Naofumi and his group to bond, allowing the audience to bond with them and grow to like them. While the second half's pacing was a lot more questionable, the first half was so good and did a lot to really enhance the show. Overall the show deals with some questionable subject matter but does it well, in a way that allowed at least me to relate and sympathize with the characters, and one that made it feel real and understandable rather than poorly written revenge porn for the sake of revenge porn. I think there's quite a bit to offer in this show and I quite enjoyed watching personally. I'd recommend it to isekai fans as for me it's one of the standouts in the bunch, and while I can't guarantee that everyone will be content with the subject matter that Shield Hero pursues, I can at least vouch and say that the merits of the show were able to mitigate the negatives of them.
Krunchyman
06/26/2019, 06:48 AM
***Stares at medieval, full-bodied armor*** “I don’t think it’s my style…” — Naofumi Iwatani “Yeah, it will strip Naofumi-sama of all his individuality.” — Raphtalia “Did these mother f—ker’s just insult the Goblin Slayer?!” — Krunchyman Summoned to a world he knows not. By a group of medieval aristocrats, whom wish to avoid a calamitous event known as the “Wave.” Naofumi Iwatani — along with three other “Heroes” — embarks on a quest to refine his skills in preparation for the fateful day when the “Wave” finally arrives. Unfortunately for Naofumi, his role as a “Hero” is starkly different than Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu (the “Sword,”“Bow,” and “Spear Hero,” respectively). Because while their skills are geared toward an offensive mindset, Naofumi’s shield requires him to accept a defensive role that is seen by the majority of the characters as being useless (including himself). Combine this with the betrayal of the bitch — otherwise known as Malty — and you have a recipe to alter the insouciant main character into a dejected, spiteful loner who wanders the countryside with rage in his heart and not a single companion to aid in his adventure. Normally, this would be the part where the metaphorical player would rage quit or reset the game in hopes of gaining more favorable circumstances. But for Naofumi, he is forced to deal with the disadvantaged situation by making concessions (i.e. cheap meals) and buying a sickly slave girl — Raphtalia — to function as his “sword” to hasten his ability to kill more monsters and level up. And, really, that’s all Raphtalia aspires to be throughout the series — faithful slave, whom wishes to please her master (get you head out of the gutter!). As a side note, there has been a considerable amount of controversy regarding the integration of slavery in a modern anime, but given the medieval time period, and the fact that “Amurica” had slaves up until the 19th century, it’s a foolish complaint by “do-gooders” who have entirely too much time on their hands. In terms of Naofumi as a character, he lacks emotion when Raphtalia and him begin to roam the countryside in search for stronger “beasts.” Besides his seething anger for the individuals that wronged him, Naofumi seems relatively vacuous as the main protagonist. It makes sense given the Louis C.K. treatment he’s been subjugated to, but seems obvious that the writer’s intentionally dragged Naofumi down (below the other three “Heroes”) to set the stage of an eventual underdog story. Hence, it was much expected that the level of antipathy directed at Naofumi would dissipate as he methodically gained the trust of those around him. This also entailed a shift in Naofumi’s cynicism and “anti-hero” role toward an idealistic one when his selfless deeds become more well-known. But does this predictability deter from the overall enjoyment?…Yes, yes it does. Most of the monsters were typical run-of-the-mill cannon fodder, only serving to perish in droves to accentuate the skills of the “Heroes.” The characters were quite lacking, with everyone falling into familiar tropes. Also, the show quickly devolved into a harem with the introduction of Filo — Naofumi’s side “chick” — and Melty (the second princess). By the way, not only was Filo a loli and a chocobo, she’s not even ONE—YEAR—OLD. F—k! The art was pedestrian throughout the series, with an abundance of static shots and bland character aesthetics (off model shit and whatnot). Enjoyment wise, Shield Hero was far too predictable and tropey to have any staying power. Relying on the good versus evil dynamic — without further exploration — is just lazy writing. Speaking of which, the whole premise of the show was inane after Naofumi became the strongest, most popular hero in the show. Which makes “The Rising of the Shield Hero” a doppelgänger of the Isekai genre, that is already littered with clones aplenty.
Veronin
06/26/2019, 06:41 AM
Tate no Yuusha is a thundering disappointment for many fans of the isekai genre. And for those who would not have labeled themselves as such, Tate no Yuusha is a testament to their dislike or indifference, being yet another mediocre, soulless title lurching and tossing throughout a tired genre that is swiftly approaching its death throes. In truth, Tate no Yuusha doesn't please much of anybody. If there is a reason Tate no Yuusha ever stood out in the first place, it is because of the protagonist and the appalling situation he is soon forced into. Though isekai anime taking a turn for the darkare hardly rare, the abject betrayal Naofumi faces is not the treatment one would expect for someone abducted from their world and supposedly re-branded a "hero". The corrupt, contemptible society he is forced to fight for is not what you might anticipate from a genre where the setting— the fantasy— is meant to be an escape from the monotony of the real world. Instead, it turns out things in Naofumi's new world may actually be far worse than they ever were in his old one. A fantasy turned nightmare. The whole 'twist', I suppose— if you could call it that— was a success in the eyes of many. It turned another forgettable, run-of-the-mill anime into something a bit more engaging, and gave many a reason for the viewer to empathise with Naofumi, through joining in his hatred for society and his potential quest for revenge. Whether these themes were ever fully realised, or even handled well, may well be a different story entirely. See, Tate no Yuusha never actually takes things further than 'corruption sucks' and 'I'm mad— grr, watch my flames of anger.' The king is inherently evil because of a small grudge. Myne is verminous scum merely because... wait, there is no actual reason. Motoyasu, the spear hero, is a gullible idiot who likes to womanise and that is all there is behind his punch-able little face. Raphtalia is a benevolent mary sue who will not utter or even think a bad thought, her almost immediately (and incomprehensibly) falling in love with Naofumi, thus existing as waifu material for those who like to rescue their damsels from distress. Filo is pure fodder for lolicons and a relentless annoyance for anyone who is not. The list goes on. The only one who still has potential is the Queen, but considering the path the show has trodden thus far, it would be illogical to assume a second season would fare her any better. Tate no Yuusha's characters, though they may initially show promise, are quickly cast aside and made merely to be fanservice or vehicles to drive Naofumi's hatred along, however the writer's whims may fancy. Oh, you wanted to see the anime tackle issues surrounding the slave trade, and Naofumi's moral dilemma of having taken part in an evil system yet saved someone as a direct result of it? Sorry - I have disappointing news. Did you want to see the politics, heck, even geography of the world explored with more than two lines of dialogue? Nope. Not here. Everything in Tate no Yuusha is surface level. It has the facade of maturity, but in reality is about as mature as a 1999 Slipknot album. Any fight scene, no matter how overwhelming and powerful the opponent, can, and will, be prematurely ended by Naofumi's anger turning him Super Saiyan. Whereas anime like JoJo will carefully construct the fights to be based on tactics and cleverness, Tate no Yuusha presents nothing except power levels. You can fast-forward through any climactic fight scene and have lost little to nothing of value, as all you ever need to know is that Naofumi got angry and won. Sure, there is a degree of self-awareness throughout the show, with characters remarking on how this power is essentially him "cheating". But when Naofumi attributes all his success to hard work and yet wins merely because of said mysterious power randomly appearing at the most convenient time— essentially a deus ex machina— you have to wonder what the hell he is even talking about. If all you ever wanted to see was Naofumi take revenge against those who wronged him, then, I am sorry to say, but even that will lead you to much disappointment. On numerous occasions, when he is on the cusp of enacting his long-sought revenge, he takes the high road and proselytizes about how killing a bad person makes you just as bad as them, or whatever— the usual tripe you hear from lame, holier-than-thou anime protagonists. Since when was Naofumi ever supposed to be an idealistic person? Hadn't he lost all his faith in society, or even in morality itself after what he had experienced? Not only does this betray fans of the first several episodes, but it makes his character an inconsistent and incomprehensible mess. He plays hero when it is supposed to sound cool, and villain when it is convenient for him. By the time there actually is some sort of retribution for those who wronged him, it is too little too late, a thumbs-up, an "okay, cool" rather than anything deserving of applause. Tate no Yuusha surely and steadily loses its steam as the episodes blindly trudge by, and once its primary theme is lazily cast aside, there is no reason to care about what happens to a world where saving the day and being a 'hero' never even meant anything in the first place. So there you go. Another trite isekai anime, popular mostly for its gimmicky nature, masquerading itself as mature merely because it has themes that are darker than is usual. Those who aren't fans of the genre will most likely have trusted their instincts and avoided this show, anyway, but for those who sit on the fence, and even for those who generally enjoy these sorts of shows, there is not much to be gained from Tate no Yuusha's feckless affairs. It makes me miss the flawed but ambitious Re:Zero, and Re:Zero is not an anime I had really imagined myself missing all that much. And now I'm all out of words because I realise the next one of these— Arifureta— is down the corner, just a week's time away, with a premise that is almost word-for-word copy-paste of what is found in Tate no Yuusha. It just doesn't end.
HellLyter
06/26/2019, 06:30 AM
We've come to a point in the anime industry where isekai anime are immediately judged just for being isekai. Due to the apparent "overuse" and "unoriginality" of the genre, some individuals will make a big deal about it or not even watch an anime at all simply because of the genre, even if the isekai elements have essentially no bearing on the narrative whatsoever, as is the case with The Rising of the Shield Hero. Yes, Shield Hero is an isekai, but don't let that blind you from seeing the true themes and merit of this show. At its core, this is an anime allabout friendship, perseverance, and what it means to truly be a hero. *Notice: Updated thoughts at the bottom* It's also a cleverly disguised loli harem series too. Crazy, right? But I'll save explaining this shocking revelation for later. Oh, the suspense! I know I just started off by saying not to judge Shield Hero just for being an isekai, but it honestly does have a stereotypical fantasy setting. Heroes are summoned to another world that's suspiciously designed just like a video game with the task of saving the world from monsters. Yeah, I've totally never heard that one before! But what really matters is execution, which Shield Hero completely nails. After starting off quite harmless with everything going fine and dandy for Naofumi, the recently dubbed shield hero, things take a dark turn after one of the most controversial occurrences in modern anime goes down. He gets accused of rape. Because of the current state of our real world society, the false rape allocations against Naofumi by the bitchy princess Malty struck a cord with many people and caused lots of heated debates on the topic. I say keep reality and fiction separate, and I personally think that this was a great way to swiftly introduce the central conflict between Naofumi and basically everyone else. Everyone essentially berates and shames the poor dude, leaving him a little broken on the inside. In the span of a single episode, Malty, the king, and the other three heroes summoned to the world are set up to be extremely hatable characters, and it just works. It's honestly as good of an introduction as you can get in a fantasy series. What I love the most about Naofumi is how he deals with the crappy lot in life he ended up with. He transforms from a happy go lucky protagonist to a more cynical guy who only seems to care about personal gain, and I feel like this is a pretty realistic shift considering what he's gone through. He even ends up purchasing a demi-human slave! I thought only bad guys did that! This of course is where the anime starts to really get good, because of how great Shield Hero portrays the relationship between Naofumi and his slave raccoon loli Raphtalia. You can tell that Raphtalia has gone through some pretty messed up stuff, which the anime touches on in later episodes. It seems like Naofumi treats her a bit harshly at first, but you can quickly tell that he's actually giving her some tough love and training her to become stronger and to get over her fears. Heck, she even upgrades from a loli to a woman, that's how effective his training is! And then after Naofumi gets further put down by the kingdom, it's Raphtalia who saves him from completely falling into despair. That's why their relationship is great, because they both help and in some ways even complete each other. Plus it's handled in a completely unconventional way too. You'd think that Naofumi would release Raphtalia from being a slave, but neither of them in fact want that, to the shock of the Spear Hero and others. Of course the writing here can be viewed as dangerous as it seems to present slavery in a positive light, but I think this situation should be kept separate from reality and that the morally grey approach works in the anime's favor. It's little things like this that make Rising of the Shield Hero really stand out. One thing that could weaken your interest in this anime would be how quickly you get annoyed at the constant degradation of Naofumi, because his defamation continues far after Raphtalia saves him, and is the primary conflict in the anime. This isn't a show about a hero fighting against monsters. No, this is an anime about a man fighting against the people who should be his allies. I've seen people say that they've gotten exasperated over how much Naofumi gets put down, but I'd have to disagree. This anime makes you really dislike characters who shouldn't actually be villains at all, yet are set up like it due to their poor choices and actions. And shouldn't a good antagonist be someone that viewers are meant to despise and root for the protagonist to overcome? Shield Hero does just that, and I think that the central conflict is handled and eventually resolved quite well. Of course, there's more going on than just that. Throughout his journey Naofumi encounters two more loli party members. Lucky him. The first is Filo, a cleverly named filolial who Naofumi basically raised from birth after purchasing her as an egg. She has two forms. The first is her angel-like loli form, and the second is her super fluffy giant chicken-like beast form. What can I say, she's absolutely adorable in both forms. She does lots of useful things like draw the wagon, beat up cgi monsters, and kick the Spear Hero in his balls. Also, like Raphtalia, Filo develops a strong bond with Naofumi in which they build off of each other to further evolve as characters. Filo also develops a cute rivalry with Raphtalia over Naofumi's affections, which is pretty humorous. The final girl to complete Naofumi's holy loli triad is Melty, the younger sister of Malty and heir to the throne. Because Naofumi has the most hostility towards royalty, his interaction with Melty sets up an interesting dynamic. They gradually learn to trust and rely on each other, and by consistently helping Melty, we can further see just how much of a hero Naofumi really is. Melty also has my favorite character design in the show, and despite being nobility, Melty's cuteness just makes my heart melt. These characters travel together cleaning up the messes of the other three so called heroes all while being defamed and hunted by the government. Yet despite his annoyance at and mistrust of everyone outside of his party, Naofumi keeps persevering, which is quite admirable. Though you know what I think gives him strength? The lolis. You may have noticed that all three main girls are lolis. "B-But Raphtalia isn't!" Wrong! She may have evolved from her loli body, but she says that she still has the age and mentality of a child. This is a clever technique by the writer to hide the fact that Naofumi has obtained a loli harem. And just like your typical harem, all three girls have a thing for Naofumi and go all blushy blush when they're around him. And just like a harem protagonist, Naofumi seems completely oblivious to their advances. The author knew that he'd be labeled a degenerate for making a loli harem series, so he masqueraded his fantasy as an isekai anime. It's simply brilliant honestly. Or maybe I'm just completely wrong. Yeah, it's probably the latter...but you never know... Madkid was asked to RISE to the occasion and perform both opening theme songs. To be honest, my FAITH in their ability to deliver quality music wasn't too high since I'm personally not a big fan of their style, but they did a good job here. Yes, the show does have its share of flaws. For one, I do feel like episode 21 should have been the season finale, since there was a transition of arcs after it, which to me was a pretty odd design choice considering that the anime only had a few more episodes left. Shield Hero definitely has its share of technical issues as well. In some cases character designs and movements just looked a little sloppy. And the cgi used on some of the creatures just didn't look that good. The Rising of the Shield Hero has a surprisingly decent narrative that touches upon themes that lesser anime in the genre don't even bother to mention. You know, a lot of isekai protagonists tend to act like the three cardinal heroes. They're ecstatic about living in a fantasy world and think everything revolves around them. But Naofumi is different. He keeps getting back up after getting knocked down. He may seem like he takes advantage of others, but he always has everyone's best interests at heart. He genuinely cares about his party. And even if he doesn't get any appreciation for his good deeds, he still always does the right thing. And that's what makes this shield bro a true hero... *Edit with current thoughts* ...except I don't think that anymore at all haha. Naofumi can go join the ranks of hundreds of other bland isekai protagonists. I revisited this series and wow, I have to say I'm disappointed. I don't usually do this, but I have to decrease my initial score of the show and disagree with a lot of what I wrote above. Naofumi's character is actually quite bland and he never receives useful development. The revenge plot is really mediocre, hollow, and relies solely on the "shock value" and "big moments". The way that slavery is handled is atrocious, and I'm kinda disappointed in myself for even attempting to defend its usage and execution as adding "depth" to the anime. Yes, it's just fiction, but that doesn't excuse trying to rationalize it as acceptable. The female characters are also painstakingly one note and dedicated to Naofumi with nary a shard of originality. Plus the 2nd half of the anime is a complete snooze fest. All around a mediocre experience. I'm going to keep what I wrote above since I don't believe in changing one's work. It's how I felt then, so I have to deal with it. Just know that it's a lot more positive of a take then how I feel about Shield Hero now. I'd say the show is a 5/10 right now for me personally. Hope you're still able to enjoy it though!
