Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

-[You Lose, Bitch!]- Okay… God damnit. I’ve changed my mind about “The Rising of the Shield Hero”. In my previous review, I was too harsh on the show. While this show is no masterpiece, it is worlds above a 3/10. That rating was hyperbolic and the reviewer was nitpicking and biased (I win, bye bye). -[Regarding My Previous Assertions]- First thing’s first: let me address what my previous critiques of this show were. This could serve to clear up the misunderstandings at least by the 19 people who found the review helpful. For conveniences sake, I’ll use the old headers as well, just for some continuity. (also, forthe 0 of you who are interested, the old review is on my blog)

So, #1, “[From Subversion to Tropey Trash]”. Okay, yeah, this show does devolve into a very predictable fantasy story. As every anime fan knows, the beginning of “Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari” is amazing. It’s splendid. It’s absolutely superb! Su-bu-ra-shi as my fellow nihons say. Then, towards the middle of the show, a viewer might start to lose interest. Things slow down and all the conflict seems forced. The end of the show was a step up from the middle- but not by much. It wasn’t nearly as good as the beginning, but at least it didn’t feel as contrived as this show at its lowest point. 7/10

#2, “[Not Art]”. Upon first viewing, I thought that this show’s art was dreadful. Actually, this is my bad- sort of. This show wasn’t appalling. Some of the visual effects are pretty good. Character designs are amazingly well done- and some of the animation is a little bit impressive. However, I still believe that this show’s still-shots are lacking majorly. As is the case with most modern anime, faces and eyes do not move in accordance to what is actually happening on screen. Eyes are hardly ever pointing at the right thing, some characters are smiling despite their contrary dialogue, and eyebrows- the oh-so powerful expression-enhancers- are not utilized to their fullest. Overall, the art in my opinion could use some work. 6/10 art.

#3, “[Sound]”. Voice acting was fine. Filo and Melty are still annoying, but that’s because they’re kids- and rather eccentric ones at that. The sound design was above average- with claustrophobic scenes actually sounding claustrophobic as well as enchanting ambient noise being thrown into the more atmospheric scenes. The OST for this anime, though, is pretty bad in my opinion. I like the idea of fantasy strings combined with a bit of bass for impact, but the execution wasn’t there. The strings were way too loud to the point where it was sometimes distracting. Also, the OPs and EDs were sonically unimpressive and I didn’t like them. 6/10 sound.

#4. “[Characters.exe]”. Again, I sort of have to agree with myself. Most of the characters in this show are complete, ham-fisted garbage. I again say, the only good characters are Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Elhart. All of the other ones are absolutely unbearable. In fact, I believe this flaw is the exact reason why I dropped the show at episode 17 last time. In that episode, Filo gets her character arc. Unfortunately, nobody cares about Filo, because she’s just a moe chicken loli. That’s literally all she is. Worsemore is the following episodes, which focus on the rest of the heroes, all of whom are indecisive, back-tracking pieces of shit. This problem persists even into the end of the show. Somehow, these fools can reconcile and go back on it in the same fucking fight and it’s ridiculous. Bitch and Trash are horrible characters with motivations that aren’t fleshed out to a necessary extent. Overall, If I had to rate it, I’d give the characters in this show a 6/10. The main duo and Elhart aren’t good enough to justify a 7/10 because the rest of the cast is just too heavy.

-[In “the now”]-
That’s pretty much everything I had addressed in my previous review. Now, though, there are other things I’d like to address in the present.

First of all, like I said, the conflict in the middle of the show seems forced. And here’s the reason: Bitch and Spear-Dunce are basically just Naofumi’s Team Rocket. They show up out of nowhere, for no reason, and cause a minor problem- and are summarily dealt with. This makes every one of their appearances come off as cheesy. Like, how am I supposed to take such a laughably evil duo seriously. Honestly, for me, they just came off as comic relief. I feel as if the writer did this intentionally, since Spear-Dunce was often at the butt end of jokes whenever he appeared.

Secondly, Naofumi. Man, this character really props up this piece of average shit anime. I mean, I get that he’s the titular character, but seriously, based on what I’ve seen, I couldn’t watch a show about any of the other characters. Even Raphtalia’s backstory made me lose interest, and I actually do like her as a character. I just love Naofumi in a purely analytical and mostly heterosexual way. He’s a great character and I don’t think any other protagonist would work in a show like this. God-tier protagonist.

Third and finally, Montages. The gratuitous use of montages is actually a pretty big flaw with this show's writing and directing. Jesus Christ, you can find one in every single episode. It's absolutely ridiculous. I get it, sometimes a montage is the best way to lay out a short story, however, this show goes way too ham. Montages are sometimes a shortcut and sometimes a crutch. In this show, I'd say they're both.

-[Conclusion]-
Ahhh. Finally, some weight off my shoulders. Ever since I’d written that old review, I’ve been bummed out. It felt like since that was up, I wasn’t allowed to give Shield Hero another shot. Now, though, I’m taking that review down and putting this one up. I’m much happier with how this one turned out. Here’s to open mindedness!

Shield Hero is a 7/10