Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

Season1 is all you need to watch. A lot of stories, especially animes, are created out of an interesting idea for a plot; but, once that plot has been resolved, fail to continue to tell a good story. Rise of the Shield Hero is a great example for just such a case. Dropped into another world, the hero is shunned by the entire world to an outcast status and has to find ways to become stronger by only using defensive and shield skills. This, combined with conspiracy plots, plausible cause & effect storytelling and a great soundtrack makes season1 great and really recommendable, go watch it! However...once you'vefinished season 1, that's exactly where you want to stop. The entire redemption arc, and probably pretty much the main idea of the mangaka behind everything, happens in season 1. After that, the creator clearly had no idea how to continue and it very much shows.

Season 2 and 3 are filled with small story arcs that are so out of place that they feel like filler episodes. New characters with powers that are barely explained appear, act and fight for reasons that often don't fit their character, but the overall plot and drama. You could cut the entire cast down to 1/4th and the story would still work, THATS how bloated and unnecessary most characters are.
It's especially annoying considering the three other heroes: they have pretty much no personality and act solely to drive the story, or later the "filler arc", forward (kinda like a 3 person shaped plot device). I really wished that they'd get some character development, but they're pretty much the same person, just with a different weapon and look.

Watch season 1, that's the great one and an overall closed story, but do yourself a favour and stop after that. Season 2 and 3 are unfortunately really bad. A real shame, but Rise of the Shield Hero is at least a good example of an anime that runs out of ideas after the first season.