Karhu
06/26/2019, 06:28 AM
Who are we? Every person ever. And what do we want? Throw shit at Naofumi. And when do we want it? Every second, non-stop, 247. Modern problems require modern solutions. If society humiliates you, lets you down, you get accused of crimes you didn't commit, the general public turns against you, the game is rigged, system corrupted, you are bullied, isolated and alone, you see the worst in people and proceed to turn against the world and enter a safety mode where you become something of the sort of a "cynical little animal." Or that's what I would do.... unless... there was a cute animal-earedwaifu and rare-breed loli bird eating up all the negative feelings, ensuring I get healed, fed and mutually respected. This is the life of Naofumi, the shield hero, our main character -- and, unlike most isekai Jesuses, he is not "a big deal." After experiencing the worst, he relies on the worst, buys the cheapest slave he can get and, just like that, their adventure in this world where royalties are meanie wienies, double standards a way of life and the slaver dude the greatest guy -- begins! It's not hard to point out where this show's weaknesses are. The story events are insignificant filler, the isekai core plot hardly more than an excuse for the series, the side-characters solely exist to put our main lead in this unjustified situation where he is treated like garbage, most of the "bad things" have no other purpose in the series than to provoke the audience with injustice; the opposing characters' ignorance is pushed to such extents that when their development finally starts, it is done in a manner that does not convince. The change does not come from within the characters but from the outside, entirely relying on the will of the author. in fact, it is so extreme that it starts to feel like it's driven by anti-government, anti-society and anti-religion agenda. The female casting is waifubaiting and the adventure side could entirely be labelled as wish-fulfillment. It's easy to point the finger here and go "this is the type of shite I am supposed to hate in anime." Finding these flaws annoying and letting them ruin the viewing experience and kill the entertainment value is understandable. But even after all of its issues, the show is not exclusively bad, but has some strong pros as well. However, there where the cons are practically self-explanatory and easy to list down, the pros don't stand out nearly as strongly. First of all, Tate no Yuusha has charm. Anyone can write a coherent backstory which leads to being isekai'd, and it certainly is not much harder to make the side character seem more like decent humans by extending the storyboard with anti-shield-wielder backstory that explains why they are so deeply hated, and how it's all "just politics". These problems could be countered, but that would be side-tracking, like trying to prove that it can be done for the sake of it. But charm is something that is much harder to accomplish, and it was achieved partly because the main focus was most of the time put on Naofumi's party, which is the most relevant thing there is. Secondly, Naofumi is a great character. On the surface level, it's easy to judge him or not even give him a chance, but below the first layer lays much more. He is a genuinely nice guy who has to mask his core personality to survive due to other people being unreasonable. He isn't your average gary stu isekai Jesus who is nice just because he cannot be anything else. Naofumi chooses to help people and decides where his own adventure leads him while, at the same time, ensuring his kindness is not taken for granted so that he won't be used. How many isekai series are there where the character has to take measures and alter his own personality for his own well-being? There aren't. Almost every single one of them rely on being so overpowered that their measures are bs at best, trying to hide the fact that they could destroy the world by simply farting too hard. He doesn't even seek revenge because that would simply make him feel bad. And what is this sentence if not 5000 years worth of human philosophy summed up? Finally a character who chooses this path not because it is "the right thing to do and according to muh morals" but because it benefits him the most. One can easily claim he is the same as your typical isegary, but he has awareness and reasoning that makes perfect sense, and that is what sets him apart from nearly all of the other alternatives. And thirdly, from the main cast department (read;waifu squadron), this is the purest isekai series I have seen. It's not driven by lust and sexual remarks, but by characters who have something decent going on under their skin.../fur/feathers. There is no romantic subplot or sexual tension to keep the audience interested with fanservice or useless feelings pondering. It's just a dude getting comfy'd by bunch of lolis. And with this, I speak of yours truly/the viewer. There is not much more that I have to say. It's isekai, so it's okay to dislike it, of course, but it has heart. It's definitely not a soulless piece, but a genuine anime that has lots of good things going on in the cute, comfy and main cast departments. I almost never felt like it was fake as so many modern anime is, outside two occurrences: 1) episodes 15-17 or so where the 4th loli appeared and I absolutely hated her, and 2) the last few episode where the show has clearly started to lose its way. While the overall pace can be criticized, the episodic flow is smooth, the production is stellar, directing follows a clear vision with consistency, and there is nothing that ruins the fun or makes the series worse from these parts. Outside some CGI, the art rarely stands out for negative reasons. This time, I hardly found the CGI monsters to be a problem either, I acknowledge it exists, end of story. I highly enjoyed watching this series and it deserves some praise from me. It's not the smartest anime you can see, but it is a smart production with nearly as smart execution. I much rather recommend giving it a try than advice not to.
Stark700
06/26/2019, 06:26 AM
If someone told me that we need a shield hero in some chaotic world filled with corruption and flaws, I’d be laughing. There’s a saying that not all heroes wear capes but now, we have one that wield a shield. Naofumi Iwatani, the present day otaku fits for a typical protagonist and in our modern times, his transportation to a fantasy world is an overused trope. There’s probably a good dozen shows I can think off from the top of my head with similar gimmicks. Naofumi happens to be the oddball armed with a shield than your RPG crafted sword. Watching The Rising of the ShieldHero actually started out as a pleasant experience. Even with the amount of controversy before the first episode aired, I knew what to expect judging from the trailers and promotional content alone. But if we were to talk about controversy, the subject of betrayal and rape accusations comes to mind. It’s a sensible subject in both real world and fiction. However, this is merely a part of the plot that is necessary to adapt into the story for character progression. Either way, people will have strong opinions about that. Have those opinions. Let's instead disregard the controversy and focus more on the characters and storytelling instead? The first few episodes spelled out with the introduction of four main heroes – the shield, sword, spear, and bow hero. As a double length special, it made sense to draw out as much as Naofumi’s character as possible. Initially, he is portrayed as a man with a sense of honor, dignity, and in general, level headed man with an open mind. After being betrayed and falsely accused by Myne, he became a mistrustful individual with a desire for revenge. At one point, he becomes self-loathing to the point where he loses purpose in this fictional world. After meeting the demi-human Raphtalia, he begins to reevaluate himself and find his purpose. Backtracking a few steps, it shouldn’t be hard to identify what kind of person Naofumi is. There are many ways to describe him and to me, he is more of a jaded anti-hero than your noble hero. Throughout the course of the story, Naofumi begins to trusts in others especially his own party consisting of Raphtalia, Firo, and Melty. Out of this group, Raphtalia evolves the most both physically and mentally. Originally, she is portrayed as a weak child with PTSD symptoms. But after coming in contact with Naofumi, she grows into a courageous fighter who manages to overcome her personal demons. All this seems to draw in a lot of interest and honestly, I believe the first half of this show managed to capitalize on them rather effectively. Sure, there are despicable characters like Myne or gullible types such as the spear hero, Motoyasu. However, they didn’t truly make the show unwatchable. If you put yourself into the shoes of the creator, they probably created those two characters with the intention of getting the audience to hate them. I should say that’s no understatement because the bottom line is, there’s nothing likable about either Myne or Motoyasu. If we talk about Myne, she’s easily described as the bitch in sheep’s clothing. In other words, she wears a mask to hide her true nature. Have you ever met someone who pretended to be your friend to take advantage of you? Think of Myne. That’s what she is: a cunning, manipulative, and treacherous sociopath who uses whatever she can get her hands on for herself. Motoyasu isn’t much of a likeable person either with his ignorance and extreme gullibility. When it comes to women, he’s like a child who virtually believes what others tell him. This pretty much becomes a running gag in the show where Myne is able use him like a dog on a leash. It doesn’t help that he display borderline pedophilic tendencies towards characters such as Firo. It makes me want to puke and I don’t think anyone can find his interactions with Firo to be comfortable in any shape or form. At some point in the show, I’m sure viewers will wonder if the other heroes will get any sort of character development. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. This season is called The Rising of the Shield Hero for a reason and most of the attention is focused on his group and party. Characters such as Raphtalia gets their development and background story because they are a central focus in the show. Others such as Ren and Itsuki are just part of the premise. Their background stories are not explored so don’t expect to get attached to them. This is another part where I believe the show suffers in terms of characterization. We don’t really understand their personalities besides what they show on the surface. Unlike Naofumi who finds a purpose in the story, it feels like most of the main supporting cast lacks one. Even characters such as Firo or Melty becomes more and more stale overtime. I mean, how many times do we need to see an oversized chicken pronounce her intentions to eat and fight? Don’t me wrong though, I want to see the main characters to develop but outside of Naofumi and Raphtalia, the others really doesn’t set a bar. To make matters worse, it seems the show loves to inject dialogues during mid-fights to drag out content. This is especially evident in later episodes where the charaters' dialogues are far overstretched than what they should be. That also leads to how character relationships is presented as the storytelling unfolds. In fantasy adventures like this, there’s often times that when a male and female companion develop deeper feelings towards each other. Raphtalia has obvious feelings towards Naofumi for anyone who pays attention to her dialogues. She even shows jealousy towards Firo during their early encounters to see who can earn Naofumi’s attention. While it’s not truly love that Naofumi responds with, he does develop a deep trust for Raphtalia and Firo. Melty is a bit of an oddball in the group as this season shows that Naofumi regards her more of as a companion than a friend. Watching Naofumi’s character interactions within the group can be sometimes heartwarming while other times feel out of space. However, I do give praise to the voice acting talent of the show. They manage to grasp the character personalities in particular Naofumi and even someone as intolerable such as Myne. The Rising of the Shield Hero is more of a dark fantasy so having a studio like Kinema Citrus working on this feels somewhat fitting. I would have preferred Wit Studio known for their more refined resume, but Kinema Citrus manages to work its magic for the adaptation. As a dark fantasy, there’s often violence that displays the cruelty of this parallel world. Character designs are in line with what you can picture from an isekai show. It adapts straight from the light novel (personally, I think the manga version is a poor example for its art style). As the shield hero, Naofumi’s most noticeable design is his character expressions that drastically changes. In the beginning, he is shown smiling with joy but this shifts into a more cynical expression. On the other hand, Raphtalia’s evolution from a child to an adult fighter shows her growth. She takes on an archetype heroine look with demi-human traits such as her ears and tail. Furthermore, characters such as Firo possesses animalistic traits designed to give them a more fantasy look. And finally, I should say the world building of this show does hold value although the anime adaptation only scratches more of the surface of their world. Perhaps the most controversial isekai show of the year aired and we’re not even half way through 2019 yet. Looking at the future lineup will likely have fans talking more about the direction of modern fantasy isekai. For The Rising of the Shield Hero, this could have been an incredible anime for a dark adventure. The first half showed a lot of potential but most of that is weathered down by the repetitive storytelling themes and lack of characterization. There’s still plenty of more in the light novels so this anime only gives a taste for the audience. If only that taste didn’t turn from honey sweet to bitter sour.
Syureria
06/26/2019, 06:25 AM
Do you know the formula for success in the anime industry now? The formula is not like math or physics, but selects all genres and mixes them together. "Isekai" plus "Harem" is the formula that I meant. Is it like that? Of course, it's back to yourself. The opinion I make is just an idea that has no basis and theory. "Isekai" is basically a term for anime with a storyline, where the main character is thrown into another world and lives a new life in that world. Usually the "isekai" genre begins with the death of the main character or throughthe intermediary of an item, and lives in another world with a new form or just a new ability. Replacing a main potential, how they dispose of potential, and how they replace the lost potential is something that is beyond our reach. The decision is held by the studio, whatever the results, we as the audience can only surrender to the decision. Is that right? This genre that is indeed unique is indeed liked by many people, but there are also many "Hater" who really hate this genre. The "Hater" usually has a reason to hate because it has a storyline that is only "happyness" readers without having a good storyline. It can be likened to the "isekai" genre like a pornographic story that does not have a sex scene in it. The Isekai genre does have a storyline in which the main character, lives a new life in another world. What makes it interesting is the story that develops often, the main character has super powers. This superpowers, not always in the form of physical strength, intelligence that surpasses people in general, and extraordinary patience when problems come. Different from the other four characters, the main characters cannot attack effectively. That forced him to pair up with someone who really could. Does it fulfill the fantasy of the reader (or even the writer?) As mentioned in the previous point. The genre of "Isekai" is indeed very qualified in fulfilling the fantasy of the reader or even the writer. Readers and writers must be eager to get all the happy things. Just like a firework that only looks beautiful at the beginning and when the specified time has reached its limit, it looks only a sadness. At first the main character has a trust and strength but as a result of one incident it just disappears. Is the "Isekai" genre easy for writers to make? Somehow those words crossed my mind. Why not, if you look at every season there is always this genre. Inevitably, a lot of "isekai" doesn't have a strong story. Maybe only a few have a strong storyline in it. The storyline that tends not to be strong, will be more easily made by the author. As long as it meets the market or the readers' desires, there will be more and more "Isekai" genre anime. Unlike the other "isekai" this one has a startling start on how not the betrayal is done so neatly and there are no gaps anywhere, it makes the main character trapped and follows the flow of this endless game. The most important of all is whether everything is full of "waifu?" Each anime has its own female characters ranging from "loli" to "milf". Most of them make character designs as beautiful as possible to attract men's attention. Is this to increase sales figures? Of course, every studio has its own strategy to compete in the market, but there are also those who don't take the risk to take the road and prefer to make it all. Having different characters is also important. No matter how they look as long as they have cute character designs why not? As time goes by, this anime is getting better every time. If you look at the opening theme in the first season, I don't think it's very interesting, but in the end they are aware of their shortcomings and start working hard in the lacking part. The first and second seasons have distinct differences, even though sung by the same singer it's clear that the second season is better. "Faith" it seems that the title is familiar to anyone who has witnessed this spectacle. In every episode, even though it's often displayed, I'm sure you don't miss this one.

