Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

This is a weird one because as I was watching it, the show seems a lot better than it does upon reflection making it hard to pin down exactly how I feel about it. Story (7/10): One of the better examples of a isekai/video game themed narrative that I've seen in a while. The waves present a looming threat and ample opportunity for climactic sequences. It might be a tad overused, but they throw enough character development moments in the middle so that it feel like a boring series of fights. The show was pretty well paced most of the time but there are resolutions tocertain story lines that happen a lot sooner than expect, and I really thought they would drag out a bit more. There's enough happening to keep it interesting, but I wonder how many times they will be able to effectively create new tension as the show goes on. One thing I did like is that the show was prepared to be a little bit dark for the story and they do a good job of managing the various tonal shifts throughout each episode.

Art (6/10): The art is fine, there were a few dodgy angles here and there but it mostly did the job.

Sound(9/10): It takes a lot to get me to listen the opening and closing songs these days but I did give this the time for a few episodes. They're good enough I guess. What's really great about Tate no yuusha is the score. It's been a while since (maybe 7 deadly sins) that I've heard a score that stands out to me this much, if anything it's too good because it distracts me. The music is perfectly suited to what's going on in the story and there are some really effective tracks. The score can be the making or breaking of a series and this is a good example of the music elevation the narrative.

Character (7/10): Hard to give a score for this one because across the board on the Naofumi side of things the characters do a fine enough job at being the cardboard cutouts that they need to be. The characters sometimes showed a frustrating level of ignorance and the gap between Naofumi and the other heroes makes things a bit heavy handed. Naofumi's team was fine, although the intros are pretty forced. The basis of Filo's character is basically that they wanted him to have an attack bird, but also wanted there to be a loli so they just made her both. I've heard similar complaints about Raphtalias character build up. What is done really really well is the villains. Myne was truly loathsome and the King was not much better. They do a great job of making you hate these mofos. For the most part the characters were serviceable enough but the well defined antagonists push it up to a 7.

Enjoyment (8/10): Tate no Yuusha is definitely more enjoyable than it is a quality show. I quite like broad fantasy and there was more than enough in here to keep me entertained. If you are not a fan of the Isekai genre then this 100% will not convert you, but it's a good example of how it can be done well. The fan service is not too overdone, which is probably a good amount for me. Tbh I did really look forward to watching it every week so I must have enjoyed it quite a lot.

Overall (7/10): Whilst I did have a lot of fun watching it, I can't seriously give it that high a score taking into account some of it's flaws. It's difficult to say whether I would ever rewatch or whether I will remember it in a year's time, but it's a lot better than some of the junk out there.