Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

With every season at the moment, we must have at least one Isekai to greet us. Whether it is a sequel or an entirely new series, the constant that an Isekai series must be somewhere in every season has lead the genre to have an over saturation of shows. Some of them have been really good, some of them have been really bad, some of them are niche and some of them are generic. So where does this series rank up in this swash of Isekai shows. As part of the stacked winter season of 2019, was this show a core contributor when you lookback? Or was it merely just another standard Isekai show?

Sit back, relax and get a nice cold drink after furiously typing that Raphtalia is best girl as I present to you the anime review for the 2019 winter season’s Isekai entry. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rising of the Shield Hero. Lets begin shall we?

Story: 7/10
The story follows Naofumi Iwatani, an Otaku who, after reading a book about the four cardinal heroes, gets transported to another world along with three others and becomes one of the four cardinal heroes. The sword hero, the spear hero, the bow hero and the “neglected” shield hero in order to protect the kingdom of Melromarc from the Waves of Catastrophe. Unfortunately, our protagonist is given the title of the shield hero and is pretty much treated like trash from the get go except for Malty (or Myne) Melromarc who treats him with kindness. However, after Naofumi is betrayed by her with some false rape allegations. He is shunned by the king, the nobles and the other heroes. He walks out on them and sets to stop the waves by himself in order to go back to his world and leave this kingdom that doesn’t want him here.

So pretty much a standard, “You have been summoned to save the world” plot we’ve seen with other Isekai shows but the twist is that our main protagonist is not wanted and is even treated as a villain in some eyes. But the reason why Naofumi is treated this way helps give us context as to why we should sympathize with Naofumi throughout the show. The show does do a good job with help understanding why Naofumi acts the way he does because he is treated like trash for actions he didn’t do or because he was given the title of something he didn’t know or wanted for that matter. Yet he is treated unfairly because of it. We see this injustice and we act on it because we understand it better than we do due to having context to the situations as observers to declare that Naofumi is treated unfairly. Yet he has to work with the three heroes who are basically the anime equivalent of the Three Stooges to save the kingdom even though there are bloody idiots.

Now with most Isekai shows, there is a brand new world to explore so it is important that the world building is good to give some idea of what this world is like. While the world is rather generic and boring, (not helped by the abundance of montages in the show) how it is portrayed is intriguing. The world is structured like an RPG where there are monsters to kill and level up, gain new skills and a boss fight that occurs at every wave. But what this show likes to remind the viewer that this isn’t some game, this is real and there are real lives to protect and if you or they die, your or they stay dead, no respawns. Simple as that. And with that, it likes to portray that actions WILL have consequences unless you plan it out and not just charging in with your sword. Just going in and dealing with the problem isn’t enough, you have to think what will happen afterwards. The show wants us to understand what makes a true hero and what makes a wannabe hero. Something I think this show helps define Naofumi from the other heroes.

Characters: 8.5/10
Now in normal cases, what Naofumi goes through wouldn’t matter because normally, the protagonist would be too naive to understand that people are just using him. Well this show goes a different route with Naofumi being a rather bitter and broody protagonist due to what he has been through at the beginning of this show. He pretty much acts like a d**k because if they are going to treat like one and not change their minds, he might as well live up to the part. He doesn’t want to defend the kingdom like out of the goodness of his heart (In fact, given the choice, he would probably just say “f**k you” and walk away) He saves the kingdom because in order to go back to his world, he has to defend the kingdom. It’s only until he fully trusts his companions is when we see he is a kind person who cares for the ones to treat him fairly. Unlike other protagonists that are broody and edgy for the sake of being broody and edgy, at least Naofumi has context to why he acts like he does.

In order to highlight Naofumi’s good side, we need characters that bring the goodness in him. His companions, Raphtalia a demi human who was initially a slave, Filo, a Filoial (which is basically a wannabe Chocobo from the Final Fantasy series) and Melty Melmorac, the youngest daughter to the king and queen and sister to Malty Melmorac. They act as bright spots for Naofumi and give him a motivation to keep fighting because he now has something worth protecting. But they ain’t just motivators for Naofumi as they can hold their own and do get their own spotlight throughout the show for us to understand about them and what drives them to move forward. Raphtalia obviously stands out in this regard because Naofumi gave her a second chance in life and she is repaying it by helping Naofumi and comforting him whenever he is troubled and being his sword. A literal bright light in some cases when Naofumi is overcome with rage, sorrow and an encroaching shadow around him. Although I do think things being settled with the power of friendship is a bit campy for this kind of show. These are the reasons though why Raphtalia was considered to be best girl of the winter season (Although I still stand by Chika from Kaguya-sama to be best girl of the winter season).