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari 盾の勇者の成り上がり

2019 winter | Episodes: 25 | Score: 7.9 (1044334)

Updated every Wednesdays at 22:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Netflix

Synopsis

Voice Actors

Hidaka, Rina

Ishikawa, Kaito

Seto, Asami

News

Reviews

FATMANBELUGA
08/24/2024, 09:10 PM
We live in a world where the Isekai genre is so overdone. It’s gotten to a point where it becomes very hard to stand out and make a unique series in the Isekai genre. The Rising of the Shield Hero’s first 4 episodes do a very good job at putting the MC into a unique situation not many other isekais have done before. The twist in the first episode is so shocking, infuriating, and it gets the viewer excited to watch how the shield hero will overcome this obstacle. It was looking like The Rising of The Shield Hero was about to become a classicin the Isekai genre, becoming the standard for what a good isekai should look like, but oh boy was I wrong. Remember the twist in episode 1 that sets up the rest of the series, well that doesn’t last for long. The show looses what makes it unique in the first place by the end of the first season. the whole point of the show is the shield hero trying to overcome this obstacle and they ditch it immediately. What’s the point of carrying on then? That’s like if in One Piece, after Luffy becomes pirate king, the Strawhats go on another adventure to defeat a giant tortoise that is terrorizing the north blue. If you want to watch only the good parts of rising of the shield hero then watch episodes 1-21. After that it becomes a standard Isekai harem.
iFound
04/06/2023, 07:59 PM
Great anime! It is meant to resonate with people. The story is simple - the hero is looking into your eyes, your heart and soul. What you see on the screen reflects exactly what any of us goes through in our lives. There's betrayal, there's love, there's hate, there are friends and enemies. And it's not easy to make it through life. It's a journey and it's a struggle. There will be losses and there will be rewards. It is like looking at your own life through this anime. In that way this is a very unique anime. It tries to inspire you to continueliving, fighting and not giving up. It's a great anime for anyone going through hard times, which is probably everyone. The art is great. Not over the top. Just right. The plot is not complex but feels very deep on the most fundamental levels. The characters are great too. Even the most minor characters feel they belong right where they are and contribute their share to the story. This anime doesn't try to be better than other anime, it tries to make you feel better and give you hope, which is very rare for anime, since most shows are very self centered trying to impress the viewer with plot complexity, over-dramatization and other flashy tricks. After watching this show I feel like Shield Hero is me. And it's a good feeling. It's a real feeling. If you didn't feel like Shield Hero after watching this.. well may be it's not your time yet. May be watch it when the time is right.. whenever it may be.
uniDJar
10/31/2022, 12:05 AM
In short, One of my all-time favourite isekai. There are some shows, which upon watching only the first few minutes of the first episode can give us the impression that "yes, this would be one of my favourites". The shield hero was such a show for me. From the start till finish this show managed to push all the right buttons that captivates me; a strong yet non-gullible MC, a caring and strong female MC and good supporting characters, excellent art, fantastic isekai storyline and apt pacing. The story of a hero using one of the weapon which was considered weak or an accessory, and managing toface the odds which even the heroes with the conventional OP weapons couldn't handle, in a more realistic pacing got me hooked to this show. Have rewatched this more than 5 times in the past few years. And will do so before the latest season 3 airs. PS: skip season 2
ThatAnimeSnobRE
07/06/2022, 03:45 AM
1) The hook A lot of people were really hyped during the early episodes of this anime because of a little thing called Outrage culture. Just like it happened with Goblin Slayer some seasons before, the touchy premise of fake rape allegations and pro-slavery themes triggered the social justice warriors. This in turn motivated the defenders of the light novel to write long essays for defending the anime. One of the usual excuses any fan says about any show he likes is how it’s a subversion. It ain’t like other isekai! This one is different! These fans were so vocal about it they managed to attracta lot of random people who got curious by the ongoing controversy. Before you know it everyone was watching and talking about the Shield Hero. And as usual what matters the most is the execution and not the initial hook or how popular a show is. Which is actually really funny when you look back at what they were saying and what the show ended up being. The hook of the premise, the same one that lured in so many people with fake rape allegations and pro-slavery themes, managed to enrage a lot and to keep them watching with a promise of justice porn. And by that I mean everyone was waiting impatiently for the protagonist to prove his innocence and make those who were responsible to pay. Something which he eventually does. Pretty easily I must say. And then most of those watchers lost their interest because they got what they wanted and the hook was no more. 2) The degradation of the plot During the initial episodes, the plot was edgy, dark, and kind of depressing in tone. It begins to fall apart after the fourth episode by becoming another generic empowerment fantasy. Up until then nothing was easy and uplifting, but then it turns into a typical isekai full of every cliché in the book. Comic relief, fan service, cockblocking romantic advancements, easy victories, constant ridicule of the opposition, and non-stop ego-stroking. -Naofumi’ shield was supposed to be weak and unable to be used for attack, but soon became able to cast every ability imaginable, and to have enough firepower for blowing up entire mountains. -The girls Naofumi travels with, which were supposed to have depth and mental issues, constantly do typical fan service shenanigans. Going to hot springs, getting molested by tentacle monsters, never shutting up about how awesome Naofumi is, fighting over who gets to be his lover, and constantly yelling about how they can’t live without him. -By the time you get to the half point of the first season Naofumi gets vindicated. His enemies, the vicious nobles who at first were sinister and sneaky in their plan to ruin Naofumi’s reputation, turn to complete idiots who exist to be constantly ridiculed. Their only defining features are being evil and idiots. It’s easy to get bored of them since they come off as incompetent and not as threatening as they did in the first episodes. -The rival heroes who during their introduction were presented as super smart and calculative, quickly turned into complete idiots who can’t even walk without tripping over their own feet. Every single thing they do turns to a disaster and it’s up to Naofumi to clean after their mess. -The world where nobody supports the Shield Hero, is quickly proven to be full of people who are constantly supporting him (peasants in need), wish to enter his team (soldiers during the monster invasion), defend him every time he is accused (queen’s spies), and even plot armor him when he is about to be killed (Fitoria). -The notorious fake rape allegations, the bread and butter when it comes to this show, like it or not, ended up being just dumb people with power incriminating a person THEY summoned for helping them out. It was a cheap shot at victimizing the protagonist for making him sympathetic to the audience. Lots of shows do that and try their best to maintain the victimizing all the way to the end of the story. This anime doesn’t do that. 3) The protagonist The initial impression you were given about the protagonist, was that he was not another overpowered self insert otaku and not everything in his second life in an isekai is rainbows and unicorns. He is not yet another neet otaku loser who gets transported to a different world that works like a generic videogame, gets ultra powerful very fast, and amasses a harem of pretty girls who all love him for being bland. Well, fancy that, he ends up becoming that as the episodes go by. Something you can’t forgive though, even if he is bland, is how he is entirely passive. Not a characteristic you want from any hero in any show. Naofumi is constantly told what to do instead of thinking for himself, and is then praised for doing what he’s told. So it’s basically double standards at play. The author can have him doing whatever he wants for the plot to move in any direction he fancies and is then retroactively proving him right for being passive. The author treats the protagonist’s actions like a heroic feat, when in reality he makes him comes off as a robot following a program imposed by others. -Buying the slaves was not the protagonist’s idea, it was proposed by the slave merchant. -Doing the missions that help the villagers was not his idea, it was the villagers asking for help. -He did not want to be a team with the other heroes, the chocobo queen demanded it or she would kill him. Plus that archbishop dude wanted to kill them. He went as far as revealing his evil plans right in front of them. He became a common enemy of the heroes by wanting to kill them and they automatically became a team in order to take down this enemy. Some elaboration on that last point. What really takes the cake is how besides being passive, the narrative is also constantly using double standards for every little thing he does, thus coming off as hypocritical. Naofumi’s idea of working together as a team comes down to mocking the very people he is supposed to work with as a team. The constant need of the author to provide justice porn contradicts what the protagonist is supposed to be doing. You don’t mock your teammates and then pretend you are a team player. In fact, you are not a team player if you were forced to enter a team. 4) The bad guys The nobles and the clergy are very shallow as bad guys since they did all their evil fake allegations just because they didn’t like Naofumi. When Naofumi eventually gets vindicated he doesn’t even allow them to be punished with public execution. No, he saves their lives just for changing their names into slurs and having them being humiliated for life. That is apparently enough of a punishment if all the viewer cares about is constant humiliation of the protagonist’s enemies. It’s otherwise very childish and done that way for a revenge porn written with the mentality of a ten year old. Haha, let’s change the big baddie’s name to kaka doodoo and call her names all the time, haha! Beyond that, nothing changes in the evil princess’ behavior. After all the crap she did, she remains in the team of the Spear Hero despite humiliating him that way, and she still constantly tries to mess with Naofumi despite having her life spared and being given the chance to turn a new leaf. Then there is the evil clergy which frankly do their best to contradict their very agenda. -The cartoonishly evil religion hates the Shield Hero because the previous heroes of the same class were allied with the furry kingdom. So basically, they hate the current hero for nothing, since he didn’t do something to hurt them. He just belongs in the same class. -The dogma of the cartoonishly evil religion is against the cute furry waifus, thus they seemingly justify their hate. And I say seemingly because they don’t, since the hate came before the Shield Hero had cute furry waifus. They hated him before he even got to have cute furry waifus. -The Shield Hero was normally supposed to be summoned at the furry kingdom. The cartoonishly evil religion cheated and summoned him in their kingdom, so they can hate him. Which means, they have the nerve to blame the guy for forcefully appearing in the place they rigged for him to appear. -If the cartoonishly evil religion hadn’t framed the Shield Hero, he wouldn’t be forced to buy cute furry waifus as aid in battles. So by framing him they got exactly what they were trying to avoid. And no, this is not smart writing by having a self-fulfilled prophecy. It’s backwards reasoning. -The cartoonishly evil religion is also suicidal. Before the second monster invasion they had the excuse of not needing the Shield Hero for defeating the monsters. After the second monster invasion they clearly need the Shield Hero, because he’s the only one who is not incompetent. By continuing to slander the only person capable of defeating the monsters they effectively doom everyone, including themselves. -The cartoonishly evil religion gets completely rewritten into a different organization. At first they needed to resort to slander against Naofumi, because they were unable to kill him directly. And then out of nowhere they have a magic weapon that is as powerful as the four heroes. Why were they accusing the Shield Hero all these months when their plan was to kill him? Everybody believes their lies, so there is no need for all this nonsense. Why didn’t they kill him all this time when they had such a powerful weapon and he was far weaker? Why were they hiding this super weapon and weren’t using it against the monsters? Why did they even need the heroes to save the world when they have weapons and chocobo waifus that are far more powerful than them? Why are the other three heroes considered blessed when they casually decide to kill them? Why do they have monarchy and not theocracy if they can casually kill the royal family in front of a thousand people and get away with it? There is absolutely no consistency. -In general all villains are one dimensional jerks. They smile smugly, love to torture and kill innocents, and they do it for fun because they can. What a better way to justify your justice porn if not by having sadistic one-dimensional nobles who exist just to make you hate them and wish to see them dead. And obviously, the only one who can stop them is the self-insert protagonist. 5) The slave girls The slaves in Naofumi’s harem have horribly rushed character progression. The author never gave them more than a single episode for growing up into the forms they maintain throughout the rest of the show. Because why should you spend years on properly nurturing anything? Just skip all the build up and go straight for the outcome. And by outcome I mean seeing them constantly antagonize each other over who gets to have the self-insert’s attention, like in any typical harem. Obviously the protagonist is written to be dense as solid rock and constantly ignores their flirting, since the age rating doesn’t allow to show sex. There’s Redo of Healer for that. By the way, isn’t it strange to have everything growing up so fast on this world, yet their lifestyle is the same one we have in a typical medieval world? Not even the world building feels right because of that. Adding to that, whether they are slave raccoons, or birds from loot boxes, or random encounters with princesses in the wilderness, the protagonist’s allies are all cute girls who make every other male to be jealous of Naofumi. Did I mention how their ages range from 12 and all the way down to… a few months old? What does that say about the author’s sexual preferences? Let’s not ignore the fetishism of the show as many fans tend to do. It’s about a male slaver saving very young girls from other slavers, who are deliberately written to be one-dimensional evil rapists so the protagonist will be ‘forced’ to protect them by adding them to his harem instead. 6) The antagonists Whatever issues you might have with slavery you can’t blame the show for having it if it’s doing a decent job at portraying it. But, as I stated several times already, the author keeps using double standards all the time, so everything comes off as disingenuous. Naofumi makes fun of the Spear hero for taking advantage of cute girls for adding them in his team, when his own team also consists of nothing else besides cute girls, whom he also took advantage of by buying as slaves. So basically, it’s ok when he does it and wrong when anyone else does it. Also, very conveniently, Naofumi’s furries do not correct him on this obvious hypocrisy and instead support him, while also making fun of the Spear Hero for doing the exact same thing thus only making the hypocrisy more obvious. Late in the show, more heroes from a different world appear. They were constantly helping Naofumi and the rest to level up, defeat the monsters, and protect the people. Then all of sudden they want to kill everyone. The reason is so convoluted it becomes impossible to follow. They want to destroy this world, so the world they came from will be spared. It’s a lie, it will be destroyed anyways, but we need some sort of new fake allegations now that the justice porn is over. That aside, they are not fighting with the monsters so the world will be destroyed, they are fighting against the monsters which is the opposite of what they are here to do. So, the ‘logical’ explanation is, they are good people, they don’t want to kill innocents, they only want to kill the four heroes so the monsters will have nobody able to stop them. It’s another lie, because there are a dozen more people far more powerful than the heroes, so the monsters can still be stopped. And also, their sense of justice is so stupid they actually believe that if they only kill the defenders of the world they would totally not be responsible for the deaths of all those innocent people. Also, even if they are here to kill the heroes, they fight the monsters and help the heroes to level up and become harder to kill, although they are here to kill them. The ‘logical’ explanation for that is that they didn’t believe those four were the heroes they came to kill because they were too weak, so they might as well befriend them and help them get stronger, although it doesn’t matter because they are going to die anyways. So basically they befriend people they know they will eventually stab in the back. And obviously they couldn’t simply ask someone to confirm if they are the heroes; that’s too much work, man. It’s not like they are here to find and kill the heroes, thus their first question should be where they can find them. Literally everybody knows who the heroes are besides them. But wait, there is a ‘logical’ explanation even for that. They didn’t ask anyone to tell them where the heroes are because they had to level up first. You see when you cross over from another world the videogame logic of this stupid show dictates that you lose your levels because it’s a different videogame, so they had to grind all over again. Only when they were strong enough they felt like asking if they are the heroes and only then they wanted to kill them. And then they proceed to not kill them and to change their minds in the next season, thus dooming their world and making their trip here completely pointless. Don’t tell me all that are not completely convoluted, because they totally are. 7) Videogame (lack of) logic The world of the isekai functions like a videogame, which is nothing uncommon, but it’s done in such a way that it makes no sense. The allegations which make up the whole conflict of the show could have instantly been proven false, if anyone had bothered to use a slave crest that forces the target to be truthful. The core conflict had no thought placed behind it since there is a way to fix it in a few seconds. The reason it didn’t happen so soon is because everybody was deliberately not mentioning the ability of the slave crests. The viewer had no idea they could be used that way and not a single character who knew about them pointed it out. The excuse in-story is that they are very expensive to use in a trial. And yet Naofumi used them three times on his waifus with no financial problems. Did you see any villages starving to death because of all the money he spent on drawing a few crests? Of course not, because they don’t exist. Even the cost excuse falls apart when you take a step back and realize the setting is an oligarchy. The king owns everything in the kingdom, so it wouldn’t cost him a thing if he uses crests in a trial. I mean, he didn’t because that would prove he is a scumbag, but the fact remains. It doesn’t cost a thing to him. As it doesn’t for the queen, who used one in the trial without starving a million children. Essentially, the author had no idea how to prevent everyone from spamming crests and said ‘errr they are expensive I guess’ before allowing everybody to use them whenever it suits the protagonist and without any penalties. More specifically, when he enslaves waifus, and gets his justice porn by placing it on the bitch princess during the trial. Oh, now the cost is not an issue! The funny part is that they didn’t need magical crests to force the bitch princess into reveal the truth. If they had bothered to ask the guy who sold Naofumi the armor, he would reveal the lies of the princess, since she didn’t find it somewhere and then gifted it to the Spear Hero. It was an armor Naofumi bought from the armorsmith and it’s now right before his eyes! On top of all this mess, the dreaded videogame logic ruins even the concept of money in general. During the pilot episode, the heroes are given coins to buy their equipment. Why do they have to pay for anything? They were summoned against their will to save the world. Just give them the best available armor so they can save your sorry ass. An excuse could be so they won’t ruin the economy, but what good is money if they are all dead? And it becomes even messier later on, when Naofumi is constantly given stuff for free as thanks for helping people out. Also, turns out the magical weapons can literally clone anything for free. There was literally no need for money since day one, so what was the point of giving them coins? The author had no idea what he was doing, and he definitely did not thought of the economy collapsing because of it. The videogame logic ruins even the need to have a team and go on missions. There is no need to do any missions, because there is nothing to actually gain from them. -Some missions give them money, which they don’t need because their weapons can clone anything they want. -Mundane stuff like food and drinks are free for heroes who are here to save the world. -Monsters during missions give you experience points for leveling up, but there is no need to bother as there are special events where you can level up like crazy by beating trash mobs. Dumb action Despite the videogame terminology, everything constantly comes down to getting power ups in the middle of the battle by triggering a hidden ability, or turning to the power of friendship. What is the point in having rules, if powers come and go depending on what the plot says will happen? -They try to make it seem like the backlash for using major attacks comes at a cost by losing enough blood to fill a swimming pool. Yet there is a scene where Naofumi casually waits defenseless for 5 minutes, as everyone else around him are busy talking to the queen than saving him, thus making it seem like his injuries are not serious. He can take it like a champ. -The villains stand still while the heroes talk in the middle of the battle. -The heroes use mostly long ranged attacks, even when their weapons are short ranged. This makes the battles dull, since they are just standing still and fire projectiles. It also makes the Bow Hero to seem like he got the crappiest weapon, since he is supposed to be the only one using arrows and be useless in close range. -The three heroes use the exact same one attack all the time, making the battles repetitive on top of dull. 9) Slavery Regarding the touchy subject of slavery, which caused the controversy and made the show so popular… it’s garbage. Naofumi was accused of owning slaves in a setting where slavery is legal and most nobles own slaves. Hypocrisy, anyone? It never gets any deeper than that, and eventually it’s just an excuse for harem shenanigans. No sir, Naofumi is not forcing cute girls to fight on his side, and is certainly not going to have naughty moments with them at the hot springs. He bought them! Plus, the slave chicks clearly state that they love being slaves. Raphtalia in particular is given her freedom when someone removes the slave tattoo from her body. But she immediately rushes to get another slave tattoo. On her boobs I need to point out, since we need fan service for this garbage to sell. This validates the victimized protagonist by having the cute animal ear waifu proudly stating how she loves being manipulated as a slave. You don’t want to disagree with a cute animal ear waifu, do you now? Look how cute she is and has a tattoo on her boobs, she can’t be wrong. And as simple as that Naofumi once again has the moral high ground to do whatever the hell he wants. 10) Plot armor There is absolutely no tension in the show. The chocobo waifu plot armors Naofumi from the dinosaur, the spy woman plot armors the 2 heroes from the energy attack, the 2 heroes plot armor Naofumi from the Pope. There is never any sense of death in the show if they can survive all the time like that. And don’t get me started on why the Pope didn’t confirm the death of the 2 heroes before trying to kill the other 2, or how they never show how Sword and Bow survived the explosion. Eventually, even the queen plot armors the heroes from the church, and proves how the allegations were false by using a slave tattoo. Something everyone could have used since day 1. And essentially Naofumi didn’t have to do a thing for clearing his name. He could have sat on a bed for months and just wait for the queen to solve everything. There never was any urgency, there never was any actual threat, and he was plot armored from all sides. 11) Retroactive answers Most of the illusion of tension in the story comes from the author omitting information from the viewer. Almost every conflict would be easy if we were told how slave crests work or how the weapons can copy everything without the need for money. Even the heroes from the other world would have an easy mission if they had asked who the heroes of this world are. The show constantly hides its problems by basically making everyone too stupid to ask about things that are free and known to most people. Furthermore it provides answers to mysteries that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Why should the way crests and weapons work be kept a secret in the first place? It’s counter-productive for what the heroes aim to achieve. As a literary device it works on people who have no critical thinking, since they will perceive it as a plot twist or a major revelation, instead of bad writing. Thus whatever complains you might have about the show are instantly shut down by the defenders, who will claim ‘you didn’t know that at first and it’s explained later in the story, thus your complaints are moot’. The thing is, nobody was watching the show just to get answers for what is going on with the monster invasion or why the church hates the Shield Hero. Everyone was watching the show for the revengeporn and the pedophilic memes concerning Naofumi’s harem. There was no mystery to solve and therefore late explanations did nothing to save face. Especially when they did not fix any problems and did not make the writing any better. 12) Everyone is dumb This last point is a culmination of everything that is wrong in the aforementioned points I made. Every single character is dumb as rocks and self sabotages his own goals that way. -The protagonist not telling the armorsmith to clear his name right away -The king mentioning money when they are not needed -The other heroes being morons who cause more trouble with whatever they do -Raphtalia forgetting she had friends being tortured somewhere until she bumps onto them. Then she refuses to kill the slaver so she won’t be like him (although she is not a slaver so WTH?) -The church hating the Shield Hero when they can’t survive without him (plus they already had a super weapon) -In general, the civilian population is a bunch of sheep with no thoughts of their own. Throughout the series they believe everything they are told right away. And before some of you say that’s exactly how the real world is like, people don’t do a 180 in a couple of seconds. One moment they demand to see the ones responsible to be punished, and the immediate next they change their minds and renounce the religion they believed in for centuries just because the validated self insert that is Naofumi said a few mean words against their god. And that is why the Shield Hero is a dumb show for dumb people that blew in popularity because of all the wrong reasons.
