Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4

This anime is somehow continuing, and even going beyond 4 seasons into a 5th season soon, and I'm somehow following along, for better or worse. Watching this at this point is mostly out of obligation rather than persisting interest. The little interest I had in seeing characters develop is not really rewarded in this season (and arguably hasn't been rewarded since the first season). My bafflement with how this anime continues to go on is that most of the good things about the show began and ended in the first season. Anyway, I suppose I should shut up about the first season and talk more aboutthis one... there isn't really much to say.

Events happen, and they aren't altogether compelling. Their import on the overarching plot is incohesive, which is unfortunate given the overarching plot is referenced several times. The things going on could've worked if the pacing didn't make the events feel so random. Another part of the problem is the characters' motives: everyone's motives are pretty much extensions of Naofumi's under the guise of being unique, leading to characters feeling not like individual characters. It's probably out of necessity, given the show hasn't spent any time developing the main character's... character... for several seasons, which is likely due to the story not having a way to develop Naofumi further. So, now we get pseudo-characters dealing with pseudo-obstacles whose resolution may or may not be relevant to the overall story.

Hmmm... Yup, that's about all I have to say other than the animation quality and music being average. This is definitely one of the seasons in The Rising of the Shield Hero.