Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3
This season can be divided in two parts, the good first 3 episodes and the other 9 bad ones. The first three episodes are "complete", they have a start, a middle and an ending story, a new character is introduced with their motives and the results of those, that is a good enough arc. However, things turn sour as the other 9 episodes go on, for instance: Bitch's role is so stupid in this season, it feels like the author is writing for toddlers considering how repetitive she behaves; the other three heroes are still cringe and they behave like spoiled brats, there could be other waysto deal with the outcome of season 2; episode 5 introduces another new character and a sense of danger (poorly), that is never spoken again, and yet a different "danger" happens later on that leads to nothing.
As other people have said, the greatest flaw of this season is the lack of direction. There is nothing wrong with a training arc or a gathering new allies trope, but when you watch certain episodes you end up thinking: "couldn't this be better worked? Couldn't the author turn this one episode issue into a 2 or 3 episodes and properly develop this character?" Ok, Naofumi occasionally says "we have to prepare ourselves for the Phoenix", but in those 9 episodes nothing is achieved, the episodes end and the results are given in a silver platter.
Just to be clear, the show doesn't have to be action all the time, but proper development is needed, and unfortunately there is not enough in this season. New characters are introduced that are more interesting than the other 3 heroes, which isn't a problem, if a character lacks development you simply give it to them, but the author took the easy way.
By the way, it is disappointing seeing the beautiful opening with detailed art and smooth animation, only to get a considerable downgrade to the anime itself, it isn't bad. It feels like those McDonalds' ad thing where what is shown on the ad and what you really buy aren't the same thing, you'd still eat it, but the ad looks better.