SimYeon
06/22/2020, 05:33 AM
'Harem Trash' this word i have seen so many people speaking for this anime. Like hell it is. I would rather say its a very much well developed anime and one of the best. Don't know why people criticize this anime, the story and animation are so good but still people just has to call it a 'Harem Trash' just because there's a guy hanging around with 2-3 girls. They just don't look at the story behind or rather they deliberately choose to call it a 'Harem Trash' even after admitting that story is good. There are 2 more seasons coming so some parts whichyou didn't understand in this season will be cleared in other seasons or at least i hope so because i haven't read the Novel so can't be sure. But i can tell you this much that Naofumi has great character design and development. And the other characters Are great as well. I will definately recommend watching this anime.
billyism
07/16/2019, 05:00 AM
I'll always find the elitists in these comment sections absolutely hilarious. Fear not, fellow MAL users, this won't be an elitist comment dissecting and purely focusing on the fact this anime is an "Issekai". Yes, that's right, it's an Issekai. Oh no! Not another one! Yea yea, I know. I thought the exact same thing when I began watching it. Boy gets thrown into a video game-like world and has to use his powers to save it! Oh, also while being accompanied by attractive heroines. Creative!! But that's where they get you. The reason why I liked this anime so much, was because it wentAGAINST the Issekai stereotype. Yes, it was in a video game world. Yes, there were heroines. But the story was deep. The characters were well paced and extremely creative. Story: Wonderfully creative. It starts off making you feel like it's nothing special, but then takes a turn almost out of no where, delving you into a wild ride of well paced world building and great character development. It explains to you what is happening, and why. There's seemingly no plot holes. Point blank, it did a damn good job. Characters: I've seen so many comments telling viewers that all this is, is another Loli harem with no developed characters. That, friends, is false. Raphtalia is the perfect example. A young child having to see her parents and entire village brutally murdered only to be sold into slavery and physically and emotionally abused directly after. A child with no hope for the world, thinking all is lost, only to be found by the least likely person. Our MC, Naofumi the Shield Hero. Another person in this world who was abandoned, broken and forsaken. The slow progression of their relationship, piecing each other together and finding light in this dark world, was absolute breathtaking. Yes, there is some fan service where partners compete for Naofumi's affection, but is that what we're calling a loli harem these days? Overall: This anime is highly rated for a reason. It does nearly every aspect well and goes against the stereotype. Don't let the elitist comments detour you from this gem.
Injenss
07/12/2019, 03:57 PM
To be honest, my personal life experiences make me highly biased towards this anime. I was falsely accused by a "fictim" years ago, and I never had my name cleared. I suffered loss in many areas because of being lied on. As such, I found myself almost instantly seeing myself through the eyes of Naofumi. It almost certainly made it where I glossed over every misstep and reveled more deeply in the satisfying moments than any regular viewer. That being said, this anime was amazing solely because of that. The moments of emotional outrage and hatred, the times he gotin a "win" against those who were trying to destroy his reputation, the moments where he showed how much better he was as a man than almost everyone around him, were fantastic. I could feel his bitterness, his resentment, and unlike me, who was powerless against my circumstance, I could feel his power when he stood up for himself. What enhanced the story even more was the addition of Raphtalia. Raphtalia serves like an angel and guiding light (along with Filo) keeping Naofumi from being overcome by hatred and rage at the world around him. Their relationship was a great one, and the unique thing about it, is that Raphtalia wasn't just a one note character just to help Naofumi, like a Belldandy or something. She also had her own deeply traumatic experiences and past pains that made for some great moments in their own right. Together, the two helping each other through such intensely unfair circumstances made you root for them in a way that you don't root for many MC's. Outside of the angle of him being falsely accused and Raphtalia helping him stay on the right path, to be honest, the anime was pretty much standard Isekai fare. Demons are attacking the world, the heroes summoned from another world must save it, blah, blah, blah... Not much about the anime or world was groundbreaking, until the very last two episodes when you learn a little more about the nature of the waves. That wrinkle in the story provides Shield Hero an opportunity to take a different path from most Isekai animes, if they choose to do so. The animation is pretty standard, as well. It's not something beautiful, like the Fate series, but it's not horrible either. The fights are entertaining, but they aren't exceptionally memorable, either. The characters are either likable, like Naofumi, Rapthalia and Filo, or completely unlikable, like Melty, the other heroes and the King. This aspect helps to strengthen the anime, as there's not many characters that you care nothing about one way or another getting a lot of screen time. Overall, the strength of this anime is going to be determined by how much you can relate to Naofumi's predicament. If you can't relate to it, you're more than likely going to think this is just an average anime with a wronged hero. If you can relate to it, I think you'll enjoy it much more.
Chrysalis_Feline
07/12/2019, 01:16 PM
I am unsure how I learned of this anime but good lord I am so glad I did. Everything about it is amazing. At first I was a little unsure because I thought it was going to be another stereotypical Isekai anime where the MC has a harem and it end up a trash anime. Oh was I wrong. The MC starts off knowing anything about MMO games or how those worlds work. He never understood what was going on. He also starts off with a shield, what is seen as the weakest of all of the weapons.He is ridiculed and shamed by those around him and, later, the entire country. Everyone spreads rumors and he is lower than rock bottom. He gets conned and robbed and is, basically, thrown to the streets. It is through his hard work and effort that he raises and, oh boy,it is hard for him. Because of his history with the world, he does not trust anyone and is very cynical. It's not until many episodes in that he actually starts trusting his companion. I have never seen an anime with these attributes and I can relate with the MC as well. Seeing this was SO refreshing and I loved every second of it. I watched and listening to the opening and ending for EVERY episode, which I hardly ever do (I will usually watch the first one then skip the rest.) The animation and art was stunning and effects mind blowing. The characters were well developed and I don't think I even saw a cliche anime trope either. Romance is hinted at but never carried out, which, again, seems rare for Isekai animes. I am rooting for a season 2 and will start reading the manga. I want to learn Japanese so I can also read the light novels too. I HIGHLY suggest start watching this if you haven't already! While we wait with anticipation for a season 2 I will be entertaining myself with other works from this director as well as animes similar to it. Another thing to note is I never write reviews for animes so the fact that I spent the time to write this also says how amazing this anime is.
spy4killer
06/26/2019, 12:06 PM
*Review contains no spoilers* "Great production, loss of focus, lack of good characters" That basically describes Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari. In my opinion, an anime that has excellent production but have nothing more to offer than the production is much worse than an anime that is just bad. Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari had real potential to be a great anime or even better. With good art, great animation, and a fantastic soundtrack, but with a lack of good characters and a plot that is just boring and randomly changing and with rushed pacing. This anime becomes a much worse version of what it couldhave been. It just saddens me to see all of this good production going to waste. Being bad is far better than being boring. Let us talk about the best part first. The music is Astounding both openings could be easily considered one of the best in the season. The main theme is wonderful. Kansas, Mirrors, Autoroll and many other pieces of the soundtrack are incredible. definitely, a soundtrack that I and many are going to remember and come back for. Other than that there is not much else to say about this anime. The plot was okay in the first 4 episodes I guess, but it just didn't know where it was heading. It felt like every 3 episodes have a completely new direction for the plot. Although an ever-changing plot could be great this one doesn't even come close to that. The pacing is garbage. There are almost no good characters. All of the characters are as generic as it gets. Which in turn makes the plot that has no chance of being developed even less intriguing. I still don't understand what does the sitting of Isekai offer to a story like this. Isekai is an interesting setting when it used for the plot rather than just being a sale tag. For example, an anime like RE: zero uses the setting of an Isekai to have a plot revolving around the concept of "respawning" which made the plot much more interesting, on the other hand in Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari there is just no reason plot-wise to have the story in another world really. To wrap things up. This anime had the potential to be great with its production value but even with all of that, the plot and the generic characters drag this anime down and make it an overall disappointment.
Shingster
06/26/2019, 11:41 AM
Please note this review is intended to be read by those that have finished watching Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari and while care has been taken to minimise spoilers there may still be spoilers within character analysis. You have been warned. Based off a popular light novel of the same name Tate No Yuusha no Nariagari which is better known by its English title The Rising of the shield hero is an action, adventure, fantasy and drama genre anime, that gives us the unique opportunity to see what would happen if a human being from the modern world was not just summoned to a fantasyworld but also summoned in order to take up the role of one of the world’s heroes and protect it as a once in a lifetime crisis takes place within the world. While Isekai genre anime like this one has long served as the staple of modern-day anime and on the surface, The Rising of the shield hero may look exactly like a standard example of that esteemed genre there are several aspects of it that in my eyes made it noteworthy. One of the main premises of the Isekai genre is of the fact that after being transported from the original world the person that was summoned will usually be given a large role that’s important to the well-being of the world to which they were summoned too with hero’s being the most common types. However, in the case of the Rising of the shield hero instead of using this common aspect of the genre, it instead flips it and makes the main character Naofumi take up the role of an anti-hero instead of being a hero as his fellows have become. This unique flip on roles while adding some much needed creativity within the genre also served to allow us to see the kind of unique interactions that the world’s inhabitants show to those that don’t fit the idea of their image of a hero which when paired with the types of bonds that Naofumi forges with his party members and his many allies within the series served to give a unique perspective on how prejudiced this new world can be. It is these aspects that served to draw me to this series and ensured that it was one that I would watch until the end. The first episode of the series while doing an excellent job in introducing both the setting, the main hero’s as well as the members of the kingdoms royalty also served well to show the kind of actions that can result from those that have both the power and the influence needed to make life difficult for those that have slighted them. While the first episode proved to be a somewhat controversial shock to some I felt that it was an excellent episode as it served to not just forge the foundations of Naofumi’s cynical personality but also help define his overall quest of finding a way to protect the world while trying to get his name cleared in a world that sees him as nothing more than a villain. The overall story for the series takes place in a parallel world that combines the standard fantasy world where swords, magic and fantasy creatures exist with the types of prejudices and royal intrigues among royalty that’s common within the medieval era of the modern world. In this world of swords and magic, humans are not the only races that inhabit the world for they co-exist alongside various races of demi-humans as well but alas this co-existence is anything but peaceful and especially so in the kingdom of Melromarc. In this kingdom that serves as one of the primary settings for the series the king consort aided by his daughter has mandated a series of suppression on the kingdom’s demi-human population and has not just made life within the kingdom hard for them but also ensured that within the kingdom his word and that of his daughter was the law. A fact that swiftly becomes apparent when Naofumi was not just stripped of his title of hero but also labelled as a villain by both the royal family and the general population after a serious accusation by the princess to which despite having no sign of physical proof ensured that he was transformed from that of a righteous hero to that of a villain that had the title the devil shield. However despite being labelled as a villain and being cut off from all the support that the kingdom could provide him Naofumi determined to both prove his innocence and at the same time get his revenge for all the hardship that the royal family has inflicted on him does not let this stop him and despite being treated harshly by others still fights hard to both continue to live within the world and at the same time fight to protect it in his own way. But he will not do so alone for despite his status his grim determination to protect this world and get back at the royal family serves to draw many unique and powerful allies to his side that serves to not only increase his parties combat ability but also allow him to not just learn more about this world but also use it to his advantage in both defending this world from the waves and in getting justice for himself by proving that the accusations from the royal family were nothing more than lies. However in the face of both the increasing power of the waves which serves to bring increasingly powerful foes to the field and the ever malicious plots by the king consort to ruin him Naofumi and his party must not just fight hard on the field but also stay on their toes if they want to protect this world and fulfil the role of being a hero even one that is unacknowledged and unsung by the masses. Naofumi Naofumi portrayed by veteran voice actor Kaito Ishikawa of Rascal Does Not dream of Bunny Girl sempai and Sakurada Reset fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main protagonist of the series. An otaku and a second-year student from the modern world that was abruptly summoned to a parallel world in the beginning of the series Naofumi on initial appearances is seen to be a positive, intelligent and earnest person by nature that somewhat contradicts the typical image of otaku’s given that he has no fear of interacting with others in society. A quiet person by nature Naofumi is shown to be someone that prefers to be low key and is shown to prefer using diplomacy to settle matters and ensure that everyone is getting along without any trouble. While doing well in showing Naofumi’s preference to use diplomacy to deal with matters this also did well to show how trusting Naofumi was towards both his fellow heroes and to the members of the royal family that he had just met. However, all of this soon changed as a result of both the false accusation that quickly labelled him kingdom-wide as a criminal and his banishment from the circle of heroes that have been summoned to fight the waves. After the change of Naofumi’s status from hero to criminal Naofumi’s personality gradually started to change. While still remaining quiet and earnest Naofumi also notably becomes more aloof and serious in terms of attitude and indeed is willing to use threats against others if they prove to be obstructive of his goals. At the same time largely as a result of the fact that trust in his newfound state is no longer something that can be expected of others Naofumi was shown to develop a somewhat cynical attitude to life and always expecting things to go awry which is shown well in the encounters that he has with the various allies that he meets along the way. However while this aspect when combined with his willingness to use threats on innocents fitted well with the official story that he was a villain it can be seen that was also a blessing of sorts as it allowed him to easily determine the true nature of someone and more often than not expose them before they can cause any damage to him. Despite Naofumi’s cynical nature and his unwillingness to open his heart to others it can be seen that this is largely restricted to outsiders as when interacting with companions that have proved themselves to him it can be seen that he would not only fight hard to protect them but also work hard at not just developing their skills and equipment but also take great care in determining whether is there anything that’s bothering them aspects that show not just Naofumi’s caring nature but also of how considerate and perceptive he is as well. Despite the betrayal of the royal family it can be seen that Naofumi had never forgotten the fact that he was one of the heroes that have been summoned to this world to fight the waves and despite knowing that he would not get official gratitude from the kingdom and nothing but scorn from the heroes he would still work hard at not just protecting people but also encouraging them to fight together with him showing not just his desire to protect the innocents from harm but also do the job that he was summoned to do and thus showing his sense of responsibility not just to the people but to the world as well. This is perhaps best shown in the defence of Lute village which despite not being evacuated before the wave hit was literally abandoned to its fate by the other heroes due to its negligible strategic worth. Rather than follow suit Naofumi and party instead opted to protect the village and its inhabitants instead of going for the wave’s main force as others would have expected. This victory while a small one in the larger war effort did well in showing that Naofumi’s chief concern was neither glory nor fame but simply the desire to protect innocents that have been caught up in the war. Within the series one of the most important bonds that Naofumi is shown to value the most is the relationship that he has with his fellow party member and confidant Raphtalia. While the relationship between the two was frosty at first due to his initial desire of wanting to use her as a tool this slowly began to change as a result of not just the number of battles and adventures that they have been through together but also of sense of trust that has been formed between the two of them a bond that served to not just ensure that she will not just fight for him but also fight to protect him from the many detractors that exist within the kingdom. As a result, seeing not just the amount of trust that Raphtalia has in him as well as the benefits that can come from having someone that you can rely upon and share burdens with Naofumi’s attitude towards bonds and friendships gradually started to change. While still far from being the first that would make a move when encountering new allies Naofumi gradually begins to learn to show more trust towards not just his allies but also his friends as well and willing to offer genuine praise and support to them when warranted which a far cry to how gruff he was in the past. This aspect is shown well not just in terms of words but also in terms of actions as well in Naofumi’s attempt to both protect his friends from harm by both creating new and better gear for them and in improving in his ability to finish battles quickly and effectively so as to minimise any potential damage to his friends. However, though Naofumi’s attitude towards showing trust in his comrades and to allies that he can trust in was softened the same cannot be said of his attitude towards both the royal family and his fellow cardinal hero’s. More than anything within the series Naofumi is shown to bear nothing but absolute hatred towards both the king consort and Malty who framed him and the cardinal heroes for not questioning the fact that there was no proof of his alleged crime. While this sense of anger towards them serves to not just provide a sense of motivation for Naofumi in his desire to get stronger it also served to provide him a powerful set of skills in the form of the Rage shield that had the potential to increase his combat ability considerably. This power, however, proved to be a double-edged sword however as while giving him a notable increase in combat power it also made him susceptible to the madness within a madness that thankfully he was never able to experience thanks to the increased bonds that connected him with his comrades. The character of Naofumi I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with the gradual evolution from a typical earnest and positive young man who seemed content with the life that he had to a cynical, serious and grim young man who expected to be betrayed by everyone and then finally to someone who despite living through a betrayal that would have broken a lesser man had not only learned to master the anger within him but also found a new sense of motivation that can not only help himself but his many comrades as well as they fight together to protect the world as hero’s being especially well done. Raphtalia Raphtalia portrayed by veteran seiyuu Asami Seto of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai and Strike the Blood fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main heroine of the series. A member of the Tanuki demi-human race that inhabit the realm Raphtalia on initial appearances is seen to be a quiet, timid and hesitant person by nature. As a result of being enslaved at such a young age, Raphtalia in the beginning was shown to be rather hesitant when dealing with strangers both in terms of standard interaction like going to a restaurant and in learning to use weapons effectively on the field. Despite her fear of not just failing but also displeasing her master she was also shown to get scared easily. However, despite this fear she was shown to be a quick learner when properly motivated showing both determination to help master the new skills that she needs and a strong desire to do her job effectively an aspect that is shown well in the first team-ups between her and Naofumi in the field. At the beginning of the series largely due to her status as a slave Raphtalia was shown to be someone that expected her eventual masters to treat her