Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

Will try to avoit spoilers(and pretty sure I'll be able to) but If I need to talk about any I'll let you know so don't worry +-+- Indroduction -+-+ Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari is another Isekai Anime that Japan has blessed us with(or has it?). The premise is simple, this world summons the 4 cardinal heroes, which are needed to fight the "waves", simple as that, not much is explained about these Waves if you're wandering +-+- Story - 6/10-+-+ Easy to cover, we follow Naofumi(the shield hero) and his group as they fight the Waves, with some (somewhat) interesting conflicts and problems the hero/protagonist must dealwith to help a local village or something else.
It's a very simple premise but that's not the problem itself, as long as things are interesing to watch and provide world building which... Doesn't really happen.
Up until episode 17, very few things stood out to me, the world didn't feel organic nor alive, anyone besides the heroes and Raphtalia didn't feel like real people, but rather NPCs from a game(dosn't help that the world functions like an RPG). The waves sounded like something that was simply there to keep you interested in the show, and only became somewhat interesting in the second wave(only so we could spend more episodes in those "not so interesting" episodes).
Episode 17 is when we get some actual development in the world and the waves, plus it's the moment where the show hooked me(yes it took this long), from 17 forward it definetely was a 8/10 experience, but the whole thing I don't see deserving it.

+-+- Art - 7/10-+-+

Well, It's an Isekai in a RPG-ish world, so the visuals must be good right? You though I'd say otherwise but no, it actually looks very good in some parts.
I do have problems with some of the fighting scenes, which looked less polished the others, and with the way 3d was implemented(it really sucked for the most part).
The scenary is what you expect but nothing more, the characters look great(the more important ones at least), and animation works most of the time.

+-+- Sound - 9/10 -+-+

This is Kevin Penkin we are talking about, to be honest if I had to say the best part of Shield Hero, I'd say it was the OST(Openings and Endings too), simply amazing, fits perfectly the theme of:
1-) The Show
2-) The area in which they play
3-) The fights
In general, even though the music was great, the sound effects were not the best, repeating the same sounds for different attack that were used as a combo was not the greatest idea, so even if this is a weak point, the music does the most in the "9/10" score

+-+- Character - 7/10 -+-+

Now I'll separate these into each character and talk about each individually(the main ones anyway)

--> Naofumi : He may have the visual of a "generic" protagonist(a good looking one though), Naofumi is a great character, all the things he had gone through in the show and his reactions, everything well made, I just think that he stayed way longer than he had to in the [SPOILER]"Hate everyone" persona[SPOILER].

--> Raphtalia : Girl of the Year, best Girl Wohooooooo... Yeah no, she is a great "waifu" though, but don't get carried away by that. She evolves a lot in this show and her feelings towards everyone around her feels natural and justified(except some specific things which I'll not talk about).

--> Filo[Spoiler warning] : At first glance I didn't like her, felt like a Loli outta place just for the fanservice( though I never minded her Bird phase), until episode 17 kicked in and suddenly I could finnaly like her, she was at least useful outta bird phase(not really justifiable still).

--> Melty : Even though it's introduced quite late into the show, this one was very interesting, a magic user and a good addition to the group, not much to say out of spoiler so, yeah I like her.

+-+- Enjoyment - 6/10 -+-+

As I mentioned in the "Story" section, up until episode 17 there was very little holding me into the show(shoutout to episode 4), not really enjoyable till you get there. After 17 the show really becomes interesting but I really can't give much to this because well... I didn't feel like the world was that alive nor developed, it was like watching someone grind up in a RPG, and the "Beast Mode"(won't get into detail) really felt outta place.

+-+- Finale -+-+

Now I don't hate the show but I think it's a bit overrated, but at the end of the day, if you watched this show and enjoyed, then good for you, cuz that's what you were after in the first place coming here right?
If you're reading this while in doubt if you watch it or not, I'd say give it a chance(always), and please remember that, in my vision, this universe will be getting better with time, and second season seems promising.
And for a final note, the finale was both pleasing and
disappointing.