Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

"The Rising of the Shield Hero" might be the kind of anime to cause you a headache once you start analyzing it too much. It starts out fantastically, but when you think twice, wastes a lot of potential along the way because of progressively worsening writing and the way it is making use of too many mainstream anime elements, somewhat undermining the mood it has already se tup. In the end, this anime might be a great watch for entertainment, some action, and feels at times, but it fails to tell a convincing story mainly because of rather dull and seemingly (forced) illogical characters. Thatbeing said, there are many scenes which I could personally enjoy to their fullest because they were very engaging and thoughtfully written - but they unfortunately only make up a fraction of the entire anime.

Premise
"The Rising of the Shield Hero" tells the story of Naofumi Iwatani, a Japanese college student who has been summoned into the Kingdom of Melromarc to save it from the disastrous "Waves of Catastrophe". As the Shield Hero, Naofumi does not only have to face the fact that his hero class is considered the weakest among all of the Four Cardinal Heroes, because his shield can "only protect and not attack". Naofumi also has to deal with some serious (false) crime allegations which would not necessarily make his life go along more easily in a foreign world.

We do start out with a strong premise. A rather enthusiastic, seemingly open-minded Naofumi fallls victim to his curiosity at a library and mysteriously gets teleported away as he skips through a book containing the story of the "Shield Hero" yet to be written. Once there, we are introduced to the people of the Kingdom of Melromarc and the other three Heroes (Sword, Bow, Spear) who been summoned along with Naofumi, albeit from different versions of modern Japan.
The Heroes learn that it is their task to save the Kingdom from the Waves (of Catastrophe) which - full of monsters - threaten to kill and destroy everything. Only after they have fended off all Waves will they be able to return to their original worlds. So far it seems like a logical setup ... except that at no single point of the anime have the Heroes shown to care even once about how their families, friends, and people from their original worlds might deal with their sudden disappearance. It doesn't even seem that they have forgotten, as Naofumi strongly expresses his desire to return home several times during the course of the anime.
Naofumi's want to return might be very relatable as the anime introduces a set of themes that will span pretty much the rest of its 25 episodes: false allegations, betrayal, justice, revenge.
That being said, the anime is able to illustrate well how an initially cheerful protagonist turns into an anti-hero who doesn't hold back when it comes to claiming what he deserves. He who has lost everything. Naofumi would even refer to slaves as nothing more as mere means to an end. I should point out that this happens all within less than an hour. And hence have we set the stage for the Shield Hero to Rise. So far so good.
At a similarly fast pace as the setup, we get introduced to more of the cast and join Naofumi and company on his journey to become stronger to fight the Waves and ultimately return to his home country, until we reach an emotional climax at around episode 4. This anime has by then suceeded to clearly flesh out the burden that the Shield Hero in general, and especially Naofumi (and company) has to carry. It seems that the anime has managed to tell an overall believable story and given us the opportunity to attach to its protagonists during its first four episodes. If the anime had ended here, I might be able to deem "The Rising of the Shield Hero" a great tragedy which appeals to our human sense of justice; a tale which might feel painfully real at times.

(Un)fortunately at this point, the anime still has 21 episodes to go. And with the introduction of more mainstream anime elements, including out-of-the-blue fanservice at seemingly inappropriate/awkward places, all-too-lax storytelling with seemingly arbitrarily interspersed relevant and irrelevant scenes, and nearly all of the cast becoming stereotypical at some point, I feel like the anime has stopped honing its writing and started basking at the more laid-back side of entertainment anime. Your typical Isekai anime with some ridiculously flawless and heroic protagonists. While I don't want to linger too much on other media adaptations or the source material of the Shield Hero, I do find it a bit disappointing that some interesting character traits, including some darker sides of the protagonists, have made way for more "conventional" writing in the anime.