badly likely due to the images of the number of slaves that she had seen being mistreated during her time at the market. As a result of this, it can be seen that she was pleasantly surprised that while Naofumi was a harsh master at first the efforts that he had put in teaching her not only served to allow her to defend him but also herself as well. At the same time while Naofumi’s outwardly aloof nature made it somewhat hard to approach for her it can be seen that she was surprised that rather than treat her harshly such as feeding her just scraps of food as others would have that Naofumi not only treated her to actual food but also allow her to eat with him as well. As a result of this treatment, it can be seen that Raphtalia’s attitude towards her new master swiftly improved with her fear of her master being largely replaced by a desire to both learn not just new skills but also more about the world to which she lives in. Though the time in which Raphtalia was a slave was a harsh one that had a heavy emotional toll on her it can be said that there was one thing that had kept her from giving in to despair as many of her fellow slaves have had which was her interest in the shield hero that came from the old legends that her parents told her when they were still alive. These legends while essentially nothing more than fabled tales was shown to have a deep impact on her and indeed they served as the primary reason for her desire to serve the shield hero should the opportunity present itself. As a result of this desire, Raphtalia had no qualms about stepping up and make that wish a reality when her master revealed to her his true identity. While very much aware that her skills were not yet powerful enough to be able to protect him effectively Raphtalia vowed to not just become stronger but to be also brave enough to fight by his side as his sword a vow that swiftly becomes a reality. After growing up both mentally and physically and after seeing the kind of treatment that Naofumi receives from the kingdom’s people Raphtalia’s personality gradually starts to change. While still quiet to a degree Raphtalia in her grown-up form was seen to have become much more confident and direct with both her words and actions. While her child form would have shown some hesitation in both the usage of weapons and in identifying herself as part of the shield hero’s party here as a result of her newly founded confidence it can be seen this fear is no longer present and indeed is replaced by a strong sense of loyalty towards her master. This aspect is shown well in the many instances where Raphtalia stepped up to both stand up for herself and her master after being slandered by others. An interesting development that came about as a result of Raphtalia’s newly founded confidence that I found to be quite endearing was the fact that Raphtalia while for the most part was content with following her master’s orders was not above acting forcefully to force her master to take a deeper look at a situation. A good example of this is during the time when Raphtalia reminds Naofumi that there is no need to try and do everything by himself. While Raphtalia’s newly discovered confidence served to not just allow her to better defend her master both on the field and in society it can be said that this newly founded confidence also managed to awaken or otherwise enhance the other personality traits that had existed within Raphtalia. At the beginning of the series while noted to have a keen eye for detail Raphtalia was noted to be somewhat hesitant in passing what she had found to her master and as a result, causing delays in situational processing for the party. In the wake of her newly awakened confidence, however, this sense of hesitation and fear of acting outside of her bounds was replaced by her embracing her excellent senses while at the same time learning to pass on what she had learned to her master quickly and effectively. While enabling her to better support her master on the field this overcoming of her hesitation also allowed her to show more care towards her master by acting as both a comrade and a confidant to which she can provide both advice and her own unique take on the kind of situations that the party encounters in their journeys by listening too and determining the main aspects of the facts that have been discovered by Naofumi even the ones that Naofumi did not want to reveal. While showing well how considerate and understanding Raphtalia had become this also did well in showing the increasing bonds that have been forming between Raphtalia and her master as her past self would never have wished her masters displeasure by pressing for the whole truth. As a result of the ever-increasing bonds that have been forged between them its perhaps unsurprising that Raphtalia views the relationship that she has with her master as something that was dear to her and indeed this bond can be seen to act as her primary sense of motivation in life for in her mind it was the meeting between the two that had allowed her to break out of the grim reality of slavery and given her a new purpose in life which was to act as her masters sword. While serving to ensure that the bond between the two were almost unbreakable on account of the strong debt that both feel that they owe each other this bond when combined with her perceptive nature also allowed Raphtalia to better understand Naofumi’s personality and see past the lies that he creates to both protect himself and his parties while masking his true kind-hearted nature. While certainly understanding the necessity of protecting innocents from being targeted by his detractors it can be seen that Raphtalia dislikes the idea as while hiding the fact that her master had worked so hard to protect innocents it also served to prolong the impression that he was a villain as per the official kingdom’s bio of him a fact that frustrates Raphtalia to no end. As a result of the strong bond that had been formed between Raphtalia and her master its perhaps unsurprising that she will find it threatened when a new party member joins, but such is the reality when Filo joined the party. While the introduction of Filo and later Melty within the party served to create some unique problems for Raphtalia it also served to allow Raphtalia to realise that while the bond that has been forged between her and her master was a strong one that didn’t mean that she cannot learn to expand the bond to accommodate other allies that have proven her worth not just to her but to her master as well. While the relationship between Raphtalia, Melty and Filo was a frosty one at first it can be seen that this gradually began to change and be replaced by a sense of mutual respect that results from the development of both friendships and the acknowledgement of a valued comrade. While doing well in both boosting the amount of combat power that the party can call upon this new bond also served to expand both Raphtalia’s desire to make more friends but at the same time awaken her desire to treat her party members as something akin to family members and protect them with all her might. While doing well in expanding upon her desire to make more friends in this world I felt that this development of hers also did well to introduce a surprisingly motherly side to Raphtalia’s character. The character of Raphtalia I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed. The evolution of her character from a little girl who as a result of being forced into slavery from a young age and who was easily scared, nervous and unwilling to show her true thoughts to one that was not just more confident, intelligent and direct with both her actions and her words was well done. This is especially seen well in the role that Raphtalia had chosen for herself within the party which was that of her master’s sword as in this capacity she is not just able to stay by her master’s side as his sword but also act as his confidant and shield when needed. However this sense of seeing herself as a sword is by no means a way to view herself as a lesser being and indeed the opposite is true for Raphtalia sees the role of being her masters sword as both a means to repay her debt to her master for giving her a new purpose in life and for allowing her to meet the one person that she had wished so fervently to meet and save her from the bleak world that she had lived in. In a way it is perhaps fate that had allowed both Raphtalia and Naofumi to encounter each other for not only had they through their bonds with each other managed to create a bond that was not just able to provide both with a sense of trust, understanding and warmth that both had lost but also for the first time in their lives create a place where both feel that they can belong too and where they can show their true selves to each other while allowing both to stabilise their own fears and insecurities and help them become better people in the long run. Filo Filo portrayed by veteran seiyuu Rina Hidaka of SAO and Boarding School Juliet fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of the members of Naofumi’s combat party. A member of the Filolials race a demi-human race that inhabits the realm Filo on initial appearances is seen to be an excitable, positive and innocent person by nature that closely resembles a child which considering the fact that she had just hatched prior was an apt term. While excitable Filo was also a polite, kind and loyal person by nature that enabled her to easily forge friendships with others as seen in how quickly she befriended Melty. Due largely to her child-like personality Filo was someone that was seen to have a keen sense of curiosity which when combined with her perceptive nature made her surprisingly keen-eyed at times which within the series is used well in her interactions with the spear hero. Unlike the other members of her race however Filo is able to transform into both an bird form and a human form that while showing that she is by no means a normal member of her race also does well in providing the party with some much needed tactical flexibility as her bird form allows her to both provide a means to travel to other locations within the realm faster while at the same time allow her to provide a much-needed boost to the party’s combat ability through the use of her talons. As the series goes on however and Filo’s personality is gradually expanded upon it can be seen that Filo despite being a kind and caring person by nature is shown to be both surprisingly stubborn and at the same time teasing at times with this latter point being used for comical effect with regards to the spear hero. Indeed, this stubbornness of her’s while itself normally a negative trait of hers can be seen here as a defining trait of hers when used in conjunction with both her friendly nature and her loyalty to both her friends and comrades. This is shown well within the series during the rescue of Melty who can be said to be her first friend from the corrupt noble Idol where despite facing fierce resistance from his guards Filo still changed straight into the teeth of his defences to save her. While a powerful combatant that’s almost equal to Raphtalia and a definite asset to the party it can be seen that unlike Raphtalia Filo herself lacked any strong sense of motivation for wanting to serve Naofumi which while lessening the amount of power that she can call upon to help them when the situation requires it also made her susceptible to doubt as well something that Fitoria was able to exploit well within the series. However, despite this flaw, it can be seen that when Filo is properly motivated and has something and someone that she wants to protect that she too is capable of changing her personality in order to compensate for her own flaws. This within the series is shown during the rematch with Fitoria in which Filo rather than charging into battle without a plan as she would have done previously instead opted to show both calmness and caution willing to wait and observe the enemy’s attacks before deciding on how to approach a given battle. At the same time, Filo also awakened within her the one reason that she had needed to motivate her to become stronger which was her desire to both protect her comrades and at the same time her friends Naofumi, Raphtalia and most importantly Melty. The character of Filo I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with her evolution from a newly hatched girl that while infinitely curious and positive and cheerful to a fault to a girl that was not just immensely loyal to both her friends and comrades but also versatile enough to act as both a fighter and the parties rapid response asset being especially well done. While Filo’s versatility is without a doubt impressive for the party I felt that it was so for us the viewers as well as it allowed her to provide a degree of comic relief in her treatment of the spear hero. Melty Melty portrayed by veteran seiyuu singer Maaya Uchida of Charlotte and Goblin Slayer fame is one of the main support characters of the series and is one of Naofumi’s allies within the series. The second princess of the kingdom of Melromarc and the younger sister of the first princess Malty Melty unlike her older sister is a kind, caring and positive person by nature that despite her young age is able to see easily the larger picture of a given situation and react accordingly showing not just her intelligence but also her quick thinking nature as well. Unlike her elder sister and despite her young age Melty is able to project both a sense of gracefulness, calmness and sincerity that few girls her age is able to show and while doing well in showing the kind of behaviour that a princess should act with also does well to show that despite the darkness within the royal family there is still light within it. While a calm and kind person by nature Melty was also someone that was not just open-minded but also perceptive being able to not just accept the circumstances of an event but also pick out the main points of it no matter how far-fetched the story was and who it allegedly involves. This is further supported by her preference to confirm things with her own eyes rather than rely on the eyes of others as royalty often do. Unlike her older sister Melty was someone that was seen to be akin to a people’s princess in that she was not just friendly but also polite as well and was willing to apologize to others directly rather than send others to do so on her behalf and while further cementing her role as a princess also ensured that the impression that she left on others was a good one. True to her sincere and honest nature Melty was someone that preferred to be direct with her words and seemed to prefer to get to the heart of a matter quickly rather than waste time with pleasantries as other royals would have something that I felt complemented her nature really well. Unlike most people within her, kingdom Melty was someone that was curious by nature and was someone that believed that not all monsters were enemies of man which is best shown in the manner of how Melty met Naofumi and party and also in the strong friendship that she forms with Filo later on despite knowing who she was. In line with Melty’s core personality traits of being sincere and honest, it's perhaps unsurprising that Melty is someone that is shown to have an intense dislike of not just injustice but also the act of wanton cruelty that have been perpetrated by both her sister and her father across the kingdom. Indeed, while certainly uncomfortable on hearing the news it can be inferred that Melty must also feel immense regret that someone from her own family was actually responsible for these acts as well. As a result of this and in line with the image that she was the princess that will herald in a new change to the kingdom it was both a breath of fresh air and incredibly satisfying in seeing Melty lay the foundations for her mother’s return to the palace to bring about the change that she so desired. As the series goes on however and Melty gets to experience first-hand not just how life outside the palace is like but also what it's like to travel with people that doesn’t let her status as a princess change in how they interact with her Melty’s personality gradually starts to change. Despite Melty’s image of an people’s princess whose kindness and calm nature was known across the kingdom it can be seen quite surprisingly that despite that Melty is still very much capable of showing anger as well which when combined with the verbal bards that she throws out at those that have angered her had the effect of showing a surprisingly cute side to her character. Unlike the rest of the royals Melty largely as a result of her mother’s teachings is of the belief that while the decision to summon all of the hero’s within one kingdom was the wrong decision believes that instead of simply confronting the waves haphazardly as the heroes had done so until she arrived that they should make the effort to form a unified front and fight the waves together. However this is by no means an easy task as not only had her father and sisters schemes splintered the unity of the hero’s but they had also created an intense sense of distrust between them that was not only making the situation grimmer but also gave other parties the gap that they needed to put forward with their own plans. Due largely to Melty’s role as a princess its perhaps unsurprising that she is someone that while knowing how things would work in theory would have no real knowledge on how things actually work in practice and as a result she while certainly diligent in her studies knew very little of the kind of life that exists outside of the walls of the palace. As a result, she was in for a rude awakening when she not only saw first-hand the kind of crimes that had been committed by the Knights of the kingdom but also of the actions that her esteemed father and sister had committed for no other reason other than just petty pride. This within her created a sense of doubt within her heart that served as her characters primary struggle which pitted her against whether to keep running away from her responsibilities and avoid conflict with her father and sister or to stand and fight and bring change back to the land by getting word to her mother the queen. Despite the difficult choice that effectively pitted her own ideas and desire to see fairness in her kingdom be extended to all with the petty pride that her own father and sister was displaying I was glad that Melty’s experience with Naofumi and his party and her ability to see the larger picture contributed in enabling her to make the right decision and bring back her true ruler of the land and turn the war around. In the beginning of the series Melty’s relationship with Naofumi was shown to be a rather frosty one due to his distrust of members of the royal family as a result of the betrayal that he was subjected to which when combined with Naofumi’s aloof and cold nature only served to make Melty’s job of mending relations between the royal family and him a difficult job. However, as the series progressed and Naofumi was able to not just see first-hand the kind of efforts that Melty was putting in to mend the rift between him and the royals his impression of hers gradually began to soften much to her delight. Though still somewhat put off by his aloof nature and his unwillingness to show his true feelings openly Melty like Raphtalia and Filo before her was able to see past his guard and see the kind and caring person that lay beneath the shield that Naofumi puts up around people and as a result began to treat him as a friend and comrade with the first of her steps being to get her to call her by her first name rather than her role identifier a scene that I felt was both amusing yet heartwarming. While Melty and Naofumi are shown to quarrel quite a bit over the course of their journey rather than showing any sense of anger between the two it can be seen that rather the opposite is true for rather than create splits between the two these quarrels actually serve to allow both Melty and Naofumi to improve the bonds that been formed between them and allow Naofumi to not just understand how things within the kingdom work but also allow him to see things from her perspective as well and contributing in allowing both to eventually see each other as comrades that can be counted upon to help each other when needed. The character of Melty I felt was an interesting character that was both well designed and developed with her evolution from a kind, polite and caring young woman who while acting in good faith knew little of how things worked in the real world to someone who despite seeing the amount of darkness that lurked outside the walls yet was still determined enough to stay true to her ideas and correct the mistakes that have been committed by her father and sister by standing with the one hero who had been shouldering the burden of protecting the people by himself to be well done. While the relationship between Melty and Naofumi was not developed to the same level as the one between Naofumi and Raphtalia I felt that it was still well thought out as Melty’s first responsibility was always going to be the safeguarding of both the country and the people despite her feelings for Naofumi. AMV In term of animation, I thought that the series characters both in terms of main and support ones were not just well designed but also matched well visually with not just their roles within the story but also with the circumstances of said character within it. This is shown especially well with relation to the heroes and their support parties with Naofumi and his party being of particular note. While the Sword, spear and bow hero’s as a result of their acceptance by both the king consort and the princess Malty were both expensively equipped and armed and armoured in the best gear available Naofumi’s party was the opposite with him bearing ragged but yet functional equipment that reflected their contrasting fortunes within the world. Notably, I felt the character designs also made great use of colour to not just show the personalities of the characters but also serve to make them more distinguishable on screen. In this regard, this proved particularly effective for both Raphtalia and Melty both of which bore distinctive designs that matched well with their personalities. In terms of environment design and variety, I felt that the series made great use of the types of locations that can exist within a fantasy world where both magic and monsters can exist. While the series did well in featuring the standard villages, towns, mines, and ruins it also featured a surprising amount of variety by featuring locations like ghost ships, beaches, leisurely islands and more within the series. In terms of combat animation and fights this is one area in which I felt the series truly excelled at thanks to both the many excellently designed enemies and the strong and well designed battles that take advantage of both the enemy design and the ever-increasing bonds between the members of Naofumi’s party that ensured that while their abilities and skills improve in leaps and bounds that they also understand the kind of roles in which they must fulfil when fighting on the front line. While strength certainly is important I felt that the battles in which Naofumi and party fought in also made great use of tactics and strategy which when used in combination with the trust that was formed between the party served to make each battle within the series a unique and entertaining experience. In terms of music the series made use of two opening and ending themes for the two cours with the openings being Rise and Faith by MADKID and three ending themes which were Kimi No Namae by Chiai Fujikawa, Failing Through Starlight by Raphtalia’s seiyuu Asami Seto and Atashi ga Tonari ni Iru Uchi Ni that was also sung by Chiai. Of the opening themes while both Rise and Faith served well to both introduce tension within the series on account of the kind of stakes that the world was facing in the form of the waves also served to introduce differing sub emotions as well with the former introducing both darkness and a desire to take back something that was lost which matched well with the first cour while the second introduced the themes of determination to stand firm with your allies and friends against the waves to protect them in the present to ensure a future ensures. With regards to the ending themes like the opening themes they too also served to represent specific themes within the series with Kimi No Namae being one that symbolised both despair and resentment against the world which I felt matched the first episodes superbly. The latter two ending themes while symbolising the types of emotions that the members of the party were experiencing as they bonded with each other also I felt grew calmer and more peaceful in their undercurrents and reflecting well on the gradually improving situation within the world thanks to Naofumi and party’s efforts on the front. In terms of the series OST, I felt that this was very well designed as it showed a surprisingly an excellent variety that allowed it to switch from calming tones to grand ones seamlessly as the series story progressed. The ones for combat scenes, in particular, were particularly impressive with my personal favourite being the one in ep11. In terms of voice acting, I felt that the series main voice cast did an excellent job at portraying their assigned characters whether main or support ones. In particular, I felt that Kaito Ishikawa, Asami Seto, Rina Hidaka, and Maaya Uchida all did an excellent job at portraying the characters of Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty respectively. Though the two were only introduced in the latter half of the series I felt that veteran seiyuu’s Sakura Tange and Kikuko Inoue both did an excellent job at portraying the characters of Fitoria and Mirelia respectively. Likewise, the characters of L’Arc and Therese who were portrayed by veteran seiyuu’s Jun Fukuyama and Saori Hayami respectively while only appearing near the end of the series proved to be surprisingly effective characters on account of both their chemistry and combat ability. While later comers to the series the vocal ability of both veterans really helped in ensuring that their respective characters left a