Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

I couldn't help but feel so underwhelmed by this anime. Over the years I have grown to hate Isekai anime because, well... they're all the exact same. Enter character from another world, he's OP, he has a harem, and stuff happens but there's either no real effort out of the main character or he barely manages to do it but always succeeds. I was hoping this one would be different, prior to its release it gained a lot of attention and lots of fans bragging about how good it was. In the end, it was basic. The story had 4 heroes who are the "main"characters, the whole plot revolves around them but only ever focuses on one. The heroes are Main Character Man (Shield), Sasuke (Sword), Mr. Steal ya Girl (Spear), and Background Character (Bow). The characters are bland and tasteless, there's not really anything special about them but at the same time, they were probably the best part of the show. If they changed the focus to be more of a comedy-action following the interactions between the heroes, the anime would be a lot better.

Rising of the Shield Hero also faced the SAO crisis, in there was a great premise, they could have done so much with what they had but in the end, they did the same thing as everyone else has. Honestly, the only really enjoyable part of the anime was the beginning, it had promise but when episodes kept coming out, I kept getting more and more disappointed with each one. Which I hated, because I wanted to like this anime, it had a lot of potentials, it just squandered it. In the end, it just turned out to be another borderline harem, trapped in another world anime. The main character isn't OP but at the same time, he is? Like he's stronger than everyone but like 1 person and even in the end he manages to win, barely. What really drew me off about this anime, was the side characters, Raphtalia was fine but the others were nothing but annoying and just seemed to really be just thrown in there. I would even say the same about the villains, they just seemed so tasteless, and lackluster. There was also only one villain that I truly enjoyed as a villain and his screen time were barely 2 episodes.

Another problem I had with this anime was the pacing. It was 25 episodes long but it felt like it was 12. So much happened yet at the same time nothing much really happened. When things did happen they just seemed to happen, pretty much just suddenly. There's not really any build-up, no lengthy dialogues to explain stuff, things just happen pretty much for the sake of the plot. Especially the fight scenes, they could have been much much better. The fights were short with not much happening besides the side characters saying how much the main character means to them, I just was so underwhelmed by everything. Even the moments when the main character lost control with his OP but at the same time, not OP shield, it was so so very boring.

The only thing I really enjoyed from this anime was the voice acting which was pretty good but that's not uncommon at all for Isekai anime. All in all, I'm gonna give Rising of the Shield Hero a solid 5/10, basic. That's the best way I can think to describe this anime, basic and wasted potential.