Another problem with the anime is its heavy use of repetition, i.e., to rely much on reusing elements which might have worked well the first time they have been used.
For an illustration, imagine you are about to lose someone dear to your heart. The anime seems to rely on using flashback scenes of happy moments with you and that someone to emphasize the loss about to take place. It might work well the first time. But if this tool is used a second or even third time with nearly identical setting and function, it might lose its dramatic effect.
Especially if some necessary buildup has been replaced with "cute scenes" of a protagonist surrounded by its harem. Yes, this is how the initial Shield Hero anime with no visible tendencies of building such a harem has progressed. I believe it's nice to have a reliable party for the main character to turn to, especially as a refreshener considering what Naofumi has gone through. But if nearly all of his party is made up of lolis and such, I would highly doubt that the story tells a realistic rather than a fanservice-geared story.

Another point where this anime fails to progress is in making enthralling fighting scenes consistently throughout. In an anime where a ridiculously large proportion of the fights is not against the actual wave, but other "things". I don't know whether it's just me getting distracted by all the animations of the possibly hundreds of different skills shown in total. Or maybe it is these moments where the animation quality goes down, the background gets rendered in much less detail as compared to other similar setups, or when strongly noticeable second or third class CGI is being employed.

Before I go over to a summary of great points of this show, you should be aware of that not every person in The Rising of the Shield Hero's world seems smart. It's highly acknowledgeable when protagonists within the anime do also take note of that. But when it goes to an extent where characters are acting mere stupid, readiy believing in a "brain-washing weapon", or not changing their behaviour or at least their mindset after clear evidence - well. Also, people appear to be evil for no much reason (motive) other than having a "hard-to-deal-with personality". One can come to the guess that the superiority of some characters is being elevated by making other characters seem inferior. This might explain why it might be hard to really relate to some of the characters made inferior, while it might be hard to find many meriting characteristic traits of those who have been elevated. Trying to bestow more down-to-earth characteristics to the ones to be elevated - as in giving Naofumi or his partner(s) some sub-optimal but funny quirks or characteristics - might make the overall set of characters seem less far-fetched.

I will leave it with at that with suggestions for improvement and turn to some nice things you can expect from this anime. Besides the occasional downgrading in animation, the art and style of this anime seems to be consistently appealing throughout. The world is filled with vibrant yet realistic colours. When the animation doesn't turn too static or when it doesn't go too "wild", the animation is at least fair and at more often very good.
The first opening features an amazing dance/rap part while the second one is packed with action. Both endings do capture a more romantic side with water-colour-like art and relaxing music which climaxes during the chorus. In fact, I think the second ending captures well a post-apocalyptic mood that the Waves might bring about to the place of action. The music mostly goes hand in hand with the animation and hence often is not noticeable. When it becomes noticeable, though, it seems to give some feeling of serenity and otherworldliness - the anime should be careful not to overdo it here in terms of repetition, as well.
Although Shield Hero might have overdone it with nearly mindless antagonists (as for now), we seem to have some development within some of the more thought-through characters. While the development might not be portrayed often enough as such, a few of the most important characters have clearly undergone some significant character development. This emphasizes how their interactions with other people and the environment might have changed them for the long run.
So in the end, I would highly recommend watching the first four episodes of the Shield Hero anime because they seem to be conceivable as one arc. These episodes will contain the entire array of happy, sad, angry, emotional, and such feelings. I personally was strongly impacted by this part emotionally.
After that, things tend to go down much more relaxed. You will have a nearly consistent party of people who are training hard to become stronger and fend off the Waves. They will occasionally face problems from their past and encounter more formidable foes from the present. There is still a lot going on story-wise, but I find it not to be as enthralling anymore for the given reasons. To get back to my statement at the very beginning, if you like the general setting of this anime and don't mind its partially huge plot holes, then go for it. It has many great scenes and an overall okay plot still. But once you start rethinking some logics behind the entire plot and getting meticulous, you might find some disappointment.

Score: 7.4/10 - mainly because I found this anime has wasted too much potential and has been spoiled by several pitfalls. That being said, there are episodes which I would rate 9/10 or 10/10, one of which is a beach episode.

[Please note that this review only represents my opinion with some particular personal needs. I do respect all other opinions out there and do appreciate The Rising of the Shield Hero as it is.]