lasting impact within the series as it neared its end. While only appearing twice within the series I felt that Megumi Han who portrayed the character of Glass did an excellent job at portraying the mysterious and enigmatic beauty whose sharp tongue is on par with both her high combat ability and her enigmatic nature. Overall conclusion In overall Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari was an excellent anime that I felt was one of the best ones of the spring 2019 season with its main strong points being its unique premise that expanded upon the traditional concepts of both the Isekai genre and of Hero led animes, an excellent and well designed story, excellent and well developed characters, strong voice acting from a talented voice cast and well designed and executed battles that combined excellent tension with easily relatable stakes for both the heroes and the world. The overall story of the series is without a doubt one of the series greatest strengths due to its combination of combining both the overall journey that Naofumi and his party went through as they went from being outcasts that were shunned by the kingdoms general populace to becoming hero’s that proudly stood and fought on the frontlines to protect the people from danger and the impact that these actions had on the larger war effort as a result of the many strong and lasting bonds that have been forged not just between Naofumi and his party but also with the many support characters that existed in the kingdom but yet were reluctant to ally with the kingdom for various reasons. While the overall story did start off by making use of a unique concept for Naofumi’s origin story that might have raised a few eyebrows I felt that this concept of introducing the role of a atypical hero to Naofumi’s character actually ended up being a well thought out idea as not only did it ensure that Naofumi was determined to prove his innocence in the eyes of the kingdom but also cause him to realise that as a result of being cut off from the kingdom’s resources that he would have to find a means to increase his combat effectiveness. While the decision to include slavery into the series was a tricky concept that proved controversial in some areas I felt that this method in the end managed to serve its intended purpose well as while it allowed Naofumi to increase his combat ability by taking Raphtalia under his wing this also allowed the opening of his eyes to the concepts of both friendship, bonds and loyalty that would later go to serve both him and the party well as Raphtalia’s inclusion into his party not only allowed him to gain a potent sword that can tear through the toughest of foes but also allow him to gain a close confidant that serves to balance out the cynicism that had developed within him. As the party expanded thanks to Filo and Melty’s introduction this bond of friendship not only served to make the party a much potent force on both the battlefield and in the kingdom but also served to expand the world significantly a fact that I felt was an excellent result. While the role of any hero within a series is to act to protect the people from harm I felt that Naofumi’s role as an atypical hero and the cynical nature that he had surrounded himself with as a result of the betrayal made him somewhat unique. While this nature of his more often than not served to make others suspicious of him I felt that this also made the effects that his actions had on others and the reactions that they give after seeing it that much more powerful while also giving both Naofumi and myself a great degree of satisfaction especially if the said party was the arrogant type. Taking advantage of both the story and the character development that came about was the series excellent combat scenes. While most Isekai series that feature combat tend to follow the standard role of having fighters, rogues, mages and healers I felt that The Rising of the shield hero just as they improved upon the hero concept also served to expand upon the combat as well. While Naofumi himself may have been a fighter the fact that his main weapon was a shield may have given the impression that he was a one tricked pony but within the series this is not the case as thanks to the large variety of shield designs and abilities the shield that many looked down upon can be said to be one of the most powerful weapons within the series thanks to the sheer amount of tactical flexibility that it gives both him and the party. Likewise, this is also shown in both Raphtalia and Filo as well who acts as both the party’s main melee attacker and guerrilla fighter and mage and fast attack fighter respectively. Melty while joining the party only halfway through the first half of the series also served to become a potent force for Naofumi’s party as Melty while a competent mage was also a skilled diplomat whose intelligence and perceptiveness made her a worthwhile addition to the party. These dual roles within the party while the having the potential to cause great damage to any enemy that they fight along the way also had the potential to cause great confusion to them if they were used haphazardly but thankfully within the series these dual roles were used to great effect when used in conjunction with the strong bonds of friendship, loyalty, determination and desire that served to link the core party of Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo and Melty in a nigh unbreakable bond that served to become their solid foundation as they fought to beat back the waves and protect the kingdom and its people from harm. This within the series is shown especially well within the series many battles in which the cast’s unity and determination allowed the creation and unleashing of many powerful and unique combo’s that while allowing the defeat of many an enemy also showed the depths of the bonds that made it possible. In terms of final score, I can say for certain that Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari easily deserves a final score of 10/10 on account of its combination of a unique take on a tried and tested premise, excellent world building, well designed, developed and easily relatable characters, excellent combat scenes that were paired well with unique and powerful enemies and excellent voice acting from a top tier voice cast.
Rusticks
06/26/2019, 11:21 AM
Terrible show about terrible people. Less than typical isekai trash. Story sets itself out to be epic, exciting adventure but stumbles to a crawl by the end of the fourth episode. It's about as dull and meaningless as one can expect. At least other isekai trash put SOME effort into their world-building and plot. Almost everyone in the show is either an idiot or an asshole, with one of the only "good guys" being a slave trader. So that should give you a good idea about what you can expect from the characters. If anyone but Spear Hero brought up the Raphtalia/slavery thing, they wouldhave been right. But because the biggest idiot in the show said it, suddenly everyone else is wrong and slavery is okay. Even worse is how the show goes out of its way to jump through so many hoops in order to defend slavery. Naofumi is a dense idiot (and a bit of an asshole) but at least there's some empathy to give him considering his situation. How ironic that a "blank slate" main character is the best written character in the series. Reminder that Raphtalia is still 10 years old. "bUt ShE mEnTaLLy AgEs aS sHe LeVeLs uP". Yeah and his entire harem is lolis. Doesn't exactly help your point. Only redeeming factor is the fantastic OST, but it doesn't do enough to save this travesty.
Flexstyle
06/26/2019, 08:38 AM
Rising of the Shield Hero? More like rising of the Edgelord Hero! [Warning: Spoilers] Shield Hero is another overrated isekai the fandom overhyped it being "different from other isekai" and to an extent I could see where they’re coming from since it did have a promising start, but then it continuously declined with each episode and devolved into a generic, power fantasy, loli harem isekai. Story (3/10): The story is about 4 otakus who get summoned into this world where they’ve become legendary heroes and have to defeat the succession of waves to save the World in order to go home. However, the show would be over ifwe fought all the waves so quickly, right? To drag out the story, we follow Naofumi’s party daily lives as they: learn about this world, fight monsters, fulfil side adventures, buy new items/equipment, become merchants and start trading (which comes off as bootleg Spice & Wolf), and most importantly deal with the latest contrived drama Naofumi has gotten himself into. I’ll explain this in more detail later on. Characters (2/10): Naofumi starts out as this misunderstood ‘nice guy’. That’s all I can describe him because he had no personality and we know barely anything about him or his past. He gets played by Myne and is accused of a rape accusation. This is only the first of many acts created to shit on Shield Hero. The show constantly goes out of it’s way to portray the royals, heroes and pretty much everyone in the world as unlikeable assholes to make Naofumi the victim. Naofumi is the “nice guy” who believes he has terrible luck for being chosen as the shield hero, which is seen as the worst class. Myne’s betrays him, steals all his money, he gets a false rape accusation, a bad reputation, ostracised by everyone and because of this Naofumi’s drastically changes into a edgy ‘morally grey’ anti hero- who buys a child slave in order to fight for him. Thus the story how the Edgelord Hero is born! My problem with this is Naofumi at the beginning is a blank slate that isn’t fleshed out enough so his sudden change doesn’t resonate with me. I’m not yearning for Naofumi to go back to his old self because we didn’t spend enough time for me to care about him. Edgelord Hero doesn’t have much of a personality or endearing qualities, he’s just a standoffish, cynical asshole who’s less sociable, has trust issues and asks quest givers money for his help. The amount of forced drama is so poorly written and contrived that it’s emotionally manipulative. The writer wants you to feel sympathetic to Naofumi’s cause and root for him in this ultimate underdog story. Too bad I’ve got none for the Edgelord Hero! For example, why should I be rooting for him Vs Spear Hero to win his duel so he can keep his slave? You want to know what I don’t understand? Is these evil assholes who are hellbent on screwing with Edgelord Hero, [i] need him [/i] to save their world. He has no reason whatsoever to fight for them, so why do they hate him with a passion? Why do they keep handicapping one of their four chosen heroes? For example, the King giving him less starting gold, not giving him information about the hourglass to access the waves, not letting him class upgrade. It makes no sense. We aren’t given a explanation as to why they act the way they do, so unless it’s for the Lolz, it’s to make Edgelord Hero the victim. LN readers are constantly saying “there’s a reason for all this, you just have to wait!” but the writer has dragged this out for 20 episodes with little hints alluding to why (e.g. a history of nefarious shield heroes), while adding more contrived drama to the point where I’m exhausted and desensitised to the whole situation. The reveal after all this buildup was sooooo underwhelming. The consequences was incredibly childish and pathetic, that I will spare you the details and just say it was akin to one of the school playground punishments. Raphtalia is a bland, poorly written heroine (Demi-human) who went from a scared, meek little girl with a tragic backstory of being tortured, in slavery, had PTSD over her parents death, to losing all her flaws and any potential of emotional conflict that could have led to some good character development because of how she changed in a instantaneous, implausible manner e.g. an absurd personality change and rapid aging that happened offscreen after two episodes to gain qualities to make her the “perfect waifu”. Her development is too unrealistic. She remains a static “Naofumi sama” bot for the rest of the show. This may sound sensitive to some, but I have to say, this show romanticizes slavery. It sweeps under the rug the nature of Edgelord Hero and Raphtalia’s master/slave relationship, him buying her out of necessity because Edgelord Hero can’t attack or trust anyone else to party with. Edgelord Hero punishing Raphtalia when she didn’t bend to his orders. It’s worse in the manga where it was stated Edgelord Hero bought her because she’s a girl that looks similar to Myne so he could project his pent up hatred on her. They wasted the opportunity to explore the themes/morality addressed with slavery and their dynamic in detail. For example, Raphtalia essentially was a broken slave who’s lost everyone she’s ever cared about. It’s clear Raphtalia developed stockholm syndrome for Edgelord Hero over a few instances of kindness due how shit her life has been and the story about the legendary Shield Hero who will save the demi humans. Instead of showing how unhealthy their relationship is with both of them depending on each other to “lick each other’s wounds”, leading to some good character development for both of them, it’s portrayed to make Raphtalia the perfect waifu who unconditionally loves Edgelord Hero, who worships the ground he walks on and will stand by him even when everyone in the world’s betrayed him. Doesn’t that sound like a edgy fanfiction to you? They could have slowly developed their relationship into a genuine romance with them gradually growing closer- slowly letting each others walls down, begin to trust each other (despite being ostracised from society) and eventually fall in love. It was hard to watch the scene where Raphtalia was angry that the kingdom freed her from slavery and was defending Edgelord Hero basically saying: “Naofumi sama is kind! He feeds me, bought me a ball, he tortures me when I don’t bend to his will i.e. being scared to fight, but it’s okay because I want to be his slave!” Her level of stockholm syndrome surpasses that of a battered wife. Raphtalia is nothing more than pure waifu bait. Worse of all is Naofumi doesn’t see the problem with slavery, he doesn’t change his perspective with the slave trader and becomes a regular customer, hell he doesn’t even apologise to Raphtalia. This is further evident when Raphtalia wants to go to the slave owner’s shop to get a new slavery mark because she likes being his slave- she wears it as a badge of honour now. Who the hell cares about her years of PTSD when it’s magically cured from a few moments of kindness?! As long as you fed and pet your slave then you can be a great slave owner! Filo is a one-dimensional, generic, cute bird loli with no depth. The only reason she’s a loli is for fan service. I despise Filo because when she joins the party the story goes downhill. It started off deep with a darker tone to it which was interesting, but slowly devolved into a lighthearted, generic harem isekai with loli’s joining one after another. The parental relationship between Edgelord Hero and Raphtalia becomes a competition between Filo and Raphtalia for the Edgelord Hero’s affection, despite him not returning it. Malty gains feelings for him too, because it’s not Isekai if all the girls don’t worship/ fall in love with the self-insert protagonist right? Myne is a one dimensional, spiteful, unlikeable, basic bitch with no depth. I don’t think ever witnessed a character who was created to be as insufferable and hated like her. Her only motivation in life seems to be ruining Edgelord Hero’s life e.g. faking a rape accusation, stealing all his money, lying about Raphtalia being held against her will as a slave, interfering in the Shield/Sword duel while trying to have the King and Pope cover for her. I don’t even hate Myne anymore because that’s what the author wants and won’t give him that satisfaction. I feel sorry for her for being a victim of bad writing. Together with her trusty sidekick Spear Hero they become so comically evil, i can’t take them seriously. There a discount version team rocket because even they have more depth than them. The king is another one dimensional prick who’s hated the Edgelord Hero since his inception. The Queen feels like a plot device. She’s isn’t present for the first 15 or so episodes to allow for Naofumi hate conspiracies to continue and when she eventually shows up out of the blue after her Country had gone to shit. She magically solves all of his problems. The Queen’s reason for being away from her Country is absolute BS, since if she really wanted to reprimand the King her little shadow bodyguards could have delivered the message. The three heroes are one dimensional caricatures. We never follow their journey, view events from their perspective or really learn anything about them: Motoyasu aka. Spear hero... the guy has the most screentime out of the three and yet he’s a utter moron lacking any brain cells. Seriously, his level of stupidity is unrealistic. For example, who the hell starts a fight in the middle of the city? and when they get called out for damaging the place he gets all pissy about being a hero. The dude was the first to pipe up accusing Naofumi being a sexual offender, all the while trying to molest Filo at every given opportunity. Why is are these hypocrites okay with this? Pedoyasu needs to be castrated because his Filophilla is uncomfortable to watch. Honestly, I’ve given up on Spear Hero. The guy’s either being a brainless pawn or straight up comedic relief. I literally can’t describe Itsuki aka. Bow Hero, because he has no personality or character besides a hero complex. Ren aka. Sword Hero (Not Kirito) seems to be the most competent out of the three, too bad he’s still as bland as the others. The three heroes are more like the three stooges. Everything about them from the lacklustre characterisation, to their dialogue and actions are some of the most lazy, poor written I’ve ever encountered. It’s really annoying that they are continuously portrayed as incompetent morons who can’t do anything right, since their sole purpose is to make Edgelord Hero look good saving the day! I understand it was it meant to be a plot point to portray how they view the world as a game e.g. them not treating the NPCs as real people or not properly completely a quest, however the writer goes out of his way to emphasise the stupidity of these idiots by making the three heroes' attacks always follow the same move of “Meteor shot/thrust/slash" and attack at the same time like when they fought the dimensional spirit it’s simply lazy writing on the writers part. Their development is inconsistent. After Edgelord Hero points out the three heroes flaws and they come to terms with him not being the guy he’s been portrayed as you’d think these guys would grow, but nope. The three heroes are the still the same idiots who antagonise Naofumi, still use the same attacks and treat the world as a game. The heroes (especially Motoyasu) always follow every word Myne says, being gullible to the fact that the Edgelord Hero is being setup at every opportunity for no reason. I think the worse case was when Myne said Edgelord Hero was brainwashing Melty so she tried to kill her sister. The game mechanics are stupid and unnecessary in this fantasy setting. It’s been proven time and again that levelling means absolutely nothing. The way how the everyone in the Country is portrayed as unlikeable, cult following assholes who hate Naofumi is beyond unrealistic. None of them behave like real people. Whenever Naofumi points out how obvious it is that everyone is conspiring against him, no one seems to bat an eye? They never believe him, which to be fair he does a shit job at defending his case e.g. The heroes accuse the Edgelord Hero of brainwashing his party and yet they have no evidence to support their claim. Does Edgelord Hero mention this? No. Why doesn’t he show one of the heroes his skill tree to show he doesn’t have a brainwashing shield? Myne states that Melty has been brainwashed and has to be rescued, she then proceeds to try kill her and all the heroes do is stand there like dumbasses as if she didn’t just do what Edgelord Hero was saying. Myne’s whole potryal and evil laugh is like the most generic mustache twirling villain ever. The pacing was bad. The constant montage sequence to try develop character interactions where they’re bonding isn’t working. It’s a shallow attempt to make me care about them. Another problem is the way it’s chopping scenes together e.g. Edgelord Hero & Raphtalia are waiting for Melty & Filo, the next they’re meeting the Pope. I really don’t like the rage shield. Not only is it a powerup that focuses on his rage boner, it defeats the purpose of him being a tank. It’s bullshit that the lower level tank is doing more damage to the enemy than the three heroes combined who are higher levelled, got better gear, equipment and are offensive classes. It would have been better if the heroes cooperated and Edgelord played the tank. Not to mention, there’s no real consequence for using the rage shield. Edgelord Hero didn’t need time to learn how to master the shield e.g. he just uses it in the second wave not because his party or the other heroes were defeated and it was his last option, but because it was taking to long to defeat the boss. In fact, there’s no tension in the show. Edgelord Hero is stronger than everyone in the Country who could try to mess with him. His party is loyal to a fault and will never leave him. Animation (5/10): The animation is mediocre, the CGI is horrendous. Don’t believe me? Look at the T-Rex. Th action scenes are terrible. Not only are they so static that it reminds of you a Pokemon battle where characters take turns attacking, but the choreography and storytelling is weak. Conclusion (2/10): Naofumi is a classic example of a MC who in real life would be so unlikeable that no one would hang out with him, let alone have girls fawn over him. This show panders to the types who want to think it's the worlds fault. Everything that happens to Edgelord Hero is fuelled to making him the poor misunderstood victim of a revenge story going against the authoritative power (e.g. royalty, legendary heroes), who are the bad guys. The audience is supposed to emphasise with his plight as a underdog trying to free his name/reputation and build towards the satisfying climax where Naofumi sticks his middle finger at the big guy as he finally gets his revenge for all their wrongdoings... The problem here is the execution is appalling. Shield Hero has the elements to be a good show, such as an interesting story, usage of game mechanics and world building, but the storytelling is badly written, the characters having no substance, the villains have nothing going for themselves and are comically evil- to the point it becomes repetitive and boring. If you need to hammer down the same plot points and themes while sacrificing any potential interesting thematic elements then you’re doing something wrong. I’ve read the manga to see if it might change my perspective and manga/LN readers kept banging on how much better it was. I’m pleased to inform you, that’s not the case. The anime has been more faithful than most isekai adaptations. They did change a couple of scenes and remove, but that was bound to happen due to time constraints. The anime toned down Naofumi and omitted his inner monologues to make him more of a generic, good guy isekai MC. I don’t see this as much of a problem though, since him being a edgy insufferable twat like his manga counterpart isn’t any better. The point is the manga isn’t much better than the anime, as it still suffers from the same pitfalls. Shield Hero is shallow, poorly written revenge porn.
TakaCode
06/26/2019, 08:07 AM