The supporting characters are also enjoyable as they help flesh out the cast from the likable to the very hateable. The other heroes stand out for obvious reasons due to them filling a hero archetype. The sword hero is the most open minded hero and the one that is quickly to change his mind. The bow hero is very analytical and thinks logically. And the spear hero is the naive, stubborn kind of hero in order to impress the girls. They all fill an archetype in order to differentiate what type of hero they are and to highlight how they react when they are told by Naofumi that their heroic actions had severe consequences to make Naofumi look like a true hero (Seriously, it was so satisfying when he just laid it all out to them).

Special mention should go to Malty/Myne as being the most hateable anime characters in recent memory. An absolute b**ch who uses her stature as a princess to manipulate those around her to get what she wants. The controversy surrounding episode one and the false rape allegations against Naofumi doesn’t matter because it clearly made you hate her for being a total b**ch. The fact she follows up from it makes her pitiful and despicable. If I had to describe how much I hate her, hmmmm...hold on a sec (lets see, Jar Jar Binks? Nah, he was unintentionally meant to be hated. Who else? Tom Brady? Nah you respect him as much as you hate him for winning six NFL Superbowls. AHA! I got it). Think how much you hated Jeoffry Berathion from Game of Thrones and apply that to here. This is how much I hate her.

Animation: 7.5/10
I would say that the animation does its job well. In most cases the animation does look really good with some creative spots and I am a fan of the shows art style and character designs that help portray these characters well and differentiate from one another. But there were some noticeable dips in animation quality in later episodes as some scenes looked like they didn’t put in as much effort into animating it and looked cheaply. As well as the montages used to move the story along. It didn’t put me off but it was noticeable. But going back to the character designs, Naofumi is the one that stands out because while the other heroes clothing and armour were more sleek and brand new due to the treatment and money provided by the king, but Naofumi looks more rugged, giving the impression that he just scraped up with whatever he can find with the small amount of money he had. It continues to show how Naofumi is treated unfairly compared to the other heroes.

Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack also does its job in order to match the atmosphere of a particular scene. While it does help add to a scene. There were a couple of tracks especially near the end of the show that did stand out. The sound affects though are more noticeable because with the wide variety of attacks the weapons wielded by the heroes with their different forms, there must always be the right sound effect. So they always seem to have the right sound effect to help give it that extra punch that it is needed to emphasize the legendary status of these weapons.

Both openings, “RISE” and “FAITH,” were done by MADKID and they are both good openings for different reasons. The first opening “RISE” has the superior song in my opinion with a catchy beat and great buildup to the chorus and the pacing of the opening matches the song well. The second opening “FAITH” has the better animation and better cinematography in it. So take your pick on which opening you prefer. I personally like a good song so I would take “RISE” over “FAITH” because I can see myself jamming out to the first opening more to the second opening.

The ending sequences help emphasize the companionship between Naofumi and Raphtalia with some touching scenes to make us realize that we must protect the racoon girl from the horrors of the internet for she is too pure and sweet for it. It is just a nice reminder that through all the d**kery that they get put through, they still have each other. This is especially true for the second opening as it is rather touching.

Conclusion:
It’s shows like The Rising of the Shield Hero that help prove that no matter how much people are tired with the Isekai genre, it can still produce some good anime from it and this is one of them. While the world isn’t exactly interesting compared to other Isekai shows. With its great cast of characters, interesting premise and message, solid animation and a solid soundtrack with a kickass opening. The Rising of the Shield Hero might intrigue you and maybe give you another attempt to watch Isekai anime if you are fed up with the genre as a whole (but I wouldn’t hold your breath if it is going to convert you). It certainly stands out more compared to other Isekai shows with the notion that our main protagonist is treated unfairly and how serious do you want to be a hero. So yeah, if you are interested, check this one out. It certainly was a key contributor to the stacked winter season and while I don’t think it is the best anime of the winter season, it was enjoyable nonetheless.

My Personal Enjoyment: 8.5/10

Overall score: 7.9/10 Recommendation: Watch it