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was great. It was a show that brought me back to the isekai train after watching a certain broken heap of an isekai anime from the Summer 18 season that shall not be mentioned. The story was fun and nicely written. The characters were fun and enjoyable especially Rimuru. The visuals were beautiful and the music, as well as voice acting for both languages, were great. It's was the best isekai anime that I watched despite its few faults. Naturally, I decided to check out Shield Hero as I thought it would be the next best iskeai anime thatwill surpass Slime based on the amazing premise. It had the potential to be the saviour of this tiresome and uninspired genre. Maybe that was my mistake and I expecting too much for an isekai anime at this point. So what exactly went wrong here? The story, characters, themes, world-building, direction all of the above? In order to not immediately begin destroying this contrived mess of a plot, I'll start talking about what I liked and that is the revenge aspect of Shield Hero. One of the main things that made Shield Hero stand out of the isekai crowd is that it was the first true dark isekai anime. You could say that Re:Zero was the first true dark isekai anime however it only had one episode that was truly dark while the rest the show is tamed in comparison. From start to finish as we follow a broken and damaged lead trying to save the world while trying to endure and fight the endless hatred caused by the people he was summoned. This alone really made Shield Hero unique in the story side of things as it ditches most of the story elements that were in other isekai anime in order to introduce new story elements that were not presented in other isekai anime until now with Shield Hero. Shield Hero is a core revenge story. The revenge story may not be as special when it comes to anime but Shield Hero is one of the most fascinating and rewarding revenge stories I have seen in the long while. While it may not be as well written like Skip Beat and Gankustou it was still a fascinating ride I really enjoyed. Seeing Naofumi humiliating and take down the people that caused his reputation to get shattered put a smile on my face as he really went through a lot of things in order to have the will to take them down. This is all thanks to the show's fairly competent writing when it's not being an incompetent pandering feast and that is where our problems begin. While the revenge aspect of the show was strong from start to finish, I cannot say the same thing for the other story elements such as the save the world from the waves. The waves are basically your typical survival arenas that you see in a video game and they are not that interested in the slightest thanks to weak execution. I will give the show credit for trying to make the waves interesting toward the end but by then the show was already over by that point. Another major problem that would later plague the anime is how they make everyone minus the protagonist dumb and contrived. This alone really takes a massive shit of Naofumi's revenge tale as it could have been avoided if the characters just shut up and behave like actual human beings. Furthermore, why did no one in the capital cast a lie detector spell on both Naofumi and Malty chest? Any person with a brain would have put a lie detector spell on someone in case they are lying where they could receive a shock. The fact that the series showcased that the slave crest can also detect lies in episode 21 was infuriating and it really highlights just how contrived and poorly written the series is as it could have been used in episode 1 for Naofumi's trial. Don't get me started with the lacklustre world-building. I will give it Shield Hero credit for least trying to establish it's own world in certain episodes it compared to most other isekai animes but it's still lacklustre as the world at various points feels so lifeless and empty. The UI system is not interesting in the slightest as just another generic UI system that has been done in other isekai anime in the past. Now Shield Hero has a lot of themes yet most of them were poorly executed. My favourite is how the show tackles the topic of slavery. Not only is it handed incredibly poorly due to how preachy it was but the topic of slavery more often gets shafted (especially in the second half) in favour of stupid pandering. By far the biggest problem with Shield Hero is that it doesn't truly know what it wants to be. At first, the show is a dark revenge story, then it's a power fantasy and then it's an adventure series, then it's a harem. This alone really screws up the tone, direction and pacing of the series. The first 4 episodes of Shield Hero is very grim and dark that has a lot of tension and atmosphere thanks to the subject matter of rape and humiliation. Naofumi is portrayed as a cold lead who just wanted to revenge of the people that humiliated him. Unfortunately, episodes 5 and onward the series decided, for the most part, put its revenge plot in the bus just so the series can add generic isekai tropes and cliches for a show that didn't need it in the first place. It's not like the revenge has been shafted the revenge aspect it's but it doesn't appear all the much post-episode 5 as the series decides to waste its time of sick self insert loli pandering. Finally, the final 4 episodes which were without a question one of the most boring and lacklustre final 4 episodes I have seen in 2019 Not only did the series completely jump the shark where it introduced plot threads up its ass but it also lost its purpose. Episode 21 in terms of atmosphere and direction feels like I'm watching a finale of anime and it really shows. The episode after that feels like episode fodder as it's filled with fan-service and plot threads that won't be fleshed out due to the low episode count. I give the final 4 episodes credit for showcasing Naofumi's new powers and abilities then again the show could have ended with a cliffhanger after episode 21/22 The final thing I want to point out is the controversy in the first episode. When Shield Hero first aired it was met with controversy thanks to its offensive content where Malty (aka Bitch) falsely accused Nafoumi of raping her. I can definitely get why people get mad of this messy storytelling as it was done much better in Persona 5 but what I cannot forgive is a bunch of SJW try-hards trying to put down a show just because it deals with more serious themes and topics. This is why I didn't give two shits about the Goblin Slayer controversy as that series was an awful show regardless of the controversy being there or not. The characters aren't much better as all of them minus Nafoumi and Raphtalia ranged from bland, annoying, poorly written or the combination of the three. Let's start with Nafoumi who is easily the best thing about Shield Hero. He starts off as a grumpy individual who doesn't trust people but as the series progresses with the aid of Raphtalia not only does he open up to people he also becomes a proper badass especially towards the final quarter of the series. Another strong aspect of Naofumi is that he's not overpowered as he mostly relies on his partners to take down various enemies. Finally, he is not a bore to watch, which more I can say about iskeai protagonist as they all lifelessly self-insert husks. Nafoumi is tied with Rimuru for being my favourite isekai protagonist. Another character that I really liked is Raphtalia. She may not be as good as Naofumi in terms of development but she's a good character in her own right. I liked her chemistry towards Naofumi. Despite being a loli she will do anything to project Naofumi from falling into darkness. Sadly this is where my praise for the characters ends. The show has a lot of characters yet all of them are clichéd and poorly written to the core. The other heroes are a bunch of soulless character archetypes. They don't develop as characters whatsoever and they are all incredibly contrived. The bottom dog of the bunch a spear hero who is one of the most contrived and dumbest characters I have seen. His dialogue is painful to listen as he incredibly preachy for the sake of it and he's the main source of the show's major contrivances. In many ways, he's no different Sugou from Sword Art Online thanks to comically evil appearance and dialogue. Finally, the less I say about his confrontation towards the Shield Hero the better. The same thing can be said for Malty and Filo as they are literally loli trophies that constantly suck of Naofumi hairy crotch for a living. The villains are garbage. They are all evil for the sake of being evil, especially Malty who is probably the worst female villain I have ever seen in any fictional work. Her motivations are contrived beyond belief and she's overall a slag. She's comically evil and not even treating in the least. Her contrived motives aren't explained or given any depth whatsoever. Our villain's ladies and gentlemen. As for the overall presentation, Shield Hero looks beautiful for the most part. It may not be as colourful as 8bit That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime but it still has that special visual flair that helped it stand out from the crowd of other isekai anime. Character designs for the part were appealing to look at. The background scenery has a lot of attention that is only made better by the use of dark soft colour palette. The animation is, for the most part, good and fluent. The fight choreography is solid, the movement is smooth and there's rarely any recycled footage. Unfortunately, Shield Hero visually is not perfect for one. The animation does dip a bit for certain episodes as it messes up the overall good fight choreography of the series. The second and final notable issue was the crappy use of CGI as it was not only ugly to look at it but also didn't blend in with the 2D animation. Now we have the soundtrack and it's shocking subpar. The series features a dull score of fantasy music that doesn't keep the viewer invested in the scene due to how bland they were. Sure there were a couple of decent tracks every now and then, but it wasn't enough to save this mediocre soundtrack. The first opening theme Rise by MADKID is a fantastic opening that not only fits the tone of the series, it also a generally well-produced song that is filled with great vocals that scream hype. The same cannot be said for the second opening theme FAITH by MADKID. It's still a good opening on its own right but it was missing the intensity that was from the first opening. I may be the minority when I say this, but I really dislike the ending themes. Everything about them screams generic and lazy with their boring vocals and mediocre ending visuals. The voice acting is great for both languages. The voice actors for both the dub and sub did a fantastic job with the roles that they were given. Notable performances go to Kaito Ishikawa as Nafoumi (sub), Billy Kametz as Nafoumi (dub), Erica Mendez as Raphtalia (dub) and Rina Hidaka as Filo (sub). It's honestly sad what happened here. Shield Hero had to be great but it totally blew it. It has underwhelming characterisation, a shitty executed plot that is only made worse by plot contrivances and a subpar soundtrack. The only thing that saved this show from being terrible is the visuals and the main two characters. Everything else was a mess. I honestly thoughtt that Shield Hero and Slime would save the isekai genre for me but I guess Shield Hero was not suitable for the job as it showed its true colours which is being another generic isekai anime. I hope season 2 and beyond will be better. Least you tried Shieldbro.
Fircoal
06/26/2019, 07:35 AM
When I first heard of Shield Hero I was not that impressed. It seemed like the typical isekai designed with elements to shit on the main character and get people riled up because of that. And when I watched the first episode I had some very mixed thoughts. They were dabbling with some touchy subject matter to say the least, and had many elements that I personally found off-putting, however the execution was pretty good. As it turned out the strong execution managed to mitigate the concerns I had with those elements and ended up making what I consider to be a very good show. Thereis a lot of shit thrown at Naofumi. And at times it can seem quite excessive. A good portion of the show is dedicated to piling as much as it can onto him. And while I'm not the biggest fan of this, I think where the show is able to shine is in the execution of it. Shield Hero does a good job of showing how Naofumi reacts to all of this, and how his heart grew colder in relation to it. It showed the trust issues that happen to come after being falsely accused, and how it can affect his whole character. The show was able to give reasons why everything around him happened, and the whole plan around it rather than just leaving it up in the air, making it easier to understand the predicament that he was in. Since the show went into detail into showing and demonstrating the severe effects of all of this on Naofumi it makes it easy to empathize with him, and to feel for him. It could have easily felt like too much, mainly because it was so close to being too much, but the show being able to clearly show why the characters were doing what they were doing worked well. For example, take the other heroes. While they certainly are a burden for Naofumi, it's not as if they are evil. They are actually a realistic depiction of the typical guy being isekai'd. They are naive and think everything works like a video game. They are unable to think about the consequences and go with whatever they desire. This does create problems but it's understandable why they do what they did. Overall this reaches every misfortune that happens to Naofumi, and so while it can be painful to watch, it all matches up. Ironically it's Naofumi's struggles that make it so understandable why he ends up so OP in the end. While the other heroes were just doing whatever they wanted, Naofumi was struggling through life trying to do whatever he could to survive. Furthermore I think that Naofumi's anti-hero status was quite interesting to watch. While he grew colder there is an arguemnt to make that he didn't turn that cold and rather turned his outside cold, while still caring on the inside. His companions show this well. He clearly cares for Raptalhia despite her being his slave, and her having to do anything that he wants her to do, in theory. In fact even when he's training her and putting her through struggles, he cares about her and gives her the chance to leave. The relationship between Naofumi and Raptalhia is a high point of the show, and I think it demonstrates an interesting part of morality. Having slaves is immoral, and from that lens it'd be easy to see Naofumi as immoral. But because he picked up Raptalhia as a slave, he gives her a much better life just by treating her right, and caring for her. It's very easy to see things in a black and white manner but one thing I liked about the show is looking at these topics with more nuance. And while the show never directly talks about it, I like its able to the positive results to the grey-decisions that Naofumi had to make. The production values are also great and do a really good job of aiding the execution. The visuals look pretty amazing, outside of some CG, and the soundtrack may not match Perkin's Made In Abyss, but it is a great good OST that fits the song well. Furthermore Kinema Citrus manages to bring out great pacing yet again and allows for the time for Naofumi and his group to bond, allowing the audience to bond with them and grow to like them. While the second half's pacing was a lot more questionable, the first half was so good and did a lot to really enhance the show. Overall the show deals with some questionable subject matter but does it well, in a way that allowed at least me to relate and sympathize with the characters, and one that made it feel real and understandable rather than poorly written revenge porn for the sake of revenge porn. I think there's quite a bit to offer in this show and I quite enjoyed watching personally. I'd recommend it to isekai fans as for me it's one of the standouts in the bunch, and while I can't guarantee that everyone will be content with the subject matter that Shield Hero pursues, I can at least vouch and say that the merits of the show were able to mitigate the negatives of them.
Krunchyman
06/26/2019, 06:48 AM
***Stares at medieval, full-bodied armor*** “I don’t think it’s my style…” — Naofumi Iwatani “Yeah, it will strip Naofumi-sama of all his individuality.” — Raphtalia “Did these mother f—ker’s just insult the Goblin Slayer?!” — Krunchyman Summoned to a world he knows not. By a group of medieval aristocrats, whom wish to avoid a calamitous event known as the “Wave.” Naofumi Iwatani — along with three other “Heroes” — embarks on a quest to refine his skills in preparation for the fateful day when the “Wave” finally arrives. Unfortunately for Naofumi, his role as a “Hero” is starkly different than Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu (the “Sword,”“Bow,” and “Spear Hero,” respectively). Because while their skills are geared toward an offensive mindset, Naofumi’s shield requires him to accept a defensive role that is seen by the majority of the characters as being useless (including himself). Combine this with the betrayal of the bitch — otherwise known as Malty — and you have a recipe to alter the insouciant main character into a dejected, spiteful loner who wanders the countryside with rage in his heart and not a single companion to aid in his adventure. Normally, this would be the part where the metaphorical player would rage quit or reset the game in hopes of gaining more favorable circumstances. But for Naofumi, he is forced to deal with the disadvantaged situation by making concessions (i.e. cheap meals) and buying a sickly slave girl — Raphtalia — to function as his “sword” to hasten his ability to kill more monsters and level up. And, really, that’s all Raphtalia aspires to be throughout the series — faithful slave, whom wishes to please her master (get you head out of the gutter!). As a side note, there has been a considerable amount of controversy regarding the integration of slavery in a modern anime, but given the medieval time period, and the fact that “Amurica” had slaves up until the 19th century, it’s a foolish complaint by “do-gooders” who have entirely too much time on their hands. In terms of Naofumi as a character, he lacks emotion when Raphtalia and him begin to roam the countryside in search for stronger “beasts.” Besides his seething anger for the individuals that wronged him, Naofumi seems relatively vacuous as the main protagonist. It makes sense given the Louis C.K. treatment he’s been subjugated to, but seems obvious that the writer’s intentionally dragged Naofumi down (below the other three “Heroes”) to set the stage of an eventual underdog story. Hence, it was much expected that the level of antipathy directed at Naofumi would dissipate as he methodically gained the trust of those around him. This also entailed a shift in Naofumi’s cynicism and “anti-hero” role toward an idealistic one when his selfless deeds become more well-known. But does this predictability deter from the overall enjoyment?…Yes, yes it does. Most of the monsters were typical run-of-the-mill cannon fodder, only serving to perish in droves to accentuate the skills of the “Heroes.” The characters were quite lacking, with everyone falling into familiar tropes. Also, the show quickly devolved into a harem with the introduction of Filo — Naofumi’s side “chick” — and Melty (the second princess). By the way, not only was Filo a loli and a chocobo, she’s not even ONE—YEAR—OLD. F—k! The art was pedestrian throughout the series, with an abundance of static shots and bland character aesthetics (off model shit and whatnot). Enjoyment wise, Shield Hero was far too predictable and tropey to have any staying power. Relying on the good versus evil dynamic — without further exploration — is just lazy writing. Speaking of which, the whole premise of the show was inane after Naofumi became the strongest, most popular hero in the show. Which makes “The Rising of the Shield Hero” a doppelgänger of the Isekai genre, that is already littered with clones aplenty.
Veronin
06/26/2019, 06:41 AM
Tate no Yuusha is a thundering disappointment for many fans of the isekai genre. And for those who would not have labeled themselves as such, Tate no Yuusha is a testament to their dislike or indifference, being yet another mediocre, soulless title lurching and tossing throughout a tired genre that is swiftly approaching its death throes. In truth, Tate no Yuusha doesn't please much of anybody. If there is a reason Tate no Yuusha ever stood out in the first place, it is because of the protagonist and the appalling situation he is soon forced into. Though isekai anime taking a turn for the darkare hardly rare, the abject betrayal Naofumi faces is not the treatment one would expect for someone abducted from their world and supposedly re-branded a "hero". The corrupt, contemptible society he is forced to fight for is not what you might anticipate from a genre where the setting— the fantasy— is meant to be an escape from the monotony of the real world. Instead, it turns out things in Naofumi's new world may actually be far worse than they ever were in his old one. A fantasy turned nightmare. The whole 'twist', I suppose— if you could call it that— was a success in the eyes of many. It turned another forgettable, run-of-the-mill anime into something a bit more engaging, and gave many a reason for the viewer to empathise with Naofumi, through joining in his hatred for society and his potential quest for revenge. Whether these themes were ever fully realised, or even handled well, may well be a different story entirely. See, Tate no Yuusha never actually takes things further than 'corruption sucks' and 'I'm mad— grr, watch my flames of anger.' The king is inherently evil because of a small grudge. Myne is verminous scum merely because... wait, there is no actual reason. Motoyasu, the spear hero, is a gullible idiot who likes to womanise and that is all there is behind his punch-able little face. Raphtalia is a benevolent mary sue who will not utter or even think a bad thought, her almost immediately (and incomprehensibly) falling in love with Naofumi, thus existing as waifu material for those who like to rescue their damsels from distress. Filo is pure fodder for lolicons and a relentless annoyance for anyone who is not. The list goes on. The only one who still has potential is the Queen, but considering the path the show has trodden thus far, it would be illogical to assume a second season would fare her any better. Tate no Yuusha's characters, though they may initially show promise, are quickly cast aside and made merely to be fanservice or vehicles to drive Naofumi's hatred along, however the writer's whims may fancy. Oh, you wanted to see the anime tackle issues surrounding the slave trade, and Naofumi's moral dilemma of having taken part in an evil system yet saved someone as a direct result of it? Sorry - I have disappointing news. Did you want to see the politics, heck, even geography of the world explored with more than two lines of dialogue? Nope. Not here. Everything in Tate no Yuusha is surface level. It has the facade of maturity, but in reality is about as mature as a 1999 Slipknot album. Any fight scene, no matter how overwhelming and powerful the opponent, can, and will, be prematurely ended by Naofumi's anger turning him Super Saiyan. Whereas anime like JoJo will carefully construct the fights to be based on tactics and cleverness, Tate no Yuusha presents nothing except power levels. You can fast-forward through any climactic fight scene and have lost little to nothing of value, as all you ever need to know is that Naofumi got angry and won. Sure, there is a degree of self-awareness throughout the show, with characters remarking on how this power is essentially him "cheating". But when Naofumi attributes all his success to hard work and yet wins merely because of said mysterious power randomly appearing at the most convenient time— essentially a deus ex machina— you have to wonder what the hell he is even talking about. If all you ever wanted to see was Naofumi take revenge against those who wronged him, then, I am sorry to say, but even that will lead you to much disappointment. On numerous occasions, when he is on the cusp of enacting his long-sought revenge, he takes the high road and proselytizes about how killing a bad person makes you just as bad as them, or whatever— the usual tripe you hear from lame, holier-than-thou anime protagonists. Since when was Naofumi ever supposed to be an idealistic person? Hadn't he lost all his faith in society, or even in morality itself after what he had experienced? Not only does this betray fans of the first several episodes, but it makes his character an inconsistent and incomprehensible mess. He plays hero when it is supposed to sound cool, and villain when it is convenient for him. By the time there actually is some sort of retribution for those who wronged him, it is too little too late, a thumbs-up, an "okay, cool" rather than anything deserving of applause. Tate no Yuusha surely and steadily loses its steam as the episodes blindly trudge by, and once its primary theme is lazily cast aside, there is no reason to care about what happens to a world where saving the day and being a 'hero' never even meant anything in the first place. So there you go. Another trite isekai anime, popular mostly for its gimmicky nature, masquerading itself as mature merely because it has themes that are darker than is usual. Those who aren't fans of the genre will most likely have trusted their instincts and avoided this show, anyway, but for those who sit on the fence, and even for those who generally enjoy these sorts of shows, there is not much to be gained from Tate no Yuusha's feckless affairs. It makes me miss the flawed but ambitious Re:Zero, and Re:Zero is not an anime I had really imagined myself missing all that much. And now I'm all out of words because I realise the next one of these— Arifureta— is down the corner, just a week's time away, with a premise that is almost word-for-word copy-paste of what is found in Tate no Yuusha. It just doesn't end.
HellLyter
06/26/2019, 06:30 AM
We've come to a point in the anime industry where isekai anime are immediately judged just for being isekai. Due to the apparent "overuse" and "unoriginality" of the genre, some individuals will make a big deal about it or not even watch an anime at all simply because of the genre, even if the isekai elements have essentially no bearing on the narrative whatsoever, as is the case with The Rising of the Shield Hero. Yes, Shield Hero is an isekai, but don't let that blind you from seeing the true themes and merit of this show. At its core, this is an anime allabout friendship, perseverance, and what it means to truly be a hero. *Notice: Updated thoughts at the bottom* It's also a cleverly disguised loli harem series too. Crazy, right? But I'll save explaining this shocking revelation for later. Oh, the suspense! I know I just started off by saying not to judge Shield Hero just for being an isekai, but it honestly does have a stereotypical fantasy setting. Heroes are summoned to another world that's suspiciously designed just like a video game with the task of saving the world from monsters. Yeah, I've totally never heard that one before! But what really matters is execution, which Shield Hero completely nails. After starting off quite harmless with everything going fine and dandy for Naofumi, the recently dubbed shield hero, things take a dark turn after one of the most controversial occurrences in modern anime goes down. He gets accused of rape. Because of the current state of our real world society, the false rape allocations against Naofumi by the bitchy princess Malty struck a cord with many people and caused lots of heated debates on the topic. I say keep reality and fiction separate, and I personally think that this was a great way to swiftly introduce the central conflict between Naofumi and basically everyone else. Everyone essentially berates and shames the poor dude, leaving him a little broken on the inside. In the span of a single episode, Malty, the king, and the other three heroes summoned to the world are set up to be extremely hatable characters, and it just works. It's honestly as good of an introduction as you can get in a fantasy series. What I love the most about Naofumi is how he deals with the crappy lot in life he ended up with. He transforms from a happy go lucky protagonist to a more cynical guy who only seems to care about personal gain, and I feel like this is a pretty realistic shift considering what he's gone through. He even ends up purchasing a demi-human slave! I thought only bad guys did that! This of course is where the anime starts to really get good, because of how great Shield Hero portrays the relationship between Naofumi and his slave raccoon loli Raphtalia. You can tell that Raphtalia has gone through some pretty messed up stuff, which the anime touches on in later episodes. It seems like Naofumi treats her a bit harshly at first, but you can quickly tell that he's actually giving her some tough love and training her to become stronger and to get over her fears. Heck, she even upgrades from a loli to a woman, that's how effective his training is! And then after Naofumi gets further put down by the kingdom, it's Raphtalia who saves him from completely falling into despair. That's why their relationship is great, because they both help and in some ways even complete each other. Plus it's handled in a completely unconventional way too. You'd think that Naofumi would release Raphtalia from being a slave, but neither of them in fact want that, to the shock of the Spear Hero and others. Of course the writing here can be viewed as dangerous as it seems to present slavery in a positive light, but I think this situation should be kept separate from reality and that the morally grey approach works in the anime's favor. It's little things like this that make Rising of the Shield Hero really stand out. One thing that could weaken your interest in this anime would be how quickly you get annoyed at the constant degradation of Naofumi, because his defamation continues far after Raphtalia saves him, and is the primary conflict in the anime. This isn't a show about a hero fighting against monsters. No, this is an anime about a man fighting against the people who should be his allies. I've seen people say that they've gotten exasperated over how much Naofumi gets put down, but I'd have to disagree. This anime makes you really dislike characters who shouldn't actually be villains at all, yet are set up like it due to their poor choices and actions. And shouldn't a good antagonist be someone that viewers are meant to despise and root for the protagonist to overcome? Shield Hero does just that, and I think that the central conflict is handled and eventually resolved quite well. Of course, there's more going on than just that. Throughout his journey Naofumi encounters two more loli party members. Lucky him. The first is Filo, a cleverly named filolial who Naofumi basically raised from birth after purchasing her as an egg. She has two forms. The first is her angel-like loli form, and the second is her super fluffy giant chicken-like beast form. What can I say, she's absolutely adorable in both forms. She does lots of useful things like draw the wagon, beat up cgi monsters, and kick the Spear Hero in his balls. Also, like Raphtalia, Filo develops a strong bond with Naofumi in which they build off of each other to further evolve as characters. Filo also develops a cute rivalry with Raphtalia over Naofumi's affections, which is pretty humorous. The final girl to complete Naofumi's holy loli triad is Melty, the younger sister of Malty and heir to the throne. Because Naofumi has the most hostility towards royalty, his interaction with Melty sets up an interesting dynamic. They gradually learn to trust and rely on each other, and by consistently helping Melty, we can further see just how much of a hero Naofumi really is. Melty also has my favorite character design in the show, and despite being nobility, Melty's cuteness just makes my heart melt. These characters travel together cleaning up the messes of the other three so called heroes all while being defamed and hunted by the government. Yet despite his annoyance at and mistrust of everyone outside of his party, Naofumi keeps persevering, which is quite admirable. Though you know what I think gives him strength? The lolis. You may have noticed that all three main girls are lolis. "B-But Raphtalia isn't!" Wrong! She may have evolved from her loli body, but she says that she still has the age and mentality of a child. This is a clever technique by the writer to hide the fact that Naofumi has obtained a loli harem. And just like your typical harem, all three girls have a thing for Naofumi and go all blushy blush when they're around him. And just like a harem protagonist, Naofumi seems completely oblivious to their advances. The author knew that he'd be labeled a degenerate for making a loli harem series, so he masqueraded his fantasy as an isekai anime. It's simply brilliant honestly. Or maybe I'm just completely wrong. Yeah, it's probably the latter...but you never know... Madkid was asked to RISE to the occasion and perform both opening theme songs. To be honest, my FAITH in their ability to deliver quality music wasn't too high since I'm personally not a big fan of their style, but they did a good job here. Yes, the show does have its share of flaws. For one, I do feel like episode 21 should have been the season finale, since there was a transition of arcs after it, which to me was a pretty odd design choice considering that the anime only had a few more episodes left. Shield Hero definitely has its share of technical issues as well. In some cases character designs and movements just looked a little sloppy. And the cgi used on some of the creatures just didn't look that good. The Rising of the Shield Hero has a surprisingly decent narrative that touches upon themes that lesser anime in the genre don't even bother to mention. You know, a lot of isekai protagonists tend to act like the three cardinal heroes. They're ecstatic about living in a fantasy world and think everything revolves around them. But Naofumi is different. He keeps getting back up after getting knocked down. He may seem like he takes advantage of others, but he always has everyone's best interests at heart. He genuinely cares about his party. And even if he doesn't get any appreciation for his good deeds, he still always does the right thing. And that's what makes this shield bro a true hero... *Edit with current thoughts* ...except I don't think that anymore at all haha. Naofumi can go join the ranks of hundreds of other bland isekai protagonists. I revisited this series and wow, I have to say I'm disappointed. I don't usually do this, but I have to decrease my initial score of the show and disagree with a lot of what I wrote above. Naofumi's character is actually quite bland and he never receives useful development. The revenge plot is really mediocre, hollow, and relies solely on the "shock value" and "big moments". The way that slavery is handled is atrocious, and I'm kinda disappointed in myself for even attempting to defend its usage and execution as adding "depth" to the anime. Yes, it's just fiction, but that doesn't excuse trying to rationalize it as acceptable. The female characters are also painstakingly one note and dedicated to Naofumi with nary a shard of originality. Plus the 2nd half of the anime is a complete snooze fest. All around a mediocre experience. I'm going to keep what I wrote above since I don't believe in changing one's work. It's how I felt then, so I have to deal with it. Just know that it's a lot more positive of a take then how I feel about Shield Hero now. I'd say the show is a 5/10 right now for me personally. Hope you're still able to enjoy it though!
Karhu
06/26/2019, 06:28 AM
Who are we? Every person ever. And what do we want? Throw shit at Naofumi. And when do we want it? Every second, non-stop, 247. Modern problems require modern solutions. If society humiliates you, lets you down, you get accused of crimes you didn't commit, the general public turns against you, the game is rigged, system corrupted, you are bullied, isolated and alone, you see the worst in people and proceed to turn against the world and enter a safety mode where you become something of the sort of a "cynical little animal." Or that's what I would do.... unless... there was a cute animal-earedwaifu and rare-breed loli bird eating up all the negative feelings, ensuring I get healed, fed and mutually respected. This is the life of Naofumi, the shield hero, our main character -- and, unlike most isekai Jesuses, he is not "a big deal." After experiencing the worst, he relies on the worst, buys the cheapest slave he can get and, just like that, their adventure in this world where royalties are meanie wienies, double standards a way of life and the slaver dude the greatest guy -- begins! It's not hard to point out where this show's weaknesses are. The story events are insignificant filler, the isekai core plot hardly more than an excuse for the series, the side-characters solely exist to put our main lead in this unjustified situation where he is treated like garbage, most of the "bad things" have no other purpose in the series than to provoke the audience with injustice; the opposing characters' ignorance is pushed to such extents that when their development finally starts, it is done in a manner that does not convince. The change does not come from within the characters but from the outside, entirely relying on the will of the author. in fact, it is so extreme that it starts to feel like it's driven by anti-government, anti-society and anti-religion agenda. The female casting is waifubaiting and the adventure side could entirely be labelled as wish-fulfillment. It's easy to point the finger here and go "this is the type of shite I am supposed to hate in anime." Finding these flaws annoying and letting them ruin the viewing experience and kill the entertainment value is understandable. But even after all of its issues, the show is not exclusively bad, but has some strong pros as well. However, there where the cons are practically self-explanatory and easy to list down, the pros don't stand out nearly as strongly. First of all, Tate no Yuusha has charm. Anyone can write a coherent backstory which leads to being isekai'd, and it certainly is not much harder to make the side character seem more like decent humans by extending the storyboard with anti-shield-wielder backstory that explains why they are so deeply hated, and how it's all "just politics". These problems could be countered, but that would be side-tracking, like trying to prove that it can be done for the sake of it. But charm is something that is much harder to accomplish, and it was achieved partly because the main focus was most of the time put on Naofumi's party, which is the most relevant thing there is. Secondly, Naofumi is a great character. On the surface level, it's easy to judge him or not even give him a chance, but below the first layer lays much more. He is a genuinely nice guy who has to mask his core personality to survive due to other people being unreasonable. He isn't your average gary stu isekai Jesus who is nice just because he cannot be anything else. Naofumi chooses to help people and decides where his own adventure leads him while, at the same time, ensuring his kindness is not taken for granted so that he won't be used. How many isekai series are there where the character has to take measures and alter his own personality for his own well-being? There aren't. Almost every single one of them rely on being so overpowered that their measures are bs at best, trying to hide the fact that they could destroy the world by simply farting too hard. He doesn't even seek revenge because that would simply make him feel bad. And what is this sentence if not 5000 years worth of human philosophy summed up? Finally a character who chooses this path not because it is "the right thing to do and according to muh morals" but because it benefits him the most. One can easily claim he is the same as your typical isegary, but he has awareness and reasoning that makes perfect sense, and that is what sets him apart from nearly all of the other alternatives. And thirdly, from the main cast department (read;waifu squadron), this is the purest isekai series I have seen. It's not driven by lust and sexual remarks, but by characters who have something decent going on under their skin.../fur/feathers. There is no romantic subplot or sexual tension to keep the audience interested with fanservice or useless feelings pondering. It's just a dude getting comfy'd by bunch of lolis. And with this, I speak of yours truly/the viewer. There is not much more that I have to say. It's isekai, so it's okay to dislike it, of course, but it has heart. It's definitely not a soulless piece, but a genuine anime that has lots of good things going on in the cute, comfy and main cast departments. I almost never felt like it was fake as so many modern anime is, outside two occurrences: 1) episodes 15-17 or so where the 4th loli appeared and I absolutely hated her, and 2) the last few episode where the show has clearly started to lose its way. While the overall pace can be criticized, the episodic flow is smooth, the production is stellar, directing follows a clear vision with consistency, and there is nothing that ruins the fun or makes the series worse from these parts. Outside some CGI, the art rarely stands out for negative reasons. This time, I hardly found the CGI monsters to be a problem either, I acknowledge it exists, end of story. I highly enjoyed watching this series and it deserves some praise from me. It's not the smartest anime you can see, but it is a smart production with nearly as smart execution. I much rather recommend giving it a try than advice not to.
Stark700
06/26/2019, 06:26 AM
If someone told me that we need a shield hero in some chaotic world filled with corruption and flaws, I’d be laughing. There’s a saying that not all heroes wear capes but now, we have one that wield a shield. Naofumi Iwatani, the present day otaku fits for a typical protagonist and in our modern times, his transportation to a fantasy world is an overused trope. There’s probably a good dozen shows I can think off from the top of my head with similar gimmicks. Naofumi happens to be the oddball armed with a shield than your RPG crafted sword. Watching The Rising of the ShieldHero actually started out as a pleasant experience. Even with the amount of controversy before the first episode aired, I knew what to expect judging from the trailers and promotional content alone. But if we were to talk about controversy, the subject of betrayal and rape accusations comes to mind. It’s a sensible subject in both real world and fiction. However, this is merely a part of the plot that is necessary to adapt into the story for character progression. Either way, people will have strong opinions about that. Have those opinions. Let's instead disregard the controversy and focus more on the characters and storytelling instead? The first few episodes spelled out with the introduction of four main heroes – the shield, sword, spear, and bow hero. As a double length special, it made sense to draw out as much as Naofumi’s character as possible. Initially, he is portrayed as a man with a sense of honor, dignity, and in general, level headed man with an open mind. After being betrayed and falsely accused by Myne, he became a mistrustful individual with a desire for revenge. At one point, he becomes self-loathing to the point where he loses purpose in this fictional world. After meeting the demi-human Raphtalia, he begins to reevaluate himself and find his purpose. Backtracking a few steps, it shouldn’t be hard to identify what kind of person Naofumi is. There are many ways to describe him and to me, he is more of a jaded anti-hero than your noble hero. Throughout the course of the story, Naofumi begins to trusts in others especially his own party consisting of Raphtalia, Firo, and Melty. Out of this group, Raphtalia evolves the most both physically and mentally. Originally, she is portrayed as a weak child with PTSD symptoms. But after coming in contact with Naofumi, she grows into a courageous fighter who manages to overcome her personal demons. All this seems to draw in a lot of interest and honestly, I believe the first half of this show managed to capitalize on them rather effectively. Sure, there are despicable characters like Myne or gullible types such as the spear hero, Motoyasu. However, they didn’t truly make the show unwatchable. If you put yourself into the shoes of the creator, they probably created those two characters with the intention of getting the audience to hate them. I should say that’s no understatement because the bottom line is, there’s nothing likable about either Myne or Motoyasu. If we talk about Myne, she’s easily described as the bitch in sheep’s clothing. In other words, she wears a mask to hide her true nature. Have you ever met someone who pretended to be your friend to take advantage of you? Think of Myne. That’s what she is: a cunning, manipulative, and treacherous sociopath who uses whatever she can get her hands on for herself. Motoyasu isn’t much of a likeable person either with his ignorance and extreme gullibility. When it comes to women, he’s like a child who virtually believes what others tell him. This pretty much becomes a running gag in the show where Myne is able use him like a dog on a leash. It doesn’t help that he display borderline pedophilic tendencies towards characters such as Firo. It makes me want to puke and I don’t think anyone can find his interactions with Firo to be comfortable in any shape or form. At some point in the show, I’m sure viewers will wonder if the other heroes will get any sort of character development. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. This season is called The Rising of the Shield Hero for a reason and most of the attention is focused on his group and party. Characters such as Raphtalia gets their development and background story because they are a central focus in the show. Others such as Ren and Itsuki are just part of the premise. Their background stories are not explored so don’t expect to get attached to them. This is another part where I believe the show suffers in terms of characterization. We don’t really understand their personalities besides what they show on the surface. Unlike Naofumi who finds a purpose in the story, it feels like most of the main supporting cast lacks one. Even characters such as Firo or Melty becomes more and more stale overtime. I mean, how many times do we need to see an oversized chicken pronounce her intentions to eat and fight? Don’t me wrong though, I want to see the main characters to develop but outside of Naofumi and Raphtalia, the others really doesn’t set a bar. To make matters worse, it seems the show loves to inject dialogues during mid-fights to drag out content. This is especially evident in later episodes where the charaters' dialogues are far overstretched than what they should be. That also leads to how character relationships is presented as the storytelling unfolds. In fantasy adventures like this, there’s often times that when a male and female companion develop deeper feelings towards each other. Raphtalia has obvious feelings towards Naofumi for anyone who pays attention to her dialogues. She even shows jealousy towards Firo during their early encounters to see who can earn Naofumi’s attention. While it’s not truly love that Naofumi responds with, he does develop a deep trust for Raphtalia and Firo. Melty is a bit of an oddball in the group as this season shows that Naofumi regards her more of as a companion than a friend. Watching Naofumi’s character interactions within the group can be sometimes heartwarming while other times feel out of space. However, I do give praise to the voice acting talent of the show. They manage to grasp the character personalities in particular Naofumi and even someone as intolerable such as Myne. The Rising of the Shield Hero is more of a dark fantasy so having a studio like Kinema Citrus working on this feels somewhat fitting. I would have preferred Wit Studio known for their more refined resume, but Kinema Citrus manages to work its magic for the adaptation. As a dark fantasy, there’s often violence that displays the cruelty of this parallel world. Character designs are in line with what you can picture from an isekai show. It adapts straight from the light novel (personally, I think the manga version is a poor example for its art style). As the shield hero, Naofumi’s most noticeable design is his character expressions that drastically changes. In the beginning, he is shown smiling with joy but this shifts into a more cynical expression. On the other hand, Raphtalia’s evolution from a child to an adult fighter shows her growth. She takes on an archetype heroine look with demi-human traits such as her ears and tail. Furthermore, characters such as Firo possesses animalistic traits designed to give them a more fantasy look. And finally, I should say the world building of this show does hold value although the anime adaptation only scratches more of the surface of their world. Perhaps the most controversial isekai show of the year aired and we’re not even half way through 2019 yet. Looking at the future lineup will likely have fans talking more about the direction of modern fantasy isekai. For The Rising of the Shield Hero, this could have been an incredible anime for a dark adventure. The first half showed a lot of potential but most of that is weathered down by the repetitive storytelling themes and lack of characterization. There’s still plenty of more in the light novels so this anime only gives a taste for the audience. If only that taste didn’t turn from honey sweet to bitter sour.
Syureria
06/26/2019, 06:25 AM
Do you know the formula for success in the anime industry now? The formula is not like math or physics, but selects all genres and mixes them together. "Isekai" plus "Harem" is the formula that I meant. Is it like that? Of course, it's back to yourself. The opinion I make is just an idea that has no basis and theory. "Isekai" is basically a term for anime with a storyline, where the main character is thrown into another world and lives a new life in that world. Usually the "isekai" genre begins with the death of the main character or throughthe intermediary of an item, and lives in another world with a new form or just a new ability. Replacing a main potential, how they dispose of potential, and how they replace the lost potential is something that is beyond our reach. The decision is held by the studio, whatever the results, we as the audience can only surrender to the decision. Is that right? This genre that is indeed unique is indeed liked by many people, but there are also many "Hater" who really hate this genre. The "Hater" usually has a reason to hate because it has a storyline that is only "happyness" readers without having a good storyline. It can be likened to the "isekai" genre like a pornographic story that does not have a sex scene in it. The Isekai genre does have a storyline in which the main character, lives a new life in another world. What makes it interesting is the story that develops often, the main character has super powers. This superpowers, not always in the form of physical strength, intelligence that surpasses people in general, and extraordinary patience when problems come. Different from the other four characters, the main characters cannot attack effectively. That forced him to pair up with someone who really could. Does it fulfill the fantasy of the reader (or even the writer?) As mentioned in the previous point. The genre of "Isekai" is indeed very qualified in fulfilling the fantasy of the reader or even the writer. Readers and writers must be eager to get all the happy things. Just like a firework that only looks beautiful at the beginning and when the specified time has reached its limit, it looks only a sadness. At first the main character has a trust and strength but as a result of one incident it just disappears. Is the "Isekai" genre easy for writers to make? Somehow those words crossed my mind. Why not, if you look at every season there is always this genre. Inevitably, a lot of "isekai" doesn't have a strong story. Maybe only a few have a strong storyline in it. The storyline that tends not to be strong, will be more easily made by the author. As long as it meets the market or the readers' desires, there will be more and more "Isekai" genre anime. Unlike the other "isekai" this one has a startling start on how not the betrayal is done so neatly and there are no gaps anywhere, it makes the main character trapped and follows the flow of this endless game. The most important of all is whether everything is full of "waifu?" Each anime has its own female characters ranging from "loli" to "milf". Most of them make character designs as beautiful as possible to attract men's attention. Is this to increase sales figures? Of course, every studio has its own strategy to compete in the market, but there are also those who don't take the risk to take the road and prefer to make it all. Having different characters is also important. No matter how they look as long as they have cute character designs why not? As time goes by, this anime is getting better every time. If you look at the opening theme in the first season, I don't think it's very interesting, but in the end they are aware of their shortcomings and start working hard in the lacking part. The first and second seasons have distinct differences, even though sung by the same singer it's clear that the second season is better. "Faith" it seems that the title is familiar to anyone who has witnessed this spectacle. In every episode, even though it's often displayed, I'm sure you don't miss this one.

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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari 盾の勇者の成り上がり

North American Anime & Manga Releases for November

North American Anime & Manga Releases for May

Second and Third Season of 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Announced

Interview: 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Team Talks Music and Direction

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TV Anime 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Adds More Characters

TV Anime 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Announces Additional Cast Members

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TV Anime 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Announces Cast and Additional Staff Members

TV Anime 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Main Staff Members Announced

Light Novel 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Receives Anime Adaptation